(soft music)

[Narrator] 40 finalists, 20 winners,

100,000 dollars to drop out of school and pursue our dreams.

This, is Teen Technorati.

After a long weekend of lightening pitches

and mentor matches

it's time for us finalists to leave San Francisco,

and head back to reality.

I think that you'll take away from this,

not only the feeling that you're not alone,

but that you have people that you can reach out to

and that will help you achieve your world changing goals.

[Narrator] We've done all we can do.

And now it's up to the judges

to determine who will be receiving

the 20 Thiel Foundation grants.

The Thiel Foundation likes to give grants

to people who are trying to advance

the frontiers of knowledge.

I'm worried the FDA will kill Catherine's creativity.

Catherine's idea for developing modular components

to make powered wheelchairs more useful,

even if that idea doesn't work out,

she's gonna have a whole series

of really impressive things over the course of her life.

Any further assistance you'd like?

No.

No, then have a wonderful week.

Awesome, thank you. Okay.

[Danielle] Let's talk about Darby.

I think she has what it takes to get it done,

just has a lot of work ahead of her.

I was excited about the space, I thought it was neat,

but I just wanted to see more.

Darby proposed a very technical project,

but she's a nontechnical finalist.

[Jonathan] I wanted to feel like it was

more than just an idea she was pitching us,

but something that she was really building

because it's too important to wait on.

Do they have the technical chops that's needed

to move forward socially?

Do we think that the group would be cohesive?

Two years is a long time.

And we all want to feel good about

who we're around for that time period.

Yeah thanks.

Actually. (chuckling)

Oh, sure.

[Danielle] Thomas Hunt.

[Mike] He's trying to solve a really difficult problem,

he cuts to the chase on trying to cure cancer.

[Jonathan] He's actually in labs, doing real science,

learning because he thinks it's important,

rather than because institutions say

that you need to do these things.

[Danielle] David Mace.

I love that he's compiled all this data

on sociopolitical conflicts,

and has developed a predictive algorithm

that the government purchased

because it actually worked.

David actually wants to make the world a better place.

Good luck with everything.

Good luck with you guys. Hopefully, you know.

[Danielle] Alex Koren.

[Mike] Everyone seemed to love him, whether finalists,

our community.

[Danielle] I like him a lot,

but I'm just trying to keep my bias in check.

I think the technology to a degree is there.

[Mike] Our one expert in supercomputing

thinks the processing that he suggests he can bring about

just isn't possible on these devices.

How will he respond to that brick wall when he hits it?

Going back to normal life is always a trip I guess.

[Danielle] Andrew.

I think the DocBot product

is probably a little before its time.

Something like this will happen,

it's an open question whether Andrew's product is the one.

[Danielle] Let's talk about Lucy.

[Mike] The educational game space is very competitive.

Lucy's really strong because she iterates fast,

we've seen her at many hackathons,

each time it's a new idea.

She hacked into her dad's computer

to find its password so she could still play games.

She certainly has a lot of talent.

I really want to talk about Ryan.

[Jonathan] He's infectious,

maybe a little too infectious for some,

but he's built a product that has some traction.

He's a great designer.

Some people thought he was a little too self-promotional

and self-interested.

I'd be curious to see what other ideas he has

other than Finish.

It's less about clipping a company on the short term,

and more about thinking about ideas

across a longer period of time.

I think we have to debate Ryan further.

Anytime I can learn something, and improve,

and take away a message, or a lesson,

it's great and I felt like this weekend

was just lesson after lesson, message after message.

I thought the only thing I would give up college for

would be to be a Thiel Fellow,

because it's such an incredible opportunity,

but like I love my college so much, I love USC.

I understand you don't need a college degree

to change the world,

but a college degree does mean a lot.

I just had a distorted perception coming in to this weekend,

and this kind of cleared a lot of things up.

[Amanda] He just had the winning mentality of like

I'm gonna try and learn, absorb, kind of a sponge.

Take everything in.

I think it was a humbling experience for him,

since he wasn't the technical guy on the team.

[Jonathan] I think if he developed himself

over the next couple years to this

that he could really start

making his own discoveries in the field.

The 100,000 dollars, to be honest,

doesn't factor in to my equation,

because I'd also be leaving theoretically

150,000 dollars on the table if I left USC

and gave up my scholarship there.

[Narrator] Next time the judges decide

which of us get 100,000 grant,

and we decide if we'll take them.

So be sure to subscribe to the WIRED Channel

for the final installment of Teen Technorati.