The First Post

I’m in San Francisco at the Starbucks at 3rd and Market. The cool air-conditioned air keeps me relaxed while I chew on my pen and contemplate where I am in life while simultaneously typing away on my sub-standard keyboard. I’m excited about life – I just finished my summer contract at BlueprintRD and I’m about to leave to China on Saturday to explore my interests in technology, education, and entrepreneurship – but I’m slightly worried that I’m hopelessly unaware of an incredible naivete.

Last night, I learned for the first time in my life the career my father has had. From his graduation at National Taiwan University and his early startup days to his eventual PhD at MIT and subsequent jobs in industry, my father is an unbelievably accomplished person. What’s surprising is how little I have known about him and his work, his incredibly accomplished network of friends and colleagues, and the decisions that now give me insight into the type of person he is (and was). My mom has always mentioned that he is one of the most brilliant individuals in the world, and it turns out she wasn’t exactly exaggerating.

After hearing his life story, in what could have easily been mistaken as a late night conversation among dormmates at Stanford, I wanted to learn more about the decisions he made. Why did he pursue an MBA? (I never knew this). Why did he get a Masters in Applied Math? Why didn’t he become the professor his father wanted him to be?  What was his job like now? What are the core areas of Inventec’s business? What history have they had in consumer software? What were his views on technology, education, and venture capital? Every answer provided me with reasons to have newfound respect for his intelligence and vast amount of experience, every response showing me the depths of his personality as a human being.

Growing up, I rarely talked to my father. When I was young, he was frequently away on business months at a time. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a really serious discussion about my career with him or what I wanted to do – he never asked and I rarely said anything. But last night was different. I told him my thoughts on the future of technology and education and told him some of the thoughts I’ve been having on a possible career in venture capital. I told him about my work experience, the project I’m working on for the MacArthur Foundation, and my belief that foundations want to learn more about how to make more investments as part of their philanthropic strategy. I told him that I thought there is an opportunity for venture capital to make a difference in education, by focusing on the potential of technology in education, but that not enough venture capitalists understand the education market. He voiced some skepticism; lots of hardware companies consider education to be significant (remember Apple back in the day?) and venture capitalists have some intuitions about education (they did go to school at some point). I mumbled something about companies in this space being extremely limited in their visions and execution (OLPC et al) and the fragmented nature of the current market. He shrugged his shoulders.

I think my hunch is right. All the venture capitalists I know have areas of expertise around computer science, engineering, clean technology, biotech, business, and the like. But few, if any, have a strong understanding of the education market (a quick Google search reveals few investments by VCs in companies that try to improve some aspect of K-12 education and no VC firms have a stated core competency in the area). And most of the people in education and philanthropy are approaching the issue of K-12 Academic Achievement from areas like school reform, teacher development, principal training, and charter schools. If we could approach the issue of education by thinking about truly disruptive models, where students worldwide could all have access to the best teachers in the world, where educational games and software could be developed and deployed on a national or international scale, where educational purchases could be strategic and data driven, and where philanthropists, educational experts, and investment professionals could work together to start the new wave of education 2.0 – that would be truly amazing.

While I was finishing my undergraduate studies in philosophy and economics, I thought I would go to graduate school and either get a JD and work on corporate governance issues or a PhD and publish papers on business ethics. While I was at the Hewlett Foundation working on a book in strategic philanthropy and later learned about L3Cs, I thought I might get a JD/MBA and advise foundations and social enterprises. But when I think about impact and the real potential of the moment, I’m reminded of New Cycle Capital and their Zero Tradeoff Investment Conference and the initiatives MacArthur and Hewlett both have in technology and education. I think business can drive forward the change philanthropists want to see. So now, I want to pursue a JD/MBA or an MBA/MA in Education to allay my parent’s fears that I will be financially unstable and help drive forward the field of mission investing, especially in education. But there’s so much for me to learn, so many people I haven’t talked to, so many assumptions I need to test, and so much experience I need to have before I can even think about applying to top business schools, that I’m putting off applying to most schools for at least a year.

So that’s where I am in life, professionally. Stay tuned for more developments as I talk about my conversations with people and share what I’m learning about the field – and for posts about cooking, photography, my upcoming trip to China and Taiwan, and the other oh-so-important aspects of life that make life worth living and fighting for. And comments and suggestions are always welcome. =)