Venture Fund Seeds School Innovations
Don Shalvey isn't easily awed. He spent nine years as a superintendent, opened California's first charter school, and once introduced President Clinton when the chief executive paid a visit to his district. But when Mr. Shalvey asked the New Schools Venture Fund for $500,000 to build a nonprofit charter school management company, it felt like "four simultaneous root canals," he said.
On the day he made his pitch, he looked out at a table surrounded by many of the legends of Silicon Valley—people who had breathed life into such enterprises as Federal Express, Amazon.com, and Netscape. Having already assembled thick binders of background information on him, the group grilled him on his business plan, his past accomplishments, and his strengths and weaknesses.
"It really is like a root canal," said the native Philadelphian, "compared with the way any traditional administrator...
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