Today we're launching Solo Grants: $100–$1,000 grants, 100% no strings attached, for people building technically ambitious projects solo. Julian sits down with Ari Dutilh who leads the program and is a former grantee himself, to map the wide world of microgrants and explain why the gap between a project seen through and one abandoned is usually just a few hundred dollars.
Topics covered:
- The Solo Grants launch: $100 to $1,000, no equity, no payback, and it doesn't have to be a business
- Microgrants 101: 1517's $1,000 checks, Emergent Ventures, and the Thiel Fellowship lineage
- The grantee who asked for $100 less than his application, and the three viruses he went on to discover and name
- Why first-time builders never even look for co-founders
- Ari's path from a $500 high school grant to running the program
- The funder who said "be more ambitious" and gave more than he asked for
- How to apply, and the directory that routes you to the right grant program
Guest: Ari Dutilh — running Solo Grants (formerly Merge) and producer of the Solo Founders Podcast.
What is Solo Founders?
The Solo Founder's Podcast features in-depth interviews with solo founders building remarkable companies. Each week, host Julian Weisser sits down with solo founders who are either operating at serious scale or doing something right now that you need to know about. From Series B and beyond to founders breaking out in real-time, these are the conversations that define what it means to build solo. New episodes every week.