Michael Gibson

Background

Michael Patrick Gibson is the Co-Founder and General Partner of 1517 Fund, a venture capital firm he co-founded with Danielle Strachman in June 2015 ¹². The fund is based in Telluride, Colorado ³.

Before launching 1517, Gibson served as Vice President for Grants at the Thiel Foundation and as a Principal at Thiel Capital for nearly five years, where he contributed research to Peter Thiel’s macro hedge fund ⁴⁵. He co-founded and co-ran the Thiel Fellowship alongside Strachman starting on September 27, 2010 ⁶. Gibson has stated: “We started the fellowship on my first day of work with Peter, on September 27, 2010” ⁶.

Gibson was previously a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Oxford, though he did not complete the degree ⁴⁵. He also studied at the University of Chicago and New York University ³. He taught at Stanford Law School on topics of sovereignty and technological change ⁵. He has served on the board of the Seasteading Institute ⁵.

Gibson is the author of Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University (Encounter Books, 2022), which chronicles his and Strachman’s journey from the Thiel Fellowship to founding 1517 ⁷⁸. He has contributed articles on science and technology to MIT Technology Review, The Atlantic, and Forbes ⁴⁵.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Gibson says publicly about his investing approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Gibson describes 1517 Fund as “technically a venture capital fund, but we like to think of ourselves as an anti-establishment educational institution. We make investments and give micro-grants in order to advance the edges of knowledge and science” ⁹.

The fund’s core premise is anti-credentialism. Gibson has said: “We hope that by backing people without credentials we’re showing that there is not one path to success in America. You don’t need a college diploma to have a fulfilling and rewarding career” ⁹.

On naming the fund, Gibson explained: “I thought about how bad diplomas were becoming as a signal of skills or knowledge… That low-quality signal being sold by a powerful, preachy institution reminded me of the role of indulgences in the Catholic Church during the 16th century. 1517 is the year Martin Luther wrote his ninety-five theses against the sale of these pieces of paper” ⁹.

On identifying founders, Gibson has stated that the best founders “tend to be both insiders and outsiders at the same time. A bit of a paradox” ⁶. He looks for founders where vision is “matched by dedication and execution” and who “love probing that line between chaos and order, the known and the unknown” ⁶.

Gibson views higher education as a threat to innovation: “Higher education is the main one, and I’m really concerned that it is stifling creativity” ⁹.

Inferred Thesis

The analysis below is based on 34 verified investments from 1517 Fund I and additional investments across Funds II-IV, totaling approximately 110 investments across four flagship funds ¹⁰. Because Gibson and Strachman co-manage the fund as equal co-GPs, individual attribution of specific deals is not possible from public sources; the analysis reflects the fund’s overall portfolio.

Stage distribution:

1517 invests almost exclusively at pre-seed and seed, with initial checks ranging from $50,000 at the idea/R&D stage to $1,000,000 for deep tech seed ¹. The average pre-seed check is $400,000, with a sweet spot around $250,000 ¹¹¹. The fund targets companies with less than $1.5M in prior fundraising and seeks 7-10% ownership ¹⁰. Follow-on investments are made through 15+ SPVs ¹.

Sector breakdown (based on notable portfolio companies across all funds):

The fund is nominally sector-agnostic but founder-focused. However, the portfolio reveals clear sector concentrations:

• Deep tech / hardware: Luminar (lidar), Atom Computing (quantum computing), Positron AI, Xona Space Systems (precision GPS), Kura (AR glasses), Mach Industries (defense) ¹¹⁰¹²
• AI / machine learning: Lambda (GPU cloud/AI infrastructure), Deepgram (speech recognition AI), Positron AI ¹¹⁰
• Enterprise SaaS / B2B: Loom (async video), nTopology (engineering design), FOSSA (open-source compliance), Fountain (hiring platform), Cents (laundromat SaaS) ¹¹²
• Climate / energy: CalWave Power (wave energy), Zeno Power Systems (nuclear batteries), Rainmaker (cloud seeding drones) ¹⁰¹³
• Consumer: Presso (garment cleaning) ¹
• Biotech / life sciences: Trilobio (modular biology robots) ¹⁰

Founder profile patterns:

The defining characteristic is backing founders without traditional credentials — specifically those without undergraduate degrees, dropouts, and renegade scientists leaving academia ¹⁹. Many portfolio founders are Thiel Fellowship alumni, including Austin Russell (Luminar, 2013 Fellow), Thomas Sohmers (Positron AI, 2013 Fellow), and Augustus Doricko (Rainmaker, 2024 Fellow) ¹⁰¹². The fund has expanded beyond its original dropout focus to include “renegade scientists” abandoning traditional academic career tracks ¹⁰.

Geographic patterns:

While headquartered in Telluride, Colorado, the fund invests across the United States, with concentrations in the San Francisco Bay Area and other tech hubs ⁵¹¹.

Notable gaps between stated and inferred thesis:

The stated thesis emphasizes anti-credentialism and backing dropouts, but the portfolio includes several founders with significant technical backgrounds and academic pedigrees (e.g., scientists with PhDs who leave academia). The “dropout” framing is a marketing simplification of a more nuanced approach that values unconventional paths broadly, including leaving established institutions at any career stage ¹⁰.

Fund performance (Fund I):

Fund I has returned 4.41x DPI (distributed-to-paid-in) and 9.65x TVPI (total value to paid-in) with a 38.86% IRR, outperforming Cambridge Associates’ top 5% benchmark of 34.99% ¹⁰.

Portfolio

This table represents approximately 19 of ~110 total investments across four flagship funds. Many early-stage investments are not publicly disclosed. Years marked with ~ are approximate based on company founding dates or fund vintage.

In Their Own Words

“We started the fellowship on my first day of work with Peter, on September 27, 2010.” — Michael Gibson, Raging Capital Ventures interview ⁶

“We’re technically a venture capital fund, but we like to think of ourselves as an anti-establishment educational institution. We make investments and give micro-grants in order to advance the edges of knowledge and science.” — Michael Gibson, Authority Magazine interview ⁹

“I thought about how bad diplomas were becoming as a signal of skills or knowledge… That low-quality signal being sold by a powerful, preachy institution reminded me of the role of indulgences in the Catholic Church during the 16th century. 1517 is the year Martin Luther wrote his ninety-five theses against the sale of these pieces of paper.” — Michael Gibson, Authority Magazine interview ⁹

“We hope that by backing people without credentials we’re showing that there is not one path to success in America. You don’t need a college diploma to have a fulfilling and rewarding career.” — Michael Gibson, Authority Magazine interview ⁹

“They tend to be both insiders and outsiders at the same time. A bit of a paradox.” — Michael Gibson, on the best founders, Raging Capital Ventures interview ⁶

“We don’t believe in modern indulgences.” — Michael Gibson, Raging Capital Ventures interview ⁶

What Founders Say

Loom’s founders have stated: “Danielle and Michael were our biggest early believers. They met with us weekly, gave us feedback, and wired us money before the deal docs were done as our pre-seed lead so that we wouldn’t run out of money 48hrs later. Can’t honestly say Loom would be a company if it hadn’t been for their belief.” — Loom founders, testimonial on 1517 Fund website ¹

A portfolio founder stated: “Danielle, Michael, Zak and the whole team are genuinely invested in our success and have been there to support us through the good and the challenging times.” — Portfolio founder, 1517 Fund website ¹

A female founder of color in the portfolio stated: “We are proud to make up the less than 1% of women of color who have raised venture capital. 1517 Fund has empowered our team, and we are so fortunate to get to work with the most incredible investors!” — Portfolio founder, 1517 Fund website ¹

Note: The above founder testimonials are sourced from the 1517 Fund website and may reflect selection bias. No independently sourced founder testimonials from third-party publications were found during research.

Connections

• Co-founded Thiel Fellowship (2010-2015) — alongside Danielle Strachman, under Peter Thiel ⁴⁶
• Principal, Thiel Capital — contributed research to Peter Thiel’s macro hedge fund ⁵⁶
• Board member, Seasteading Institute ⁵
• Author, Paper Belt on Fire (Encounter Books, 2022) ⁷⁸
• Taught at Stanford Law School — course on sovereignty and technological change ⁵

Sources