Interview Prep

This is the TLDR for interviews: make sure you have a solid understanding of what it is you're building, why you're building it, and what you intend to spend the requested funds on. The conversations are pretty short and can be really enjoyable assuming you're just yourself - Shruti and Tyler are really smart and nice so even if you don't get the grant, try to just enjoy the conversation.
Part of preparing (and what's fun about preparing) is watching podcast episodes with both Shruti and Tyler to learn more about how they think, what they think about, and why they find it important.
We've compiled some podcast episodes and articles that would be good to go through pre-interview:

• - Emergent Ventures Q&A
• - Tyler Cowen On Talent
• - Tyler Cowen & Shruti Rajagopalan: Geopolitics of talent
• - Shruti Rajagopalan on the Past, Present, and Future of the Indian Economy
• - Tyler Cowen is the best curator of talent in the world
• - Tyler Cowen: Economic Growth & the Fight Against Conformity & Mediocrity

What happens if you get accepted? Grantees get access to a Whatsapp group chat and an annual grantee conference (all travel expenditures covered, I haven't been personally but I've heard great things). The vast majority of Emergent Ventures community members are super interesting and received their non-dilutive funding to work on moonshot ideas.

It's also wise to think about how you want to accept the grant since you'll pay taxes depending on how it's accepted. Tax law changes a lot depending on where you're based, but do your own research and know that if you are accepted, you can ask the Emergent Ventures team for advice. When I accepted my grant, I had to decide whether to accept it personally and pay personal income tax, accept it to an incorporated business account and pay corporate tax, or accept it to a non-profit (tax-free) which is what I ended up doing.

Here are some examples of Emergent Ventures applications from grant winners:

• - UltraRice
• - Samstack
• - another one