We're Training Heroes | Episode 1

I looked forward to meeting Tim Draper. That was the first billionaire I ever got to meet in my life.

I'm a savage, I'm a fighter, making noise in these streets. Haymakers like a fire, throwing hooks to a beat. I got my finger on my pulse, it's steady. I was built for the speed. Automatic shift gears, I'm ready. Headstrong, I believe. When I close my eyes and count to 10, all I feel is adrenaline. And when the pain begins to set, all I hear is, long live the champ!

We got to pitch Tim in a low-pressure environment. It was just walking and talking. Turns out to be such a down-to-earth person. I guess I can relate a lot to him now more than before. Well, we were all trying to get in line, trying to get our time with Tim. We were really excited just to get to talk to him. For a lot of us, it was our first time meeting him. And, you know, I ordinarily, I would just feel like nervous to pitch a billionaire, but I didn't feel nervous at all just because the way he approached us was just so down-to-earth. And it really makes me feel at ease in this entire program.

The first thing you have to do It's just, I don't know what it is for you, but each of you has your own. Just take that first step.

He's a lot of fun. He's really spunky and spontaneous. I didn't expect that. We all jumped after him, and he even took the time to teach a couple of us how to glide across the pool. There are just a lot of things that he, he got down and dirty in the trenches with us and got to know all of us one by one, which I found really, really amazing, and it really touched me.

Yeah.

Working with Tim was so pleasant. It was so much fun. Tim, I didn't know much about him before other than he's a billionaire investor, but he was so humble, so open. And Tim, he, he really makes everyone feel as though they have something valuable to give. So working with him so closely, and we shared so many laughs, so many jokes, we were very open. It felt as though I knew him For such a long time, it was really easy to talk to him because even though he's been through so much, he's still so open to learning more and asking and just, yeah, being a really cool guy.

You guys ready? What team's ready?

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect.

For HERO Trainee, I didn't necessarily know what I was stepping into, so I didn't know what to prepare for.

I actually came in with very little expectations. I applied, I got in, and I just came with an open mind.

The opportunity to network with 90 people from all around the world, the Draper network, was, was very appealing to me. Ann Lee, USA, Austin, Texas to be specific.

My name is Buster Franken. I am from the Netherlands.

I'm Tanisha Garcia. I'm from Trinidad and Tobago.

My name is Cameron Harris, United States of America.

I'm Alex Qin, and I come from China.

Hi, I'm Sarah White. I'm from the UK.

Stephanie K. Young, United States of America.

I'm Sebastian Chapela. I'm from Mexico. My name is Aiden Mendoza. I'm from California in the USA.

Before I know this program, I already decided to come to Silicon Valley to start my business, because for every young man, it's like Silicon Valley is like the ideal place for great companies. And I decided to come here. And after I made this decision, I did some research and know about Draper University. It's like a very intensive immersion of the training courses, great speeches, and some kind of the skills taught by other very successful business minds like that.

Even though it's a very diverse cohort, not just in terms of countries that people are from, it's also very diverse in terms of the industries. And I thought it might be hard to connect with people from incredibly different industries. But actually, as founders, you connect on so many levels regardless of what your business is. And I came to Draper with quite limited knowledge about Web3 and new technologies, and I'm really pleased that all of the speakers have been able to break down complicated ideas into really easy-to-understand, bite-sized nuggets of information.

I think the cohort is great. They are always asking me, so what's your business? And whenever I say, Oh yeah, I'm just here to be inspired, to learn. They're always like, you should be brainstorming, get a project manager when you come up with the idea. They're just so helpful and they want to see me succeed. They want to see everyone succeed. Everybody here wants to help and it's really nice to be in that kind of community.

Well, I have to say it's the people that changes my prediction of this whole program. The people here is very lovely, they are very passionate, and they give me the impression that I'm entering into a really new world.

I'm here to be inspired and to be given like a life path, I guess.

Things happen so fast at DU, and then by the end of the day your idea has been taken to like a whole new level.

Well, I have to say, Draper University is my starting point of Silicon Valley.

Seeing how you perform in a group setting, in a team setting, and how you work with people and seeing, you know, where your weaknesses and strengths are, and I think that's the gold nugget to get from this program. I think this program has pushed me to a place that I wouldn't have been if I had never came.

I think that the mindset is very different, and for me it's very necessary to get that mindset.

It feels like a launchpad to really accelerate both growth and investment conversations and also really expand our professional network incredibly quickly.

Well, you're creating stuff that other people haven't before, so— or people have tried and failed before, so why are you gonna make it and they haven't, you know? So—

We have people in this cohort who've built companies. Started companies and exited with hundreds of millions of dollars. So he's like, "Why are you here?" And in the most humblest fashion, they will say, "Because I'm no different from you." That is one of the most beautiful things I ever heard from a person who exited with $100 million. I mean, they they always keep a level playing field with.