Refinement Revenue

People say "launch fast". But Stripe, Notion and Airtable took years to launch. What gives?

November 15 2019

Be Lazy

On the art of being lazy when engineering your product.

November 8 2019

Meet the Pioneers - August 2019

In Pioneer’s first year, we’ve funded 65 creative hackers from around the world in over 20 different countries.

September 19 2019

Software 2.0

My thoughts on the RPA or "NoCode" software trend.

August 12 2019

Academic Progress: An Outsider’s Perspective

Why does academia move slowly? I spent some time talking to researchers about the current system. Below are the notes of an outsider peering in, trying to decipher why things are broken and how one might help fix it: A conservative cultural feedback loop.

August 5 2019

Pioneer Livestream #2

Woodstock for innovation and creativity. Claim your digital seat.

July 24 2019

Meet the Pioneers, Take 5

New indoor mapping technology. Nuclear fusion materials. Self-hosted WhatsApp. Impactful projects, exceptional people.

June 26 2019

The Power of Small Groups

Apply to Pioneer, as an individual or group. Alone or with friends, Pioneer will help you get validation and funding for your idea.

June 11 2019

The Infinite Tournament

Pioneer is now open 24/7. Press play and win $7,000 for your project, mentorship from experts, a flight to Silicon Valley and more.

June 10 2019

0-1 Hiring Guide

Most teams take 12 months to start hiring in earnest. Here's some tactical advice on how to accelerate this process.

May 31 2019

Meet the Pioneers, Take 4

Micro-satellites. Software that translates natural language into code and more. Read about the latest Pioneers here.

May 13 2019

Advisor Chat

We’re upgrading from interacting over email to live chat with a new feature called Advisor Chat.

April 23 2019

Pioneer Houses

The story of global progress isn’t written by lone actors. It’s often a collection of small groups that change the world. Things are easier with friends. They hold you accountable. They cause you to punch above your weight.

April 3 2019

Pioneer Interview: James G

James Gallagher (@jamesg_oca) got started early. He’s 16. And he’s building Open Commit, a platform for code review as a service. The project connects developers around the world with the support they need to write efficient code and improve its overall quality.

March 29 2019

Introducing Pioneer Chat

Introducing our most requested feature: live chat. Play Pioneer and meet other ambitious people around the world.

March 28 2019

Meet the Pioneers, Take 3

A $1,000 brain scanner. A crypto key you can’t lose. Settling new cities in Africa. This is The Frontier.

March 22 2019

Pioneer Interview: Lenny Bogdonoff

Lenny Bogdonoff, a New York-based software engineer and graffiti artist, is creating the world’s first digital genealogy of street art. He played and won a Pioneer tournament while developing a set of machine learning tools for his project, Public Art.

March 20 2019

Pioneer x Lambda School

We’re excited to have you join your own special edition of the Pioneer Tournament. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to succeed. You just need drive.

March 18 2019

Markets To Build In (2019)

Founders often ask me what areas they might entrench themselves in if they want to come across or tackle an interesting problem. Here are a few markets I find interesting.

February 8 2019

The Board Builder

Socrates and Plato. Max Planck and Albert Einstein. Mike Markkula and Steve Jobs. Across almost all innovators one thing is common: a connection to another innovator.

January 30 2019

Meet the Pioneers, Take 2

Today we’re excited to announce the winners of the second Pioneer Tournament! Our second tournament encompassed players from across the entire globe. From Albania to Guatemala and Tanzania, Pioneer is being played wherever there’s an Internet connection.

January 16 2019

Pioneer's Holiday Tournament

tl;dr: Pioneer winners now get $100,000 in Google Cloud credits, apply now! Just a few days ago we announced the winners of our first Pioneer Tournament. In a few days, our second Tournament will be closing. Today, we’re excited to announce

December 5 2018

Meet the Pioneers

We’re excited to announce the winners of the first Pioneer Tournament.

November 29 2018

The Road Ahead

We originally thought Pioneer was a search engine. Our main effort would be finding the creative outsiders. It turns out we built something... slightly different.

November 29 2018

Pioneer Interview: Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen is an American economist and professor at George Mason University, where he holds the Holbert C. Harris chair in the economics department. Tyler is also a Pioneer Expert.

October 25 2018
Blog
Pioneer Apply
Pioneer © 2025
ABOUT JOBS