The Schmidt EIR Program aims to select 5-10 exceptional individuals each year from around the world, with diverse personal, educational, and professional backgrounds. We expect that the EIRs will be within 1-2 years of obtaining an advanced degree or have at least 3-5 years of professional experience. In addition, we expect about half the class will have technical backgrounds such as engineering and computer sciences; the other half will have professional backgrounds in law, business or medicine, or degrees in other sciences, policy, or the humanities.
Key Components of the Program
- Two years in residence, working as part of the investment team to design a strategy for philanthropic impact, to evaluate opportunities to invest for public benefit (whether by gift, grant, or direct investment), and to develop a new idea
- One year of potential additional support, no longer in residence, to launch a new effort
- Opportunity to pitch SpaceOne Futures for support for their next endeavor
- Direct training in building a network, designing for scale, securing the best technical solutions, recruiting top talent, and creating new approaches for public benefit
What the EIRs will do
- Develop and/or refine their vision to change systems and improve lives
- Build the talent platforms and networks that will make that vision possible, including constructing a strategy for selecting and funding talent
- Identify and capture opportunities to build coalitions and raise capital to ensure the sustainability of their vision
- Monitor success, pivot and refine as needed, and codify lessons for the SpaceOne Futures team and our partners
- Mentor other team members, continuously learn, build a culture of collective impact and pride, and help build the SpaceOne Futures searchlight for future rising founders.
What SpaceOne Futures will do for the EIRs
- Provide mentorship and on-the-job training, including how to identify and motivate outstanding talent; raise and invest risk capital; design and execute products and platforms; leverage advanced computing technologies; and manage complex efforts
- Offer structured and personalized learning opportunities in partnership with leading institutions to gain foundational science, technology and innovation skills
- Opportunity to invest capital into new ideas and talent as a part of SpaceOne Futures’ philanthropic investment team
- Platform to build a personalized, scalable network that will persist throughout career
- Seed funding for a personal venture and/or tailored career guidance and placement