"We met somewhat spontaneously in the hallway at one of the founder retreats and started talking philosophy. Next thing you know, 3 hours had passed and we hadn't moved 😆 We followed up later when we started getting more serious about starting a company and the rest is history. On Deck is one of those places where you can interact with a curated group of like-minded people, and you never know where that might lead." - Sam Corcos

Levels helps you see how food affects your health with personalized insights so you can optimize your nutrition and activity.

“Lawrence Lin Murata and I were hackathon leaders of rival universities (UC Berkeley and Stanford, respectively) back in 2016. We each went on to found our own companies after graduation, but reconnected in late 2020 during an On Deck cohort having both recently departed from our own startups. We really felt like we could be the dream team as both second-time founders that had made mistakes and learned. We used the cohort to iterate quickly together.” - Alice Deng

At Slope (YC S21), we are building Buy Now, Pay Later for B2B businesses. We enable any business to pay with installments at checkout. Buy Now, Pay Later is the foundation to rebuilding the messy cross-border B2B payments infrastructure — our vision is to be Stripe for global B2B.

"The weekend before ODF8 started, I was going through all the intro messages from the cohort. My girlfriend stopped by and read a few over my shoulder. When I got to Mike's, she said, "You should definitely talk to this guy. He's a winner." I said, "Whoa, slow down, there are so many talented people here. I'll talk to him, but I'll meet other people too."

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Two days later, I ended up meeting Mike in one of the icebreaker sessions during virtual orientation. We hit it off immediately and got to know each other over several Zoom sessions. Over the next few weeks, we started doing customer interviews together and started building a prototype over a hackathon weekend. Towards the end of ODF8, I flew out to Miami to work together in person. We discussed our goals and values and met some prospective customers. We then decided to go all in together and it's been an amazing ride since then!" - Akshay Buddiga

"We met in one of the first introductory sessions. I was like, "Wow, this guy is one of the smartest people in the program." I immediately told Akshay what I was up to. Then he and his girlfriend came to Miami and we went to some customer visits together. We then prototyped a product over the weekend and completed the co-founder dating questionnaire. He has been the absolute perfect co-founder and has complemented me perfectly. We have extreme alignment in values and vision." - Mike Shebat

Traba's mission is to empower hourly workers and local businesses to unlock their full productivity and earning potential.

"We had never met before. The On Deck program is really conducive to meeting like-minded people, so I actually spent the first month-and-a-half of the program just trying to talk to as many people as I could. I probably had 50 to 75 conversations.

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Then randomly, on a Sunday night, I get a cold DM from Joe. He says, “Hey, I’ve been sent your profile by three different On Deck people in the last 24 hours. Want to chat?” Basically, it was three people that we had both mutually talked to, who it didn’t work out with. Those people came to the realization that hey, maybe we should introduce these two guys." - Kushal Byatnal

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"We actually didn’t need to work together for a long time at all to know if it was a good fit.  If you’re choosing a co-founder, the big question you have to answer is: Do you want to start a company for the same reasons? Not the “right” reasons, or anything like that, but the same reasons. That matters. If you want to start a company to get rich, that’s fine… but you’d better make sure your co-founder wants to do that, too, because value alignment is the first thing to get stress-tested when things get hard." - Joe Albanese

Stir is the financial studio for collaborating, splitting, and managing your money and metrics all in one place.

"We were working on separate solo projects during On Deck and both of us realized how hard it was to be successful without a co-founder. We had both decided to shutter our businesses at the same time and another ODF member told us we should meet with each other. Jeremy and I met in person and realized we had similar goals and philosophies. It was good timing too since COVID hit the world a few months later and we were able to build a strong starting foundation during the program." - Ansel Parikh

We're on a mission to open and unify the employment data ecosystem with the world's first programmable employment API.

"In Adam's ODF6 intro he mentioned that he was looking to build something that was B2B in an "unsexy" Industry. I reached out. Over a 30 min Zoom call, I quickly downloaded everything that I had learned about the world of heavy equipment aka "Yellow Iron" from my prior roles at Yard Club and Caterpillar.
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We worked together doing customer discovery calls for the next month, took a "heavy equipment" broker course, and after a couple of months started selling used heavy equipment and executing on our masterplan for Boom & Bucket."
- Samir Shah

Boom & Bucket is the trusted marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment. Find out more at boomandbucket.com

"We met in a live session during ODF4. Brian stated to the group at the beginning of the call that he was looking to elevate the next generation of startups in Latin America. A few minutes later I sent him a message on slack expressing that I shared the same personal mission. We ended up getting together and realizing that we could both reshape a region we both care about." - Gina Gotthilf

Latin America tech is gaining more traction than ever before, but friction is everywhere and makes the startup journey painfully hard. Latitud removes roadblocks and builds superhighways for founders in LatAm to create the world's next top tech companies. Find out more at: latitud.com

"I had been looking through the On Deck network (specifically, combing the Directory) and when I found Mo, who was in the cohort after me, I was like, who is this guy? You can imagine, as an engineer with major technical experience, that he was inundated with 50 versions of the same message. The world was his oyster. I’m just glad he read my cold slack message." - Justin Levine

Shepherd's mission is to make our industry safe and sustainable by rewarding the most innovative builders.

"When I joined On Deck I reached out to Ellen and every other health care founder. I think our On Deck relationship was actually a slow burn; we first spoke sometime in the summer and didn't catch back up until the New Year.

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I remember thinking, "Man, Ellen's working on some cool ideas." WellTheory's mission is super personal to me (my wife is actually one of our members). Ellen and I would have these long conversations, always going well over the allotted time. Everything was fair game and I love that Ellen had no issue with me being honest about my feedback, with challenging assumptions.

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Over time, these Zoom calls became hikes we'd go in the Bay Area. I still remember when Ellen asked me to join WellTheory: I wasn't quite ready for a few more months but at some point, it just became clear to me that this was someone I wanted to (needed to!) partner with. The rest, as they say, is history." - Wallace Torres

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"I was building WellTheory while I was in the third cohort of ODF. I was a solo founder and not actively looking for a co-founder. Some time afterwards, Wallace slid into my Slack DMs. We set up a coffee chat, and I remember how enthusiastic and energized he was. It's funny how these feel like dating stories ...nothing much happened from that initial call.

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We wound up catching up a couple of months later. Wallace's wife has an autoimmune disease so I understood how passionate he was about what I was working on. He also gave me some really direct, kind of blunt advice in that call. From there, I started to really respect him and his opinion because he wasn't just agreeing with me. He was providing another way to look at the world. We formed a friendship. We both were living in the Bay Area at the time, so we would hike together and commiserate about founder life. It was on one of those hikes that I suggested he join me in WellTheory in an operations role. It took him a few months to wind down his company, but he ultimately gave me a call and said "When can I get started?" I gave him an offer within 24 hours. He didn't join under the guise of being a co-founder, but within a few months it was clear that he had an ownership mindset and we formalized his role as a third co-founder to me and Claire Rudolph." - Ellen Rudolph

WellTheory combines dietary and lifestyle changes, personalized insights from health data, and community care into a membership experience that supports healing for autoimmune disorders.

"Tom and I were in the same cohort (ODF3) and we met early over a coffee chat on Zoom. We bonded over shared ride-sharing experiences as he worked at Uber during the same time I worked at Lyft. We were both early in the process - he was working on some side projects and I had just left my job.

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We kept in touch over the next 6 months, and one day we caught up again and the timing just seemed to work out. We did the co-founder dating thing, tested working together for a few months, then took the plunge together to build Supergrain." - George Xing

Supergrain is a B2B marketing solution for product-led companies.

“I was looking through the On Deck directory for other folks in my cohort who were also interested in B2B software. Josh had written on his profile that he was interested in tackling gnarly B2B problems, so I reached out to chat. We quickly discovered that we actually already met several years ago at a Head of Product meetup. We also realized that we lived just a couple blocks away from each other. Over the course of Summer 2020, we met up for walks outside or in Noe Valley Town Square, and that’s how Sensible was born.” - Ming Lu

Sensible is building developer tools that make it easy to get structured data out of documents.

"It's early 2021 and I'm in the process of winding down my company and exploring some ideas around SMB software. I started searching the ODF directory for anyone that had worked on Quickbooks and boom found Charles! After sliding into his DM's we decided to hack on a side project together just for fun. The rest is history!" - Farooq Malik

We're building the financial infrastructure for digital money. Starting by building the first Web3 native credit card and facilitating digital money acceptance globally.

"We were a random Donut* match (made in heaven). I'd been kicking around ideas co-founder dating through ODF for a while, mostly discussing net-new ideas with folks rather than Ignition, which I'd been kind of dabbling with on the side. Karthik and I were running through a list of possible ideas to jam on and I kind of glossed over Ignition a bit since I wasn't sure he'd be excited about it. He stopped me mid-sentence and was like, "Wait, I want to hear more about this one!" The rest is history." - Derek Osgood

*Donut is a Slack integration that facilitates new, random connections.
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We're the first Go-to-Market Operations Platform, helping Product and Product Marketing teams get on the same page and drive more successful launch processes. We're great for founders too, with our feature idea voting boards and changelogs, which are completely free, and a 90% discount for ODF founders. To sign up, you can visit HaveIgnition.com.

"I had been looking for a co-founder for the better part of three years, so I decided to give the On Deck Founder Matching program a shot. As I swiped away (yes, it really felt like co-founder Tinder lol), I eventually stumbled upon Cheryl's profile and felt like her strong leadership, marketing, and product background would mesh with my technical and product background.

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Cheryl, on the other hand, was part of ODF1 as a sponsor, and ODF2 as a founder and had also been looking for a co-founder. While she had met 10-15 others, she didn't really find "the one" for over two years.

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Ultimately, we both felt we could build a special company together and in the end I'm glad we both swiped right ;) " -Donald Koo

Tiny Health is the first science-based platform that aims to prevent gut imbalances in babies in the critical first 1,000 days that may lead to eczema, allergies, asthma, obesity, and other chronic diseases later in life. Its Gut Health Test is the first to use shotgun metagenomics sequencing tailored specifically for those trying to conceive, expecting moms and babies 0-3 years of age.

"We met at a dinner years ago and reconnected in the ODF Slack chat. We navigated the idea maze while doing On Deck. By talking to 70 doctors over Zoom in the middle of the pandemic we learned why it is so hard to run the finances of their practice. Working together for months made us realize: we'll make a good founding team. The rest is history!"  - Steijn Pelle

We're building financial tools to make it fun and easy for the 1 million doctors running their own health practice.

"We were put in touch by a mutual friend, Sanjay Amin, in February of 2021. On our first call I was explaining that I was going through a program called On Deck. Chris said "I'm actually doing OD50!" Our first hire, Girish Gupta, went through a few different On Deck programs as well." - Alex White

Use Subcity to find and claim government incentives—without spending weeks bogged down in paperwork.

"I came to On Deck as a non-technical founder with a mission and drive. I met Cindy through co-founder dating and I realized that while our backgrounds were completely different, our missions aligned and we filled in each other's gaps. She helped make a more holistic company and executive team." - Michael Haddix

We are providing a pocket financial advisor for gen z. We allow users to build wealth safely and guide them each step of the way.

"We were both looking for climate-focused people to collaborate with. Even though we were 18 months apart in cohorts, when we DM'd each other, we immediately started talking and a couple of months later we started Paces!" - James McWalter

Software identifying the best places for renewable projects.

"I was a determined solo founder and Felix started helping me out on some problems I'd posted in the OD Slack. A few months later, we were co-founders. It turns out he had tricked me into liking our work together so much that it only made sense to become co-founders." - Hillary Lin, MD

"Some might say that I am the ultimate "strategic partnerships" person. Working with Hillary in our first few months had me convinced that we could build a massively important company together — if you've met Hillary you know why. Only unintended consequence of co-founding is I've 10x the number of escape rooms I have completed (I have done 10)." - Felix Li

We're changing the paradigm with psychedelics. Join the psychedelic renaissance by becoming a member at https://www.joincurio.com/ or joining our team at https://www.joincurio.com/careers.

"Philip and I met each other during the heart of the Covid lockdowns in 2020, at a startup hacker house in Tulum, Mexico, set up by other On Deck founders. We ended up roommates, sharing a room the size of a shoe box. We spent day and night launching various projects together (despite full-time jobs, bad wifi, bugs everywhere, and even a few hurricanes that wiped out the electricity!).

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When we met, Philip and I had just joined On Deck, and were both at an inflection point in our lives. We were repeat founders with a desire to make a meaningful difference in the world, with a product that people would love to use. We discovered that we’d both been researching the failings of scientific software for several years and had similar frustrations with the many problems of scientific research.

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With our distinct backgrounds, complementary skillsets, and similar goals and life aspirations, we saw the potential for a partnership, and decided to work together." - Aoi Senju

Colabra is the only GxP-compliant agile lab management software, designed to make scientific R&D more efficient, research teams better connected, and all data integrated.

"Manu seemed super cool. He had a really impressive title, Head of Innovation at Hyperloop. We spoke and he was really about what I was doing, so I got excited and told my friends that the former Head of Innovation at Hyperloop was excited about what I was doing. Manu never ended up joining me on my idea, but a couple months later, I did join him on his." - Yacov Lewis

CIRCLES is the easiest way for the world’s professionals to share knowledge. A short-video app built for useful content from smart people.

“We both joined ODF10 in hopes of finding a co-founder. Halfway through the program, we were both vaguely aware of each other because we were building in the same space (Steffan was working on an idea called Focus Party at the time). But we hadn’t yet met.

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Then I saw Steffan post two job specs into On Deck slack. I was curious so I checked them out, and was blown away by what I read. He was so thoughtful about his vision, so clear on what he was looking for in teammates, and so self-aware of his own strengths as a co-founder. I thought, “I gotta get to know this guy!” And a seed of an idea started forming--could we be the perfect co-founder match...

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Steffan was running a pilot called Writing Party for ODF’ers. It was a weekly zoom session where we’d sign up for focused writing time with light facilitation and excellent tunes. I signed up as a way to get to know him and his company and loved the experience.

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That’s what led to us starting conversations. First just to get to know each other and our companies. Then, as we kept chatting, we both were realizing independently how similar our visions were, and how complementary our skillsets are. I think it was Steffan who first mentioned it out loud: “Should we think about joining forces?”

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We continued meeting daily for several weeks, getting to know each other deeply. Eventually we decided to collaborate on a project to test out how we’d work together. Needless to say, the experiment went well. That project turned into v1 of Crew’s platform. Steffan had a term sheet for his other idea. I had another potential co-founder lined up. But we both took the leap, and the rest is history.” - Mollie Amkraut Mueller

Navigate your biggest career challenges with a crew of professional peers & tools that help you design a career that brings you meaning, fulfillment & happiness.
Sign up for early access to our career design platform here: https://www.joinacrew.com/clarity

"I came into On Deck with a mission to expand access to investing while Courtney was on a mission to create Duolingo for financial literacy. With shared visions to create a more inclusive financial system, we gravitated towards one another in a  networking event. We then started talking weekly in a women's HH group and talking endlessly about the problems we wanted to solve. A few weeks in, we decided to do a research project together and quickly realized, our problem wasn't about lack of access or education. It was an emotional and behavioral problem. We spent the next 3 months ideating, researching the space and ultimately decided to build Aura together!" - Kelsey Willock

Aura is currently in a closed private beta. If you'd like to gain access, join our waitlist here: aurafinance.io.

"I was looking for a co-founder when I first joined On Deck. I reached out to a lot of people in the community with technical and program management backgrounds, and sustainability and/or secondhand consumption interests.

I ended up messaging Jake Singer, Tanya’s boyfriend, because he mentioned in his On Deck profile that he was interested in sustainability and composting. He also had a PM background. We had a great chat and he mentioned Tanya and how she would probably be interested in learning more. He sent her email address over and I emailed her that day to chat." - Carley Lake

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"My partner Jake was excited after a call with another ODF member (Carley!), and said he wanted to connect us. I had no expectations going into the call." -Tanya Dastyar

Lucky Sweater makes it easy and fun to trade, discover, and learn with the slow fashion community. Come for the clothes, stay for the community. We’re always looking to chat with compassionate, curious, and talented people. Message us if you’re interested in joining Lucky Sweater: hello@luckysweater.com.

"Towards the end of my ODF4 program I had just started working on my own newsletter (The Premoney List), was extremely interested in the space, and decided to partake in an On Deck hackathon. During the hackathon, I built a chrome extension with a few other On Deck fellows which focused on helping newsletter writers growth their audiences through cross-promotions. As part of the hackathon, I was introduced to Jake Singer (ODF5), who had also recently started his own newsletter and was also interested in working in the newsletter space. We kept talking, and ultimately began building a new version of Swapstack that focused on newsletter monetization." - Jake Schonberger

We built Swapstack to scratch our own itch. As newsletter writers, we believed it was harder than it should be for people to find and connect with sponsors. Our goal is to serve as every creator’s sales team, so they can spend time doing what they love.

"Hersh was in a different cohort. I had been searching for a co-founder for 8 months. . It was complete serendipity that we met during an ice breaker event, and ultimately hit it off after a month of co-founder dating. I had already built an initial MVP of a product, which helped convince Hersh to join me as co-founder and CTO." - Manish Jain

Mezzi is your digital investment advisor. We help drive smarter personal portfolio management with automated analysis. We're hiring for a founding product designer and founding engineer.

"I wanted to do something crazy for On Deck's Global Build Weekend, but was having trouble getting people on my side. When I left the message "Hey folks, it’s a bit late, but I’m tempted by the idea of a weekend moonshot. If you’re up for noodling on a hardware/physical product (I can bring in mechanical design), let me know!" in Slack, I wasn't expecting much.

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Tyler quickly came out of the woodwork, we noodled, made a hardware product in a weekend, won an award, realized we had something worth working on, and raised some money. I really have no idea where I'd be today without On Deck bringing us together." - Ciarán Murphy

At Sero Health, we're helping people recover from emotional trauma with a neurotech-powered virtual clinic. We're preparing to fundraise. If you're interested in the mental health space, we'd love to get your thoughts on what we're building.

"Craig and I each tweeted that we'd be joining ODF9 before the cohort kicked off. I came across that tweet and reached out to him to do a coffee chat and we exchanged backgrounds and ideas all before ODF9. We realized there was some mutual appreciation for a startup that could do good.

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We separately went through the program and co-founder dated many others. About 6 weeks into the program we reconvened and had a follow-up chat. At that point we realized collaborating and working together could make sense.

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After several weeks of collaboration, we decided to discuss further about Craig joining Hedado (the company I had already incorporated and had been testing). This included business terms and aligning on long-term company plans.

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Finally, we met up in Vegas (I was based in LA and Craig in Houston) to make sure the in-person social dynamic would work - which it did! And then we finalized paperwork and officially called each other co-founders." - Viren Tellis

Hedado builds free tools to improve charitable giving. Hedado makes it easy for individuals to manage all their philanthropy in one place. And for mid-market and SMB companies, Hedado has an efficient and elegant solution for donation matching. https://hedado.com/