Michael Dempsey

We are incredible excited @compoundvc to launch Compound Reverie Grants today. These are micro-grants for those exploring ideas at the edges, in a world that needs more support for strange and meaningful work. Why Micro Grants? The world needs more out of distribution ideas and people need more space to explore them. Part of being a thesis-driven investment firm operating on long-term time horizons is to apply that same ethos towards helping build the world we want to live in. We find this is rarer than it should be, especially so within the echo chambers of technology and startups. As we've thought about the kind of firm we want to build over the next decade, amongst our excitement, we also kept returning to a sameness we couldn't shake. Tech has grown insular, and respect for different types of thinkers feels improperly distributed. Dollars and belief flow to the most legible people, the ones who fit an overly obvious pattern, who match what a small few have decided success should look like. The less legible get passed over. This reality means we're narrowing the dispersion of what can be built and by who, while increasing the correlation of ideas and aesthetics that get funded or even just supported. To help create a more imaginative future, we've created Compound Reverie Grants. These are micro-grants to fund people exploring ideas that otherwise would not easily get funded through traditional means, but that we think are important for the present and future. They range from as little as $500 to as much as $7,500 each, in fully non-dilutive, no-strings-attached capital. There are moments in life when a small amount of support, intellectual, emotional, and/or fiscal, matters more than anyone appreciates at the time. A month or two of runway. A few hours of debate. The cost of materials for a prototype. Enough breathing room to see if something is real. We hope these grants find people in those moments. Reverie Grants are intentionally broad but there are two specific types of grantees that we know we want to help (and many others that we will learn we want to help that we hope apply). The first are people going deep on something that touches the edges or possible fringes of areas we think about: machine learning, robotics, biology, healthcare, energy, crypto, and the places where those things blur together. These should not be ideas that obviously could be venture-backed companies. You shouldn't be starting a company (though it could lead you to one) but instead you should be working on research, building a prototype, writing, open-sourcing something, or tinkering on a strange project that resists easy explanation. The second are thoughtful people who are simply in transition. Figuring things out. You might not have a thesis-aligned project, but you have a goal, a direction, something you're trying to understand or become and you could use support, a sounding board, a broader network, or a bunch of other things that equate to having people like us in your corner who can help with the complexities of navigating life's idea mazes. We know how hard that can be and we want to meet you and help you. Our hope is that this first wave of grants are only the beginning and as we continue to expand both with other capital that is not just our own, as well as support from others in our sphere who want to be involved, we will get greater clarity and hopefully more scaled impact. More and more we feel we are only creativity constrained and we want to help people who feel that their creativity is limited, under-explored, or not believed in because of its strangeness at a time in which we think the world needs these ideas most. If you're in one of those moments, tell us about it below. If you'd like to refer someone or have any questions, feel free to email grants@compound.vc or DM us on Twitter.