uripont presents

Request for Next Gen Fund support, to attend the Silicon Valley Fellowship Summer 2026.

I am Oriol Pont, and this page is a short overview of why I am asking the Next Gen Fund to fully cover the minimum viable cost of attending the Silicon Valley Fellowship. It should take no more than a couple of minutes to read.

I am currently a master's student in AI in Milan, as part of an Erasmus exchange that is being self-funded. Given this, I am not in a financial position to cover the costs of the fellowship, not even the down payment, for at least the foreseeable future.

Silicon Valley has been the heart of the technological frontier for the past half-century. For someone building a career in tech, having been there is a meaningful milestone, and the fellowship is a unique chance to make it happen. I think my situation and profile are a good example of the kind of case that the Next Gen Fund is meant to support.

Milan
San Francisco
Barcelona
_

Economic Affordability

The fellowship is a compelling opportunity, but self-funding it does not make sense in my situation.

What 4,000€ means, in my context

With the budgeted amount for the end-to-end cost of attending the fellowship, these are the kinds of things I could do instead, in my current economic context. The point is to give a sense of the scale of the ask in terms of what it would mean for me to cover it for someone like myself.

One full academic year of public tuition

Catalan public-university prices ↗
  • 17.69€ / credit (2025-2026 first-time undergraduate rate).
  • Standard year load: 60 credits.
  • Annual tuition computed as 17.69 x 60 (conservative, given there are often extra fees and master's rates are higher) = 1,061.40€.

1,061€

One month living abroad for advanced master-level study

Erasmus+ studying abroad ↗
  • Personal out-of-pocket budget for a 6-month Erasmus semester abroad: roughly 5,000€ (adding accomodation, food, transport, and other expenses; and subtracting Erasmus grants).
  • Monthly cost: 5,000 / 6 ≈ 833.33€.

833€

One month of pro AI tooling usage

Professional AI tool subscriptions ↗
  • Combined monthly spend on pro-tier AI coding and writing tools, which are important to build and iterate fast. Codex Pro plan (10x Plus usage) as example usage.
  • Estimated at ~100€ / month.
  • Currently, I rely on free tiers and student plans, which are far more limited. If my budget allowed it, subscribing to pro-tier AI tooling would be one of my top priorities. I already know firsthand how much faster I can build with it.

100€

One dinner out with loved ones (family or friends)

Barcelona food prices ↗
  • Typical sit-down dinner for one at a casual Barcelona restaurant: ~20€.
  • This is an occasional expense for me, not a regular one. But even going out just once every few weeks, this amount would cover years worth of what is my primary social activity outside of learning and building.

20€

Barcelona versus San Francisco

I study in Barcelona and live nearby (in fact, commuting 1h 30min each way, living in my parent's basement to save on rent). The fellowship is in San Francisco, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Given that I don't currently have the means to cover the cost of attending, I wanted to give a sense of how much of a financial stretch it would be for me to wait and save up for it during the following months or years, and how out-of-scope it is relative to the economic context I come from.

Saving 20% after rent

Requires saving for

San Francisco software-developer earner
BLS software-developer wages ↗
  • Annual mean wage: 181,220 USD (SF-Oakland-Hayward).
  • Monthly gross computed as 181,220 / 12 = 15,101.67 USD.
  • Take-home ratio assumption: 0.66. This is just considered in the SF case, expecting a higher tax burden than in Spain.
  • Modeled take-home computed as 15,101.67 x 0.66 = 9,967.10 USD.
Bay Area asking rents ↗
  • Typical asking rent: 3,515 USD / month (SF County, 2025).
ECB exchange-rate reference ↗
  • ECB reference: 1€ = 1.1711 USD (2026-04-10).
  • Converted ask computed as 4,000 x 1.1711 = 4,684.40 USD.

3.6 months

Saving between 8 and 21 months of salary for a five-day experience is probably not the most rational thing to do, even if it is genuinely enriching and potentially life-changing. I expect the unexpected, but I also want to be realistic about the financial commitment that attending the fellowship would require from me.

Merit And Exceptional Fit

A strong technical and academic profile.

Academic

2 degrees + Erasmus

CS and Mathematical Engineering in Data Science at UPF. Erasmus semester at Politecnico di Milano, taking up to PhD-level courses in Advanced Computer Architectures, GPUs, DL/RL, Robotics,...

Recognition

National + academic

National award for an early AI EdTech app. Highest CS entrance grade at UPF. Government university-access distinction. High School Honors.

Side projects

Building since I was 12

Many publicly available on GitHub, with the list ever-expanding. I build things.

Final Ask

So, would you

take the ticket?

  1. [1]Catalan public-university prices
  2. [2]Erasmus+ studying abroad
  3. [3]Professional AI tool subscriptions
  4. [4]ATM Barcelona T-jove quarterly fare
  5. [5]Barcelona food prices
  6. [6]INE salary benchmark
  1. Barcelona 2025 city report[7]
  2. Mobile World Capital 2025 digital-talent report[8]
  3. BLS software-developer wages[9]
  4. Bay Area asking rents[10]
  5. ECB exchange-rate reference[11]