I'm Jake, one of 40 finalists here in San Francisco,

competing for a hundred thousand dollar Thiel grant.

It all comes down to a 2-minute pitch

and one life-changing decision.

To drop out of school and pursue our dreams.

This, is Teen Technorati.

I think we're just seeing the strongest class

of finalists we've ever had.

The time they're going to start changing the world is today.

And the people that will help them change

the world is all of you.

(applause)

It's really just beginning, I mean,

what really happens is after these pitches,

is when we're at the table really hands-on

with the mentors and the other fellows.

First, no-one wanted to talk

and we wondered if our pitches weren't good enough.

I've never done speaking on that scale before,

so I've never been speaking at all in public,

but like, if people think what I'm doing is interesting,

they'll come talk to me.

Once the mentors started asking questions

we realised how serious this competition really was.

Does anything like this currently exist?

Um, robotics is doing some similar thing.

This one works, like, earthquakes, also fire,

and house rescue, and mines.

I basically built my own robot, which goes into mines,

it can climb up stairs, and it sends back video feed

into these HMD glasses, so you can basically go near a body,

or something and measure if they're still alive

and that way it's much easier to find out where they are

and locate them to save them.

So what are you going to do with $100,000?

I can get about five of them, to talk to each other,

and that way you can, instead of having one big one,

you can spread the five of them out,

and if one gets stuck then the other one can go through.

My dad's a taxi business owner

and my mom's a manager of a Mobil gas station.

They're not into computing so I don't know where

I got the technology aspect of it.

I like to build really cool shit.

My company, Watchsend, makes analytic software

for people who don't have time

to learn how to use analytic software.

We make software for people who make software.

I don't know that I have a hero.

Popular celebrities in technology

like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates,

you sort of hear caricatures of them.

My heroes are every day people I suppose,

my roommates do amazing things and they're amazing people.

We've had the opportunity to sit

with some of the finalists one-on-one and to write about it,

explain our thoughts, and make recommendations.

And you're doing all of this by yourself?

I have been getting a lot of help

from several people in the community,

using lab space, the equipment,

and also access to drugs as well.

You are immersed in this deep subject, and this person

is incredibly passionate about solving something

or making the world better.

What's the business plan?

So right now we'll put someone on Mars

for more than a hundred days.

The mentors didn't go easy on us, but in the end,

it helped us only more effectively articulate our projects.

I know I can make this thing huge.

It's always just been such an integral part of my life.

What motivates me about this specific project is that

here I was with an idea and a computer, and now

I'm like actually changing people's lives.

It was really inspiring to see young people

with big dreams and actually have the ability to execute.

We're just saying how our day went, the levels of

I'm blown away, I'm really impressed, I'm inspired.

Now I'm finally done, so I can just relax

and catch up on my TV shows.

I mean, it's Sunday night, so it's Game of Thrones night.

Join us for the next episode of Teen Technorati

when the big decisions are made.

Who will be this year's Thiel finalist?

Subscribe to the Wired channel to find out.