Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ πλάγχθη...

Sing, Muse, of the man of countless paths, who wandered far and wide...

What distinguishes Ulysses in the way he is introduced in the Homeric Odyssey is not his incredible intellect, nor his iron will, nor his noble heritage.

Rather, what sets him apart is a single adjective, so multifaceted that no English translation is accurate: polytropos.

Polytropos is resourcefulness, the ability of always finding a way, as Michael Gibson, creator of the Thiel Fellowship, puts it. But it is not just the ability of thinking quickly on one’s feet; rather, it also defines the multiple paths Ulysses is forced to walk in order to achieve his goal.

That is ultimately what makes the figure of Ulysses, at its core, so similar to the great entrepreneurs: on the one side, a curiosity and spark of ambition that when coupled with dedication lead to the conquest of unthinkable feats; on the other, attempting to walk a thousand paths in all sorts of directions in order to gain a clearer direction on where one is going, and most importantly why.

Because drive without direction cannot end positively. Ulysses displays resilience and ambition, and is able to accomplish whatever he designs to be his goal. But when the goal is wrong, too arrogant, or too superficial, achieving it will never bring to the best-case outcome.

Today, we invite those who have always felt that a future without points to pin them down is not something scary, but rather a unique opportunity to live at the edge, explore, discover, and understand.

Today, we invite those who have always envied the mythical adventures the Ithacan crew went through, those who could not stop dreaming of the day they would be able to dedicate their life to a feat as titanic.