Every once in a while, someone glances at their summer calendar and makes a quiet, life-changing decision. Instead of going on vacation or chasing internships, they chase their curiosity.
Summer 1975 — Bill Gates teaches himself BASIC. Paul Allen shows up with coffee and elaborate schemes for monetizing software. The result: Microsoft is born and $16,005 in first-summer revenue.
Summer 2004 — Mark Zuckerberg moves to Silicon Valley, rents a house with a few friends, and codes 18 hours daily. Facebook grows by 50,000 users per week.
Summer 2005 — Paul Graham launches the Summer Founders program in Boston. That very first summer batch featured eight startups that produced the founders of OpenAI, Twitch, Reddit, and Y Combinator itself.
Summer 2007 — 19-year-old Melanie Perkins drags a used laser printer into her mom's home to launch Fusion Books. She teaches design classes, watches students wrestle with Adobe, and sketches a drag-and-drop alternative. That prototype snowballs into Canva and changes how 100 million people create.
Newton was a 22-year-old sent home from Cambridge during the plague.
Linus Torvalds was a student with a summer and an operating systems textbook.
The pattern shows up everywhere once you start looking for it.
This summer, you are at the exact crossroads they once were. Take a deep look at your calendar.
And instead of wasting another summer, join OffSeason.
It's one month where you and ~100 others come together and build. AI, hardware, an app, a short film, a YouTube channel — whatever you can't stop thinking about.
It ends with a demo day showcase. Top participants will be invited to a meetup in Toronto.
OffSeason is August 1 to August 31. Applications are open until July 10th.
Start your application →
