Computer Science Student uses Crowdfunding to Bankroll Gap Year
You’ve just graduated from college and plan to take a year off to pursue your creative passions before jumping into the workforce. And a group of strangers who think you have great potential are giving you $10,000 to spend as you wish during your sabbatical.
So, what would you do? What pressing problems would you try to solve? What interests would you explore? And how would you spend the cash?
Michael Feliciano
For Michael Feliciano, a senior computer science major at the College of Charleston, these are not hypothetical questions.
Feliciano is believed to be the first College of Charleston student to fund his own “gap year” through the website Upstart.com. It’s based on the same crowdfunding model used by Kickstarter.com; but instead of investing in things or concepts, backers on Upstart invest in people.
While the money raised on Upstart can be used for a variety of purposes –– to attend school, pay off student loans, launch a start-up, or invent something –– there is a catch: The money is an advance against a slice of the recipient’s future income. In Feliciano’s case, he is obligated to give up one percent of his salary for the next 10 years.
Chris Starr, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Feliciano’s academic advisor, expects that the payments Feliciano will eventually make to his backers will pale in comparison to what he’ll gain from the experience and the professional connections he’ll establish in the tech industry.
Upstart’s mission is to give a financial boost to “people you just know will do something amazing.”
Indeed, Feliciano seems poised to do amazing things.
He currently ranks 27th in the United States on CodeChef.com, a global online community of computer programmers who compete against the clock to solve coding problems. Among 25,000 of some of the top computer programmers in the world, Feliciano’s international ranking is 1,060.
Just 21 years old, he speaks three languages: English, Spanish, and Italian.
He’s already developed an Android application for the healthcare industry, and he has participated on a team at the College that collaborates with MIT to develop software for geology research.
But perhaps most indicative of Feliciano’s potential is the list of items he intends to purchase with the money he raised on Upstart:
Computer science student Michael Feliciano wearing Google Glass.
1. Google Glass. By now, most people have heard of Google’s head-mounted computing device with a built-in optical display. Feliciano plans to buy the device in hopes of developing applications for it. Actually, he was among a limited pool of people invited to help Google beta-test the product, but at the time he couldn’t afford the $1,500 price tag. Now he can.
2. Oculus Rift Development Kit. This is a non-consumer version of a virtual reality headset that provides an immersive 3D gaming experience. It puts gamers inside the actual game. Feliciano is intent on developing programs for this new device. Some futurists expect that the headsets will someday have applications in everything from healthcare and space exploration to the military.
3. A Cello. Feliciano played the cello as a child. Music soothes his rapid-fire mind, and he believes that becoming reacquainted with the string instrument will provide a diversion from long, intense stretches of coding and problem-solving.
4. Several gallons of whiteboard paint. To keep expenses to a minimum during his gap year, Feliciano plans to move back into his parents’ house in Columbia, S.C. He’s going to convert every wall of his bedroom into a dry erase surface. The way he sees it, the more area he has available for notes and calculations, the more productive he’ll be.
By his own admission, Feliciano was an average student in high school. He’s always loved computers, but regrets having spent too much time playing video games rather than learning how to build them. He once calculated how much time he had spent on the role-playing video game World of Warcraft. The answer was a wake-up call: More than 365 days –– an entire year of his life.
Chris Starr, Chair of the Department of Computer Science.
Starr began recruiting Feliciano for the College while he was still attending Spring Valley High School in Columbia, S.C. Feliciano stood out because he is well-rounded. Far from being the stereotypical tech nerd lacking in social skills, Feliciano is outgoing, talkative, and friendly. Starr describes his academic advisee as a “polymath.”
Students like Feliciano act as magnets for the College’s computer science program because their association with the program provides credibility and helps create a pipeline for talent. “I knew that if I could get him here, people who respect him would follow,” Starr says.
Feliciano’s younger brother, Daniel, is one of those who followed. He is currently a freshman computer science major at the College and shows great promise.
Starr looks for computer science students who have other interests besides computers. “They can approach problems from many different perspectives,” Starr says. “They are more likely to be successful at a liberal arts and sciences institution like the College.”
Feliciano’s experience at the College supports Starr’s theory. His intellect and passion caught fire when he came to Charleston. He became more focused on academics, got involved with student government, and joined a fraternity. He clicked with several like-minded computer geeks and thrived in the collaborative environment fostered by the computer science program.
He has already been interviewed by Google, and hopes to someday work for the company. Like his good friend Ben Johnson ’13.
RELATED: Read about CofC alumnus and Google Software Engineer Ben Johnson ’13.
The Google connections don’t end there: The venture capital firm Innovation Endeavors, which was founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, was the single largest investor in Feliciano’s Upstart campaign, kicking in the lion’s share of the $10,000 Feliciano raised.
Talk about pressure.
Feliciano is looking forward to the challenge, though he’s not quite sure how he’ll respond to the unstructured environment of living back at home with no classes to attend and no job to go to.
“This is going to be a test of my discipline,” he says. “There are so many things to focus on. I have some ideas, but it’s really just to see what’s possible.”
