The most important aspect of my OD50 experience can be boiled down to building back my confidence. Coming into the fellowship, I didn't know much about start-ups and tech although I have always been curious. I wasn't sure how my career background could translate. After the fellowship, I realize that I can absolutely make this transition and I now have an entire community behind me.
OD50 offered me the safe space to explore, and more importantly, stay on track on what direction I take in my career, and I cannot express enough gratitude for this. No other coaching platform or space has done this for me.
On Deck has been an amazing place for someone who has spent the last 20 years of my career in Fortune 500 companies to onboard into the startup community. Great content and support from the On Deck staff to really jumpstart and get my thinking geared differently.
After being in the same company and making a 10 year career in Operations, I had no idea where to even begin with the job search process. So thankful I found On Deck and now I am very well in my job search process.
The OD50 program made me a more well rounded individual not only in the startup community but in all areas of business. The guidance holds strong application to all areas of business, and I walked away knowing what my strongest value add is to companies: partnerships, strategy, and operational excellence. The individualized feedback helped me identify my blind spots and turn them into strengths through the resources in the OD program.
When I started On Deck I was making a career pivot and didn't know what role, industry or stage I was interested in. All I knew is I wanted to find a meaningful role at a startup. On Deck helped me narrow my focus based on my skill set, interests and risk tolerance through talking with other On Deck fellows, my learning group, attending workshops and working with On Deck Career Coaches and team members. After a few weeks, I had a much clearer vision of what I wanted and was intentionally able to seek that out. I met several founders through On Deck's Talent Hub and ultimately took a role as Head of Ops & Chief of Staff at a seed stage co! I found exactly what I was hoping to thanks to all the wonderful resources On Deck provides (as well as a lot of hard, introspective work).
On Deck helped my understand the importance of a community open to supporting each other and embracing their humanity. People in the community are willing to help and redirect you if they're unable to help directly.
This program and community have helped me beyond professional goals. They've forced me to look deeper at the my life and career stage, and be more thoughtful and purposeful in what I pursue and why.
My experience with On Deck's OD50 program was just what I needed in my career transition. OD50 allowed me to create meaningful connections in the startup world, as well as helped me navigate what type of role I want to assume at a startup. As I make my transition from photojournalist to a role at an early stage startup, I know that On Deck will be a recourse I will continue to utilize.
I found OD50 to be the perfect way for me to not only navigate but also accelerate my career pivot into startups, all while becoming a part of an incredibly generous community. I’m confident the insights and connections I’ve gained over the 8 weeks will last a lifetime!
I joined OD50-5 last December. The timing of the program was impeccable. Year-end tends to put me in a reflective mode and the 8-week journey with OD allowed me to reflect on my career thus far and build on principles on which to evaluate my journey going forward. The highlight of my OD50 journey was my learning group - the group that I got to spend the most time with, be vulnerable, and was held accountable as I figure out my next move. Forever grateful to my amazing learning group mates - I intend to remain in touch with them. One of the other perks of joining OD50 are the Talent Demo Days - one of the best ways to meet the coolest startups and get a direct line of communication to them. The overall ROI on my experience has been and highly recommend to all mid-career professionals who are looking to be more intentional about their career moves.
The experience was great. On Deck has managed to build and scale an active community that is engaged and open to networking/helping each other. The content was also relevant and educative with plenty of opportunities to receive feedback and coaching. The combination of network, content, and coaching makes it really easy for the fellow to come out significantly better at each part of the job hunt process. Not to mention the uniqueness of the Talent Demo Days.
OD50 was a wonderful way to learn that you’re not alone. There’s other (great) people who don’t have it all figured out either and that’s okay.
My OD50 experience was phenomenal. It gave me access to a network of diverse people doing great things and people in fields I would otherwise most likely not have had access to. The 1 on 1 sessions with people at On Deck were extremely helpful and fellows were very open to helping other fellows through discussions and sessions. Overall, I rate the experience a 10/10.
The OD50 experience is amazing. It helped me collate the wide variety of experience I’ve had and present myself better.
OD50's IP is the community. It's you and the people you get to meet on the platform that you would not have met otherwise. If you do it and still think the community wasn't amazing I will pay your tuition back to you!
As someone making an ambitious pivot to startups from a "nontraditional" tech background, OD50 provided world-class help every step of the way. If you're looking to make some big changes in your professional life and are ready to make the leap, then OD50 is hands down the place for you.
I came into OD50 with a “what’s my next job?” mentality, but it is much more than that. On Deck creates the space where you can focus on yourself, take a couple of deep breaths, ask yourself questions about who you are what you do and how you do what you do. With the help of the amazing OD50 team, you really get the sense of aligning yourself with your career and a lifelong community of support with it. Nothing beats that in my book!
I initially joined OD50 because I was at a point where I was looking to pivot careers but I ended up getting a job before the program officially began. I still wanted to follow through and did not regret my decision at all. OD50 in a few words to me would be: a game-changing community filled with resourceful content and amazing talents.
OD50 has been such a wonderful experience -- the job search process is not easy, but it is so nice to know there is a supportive community here that is more than willing to help and provide resources, tailored advice, and guidance. I've loved meeting people from so many different backgrounds, and it's helped me think deeply about how I want to shape my career and the impact I want to have. The OD50 team and career coaches go above and beyond to help in all aspects of the job search and make sure everyone's questions get answered in a timely manner. Big thank you to the OD team for such a great last 8 weeks!
I came into On Deck looking to find clarity in terms of taking the next career steps. On Deck helped me achieve that clarity through the workshops, community sessions and just speaking to other fellows at a similar point in their career journey. I highly recommend OD50.
OD50 was a truly fascinating experience. Meeting like minded peers, speaking to talk global startups and ultimately finding a great fit. It's the best place to figure out what next. Lessons on my career moat will stay with me for a lifetime.
On Deck is an amazing community and educational platform that instills its amazing values through the OD staff to everyone that attends a program. I would love to help bring OD to more people across the world as I am a huge believer in the power of communities like OD!
Finding a place in the startup ecosystem is much messier than the rest of the career market. So you need human guides. OD50 provides experts and peers to help you find your way.
I am proud to be part of On Deck. Talented, supporting community at OD and team that is building it, is unmatched. OD50 is the best program for pivoters who want to join mission driven startups. Join this amazing community for Insights, Ideas and growing alongside talented peers.
OD50 helped me realize that I was pitching my experience in the wrong way. Having transitioned from Tech to Marketing I always considered my Tech background as a liability. But speaking to mentors like Paul and other members of the cohort I realized that I was positioning it wrongly. Thank you OD50!
Joining OD50 Fellowship has given me direction, intention and purpose in my career and has been truly life changing. A great opportunity to build a network of peers, mentors and advisors to land the next role.
OD50 is an amazing community for those who want to break into the startup world. From uber helpful staff to a treasure trove of resources and inspiring peers, OD50 is more like a key that unlocks lifelong learning and friendships, and less like an 8-week program.
OD50 has been a very positive and supportive experience as job searching journey can be lonely and overwhelming. Being part of a community with like-minded people who are on a similar journey allowed me to have honest conversations that often led me to better self-awareness and inclusiveness.