A few weeks ago I launched Pioneer (https://pioneer.app).

Pioneer is an experiment to try and find & help creative people around the world working on interesting projects. A project could be anything -- open source work, research in physics or biology, or creating art. Unlike other grant programs, the way we find people is through crowdsourcing.

Applicants vote on each other (like HN / Reddit) and the best projects float to the top. We have industry experts (Patrick Collison, Tyler Cowen, Stephen Wolfram, etc) act as "mods" to sharpen the quality of the leaderboard.

The top-scoring applicants become Pioneers. They get $5,000, a ticket to Silicon Valley, mentorship from experts and -- most importantly -- a community that will hopefully accelerate and motivate them.

Applications close Sunday night PDT. If you have a weekend-side project that you can't stop thinking about -- Pioneer is exactly for you!

I'm trying to make an engine for converting shower-thoughts into real world stuff. Other than money, what do you think would be helpful to provide?

Pioneer is at https://pioneer.app.

P.S. I also work at YC. This is an unrelated effort, primarily aimed at things that don’t fit the bill of a “company”. Apply to Startup School for that!