Ted Dintersmith

And, you know, I try to be very specific.

You know, I say to the daughter, your talk was really interesting.

You made these two points.

I thought they were great.

The mother says to me, we really just are interested in this.

Like, we know our daughter is not college material for this class of college, but what kind of AP course coverage and scores do you think she needs to get into this tier with the daughter right there?

And I say like, wait, your daughter just gave this great talk.

Like, you need to be excited.

Like, don't let your view about your daughter be defined by some anonymous 28-year-old college admissions officer who's probably there because their family gives a lot of money or they were an athlete.

Like, help this kid find their length.

She's great.

And it's, again, all I want is for my kid to be happy, and then what happens, right?

And I just didn't believe that.

If that's your goal, and, you know, I'll put it into a metaphor that you and I can understand, and I hope people listening to this can't.

You know, I'm a venture guy through and through.

I am a venture guy.

Venture guys don't tell anybody what to do.

As a venture guy, if we do our job and I tried to do my job and I think I did it well, I try to find out what your dream is and support the hell out of you, right?

What do you want to accomplish and how can I help?

And if I don't think you want to accomplish something that I care about or is important,