PHOTOGR APH BY ANDREAS LASZLO KONRATH
“YOU’RE DROPPING OUT OF YALE?”
PAUL GU’S parents were angry and confused. Their son, who in 2011 was halfway through a degree in economics and computer science, was on the phone telling them he wanted to pursue something called a Thiel Fellowship. As one of 24 “uniquely talented” teenagers, he’d get $100,000 over two years to start a company he and a classmate had dreamed up. The catch was that he’d have to drop out of college.