Our story

We didn't party like it was 1999. It was 1999.

Jared was a senior. Erica was a freshman. And at the beginning of every year, the University of Rochester handed out a printed book of student photos: the original facebook. (IYKYK!) Somewhere in those pages, Jared (earring and all) found Erica (lip liner and all).

Twenty-five years later, we're still at it. Partners in life, partners in work, and parents of a Gen Alpha kid who will never know a world without AI, or a world with a physical facebook!

We co-founded Wake the Future because the most powerful response to an AI-driven world isn't a better tool or a faster process. It's a more intentional human: one who thinks independently, knows who they are beyond what they produce, and meets uncertainty with curiosity instead of panic.

We're not just studying this. We're living it. All these years in, one thing hasn't changed:

Jared still thinks he spotted a good thing in that facebook. Erica is still deciding.

Erica's and Jared's University of Rochester student photos from 1999
1999The original facebook
Erica and Jared smiling and hugging outdoors
TodayStill at it

Why we built this

In our own words. As futurists, partners, and parents.

  • Erica Orange

    The questions that matter most don't stay at the office.

    “We created Wake the Future because the questions that matter most don't stay at the office. They follow you home, and can keep you up at night. We know because they do the same to us. As futurists. As partners. As parents building the same uncertain future you are. This is our answer to those questions. We hope this becomes part of your answer, too.”

    Erica OrangeCo-Founder, Wake the Future

  • Jared Weiner

    We're not here to tell you what to think. We're here to make sure you still are.

    “Wake the Future is about sparking the conversations that matter with people who get that human dialogue about the future has never been more necessary. We're not here to tell you what to think. We're here to make sure you still are, with your agency intact. No judgments. Just real talk.”

    Jared WeinerCo-Founder, Wake the Future

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Yes, it's a play on words. Wake the Future.

The future can feel like one big WTF moment. Our answer is to wake up to it, with curiosity instead of panic and your humanity fully intact.

We know what you were thinking

Erica Orange and Jared Weiner with the Wake the Future wtf. logo

Off the clock

The stuff that actually keeps us human.

Futurists by day. Concertgoers, hikers, sports fans, and wine lovers the rest of the time.

  • Erica and Jared in helmets and outdoor gear on a rocky hillsideTravel
  • Performers on a concert stageRocking out
  • Erica and Jared sitting beneath a natural rock archNature
  • Erica and Jared smiling with glasses of red wineWine
  • Erica and Jared bundled up, lying in the snowPlay
  • Erica and Jared at a basketball gameSports
  • Erica and Jared at a concert in sunglassesMusic
  • Erica and Jared taking a selfie in a crowdJust us
Erica and Jared dressed up outdoors in Newport Erica and Jared taking a selfie with a city skyline and harbor behind them

Partners in life. Partners in work.

Twenty-five years of conversations about what's coming next, now on YouTube. Every Tuesday, a new episode on what AI and rapid change are doing to how we work, think, and live, and how to stay fully human anyway.

The goal isn't just to keep up with the future. It's to build the human capabilities to shape it.

Work with us Watch on YouTube