Joe Liemandt

My dad worked for GE.

I was learning what gross margin was and 12 years old and things like that.

Back to my schooling, I didn't like school.

I'd get in trouble.

I was suspended and kicked out of high school.

Didn't graduate college because I'm like, I can't sit here.

I can't sit these classes.

Now, one of the things that's really important is academics is one piece of a very complex bundle.

Stanford is an awesome school, even if you don't like the lectures.

Because everything else around it, when I was at Stanford, it's like, oh, Steve Jobs is talking.

One of my best friends, Julie Zielinski, she's like, oh, I'm going to go work at Next with Steve Jobs and learn all this stuff.

And Bill Gates comes down or Scott McDealy.

And you sit and you learn from all, whether it's your classmates or just the environment in general, all this awesomeness.

It's important in education to understand it's a complex bundle, not just who does the best academically, even at a school like Stanford.

My daughter's there and now as a freshman, and she's like, I am going to start skipping class.

She hasn't had a teacher in 10 years, right?

She hasn't had a teacher in 10 years.

And she is like the one who loves academics.

And she always would look down on me.

You would skip classes, dad, because she's very much that role follower.