0:00:01.932,0:00:05.357
[Dr. Brock Eide] I want to introduce our

0:00:05.357,0:00:08.039
first invited speaker of the night, Scott

0:00:08.039,0:00:11.092
Sandell. Scott is a general partner of

0:00:11.092,0:00:13.853
NEA, a venture capital firm, the largest

0:00:13.853,0:00:16.383
venture capital firm in Silicon Valley I

0:00:16.383,0:00:20.521
believe. Scott is going to come and share

0:00:20.521,0:00:23.869
some of his thoughts on being a Dyslexic

0:00:23.869,0:00:24.784
adult.

0:00:24.784,0:00:26.317
[Scott Sandell] The reason that I came is

0:00:26.317,0:00:29.601
that I feel like my journey is one of very

0:00:29.601,0:00:32.535
small odds. I am going to tell you a little

0:00:32.535,0:00:34.059
bit about a different journey, which is

0:00:34.059,0:00:35.846
that of my daughter Anna who is sitting

0:00:35.846,0:00:37.928
over here, who I think faces very different

0:00:37.928,0:00:40.561
odds, because when she was in second

0:00:40.561,0:00:44.011
grade, after a lot of work from her

0:00:44.011,0:00:46.519
incredible mother...which, maybe, two and

0:00:46.519,0:00:49.005
one half years it took to diagnose she was

0:00:49.005,0:00:51.557
Dyslexic. But in the moment in which that

0:00:51.557,0:00:54.952
happened, which took place about 6 weeks

0:00:54.952,0:00:57.713
into the second grade, we were sitting with

0:00:57.713,0:01:02.500
her teacher, Annie Woodbridge...and I asked

0:01:02.500,0:01:04.754
Annie a really simple question. I said,

0:01:04.754,0:01:07.019
Annie, what are the chances that you are

0:01:07.019,0:01:08.889
going to recommend that Anna go on to

0:01:08.889,0:01:11.731
third grade in this school? And she

0:01:11.731,0:01:14.465
answered me instantly, "I'm not going to

0:01:14.465,0:01:17.303
do that. Anna would not make it in 3rd

0:01:17.303,0:01:21.101
grade in this school." In that instant,

0:01:21.101,0:01:25.110
it became clear to me. Well, I asked her

0:01:25.110,0:01:27.165
why, and she said, "Because she is not

0:01:27.165,0:01:30.828
learning how to read. In second grade you

0:01:30.828,0:01:32.307
have to learn how to read because in 3rd

0:01:32.307,0:01:34.303
grade, you have to know how to read in

0:01:34.303,0:01:37.851
order to learn. " When she said that, in

0:01:37.851,0:01:39.925
an instant I realized what had happened

0:01:39.925,0:01:42.470
to me. I mean, we had started to suspect

0:01:42.470,0:01:44.181
that Anna was Dyslexic, but we really

0:01:44.181,0:01:47.222
didn't know. I certainly didn't know that

0:01:47.222,0:01:50.244
I was Dyslexic. But I remembered one really

0:01:50.244,0:01:53.200
profound experience which happened when I

0:01:53.200,0:01:56.739
was 26. When I was 26 my parents were

0:01:56.739,0:01:58.590
moving out of their house, the house I'd

0:01:58.590,0:02:00.818
grown up in, and I went home for the

0:02:00.818,0:02:03.248
weekend to collect some things, the last

0:02:03.248,0:02:05.841
little remnants of childhood, and one of

0:02:05.841,0:02:07.987
those was a box. My mother sat me down

0:02:07.987,0:02:10.999
at the box. She said, "I want to go through

0:02:10.999,0:02:13.739
the box with you." And I said, mom, I'm in

0:02:13.739,0:02:15.550
a hurry...okay, I'll just take the box with

0:02:15.550,0:02:17.790
me. I'll go through the box later. She

0:02:17.790,0:02:19.956
said, "No, no, no, no...I have to sit with

0:02:19.956,0:02:23.039
you when you go through this box." I said,

0:02:23.039,0:02:24.699
okay mom. So we started going through the

0:02:24.699,0:02:26.655
box, and the box is a collection of report

0:02:26.655,0:02:28.468
cards and little odds and ends that my

0:02:28.468,0:02:31.304
mother had collected along the way. Maybe

0:02:31.304,0:02:33.892
your mothers had a similar box. And I

0:02:33.892,0:02:36.757
remembered creative play school, which

0:02:36.757,0:02:39.517
was preschool. It was a wonderful place.

0:02:39.517,0:02:41.408
I remembered Mrs. Eggler, I remembered

0:02:41.408,0:02:43.227
where we went to school. One of the

0:02:43.227,0:02:45.496
favorite years of my life. And then we got

0:02:45.496,0:02:47.837
into the public school system, and I

0:02:47.837,0:02:49.605
remembered more difficult years, but I

0:02:49.605,0:02:51.840
remembered Kindergarten. I remembered

0:02:51.840,0:02:53.665
first grade. I remembered second grade.

0:02:53.665,0:02:56.201
I remembered all the teachers, and when I

0:02:56.201,0:02:57.792
read the report card and the things they

0:02:57.792,0:03:01.128
had to say, it all came back to me. And

0:03:01.128,0:03:02.999
then we got to the report card for third

0:03:02.999,0:03:06.123
grade. And I looked at it, and the first

0:03:06.123,0:03:07.932
thing I realized was I didn't remember

0:03:07.932,0:03:10.755
the teachers name. My mother was sort of

0:03:10.755,0:03:13.401
holding my knee at this point, and she

0:03:13.401,0:03:15.371
said, "This was a difficult year for you."

0:03:15.371,0:03:17.747
And I started reading the report card.

0:03:17.747,0:03:20.981
And it basically read like blasphemy. The

0:03:20.981,0:03:25.922
comments were so terrible, and I read

0:03:25.922,0:03:27.832
through them a couple of times. I couldn't

0:03:27.832,0:03:30.269
actually believe that anyone would ever

0:03:30.269,0:03:34.770
say anything like this about me. And I

0:03:34.770,0:03:37.337
realized I not only had no recollection of

0:03:37.337,0:03:40.527
this teacher, or her comments. I had no

0:03:40.527,0:03:43.036
recollection of third grade. The entire

0:03:43.036,0:03:46.913
year. Nothing about it, to this day, I

0:03:46.913,0:03:49.418
cannot remember anything about 3rd grade.

0:03:49.418,0:03:52.299
It's just gone. And at the end of that, my

0:03:52.299,0:03:56.287
mother said, "You know, your father and I

0:03:56.287,0:03:59.184
didn't think that teacher liked you very

0:03:59.184,0:04:04.359
much." [laughter]"But, we thought you

0:04:04.359,0:04:06.102
were a smart kid, and you were working

0:04:06.102,0:04:08.429
hard, and so we went to the principal and

0:04:08.429,0:04:10.344
we told the principal that we thought..."

0:04:10.344,0:04:14.555
She, of course, failed me, by the way...I

0:04:14.555,0:04:17.604
failed spectacularly. My parents

0:04:17.604,0:04:19.748
recommended I go on to 4th grade, be

0:04:19.748,0:04:21.851
given a chance, just to see if it would

0:04:21.851,0:04:23.385
work because their theory was, this was a

0:04:23.385,0:04:27.261
bad teacher. So, in fourth grade--I didn't

0:04:27.261,0:04:28.838
fail fourth grade, and I remember 4th

0:04:28.838,0:04:30.611
grade. I remember a lot of things about

0:04:30.611,0:04:32.689
4th grade, and 5th grade, and all the other

0:04:32.689,0:04:36.324
grades since then. Slowly, but surely I

0:04:36.324,0:04:39.606
crawled out of the special education class

0:04:39.606,0:04:41.887
that I was already in, in second grade.

0:04:41.887,0:04:44.687
And in 6th grade, I had a really

0:04:44.687,0:04:47.103
inspirational teacher, Mr. Littlefield,

0:04:47.103,0:04:49.228
that I remember well. He inspired me to

0:04:49.228,0:04:51.485
do really well in Social Studies, I think

0:04:51.485,0:04:54.157
it was called. Then, in 7th grade I had a

0:04:54.157,0:04:57.991
math teacher who got me interested in Math.

0:04:57.991,0:05:01.788
Eighth grade, I had my most proud

0:05:01.788,0:05:04.018
accomplishment. It's sort of ironic, I now

0:05:04.018,0:05:05.402
realize because I didn't know I was

0:05:05.402,0:05:08.736
Dyslexic, then. But, I took a mandatory

0:05:08.736,0:05:12.178
class called 'Reading'. Now, you would

0:05:12.178,0:05:14.598
think that is not exactly suited to

0:05:14.598,0:05:17.498
Dyslexics, and it wasn't well suited to me.

0:05:17.498,0:05:20.625
But I worked really, really hard at it.

0:05:20.625,0:05:22.537
And I got the highest grade ever achieved

0:05:22.537,0:05:25.016
by anyone in the class. [applause from

0:05:25.016,0:05:28.132
audience] So...that's my proudest moment

0:05:28.132,0:05:32.540
in academia. A lot of other things

0:05:32.540,0:05:34.872
fortunately came easier to me. What I

0:05:34.872,0:05:37.221
noticed was that, as school became more

0:05:37.221,0:05:39.550
complicated, or the things that we studied

0:05:39.550,0:05:42.226
became more complicated, I started to be

0:05:42.226,0:05:45.051
able to understand them first, sort of at

0:05:45.051,0:05:47.958
pace with other students, and then, faster

0:05:47.958,0:05:51.220
than other students. So, I started to

0:05:51.220,0:05:55.474
excel. I demanded of my mother... we had

0:05:55.474,0:05:58.582
been placed in a tiering system in the

0:05:58.582,0:06:01.272
school, and so I was placed on a low rung.

0:06:01.272,0:06:03.925
But I didn't like that very much, and I

0:06:03.925,0:06:06.072
insisted that my mother

0:06:06.072,0:06:07.535
take me to the principal every year and

0:06:07.535,0:06:09.213
I advocated to get moved up, and eventually

0:06:09.213,0:06:12.450
I moved up to all the Honors Classes in

0:06:12.450,0:06:14.705
high school. That allowed me to go to

0:06:14.705,0:06:16.787
Dartmouth College, and, ultimately to

0:06:16.787,0:06:19.157
Stanford Business School. So, I sort of

0:06:19.157,0:06:21.097
overcame that from an academic

0:06:21.117,0:06:23.030
perspective, but of course,

0:06:23.030,0:06:25.951
I'm still a terribly slow reader. I can't

0:06:25.951,0:06:27.568
spell to save my life. I tried to prepare

0:06:27.568,0:06:30.099
some slides for you tonight, I can't tell

0:06:30.099,0:06:32.489
you how many spelling mistakes there were.

0:06:32.489,0:06:35.691
I still can't spell Dyslexia, for example.

0:06:35.691,0:06:38.020
[Laughter from audience] Ought to get that

0:06:38.020,0:06:43.624
one right....thank you... The thing that

0:06:43.624,0:06:46.185
is so clear to me now I have my 50th

0:06:46.185,0:06:49.479
birthday coming up in September, is, what

0:06:49.479,0:06:53.423
an unlikely set of odds it was, to get to

0:06:53.423,0:06:56.038
where I am today. You know, it's an awful

0:06:56.038,0:07:02.614
lot of luck. That's a really unfortunate

0:07:02.614,0:07:04.947
thing when you consider the people who

0:07:04.947,0:07:07.359
don't have that good fortune, who didn't

0:07:07.359,0:07:09.583
maybe have a mother and father who said in

0:07:09.583,0:07:12.050
3rd grade, you know, give him another

0:07:12.050,0:07:14.462
chance. And they advocated for me in lots

0:07:14.462,0:07:17.462
of ways beyond that, of course, who were

0:07:17.462,0:07:20.082
incredibly understanding and never thought

0:07:20.082,0:07:21.602
I was stupid even though the teacher said

0:07:21.602,0:07:26.234
I was stupid. I'm quite sure I would have

0:07:26.234,0:07:28.236
not made it without them. But I've had all

0:07:28.236,0:07:31.634
kinds of other things that went my way,

0:07:31.634,0:07:34.629
and I just think that there are lots of

0:07:34.629,0:07:36.400
kids that don't get that chance. The

0:07:36.400,0:07:40.509
problem with that is not just the

0:07:40.569,0:07:43.838
unfortunate human stories that those

0:07:43.838,0:07:47.731
people lead, but it's that our society

0:07:47.731,0:07:50.828
needs what they have. And I know that,

0:07:50.828,0:07:53.927
because I am a venture capitalist. I invest

0:07:53.927,0:07:57.445
in entrepreneurs for a living. What a lot

0:07:57.445,0:08:00.490
of you know in this room is that there is

0:08:00.490,0:08:05.110
a huge over-representation of Dyslexics in

0:08:05.110,0:08:07.503
the entrepreneurial community. I've seen

0:08:07.503,0:08:10.504
studies that say as much as 40%, and that

0:08:10.504,0:08:12.638
doesn't surprise me at all. We are going

0:08:12.638,0:08:16.177
to hear from one, not too long from now.

0:08:16.177,0:08:18.542
But we see this everyday. It's not just

0:08:18.542,0:08:20.360
Dyslexics, it's all forms of

0:08:20.360,0:08:22.304
Neurodiversity. They are incredibly

0:08:22.304,0:08:24.586
prevalent in Silicon Valley, and I think

0:08:24.586,0:08:26.654
they are actually prevalent in the venture

0:08:26.654,0:08:30.028
capital business itself. The thing that

0:08:30.028,0:08:33.365
was really lucky for me--I did a bunch of

0:08:33.365,0:08:36.413
different jobs before I had a chance to

0:08:36.413,0:08:38.519
try my hand at venture capitalists

0:08:38.519,0:08:43.052
starting in 1996 at NEA-- is that I got

0:08:43.052,0:08:45.401
this chance to do something that I'm

0:08:45.401,0:08:47.948
actually good at. That's the thing that

0:08:47.948,0:08:51.157
most people don't get to do. What I've

0:08:51.157,0:08:55.104
come to realize, since I joined in 1996,

0:08:55.104,0:08:57.520
NEA has gotten to be a better and better

0:08:57.520,0:09:00.605
firm, and we've been in a position to hire

0:09:00.605,0:09:04.115
really smart people. So I kind of skated

0:09:04.115,0:09:06.137
in when it was still easy, you know?

0:09:06.137,0:09:09.928
[laughter] Well, nowadays if you want to

0:09:09.928,0:09:11.803
get a job at NEA, I mean...the resume you

0:09:11.803,0:09:14.703
have to have is just ridiculous. And I

0:09:14.703,0:09:16.788
really question whether we are looking

0:09:16.788,0:09:22.844
for the right resumes. [Applause]

0:09:22.844,0:09:26.376
Fortunately, I think, people enter at

0:09:26.376,0:09:29.007
different stages, at different levels,

0:09:29.007,0:09:31.634
and this is probably the most prevalent

0:09:31.634,0:09:35.254
at the entry level positions, where these

0:09:35.254,0:09:37.836
kids have just stunning...I mean, if they

0:09:37.836,0:09:39.276
didn't go to Stanford or Princeton, and

0:09:39.276,0:09:41.834
they didn't graduate with a 3.9 average in

0:09:41.834,0:09:43.222
Electrical Engineering and do 6 other

0:09:43.222,0:09:45.128
remarkable things on the side, and then

0:09:45.128,0:09:47.291
go to Goldman Sachs and be the top analyst

0:09:47.291,0:09:49.976
out of 20 in the United States, you know,

0:09:49.976,0:09:52.205
after 2 years, well...they probably don't

0:09:52.205,0:09:54.740
get an interview. But what is more

0:09:54.740,0:09:56.849
interesting and the reason I bring it up,

0:09:56.849,0:09:59.680
that, if you looked at the biographies of

0:09:59.680,0:10:01.525
all the people sitting around the table at

0:10:01.525,0:10:03.481
our partners meetings every week. you'd

0:10:03.481,0:10:05.983
realize it's academically and incredible

0:10:05.983,0:10:10.147
group of people. What I have found, what

0:10:10.147,0:10:12.606
really surprises me is a thing I thought

0:10:12.606,0:10:14.772
might be most interesting for you guys,

0:10:14.772,0:10:18.053
tonight, to consider, is how, as a

0:10:18.053,0:10:22.141
Dyslexic, I see things they don't see.

0:10:22.141,0:10:25.020
And I see them a lot faster than they

0:10:25.020,0:10:28.233
see them. Now, I know a lot of people

0:10:28.233,0:10:30.919
can do a lot of things I can't do. And

0:10:30.919,0:10:33.342
they certainly did a lot better at school.

0:10:33.342,0:10:37.024
But, my biggest frustration now after 18

0:10:37.024,0:10:39.276
years, is trying to coax my partners

0:10:39.276,0:10:42.836
along to see something that I see. To me,

0:10:42.836,0:10:45.536
it is just as clear as day, you know? " Of

0:10:45.536,0:10:47.528
course we've got all these problems, but

0:10:47.528,0:10:48.879
here is what is going to happen...This is

0:10:48.879,0:10:52.196
where it is going to go." And I've been

0:10:52.196,0:10:55.224
right enough times to keep my job, and

0:10:55.224,0:10:57.429
I've of course been wrong a lot of times,

0:10:57.429,0:11:00.004
that's sort of the nature of the business.

0:11:00.004,0:11:03.070
But that's thing that I think is a little

0:11:03.070,0:11:05.555
hard to understand from the outside.

0:11:05.555,0:11:08.068
Because, the venture capital business is

0:11:08.068,0:11:10.934
not very well understood by people who

0:11:10.934,0:11:14.940
haven't been in it. Just to give you some

0:11:14.940,0:11:16.674
statistics to give you a sense of what I

0:11:16.674,0:11:18.851
am talking about, there are about 6,000

0:11:18.851,0:11:20.887
people in the United States who call

0:11:20.887,0:11:22.391
themselves venture capitalists,

0:11:22.391,0:11:24.219
individuals, about 6,000. A lot of them

0:11:24.219,0:11:26.899
are here, not all. Those 6,000 people

0:11:26.899,0:11:30.682
take in about 20 billion dollars a year in

0:11:30.682,0:11:33.018
new capital commitments. They invest that

0:11:33.018,0:11:36.876
money, on average, in about 1200 new

0:11:36.876,0:11:39.312
companies per year. Twelve hundred

0:11:39.312,0:11:42.672
companies, and about 50 to 60 of those go

0:11:42.672,0:11:44.559
public in a given year, obviously many

0:11:44.559,0:11:46.571
years later. But those are the averages

0:11:46.571,0:11:49.575
over a fairly long period of time. And

0:11:49.575,0:11:51.831
there is probably another 50 companies

0:11:51.831,0:11:53.566
which are acquired in a way that makes

0:11:53.566,0:11:56.346
for a very attractive return. So, what does

0:11:56.346,0:11:58.602
that tell you? That tells you that

0:11:58.602,0:12:01.137
~maybe~ 10% of them are attractive

0:12:01.137,0:12:03.693
`investments at the end of the day. And

0:12:03.693,0:12:06.409
there are 6,000 people going after them.

0:12:06.409,0:12:08.253
So that sounds interesting to you, but if

0:12:08.253,0:12:10.746
I then peel back the data a little bit

0:12:10.746,0:12:13.938
more, you'd realize that a huge percentage

0:12:13.938,0:12:16.667
of the returns are not made by the 55,

0:12:16.667,0:12:19.573
they are made by the 10. Ten companies a

0:12:19.573,0:12:23.193
year. And if you can't figure out which

0:12:23.193,0:12:24.929
those companies are, remember there are

0:12:24.929,0:12:26.718
6,000 people trying to predict which

0:12:26.718,0:12:28.675
companies are going to be those 10

0:12:28.675,0:12:31.370
companies every year...I can tell you, if

0:12:31.370,0:12:33.039
you don't get there first, you don't have

0:12:33.039,0:12:34.977
a chance. You know, if the entrepreneur

0:12:34.977,0:12:37.828
thinks you don't understand their business

0:12:37.828,0:12:41.725
in 5, 10, 15 minutes; they go on to the

0:12:41.725,0:12:44.021
next meeting to somebody who does. That's

0:12:44.021,0:12:45.567
the thing people don't understand about

0:12:45.567,0:12:48.789
the venture business. You think of these

0:12:48.789,0:12:49.789
guys sitting there with their checkbooks

0:12:49.789,0:12:51.560
just writing a check

0:12:51.560,0:12:53.572
to whoever they feel like, and assumming

0:12:53.572,0:12:57.941
that's the nature of the job couldn't be

0:12:57.941,0:13:00.176
farther from the truth. There are probably

0:13:00.176,0:13:03.538
100 to 200 people in the industry of the

0:13:03.538,0:13:07.436
6,000 who are really making great returns

0:13:07.436,0:13:09.539
for their limited partners. It's a story

0:13:09.539,0:13:11.276
for another day why the other guys get to

0:13:11.276,0:13:13.194
keep their job [laughter], but that's

0:13:13.194,0:13:17.437
probably the real data, is 100 to 200 of

0:13:17.437,0:13:19.827
them, because there's only 10 to 15

0:13:19.827,0:13:22.618
companies a year that are worth investing

0:13:22.618,0:13:24.557
in at the end of the day. It also means, of

0:13:24.557,0:13:26.165
course, there's a high failure rate. All

0:13:26.165,0:13:28.539
of us make lots of mistakes or invest in

0:13:28.539,0:13:30.208
things that don't turn into one of those,

0:13:30.208,0:13:31.711
some of which are really wonderful

0:13:31.711,0:13:33.586
companies, by the way. They don't all have

0:13:33.586,0:13:35.105
to be financial home runs to change the

0:13:35.105,0:13:36.548
world.

0:13:36.548,0:13:39.957
So, that's the story of what somebody

0:13:39.957,0:13:42.158
with incredibly improbable odds has

0:13:42.158,0:13:45.056
gotten to see here in this heartland of

0:13:45.056,0:13:48.545
innovation. What I'm most excited about

0:13:48.545,0:13:50.779
is that my daughter doesn't face those

0:13:50.779,0:13:53.653
odds because in second grade we started

0:13:53.653,0:13:56.286
investigating a way for her to have a

0:13:56.286,0:13:59.108
different path. And that led her to Charles

0:13:59.108,0:14:01.719
Armstrong School, there's a few people

0:14:01.719,0:14:08.858
in the room who know what that is. [applause]

0:14:08.858,0:14:10.209
I think we have a significant percentage of

0:14:10.209,0:14:11.987
the board members here today. [laughter]

0:14:11.987,0:14:14.537
We have Claudia, who is on the board of

0:14:14.537,0:14:16.519
Dyslexic Advantage is the head of the

0:14:16.519,0:14:19.887
school, and helped to change my daughter's

0:14:19.887,0:14:27.397
life. [applause] David Obershaw is

0:14:27.397,0:14:29.990
President of the board. Our daughters

0:14:29.990,0:14:32.938
were in class together. He went on to

0:14:32.938,0:14:36.051
really put his time behind this incredible

0:14:36.051,0:14:40.619
organization. I'm happy to say that Anna

0:14:40.619,0:14:43.862
went back to her regular school system, so

0:14:43.862,0:14:46.275
to speak, in fourth grade...fifth grade?

0:14:46.275,0:14:49.418
Fifth grade, and is doing wonderfully

0:14:49.418,0:14:53.092
well, so she faces very different odds

0:14:53.092,0:14:56.522
than I faced, and I'm really excited about

0:14:56.522,0:15:03.141
that [applause] So, I think as you...as you

0:15:03.141,0:15:06.255
think about where we are this weekend, and

0:15:06.255,0:15:08.523
you think about the fact that 40% of the

0:15:08.523,0:15:11.056
entrepreneurs are Dyslexic, also remember,

0:15:11.056,0:15:15.533
that since 1980, all net new job creation

0:15:15.533,0:15:17.503
in the United States has happened in small

0:15:17.503,0:15:21.190
or start-up companies. So, 40% of those

0:15:21.190,0:15:23.842
are started by Dyslexic people. What does

0:15:23.842,0:15:26.052
this country need so badly? We need to

0:15:26.052,0:15:29.205
invent a new economy that creates new jobs

0:15:29.205,0:15:32.023
and employs the 12 million or whatever

0:15:32.023,0:15:35.175
unemployed people that we have today.

0:15:35.175,0:15:38.960
So I think what Brock and Fernette have

0:15:38.960,0:15:41.825
done, in starting to examine with

0:15:41.825,0:15:45.558
scientific rigor, the basis of advantage

0:15:45.558,0:15:48.442
that Dyslexic people bring to our society,

0:15:48.442,0:15:51.270
is incredibly important, and I'm happy to

0:15:51.270,0:15:53.475
be here, and I hope we'll all help to

0:15:53.475,0:15:55.353
advance that cause this weekend.

0:15:55.353,0:15:56.944
Thank you. [applause]