We teach by building together. Our immersive program where founders work side by side with our founders and expert operators the process from insight to product-market fit.
Applications Currently Closed
Fall 2025 applications now closed. Check back in Spring 2026 for our next cohort.
Decisions delivered: First or second week of October.
Investment
Up to $1M uncapped SAFE
Date
November 17-21, 2025
Location
Menlo Park, CA
Curriculum
Day 1
On Day 1 of Unusual Academy, founders learn the Unusual Method built and proven by Jyoti Bansal and John Vrionis. Learn how many of the most successful enterprise software startups of the past 20 years executed in the early days and how to apply it to your startup. Jyoti and John cover the very best practices for customer discovery including ICP iteration, finding and working with the right design partners, and how to prioritize your product roadmap.
Day 2
On Day 2, functional leaders and founders from the top AI startups dive deeply into the topics of pricing, partnerships, resources, hiring, new tools and how to approach funding.
Day 3
On Day 3, we focus on essential management, hiring, leadership and fundraising skills for early stage founders. Collaborate and learn from seasoned founders and leaders like Don Faul, Andy Rachleff and Abhi Sharma about how they’ve learned to hire, manage, lead and fundraise. Wrap up by pitching in front of the cohort and famous guest investors to receive real-time feedback.
Unusual Method Way to PMF
Speakers
Andy Rachleff
President & CEO of Wealthfront
Bethany Coates
Founder + CEO
at Breakline Education
Don Faul
CEO of CrossFit
Britt Jamison
Head of Product, OpenAI
Testimonials
Phil Vander Broek
Co-Founder, Dopt
Founders of iconic companies have learned from the experts who built Unusual Academy.
Lydia Hylton
Founder, Strella
(Forbes 30U30, Stanford GSB alum)
Ishan Sharma
Co-founder & CEO, SellScale
FAQ
Any founder who is starting a company is eligible to apply to Unusual Academy. Most companies have not raised any money prior to Unusual Academy, but in some cases companies have raised up to $2M at the time when we make our investment.
Unusual Academy is for companies incorporated in the United States. The sessions are in person so you must be able to attend the full week of curriculum in Menlo Park, CA.
No idea is too early! We welcome teams at any stage from idea to prototype to production to apply to the program.
This is a week long program from November 17th – 21st, in-person in Menlo Park, CA.
Every participant of Unusual Academy is invited to continue to indefinitely engage with the entire Unusual team including former Academy participants and the entire portfolio community. We host continuing education events with world class speakers, offer office hours with the investment Partners, provide office space for meetings, and welcome future participation in Academy events.
We will review applications and make decisions on a rolling basis. Key Dates are as follows:
Decisions delivered: First or second week of October.
Early application deadline: Friday, September 12th — apply by this date and you’ll hear back from us by the end of September.
Final application deadline: Friday, September 26th — apply by this date and you’ll hear back by early October.
Uncapped SAFE for up to $1M in your next financing and a 3% program fee.
We provide more than $1M in credits from top providers like Microsoft Azure, OpenAI, and more.
