The GSV Big 10: Top Kopp
Prime Time with Primer, PAC Man (and Woman), Paleontology Without Friends...
Chart of the Week
The Big 10:
It’s our sense that the Law of Unintended Consequences will have a new case study to point to once the realities of the New World of college athletics fully plays out. Unquestionably, the system imposed on student athletes wasn’t fair (or as it turns out, legal), and so it blowing it up is not a shock. However, the new “structure” is chaos and while the student athletes will now have a chance to “get theirs” (and former athletes $2.8 billion) the relationship between “student” and “athlete” will be forever broken. Moreover, the life changing experience that college can provide will be a quaint recollection by the old timers of days gone by.
There are about 1 million teenagers in gangs across the United States. Few gang members are Valedictorians and if you are in the Crips or the Bloods, your chance of even graduating from High School is about 50%. Programs that help buck this trend are out there but face challenges to stay funded…return on investment is critical—initiatives that have the greatest impact get the most support.
This article confirmed to me that education isn’t a Republican issue, or a Democrat issue, it’s an American issue. Or as Rahm Emmanuel said, we need to stop focusing on “locker-room” or the “bathroom” but need to focus on the “classroom”. The so-called experts try to make it confusing, but what we should all be demanding is excellence in outcomes.
“Agree to disagree” used to be normal and thought as a way to show respect towards people who have different points of view. Today, 75% of students think that inviting another viewpoint into a conversation is a sign of weakness. Only 38% think “sportsmanship” is important and a mere 11% “strongly oppose” using brute force against somebody you don’t agree with. Civil discourse needs to be as natural to learning as reading, math and writing.
How to reverse alarming education decline in U.S. and around the world: Teach for All founder Wendy Kopp | CNBC
Wendy Kopp has been a powerful force in education since graduating from Princeton in 1989. First founding Teach for America, the ASU+GSV Summit Lifetime Award winner was able to convince some of our best and brightest college graduates to teach in some of our most challenged school environments. One of the unexpected things about TFA is that ~75% of its alumni have stayed in education. Today, the expanded mission of Teach for All reaches 1.3 million students with 15K teachers around the World.
Microschools are on fire. There are nearly 100K of them with 1.5 million students. This interview with Primer founder Ryan Delk gives a window to this very big opportunity (Disclosure: GSV Ventures is an investor in Primer). With 18 states currently having ESA, and School Choice’s popularity with 75% of adults, Primer aspires to be the operating platform for schools to deliver excellence in education.
Playing into the enormous success of “Walking with Dinosaurs” 25 years ago, “Building with Dinosaurs” is hoping to create a hit sequel. With over 600 million gamers under 18 and over 3.3 billion in total globally, “Invisible Learning” is a highly effective way to get people acquire knowledge and skills. Building with Dinosaurs could be the biggest thing to hit paleontology since Ross from Friends.
Having participated in a couple of PAC events, I got to personally experience the power of the network. Pro Athletes are an elite community and with it comes both huge opportunities and dangers. PAC is creating a safe space for athletes to be coached, educated and connected to ways to thrive in their post pro careers. GSV Ventures is excited and delighted to lead this investment.
40% of working adults are doing a “side hustle” to augment their main job. The pandemic accelerated a lot of change with the future of work being hugely affected. Career advancement used to be the priority along with leadership responsibilities, today its about flexibility and acquiring skills that are transferable .
I had the privilege of doing a keynote at the excellent Imagine AI Conference in Las Vegas and this is my post-speech interview. AI is like AIR, it’s invisible, it’s ubiquitous and you are going to need it to live.