I know nothing about on deck.

Something I have learned in life is never waste time on events pitched as "meet interesting people". Interesting people don't go to that kind of event.

Go someplace interesting people have a reason to be.

Well put. Thanks for sharing. I've decided not to enroll in their program after all.

Well, they laid off a quarter of their people in May [0], then another third in August [1], and now removed their CEO for a new one [2]. So, I don't think they're doing so hot.

[0] https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/on-deck-lay-off-accelerato...

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/04/on-deck-lays-off-a-third-o...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/22/on-deck-tried-to-do-it-all...

Nice referencing :). Thanks for including these.

Yeah, and they're only two years old. I've read this, and they put some doubt in my mind about the programs.

IMHO, I would not advise anyone to join.

It looks like a typical paid networking program. The price and application process to get in gives it an air of exclusivity (or, in economic terms, scarcity). You can find similar programs in various industries and even hobbies and political movements. In some senses it's a spin on the concept of college fraternities.

Whether it's a "scam" is a bit subjective. There's a decent chance that once you pay the fees, you really will be granted access to online forums and/or chat servers and/or IRL events with the people listed on the web site (there's a good chance the bigger names are getting a cut of the program's profits). However, it's also possible to meet and interact with these sorts of people without having to pay an entry fee and join a club; look for events on LinkedIn or MeetUp or the like.

Thanks for the input. I've never felt good about the "pay to access people" model. In my heart of hearts, it just doesn't feel right.

The difference between paying for a club (per se) and paying for this is that with a Club, there's a tangible thing you're paying for (the place, the equipment, etc.), but with this, it's nothing, realy. It's a promise of meeting some people and listening to some things.

I think I just needed to hear an honest prospective from someone other than my own voice. Thanks again.

if a community is well-run and offering specific benefits, I'm open to paying. I used to subscribe to Everything Marketplaces because it was really well-run, had great speaker chats and I got great advice from other marketplace founders.

Well I think there's a bit going on here:

A bit of background: I actually applied to OnDeck, and spoke to their team, was about to do one of their programs and decided to not do it at the last minute. Know several folks in the OnDeck team well, as well as more than enough people that have gone through their program (including advised them in specific circumstances to actually go through it).

OnDeck definitely started as a good initiative and definitely is valuable. It's not about "meeting interesting people", but more like "become part of a club". Now the latter is different because its the same as joining YC or a university. The "education" is important, but often not the most important part. It's like come for the content, stay for the network.

The content, I am sure one can get elsewhere, but the network if done right is great. For folks starting out, or who don't have exposure about a relevant program (say Chief of Staff, or Founders), this is actually great and worth the price. Secondly, for a one time fee, you get to become part of the network for life (again, similar to things like YC, universities), and so that is definitely valuable.

Whether that can be replicated in other ways, and can one do it manually? Ofcourse. But you can see how it takes longer, because you'd have to "prove" to the other person that connecting with you is worth their time as opposed to two Ondeck Alums catching up wthout any agenda coz of the pre-assigned credibility of them being part of the same program.

The bigger challenges with programs like OnDeck is, does the experience of the alums change as the program scales. Coz there's definitely enough people from the first year or so, who will vouch for the value the program provides (I personally know atleast 50+ such people). The issue is whether that value trickles down to people who will join today. It's the same argument around, does it make sense for someone to join YC today.

And the answer to that is tricky.

If you already have a network and are doing something the second time, then you probably don't need it. Like if you're a second time founder, having raised money earlier, you don't really need YC or OnDeck or anything of that sort. But if you're an engineer who've got NO idea of how startups work, OnDeck is a great place to find your first few customers, get your first few investors, be part of a community and have a directory of people globally that you can reach out to.

I'd have loved to see this model evolve, esp if they figure out how to maintain that "closeness" within the alums as the years go on.

Thank you for the detailed answer. Another similar model is the Founder Institute.

I know a few people who actually became advisors as well. But they had little previous success (or none) and I've always wondered why would any founder take advice from someone who's not done it before and succeeded. The fact that OnDeck hires these people as advisors is a turn off.

Furthermore, like you said, their experience can be replicated and I highly doubt the quality of the network they have.

Also, the problem with this program is that they get their results upfront (the money you pay to join) and really have no problem if you completely waste your time there and do nothing at all. Whereas an accelerator (YC for example) ties their success to your success, in fact, they're willing to give money to bind their own success with yours (which is why they end up having the highest number of exits and IPOs out of any accelerator in the world).

Finally, even in your post here, notice how there's no clean "it's totally worth it" statement here. This seems to be a recurring theme in my research.

They probably are very well-intentioned, it's just that, in my opinion, despite the good intentions, it's not a great program even for first time founders. Hungry founders will always find the way to the needed knowledge and network, especially with today's available tools and online communities etc.

I was thinking of applying, but didn't realize you had to pay to get in. Has anyone participated and enjoyed the program?

I did and I have. I didn’t benefit much from their programs but the network is very valuable.