Resources for starting a Focused Research Organization
and similar projects
Intro:
I’ve been building an FRO for over a year now, and here are some resources that I thought were very helpful along the way. This includes resources that I read when I was just learning about what FROs were, who I should talk to, pay attention to, all the way up to understanding what’s happening now & who’s thinking about what right now. FROs are hard. Harder than start-ups for uniquely different reasons. What those reasons are… well, that’s for another post.
High-level notes:
FROs are still funder-led, with significantly more projects (founders) than there are funders. It’s difficult to design a truly “FRO-shaped” project, but it’s just as hard to identify a mission-aligned funder afterwards. FROs are nonprofits funded by philanthropies, which means the “investors” aka “donors” are not incentivized or rushed by an ever-increasing valuation on a term sheet. Funding therefore often happens on the timescale of 6mo-2yrs or more, and relationships are everything. In VC terms, it’s like trying to contact the LP of a fund that funded the fund you were funded by. FROs are also relatively n=1, meaning that how the early FROs like e11bio or Forest Neurotech started will not be how your FRO will likely start.
Despite them being very different from startups, FROs have some overlap with startups, especially in their execution and culture, and mindset of the founder. If you also want to understand how to be a founder, the canonical Silicon Valley books would still be very helpful. I really love this book. Unlike startups though, it’s a bit difficult to generate “hype” with FROs, though putting “AI” on your deck might help a bit. While there’s little “hype” in FROs, momentum building is still incredibly important. This is something that a lot of resources below will also discuss.
People/orgs to follow on social media:
Tom Kalil. And what Renaissance Philanthropy is doing. One of the most important and influential people in the field. Try to be introduced, and never be afraid to cold email anyone. Learn how to write a forwardable intro.
Follow Convergent Research, Adam Marblestone and Anastasia Gamick.
ARIA UK is the new funder in town (world) and is funding much of the more visible metascience work, so follow as many people from there as possible.
None of the orgs below give funding for FROs, but are good people to know. There’s many more but these are what immediately came to mind.
https://britishprogress.org
https://ifp.org
https://spec.tech
https://press.asimov.com
High level video of what an FRO is:
There’s tons more videos on Convergent Research’s Youtube channel.
A brief overview of relevant funding orgs:
Renaissance Philanthropy (RenPhil)
RenPhil is sort of a parent institution to CR, FutureHouse, and other FROs. Think of them as a technical consultant that helps philanthropists and other UHNWI do their due diligence and vet new science projects. Philanthropists, despite their passion and finances to fund work in a specific field, they often do not have the (in-house) technical expertise to vet new, complex projects. This is where RenPhil comes in, to help vet, advise or execute high-impact projects that are fundable through philanthropy. They also sometimes pursue specific initiatives if their team members have a strong thesis like climate emergencies, etc. For most FRO founders, the RenPhil folks will not be a direct funder. But they can provide strong referrals and intros to relevant institutions, so definitely reach out!
Sarah Constantin described RenPhil’s work & mission well here.
Convergent Research (CR)
Officially sort of started with this post with FAS. CR is a matchmaker for FROs that match a founder with an idea with a mission-aligned funder with money. They provide operational and infrastructure support for FROs, which is really nice because they are structured quite uniquely and it’s important to manage relationships with the funder.
The key here is that they don’t have a secret pot of money, or a black book of philanthropists that would fund anything. Much of their job is, like you, to find philanthropists that can fund their many FROs in their catalogue. So don’t take it personally if they don’t/can’t fund your work.
I think Mark Andreessen was the one that said: “there are no bad ideas, only early ones.” This feels especially true for many prospective FROs, that often wait on a shelf until the relevant funder is discovered.
Mindset
Heilmeier catechism is a very important and useful framework for many FRO-shaped projects.
The classic Silicon Valley books are helpful. Like this or even still this.
Find your story of self.
Find a cofounder, seriously.
Call Hall. Respect.
Playbooks
The Technoindustrial policy playbook
Maybe even this one
Coalition building and Tom’s thoughts
Rejuvenome
As a case study of how FRO-shaped projects can start and end prematurely. Try reaching out to Jose for the white paper and thoughts on what worked and what didn’t.
https://ricon.xyz
Roadmapping
An essential medium to communicate long-term, interdisciplinary, incredibly ambitious & technical work. Often these
Other notes & resources:
CR’s Gap Map shows metascience areas that require FRO-shaped efforts. If you want to build something within one of their gaps, write a 1-2pager and send it to them, since they might already have someone in their network that’s working on something similar.
https://arbesman.net/overedge/
https://news.mit.edu/2025/former-mit-researchers-advance-new-model-innovation-0606
Share with your friends if you found this helpful! And feel free to reach out if you think I can help :)
Check out Artemis FRO, my new project, here. Hopefully this gives you additional inspiration.