WEBVTT

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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..."

NOTE Paragraph

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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

00:12:37.828 --> 00:12:41.725
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

00:12:45.567 --> 00:12:48.789
the venture business. You think of these

00:12:48.789 --> 00:12:49.789
guys sitting there with their checkbooks

00:12:49.789 --> 00:12:51.560
just writing a check

00:12:51.560 --> 00:12:53.572
to whoever they feel like, and assumming

00:12:53.572 --> 00:12:57.941
that's the nature of the job couldn't be

00:12:57.941 --> 00:13:00.176
farther from the truth. There are probably

00:13:00.176 --> 00:13:03.538
100 to 200 people in the industry of the

00:13:03.538 --> 00:13:07.436
6,000 who are really making great returns

00:13:07.436 --> 00:13:09.539
for their limited partners. It's a story

00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:11.276
for another day why the other guys get to

00:13:11.276 --> 00:13:13.194
keep their job [laughter], but that's

00:13:13.194 --> 00:13:17.437
probably the real data, is 100 to 200 of

00:13:17.437 --> 00:13:19.827
them, because there's only 10 to 15

00:13:19.827 --> 00:13:22.618
companies a year that are worth investing

00:13:22.618 --> 00:13:24.557
in at the end of the day. It also means, of

00:13:24.557 --> 00:13:26.165
course, there's a high failure rate. All

00:13:26.165 --> 00:13:28.539
of us make lots of mistakes or invest in

00:13:28.539 --> 00:13:30.208
things that don't turn into one of those,

00:13:30.208 --> 00:13:31.711
some of which are really wonderful

00:13:31.711 --> 00:13:33.586
companies, by the way. They don't all have

00:13:33.586 --> 00:13:35.105
to be financial home runs to change the

00:13:35.105 --> 00:13:36.548
world.

00:13:36.548 --> 00:13:39.957
So, that's the story of what somebody

00:13:39.957 --> 00:13:42.158
with incredibly improbable odds has

00:13:42.158 --> 00:13:45.056
gotten to see here in this heartland of

00:13:45.056 --> 00:13:48.545
innovation. What I'm most excited about

00:13:48.545 --> 00:13:50.779
is that my daughter doesn't face those

00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:53.653
odds because in second grade we started

00:13:53.653 --> 00:13:56.286
investigating a way for her to have a

00:13:56.286 --> 00:13:59.108
different path. And that led her to Charles

00:13:59.108 --> 00:14:01.719
Armstrong School, there's a few people

00:14:01.719 --> 00:14:08.858
in the room who know what that is. [applause]

00:14:08.858 --> 00:14:10.209
I think we have a significant percentage of

00:14:10.209 --> 00:14:11.987
the board members here today. [laughter]

00:14:11.987 --> 00:14:14.537
We have Claudia, who is on the board of

00:14:14.537 --> 00:14:16.519
Dyslexic Advantage is the head of the

00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.887
school, and helped to change my daughter's

00:14:19.887 --> 00:14:27.397
life. [applause] David Obershaw is

00:14:27.397 --> 00:14:29.990
President of the board. Our daughters

00:14:29.990 --> 00:14:32.938
were in class together. He went on to

00:14:32.938 --> 00:14:36.051
really put his time behind this incredible

00:14:36.051 --> 00:14:40.619
organization. I'm happy to say that Anna

00:14:40.619 --> 00:14:43.862
went back to her regular school system, so

00:14:43.862 --> 00:14:46.275
to speak, in fourth grade...fifth grade?

00:14:46.275 --> 00:14:49.418
Fifth grade, and is doing wonderfully

00:14:49.418 --> 00:14:53.092
well, so she faces very different odds

00:14:53.092 --> 00:14:56.522
than I faced, and I'm really excited about

00:14:56.522 --> 00:15:03.141
that [applause] So, I think as you...as you

00:15:03.141 --> 00:15:06.255
think about where we are this weekend, and

00:15:06.255 --> 00:15:08.523
you think about the fact that 40% of the

00:15:08.523 --> 00:15:11.056
entrepreneurs are Dyslexic, also remember,

00:15:11.056 --> 00:15:15.533
that since 1980, all net new job creation

00:15:15.533 --> 00:15:17.503
in the United States has happened in small

00:15:17.503 --> 00:15:21.190
or start-up companies. So, 40% of those

00:15:21.190 --> 00:15:23.842
are started by Dyslexic people. What does

00:15:23.842 --> 00:15:26.052
this country need so badly? We need to

00:15:26.052 --> 00:15:29.205
invent a new economy that creates new jobs

00:15:29.205 --> 00:15:32.023
and employs the 12 million or whatever

00:15:32.023 --> 00:15:35.175
unemployed people that we have today.

00:15:35.175 --> 00:15:38.960
So I think what Brock and Fernette have

00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.825
done, in starting to examine with

00:15:41.825 --> 00:15:45.558
scientific rigor, the basis of advantage

00:15:45.558 --> 00:15:48.442
that Dyslexic people bring to our society,

00:15:48.442 --> 00:15:51.270
is incredibly important, and I'm happy to

00:15:51.270 --> 00:15:53.475
be here, and I hope we'll all help to

00:15:53.475 --> 00:15:55.353
advance that cause this weekend.

00:15:55.353 --> 00:15:56.944
Thank you. [applause]