At first glance, freshman John Marbach looks and acts just like any other Wake Forest student, but let’s just say he is anything but ordinary.
In January Marbach will be moving to Mountain View, California to participate in the “20 Under 20” program, founded by none other than Peter Thiel. If you haven’t seen The Social Network, he was Facebook’s first investor, aka a very big deal.
Here’s how the fellowship works: Each of the 20 recipients (all under 20 years old) must implement an entrepreneurial idea using technology to affect change with a $100,000 grant. The only catch? They have to drop out of school.
“Peter Thiel started this program because he predicts something called the ‘education bubble,’” says Marbach. “People are paying a lot for their education, but they aren’t getting the same value back.
For 20 people that know what they want to do and have the knowledge and means to actually do
something, college isn’t necessarily the best place for them.”
This program seems to be a great fit for Marbach, who swears he was a very average student in high school, though he is so well spoken it’s hard to believe him. His knowledge and passion for technology is also impressive—he reads technology blogs for at least an hour every day.
Oh, and just to add to his cool factor, Marbach is a triplet. And yes, his two sisters are sticking to the traditional 4-year college plan.
But if you asked Marbach a year ago about his plans for after high school, he would have had a very similar answer as his sisters.
“I never really thought much about going to college for four years because I went to a college prep school and that is what you do,” says Marbach. “You go to four years of high school so you can get ready for college, you get your degree, then you go off into the world.”
So why bother to go to college at all? With $100,000 dollars waiting for you the second you turn in your withdrawal notice, it’d be pretty tempting to forgo exams and jet off to L.A.
Surprisingly, coming from someone who will be forging a career in technology, it was Wake’s liberal arts education that convinced him to do a short stint in college.
“So at a school like Wake Forest, you have to take a core set of classes to get a holistic view of education, which gives you a good sense of the humanities and human problems,” says Marbach. “Then you can major in something technical like computer science and get a better understanding of technology, as well.”
Though academics of course played a role in Marbach’s choice to spend a semester at school, partying was definitely on the list of things Marbach wanted to learn during his time in college. He’s convinced that being social is not only a skill, but an asset in the professional world.
“Learning to party is important,” argues Marbach. “People don’t really understand that. It’s a good social skill … I’m serious!”
So what exactly is Marbach going to do with the $100, 000 dollars next year? Just something that could change the way we search the Web in the future, no big deal.
John explains that there is currently no universal access to links, so if you’re browsing the Web and have 5 (or, cough cough, 15) tabs open, there is no way to access them the next day or on a different computer.
“Links are the most important thing on the Web, that is how you travel,” says Marbach. “You need universal access to them on your laptop and your smartphone, and you need a way to organize it all.”
But that’s not where the idea ends. John has a 5-year plan that will take his idea from the application stage to using the compiled data to help determine search results.
“The goal is to reach a 5-year vision, where you are replacing existing search options,” says Marbach. “So you create an app that people get a lot of utility from, and with that, we get a lot of data that we can use to change something else.”
Seem a little over your head? You will understand when he trumps Google someday.
And if that doesn’t work out, Marbach has a surprising dream job to fall back on.
“If money or talent didn’t matter, I’d be a DJ, like Avici,” says Marbach excitedly. “I’m not a musician, but I really like electronic club music. I would love to be at an ultra music festival just running my own tracks. That would be amazing.”
No matter what Marbach does with his life, chances are, he’ll make sure it’s a success.
*Photography by Elise Wallace