Median Fund
helps you go from -1 to 0
Median is a home for the most talented founders and technologists exploring what's next. Our members turn the chaos of possibility into the clarity of conviction.
What is -1 to 0?
How to start
Exploring the frontier? Median helps at every stepExploring at the frontier?
Median helps at every step
The path from -1 to 0 isn't a straight line. Our members range from pre-idea to pre-launch, but all are committed to finding their global max. For every step in the early stage, Median works in two ways:
Residency
6 months•No cost or equity•Ideation & Exploration
A talent-dense community of technical founders, researchers, and domain-experts testing each other's ideas, finding collaborators, and reaching conviction on what to build and how to build it.
Funding
$1M to $10M•Exploration & Conviction
Funding from $1M to $10M for founders who want to build a venture-scale company. Not all our members are ready for funding; for those who are, we're ready to write the first check.
Our Members
Anurag
Turning side-projects into a company.
Employee #8 at Stripe, Anurag joined Median and built apps around healthcare, deep learning, and real-time communication. Through building, he spotted an opportunity to radically simplify DevOps. Render was born and subsequently has become one of the fastest growing tools in the developer ecosystem, raising $250M+ to date.
More About RenderAmit
Building the foundation for a multi-modal future.
Amit joined Median after building camera tech at Apple, fascinated by turning photos into 3D models. He saw a bigger shift coming: AI is going multi-modal. That sparked Luma, where he's building models powering a new generation of AI-native creative work.
More About LumaWaseem & Jeff
Two founding members started the first Median unicorn.
Both engineers from MIT, Waseem and Jeff co-founded two companies together that were successfully acquired before they helped found Median as original members. This dynamic duo left Median to start Pilot, the first company founded out of Median to reach a unicorn ($1B+) valuation.
More About PilotAbiel & Andres
Banking built for those who've been left out.
Abiel and Andres grew up just 30 minutes apart in Mexico, but only met during the Fellowship, where they bonded over the frustration of navigating U.S. banking as immigrants. They started Comun, a neobank designed from the ground up for Latino immigrants.
More About ComunTom
From consumer apps to AI research.
Serial entrepreneur and Grouper co-founder, Tom joined Median to explore ideas for a new consumer startup. While at Median, a peer ML learning group pulled him deeper. He graduated to join Google Brain and later OpenAI, leading the engineering team for GPT-3. He has since founded his own AI safety and research company, Anthropic.
More About AnthropicAshton
An Olympic gold medalist joined to figure out what's next.
After winning back-to-back Olympic golds in the decathlon, Ashton joined Median to find his next challenge. He dove into systems design, discovered a passion for engineering, and graduated to join Intel as a product engineer.
More About AshtonTrisha & Clarence
Two members teamed up to fight financial crime.
Trisha joined Median after early engineering and PM roles at Affirm. Clarence came to explore new topics while writing an O'Reilly book on ML and Security. They met, discovered a shared interest in security and fintech, and started powerhouse anti-fraud platform Unit21.
More About Unit21James & Dylan
Helping brands navigate the shift to AI.
James and Dylan met at Median NYC and bonded over a question: what happens when AI becomes the default interface to the internet? They joined the Founder Fellowship to build Profound, where they're creating tools to help brands track and influence how they show up across AI systems.
More About ProfoundTurning side-projects into a company.
Employee #8 at Stripe, Anurag joined Median and built apps around healthcare, deep learning, and real-time communication. Through building, he spotted an opportunity to radically simplify DevOps. Render was born and subsequently has become one of the fastest growing tools in the developer ecosystem, raising $250M+ to date.
More About RenderBuilding the foundation for a multi-modal future.
Amit joined Median after building camera tech at Apple, fascinated by turning photos into 3D models. He saw a bigger shift coming: AI is going multi-modal. That sparked Luma, where he's building models powering a new generation of AI-native creative work.
More About LumaTwo founding members started the first Median unicorn.
Both engineers from MIT, Waseem and Jeff co-founded two companies together that were successfully acquired before they helped found Median as original members. This dynamic duo left Median to start Pilot, the first company founded out of Median to reach a unicorn ($1B+) valuation.
More About PilotBanking built for those who've been left out.
Abiel and Andres grew up just 30 minutes apart in Mexico, but only met during the Fellowship, where they bonded over the frustration of navigating U.S. banking as immigrants. They started Comun, a neobank designed from the ground up for Latino immigrants.
More About ComunFrom consumer apps to AI research.
Serial entrepreneur and Grouper co-founder, Tom joined Median to explore ideas for a new consumer startup. While at Median, a peer ML learning group pulled him deeper. He graduated to join Google Brain and later OpenAI, leading the engineering team for GPT-3. He has since founded his own AI safety and research company, Anthropic.
More About AnthropicAn Olympic gold medalist joined to figure out what's next.
After winning back-to-back Olympic golds in the decathlon, Ashton joined Median to find his next challenge. He dove into systems design, discovered a passion for engineering, and graduated to join Intel as a product engineer.
More About AshtonTwo members teamed up to fight financial crime.
Trisha joined Median after early engineering and PM roles at Affirm. Clarence came to explore new topics while writing an O'Reilly book on ML and Security. They met, discovered a shared interest in security and fintech, and started powerhouse anti-fraud platform Unit21.
More About Unit21Helping brands navigate the shift to AI.
James and Dylan met at Median NYC and bonded over a question: what happens when AI becomes the default interface to the internet? They joined the Founder Fellowship to build Profound, where they're creating tools to help brands track and influence how they show up across AI systems.
More About ProfoundOur Spaces
San Francisco
New York
Bengaluru
What Happens At Median
Talent Density
Our main product is talent curation. Median members are ambitious, high-agency technologists with a bias for building and collaboration. Smart people are abundant; people who are ambitious, capable, and invested in others’ progress are not.
Learning Forums
Members lead and participate in structured, multi-week learning groups on frontier topics like embodied AI, reinforcement learning, energy-efficient computing, AI in biotech, and more. Forums are one of the best ways to go deep in a singular area, gain access to cutting-edge research, and find collaborators.
Live Programming
We regularly host workshops, roundtables, and private conversations with industry heavyweights like Satya Nadella, Mark Zuckerberg, Vinod Khosla, Elad Gil, Nandan Nilekani, and Fei-Fei Li. Some of these events are open to guests; most are not.
Partner Collaboration
The Median team is made up of former founders, engineers, and operators who’ve built and scaled companies at every stage, from early Facebook and Dropbox to their own startups. The entire team works directly with Median members, helping with ideation, product feedback, storytelling, and the hard work of building conviction.
Resources
Building something new requires more than just the people around you. We offer up to $1M in credits and perks from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft, GCP, AWS, Baseten, Render, Figma, and more.
Social Scaffolding
Building a company is often isolating, especially before there’s a team, a product, or any external validation. Median creates connective tissue through shared meals, activities like run clubs, and a physical space where founders cross paths and collaborate daily.