On Deck Founder Fellowship (ODF) — Fellowship

ODF is an in-person founder fellowship run by On Deck for people preparing to build venture-scale companies. Its core experience is a five-business-day onboarding week in San Francisco with 80–100 builders, focused on meeting collaborators, exploring ideas, and gaining conviction.

After onboarding, fellows receive lifetime access to a community of more than 3,000 members, online programming, in-person events, and a library covering fundraising, product, and hiring. Applicants may come from anywhere, but the program says it is designed for founders whose main customer base will be in the United States or who plan a long-term US presence.

Benefits & funding

Five-business-day onboarding in San Francisco with 80–100 builders.
Lifetime access to a community of more than 3,000 members and its events.
More than US$800,000 in partner perks, including services from AWS, Stripe, Mercury, and Carta.
A workshop and how-to library covering fundraising, product, and hiring.
The program takes no equity and suggests a US$1,000 pay-what-you-can contribution for the venue, food, and year-round community infrastructure.

Eligibility

Applicants worldwide may apply; no nationality or residency restriction is published.
Participants must attend the full five-business-day onboarding sprint in San Francisco.
The program is intended for people committed, or soon committing, to starting a venture-scale company at the pre-idea through pre-seed stage.
Applicants who have progressed beyond pre-seed, reached product-market fit, already have a team, or plan to keep their main customer base outside the United States are described as not fitting the program.
Applicants must be at least 13 years old; no degree, gender, or minimum years-of-experience requirement is published.

Can you apply?

Here's who can apply

Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.

Age requirement
≥ 13 yrs

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Application process

1
Submit the official online application.
2
Complete an asynchronous video if requested.
3
Attend an interview and, if requested, a second interview.
4
Receive a decision in about 36 hours after the interview process.

Program timeline

Open now
Applications are available through the official form; no exact deadline is published.
Official pages publish conflicting start windows for ODF28, so applicants should confirm the onboarding dates with On Deck.
Q3 2026 / Q1 2027
After interviews
Decisions are issued in about 36 hours.