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[Dr. Brock Eide] I want to introduce our
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first invited speaker of the night, Scott
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Sandell. Scott is a general partner of
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NEA, a venture capital firm, the largest
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venture capital firm in Silicon Valley I
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believe. Scott is going to come and share
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some of his thoughts on being a Dyslexic
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adult.
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[Scott Sandell] The reason that I came is
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that I feel like my journey is one of very
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small odds. I am going to tell you a little
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bit about a different journey, which is
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that of my daughter Anna who is sitting
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over here, who I think faces very different
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odds, because when she was in second
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grade, after a lot of work from her
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incredible mother...which, maybe, two and
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one half years it took to diagnose she was
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Dyslexic. But in the moment in which that
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happened, which took place about 6 weeks
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into the second grade, we were sitting with
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her teacher, Annie Woodbridge...and I asked
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Annie a really simple question. I said,
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Annie, what are the chances that you are
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going to recommend that Anna go on to
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third grade in this school? And she
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answered me instantly, "I'm not going to
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do that. Anna would not make it in 3rd
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grade in this school." In that instant,
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it became clear to me. Well, I asked her
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why, and she said, "Because she is not
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learning how to read. In second grade you
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have to learn how to read because in 3rd
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grade, you have to know how to read in
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order to learn. " When she said that, in
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an instant I realized what had happened
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to me. I mean, we had started to suspect
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that Anna was Dyslexic, but we really
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didn't know. I certainly didn't know that
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I was Dyslexic. But I remembered one really
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profound experience which happened when I
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was 26. When I was 26 my parents were
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moving out of their house, the house I'd
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grown up in, and I went home for the
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weekend to collect some things, the last
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little remnants of childhood, and one of
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those was a box. My mother sat me down
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at the box. She said, "I want to go through
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the box with you." And I said, mom, I'm in
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a hurry...okay, I'll just take the box with
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me. I'll go through the box later. She
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said, "No, no, no, no...I have to sit with
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you when you go through this box." I said,
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okay mom. So we started going through the
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box, and the box is a collection of report
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cards and little odds and ends that my
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mother had collected along the way. Maybe
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your mothers had a similar box. And I
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remembered creative play school, which
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was preschool. It was a wonderful place.
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I remembered Mrs. Eggler, I remembered
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where we went to school. One of the
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favorite years of my life. And then we got
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into the public school system, and I
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remembered more difficult years, but I
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remembered Kindergarten. I remembered
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first grade. I remembered second grade.
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I remembered all the teachers, and when I
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read the report card and the things they
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had to say, it all came back to me. And
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then we got to the report card for third
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grade. And I looked at it, and the first
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thing I realized was I didn't remember
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the teachers name. My mother was sort of
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holding my knee at this point, and she
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said, "This was a difficult year for you."
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And I started reading the report card.
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And it basically read like blasphemy. The
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comments were so terrible, and I read
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through them a couple of times. I couldn't
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actually believe that anyone would ever
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say anything like this about me. And I
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realized I not only had no recollection of
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this teacher, or her comments. I had no
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recollection of third grade. The entire
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year. Nothing about it, to this day, I
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cannot remember anything about 3rd grade.
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It's just gone. And at the end of that, my
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mother said, "You know, your father and I
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didn't think that teacher liked you very
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much." [laughter]"But, we thought you
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were a smart kid, and you were working
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hard, and so we went to the principal and
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we told the principal that we thought..."
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She, of course, failed me, by the way...I
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failed spectacularly. My parents
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recommended I go on to 4th grade, be
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given a chance, just to see if it would
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work because their theory was, this was a
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bad teacher. So, in fourth grade--I didn't
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fail fourth grade, and I remember 4th
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grade. I remember a lot of things about
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4th grade, and 5th grade, and all the other
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grades since then. Slowly, but surely I
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crawled out of the special education class
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that I was already in, in second grade.
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And in 6th grade, I had a really
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inspirational teacher, Mr. Littlefield,
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that I remember well. He inspired me to
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do really well in Social Studies, I think
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it was called. Then, in 7th grade I had a
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math teacher who got me interested in Math.
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Eighth grade, I had my most proud
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accomplishment. It's sort of ironic, I now
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realize because I didn't know I was
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Dyslexic, then. But, I took a mandatory
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class called 'Reading'. Now, you would
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think that is not exactly suited to
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Dyslexics, and it wasn't well suited to me.
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But I worked really, really hard at it.
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And I got the highest grade ever achieved
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by anyone in the class. [applause from
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audience] So...that's my proudest moment
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in academia. A lot of other things
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fortunately came easier to me. What I
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noticed was that, as school became more
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complicated, or the things that we studied
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became more complicated, I started to be
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able to understand them first, sort of at
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pace with other students, and then, faster
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than other students. So, I started to
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excel. I demanded of my mother... we had
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been placed in a tiering system in the
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school, and so I was placed on a low rung.
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But I didn't like that very much, and I
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insisted that my mother
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take me to the principal every year and
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I advocated to get moved up, and eventually
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I moved up to all the Honors Classes in
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high school. That allowed me to go to
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Dartmouth College, and, ultimately to
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Stanford Business School. So, I sort of
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overcame that from an academic
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perspective, but of course,
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I'm still a terribly slow reader. I can't
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spell to save my life. I tried to prepare
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some slides for you tonight, I can't tell
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you how many spelling mistakes there were.
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I still can't spell Dyslexia, for example.
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[Laughter from audience] Ought to get that
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one right....thank you... The thing that
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is so clear to me now I have my 50th
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birthday coming up in September, is, what
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an unlikely set of odds it was, to get to
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where I am today. You know, it's an awful
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lot of luck. That's a really unfortunate
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thing when you consider the people who
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don't have that good fortune, who didn't
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maybe have a mother and father who said in
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3rd grade, you know, give him another
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chance. And they advocated for me in lots
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of ways beyond that, of course, who were
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incredibly understanding and never thought
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I was stupid even though the teacher said
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I was stupid. I'm quite sure I would have
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not made it without them. But I've had all
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kinds of other things that went my way,
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and I just think that there are lots of
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kids that don't get that chance. The
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problem with that is not just the
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unfortunate human stories that those
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people lead, but it's that our society
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needs what they have. And I know that,
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because I am a venture capitalist. I invest
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in entrepreneurs for a living. What a lot
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of you know in this room is that there is
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a huge over-representation of Dyslexics in
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the entrepreneurial community. I've seen
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studies that say as much as 40%, and that
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doesn't surprise me at all. We are going
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to hear from one, not too long from now.
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But we see this everyday. It's not just
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Dyslexics, it's all forms of
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Neurodiversity. They are incredibly
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prevalent in Silicon Valley, and I think
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they are actually prevalent in the venture
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capital business itself. The thing that
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was really lucky for me--I did a bunch of
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different jobs before I had a chance to
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try my hand at venture capitalists
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starting in 1996 at NEA-- is that I got
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this chance to do something that I'm
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actually good at. That's the thing that
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most people don't get to do. What I've
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come to realize, since I joined in 1996,
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NEA has gotten to be a better and better
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firm, and we've been in a position to hire
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really smart people. So I kind of skated
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in when it was still easy, you know?
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[laughter] Well, nowadays if you want to
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get a job at NEA, I mean...the resume you
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have to have is just ridiculous. And I
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really question whether we are looking
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for the right resumes. [Applause]
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Fortunately, I think, people enter at
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different stages, at different levels,
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and this is probably the most prevalent
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at the entry level positions, where these
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kids have just stunning...I mean, if they
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didn't go to Stanford or Princeton, and
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they didn't graduate with a 3.9 average in
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Electrical Engineering and do 6 other
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remarkable things on the side, and then
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go to Goldman Sachs and be the top analyst
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out of 20 in the United States, you know,
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after 2 years, well...they probably don't
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get an interview. But what is more
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interesting and the reason I bring it up,
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that, if you looked at the biographies of
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all the people sitting around the table at
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our partners meetings every week. you'd
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realize it's academically and incredible
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group of people. What I have found, what
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really surprises me is a thing I thought
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might be most interesting for you guys,
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tonight, to consider, is how, as a
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Dyslexic, I see things they don't see.
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And I see them a lot faster than they
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see them. Now, I know a lot of people
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can do a lot of things I can't do. And
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they certainly did a lot better at school.
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But, my biggest frustration now after 18
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years, is trying to coax my partners
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along to see something that I see. To me,
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it is just as clear as day, you know? " Of
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course we've got all these problems, but
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here is what is going to happen...This is
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where it is going to go." And I've been
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right enough times to keep my job, and
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I've of course been wrong a lot of times,
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that's sort of the nature of the business.
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But that's thing that I think is a little
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hard to understand from the outside.
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Because, the venture capital business is
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not very well understood by people who
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haven't been in it. Just to give you some
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statistics to give you a sense of what I
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am talking about, there are about 6,000
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people in the United States who call
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themselves venture capitalists,
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individuals, about 6,000. A lot of them
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are here, not all. Those 6,000 people
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take in about 20 billion dollars a year in
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new capital commitments. They invest that
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money, on average, in about 1200 new
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companies per year. Twelve hundred
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companies, and about 50 to 60 of those go
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public in a given year, obviously many
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years later. But those are the averages
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over a fairly long period of time. And
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there is probably another 50 companies
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which are acquired in a way that makes
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for a very attractive return. So, what does
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that tell you? That tells you that
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~maybe~ 10% of them are attractive
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`investments at the end of the day. And
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there are 6,000 people going after them.
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So that sounds interesting to you, but if
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I then peel back the data a little bit
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more, you'd realize that a huge percentage
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of the returns are not made by the 55,
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they are made by the 10. Ten companies a
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year. And if you can't figure out which
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those companies are, remember there are
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6,000 people trying to predict which
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companies are going to be those 10
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companies every year...I can tell you, if
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you don't get there first, you don't have
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a chance. You know, if the entrepreneur
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thinks you don't understand their business
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in 5, 10, 15 minutes; they go on to the
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next meeting to somebody who does. That's
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the thing people don't understand about
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the venture business. You think of these
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guys sitting there with their checkbooks
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just writing a check
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to whoever they feel like, and assumming
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that's the nature of the job couldn't be
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farther from the truth. There are probably
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100 to 200 people in the industry of the
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6,000 who are really making great returns
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for their limited partners. It's a story
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for another day why the other guys get to
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keep their job [laughter], but that's
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probably the real data, is 100 to 200 of
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them, because there's only 10 to 15
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companies a year that are worth investing
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in at the end of the day. It also means, of
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course, there's a high failure rate. All
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of us make lots of mistakes or invest in
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things that don't turn into one of those,
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some of which are really wonderful
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companies, by the way. They don't all have
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to be financial home runs to change the
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world.
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So, that's the story of what somebody
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with incredibly improbable odds has
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gotten to see here in this heartland of
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innovation. What I'm most excited about
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is that my daughter doesn't face those
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odds because in second grade we started
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investigating a way for her to have a
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different path. And that led her to Charles
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Armstrong School, there's a few people
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in the room who know what that is. [applause]
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I think we have a significant percentage of
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the board members here today. [laughter]
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We have Claudia, who is on the board of
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Dyslexic Advantage is the head of the
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school, and helped to change my daughter's
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life. [applause] David Obershaw is
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President of the board. Our daughters
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were in class together. He went on to
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really put his time behind this incredible
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organization. I'm happy to say that Anna
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went back to her regular school system, so
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to speak, in fourth grade...fifth grade?
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Fifth grade, and is doing wonderfully
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well, so she faces very different odds
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than I faced, and I'm really excited about
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that [applause] So, I think as you...as you
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think about where we are this weekend, and
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you think about the fact that 40% of the
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entrepreneurs are Dyslexic, also remember,
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that since 1980, all net new job creation
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in the United States has happened in small
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or start-up companies. So, 40% of those
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are started by Dyslexic people. What does
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this country need so badly? We need to
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invent a new economy that creates new jobs
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and employs the 12 million or whatever
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unemployed people that we have today.
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So I think what Brock and Fernette have
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done, in starting to examine with
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scientific rigor, the basis of advantage
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that Dyslexic people bring to our society,
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is incredibly important, and I'm happy to
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be here, and I hope we'll all help to
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advance that cause this weekend.
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Thank you. [applause]