Welcome, Polygon!
Words. Growing up, I hated them. I’m a terribly slow reader. I can’t spell to save my life. In grade school, I was terrified when the teacher called on me to read aloud. I constantly mixed up letters and sounds — especially the alphabet’s p’s, q’s, b’s, and d’s. I fell in love with numbers as a way to cope with my tense relationship with words.
I didn’t understand why I struggled with words and others didn’t. I thought I was stupid. The scars cut deep. Until, one day, my mom took me to see a psychologist located just off of California Ave in Palo Alto. We spent the day doing various exercises — matching shapes, reciting numbers, reading aloud, and more. The psychologist’s verdict: I was dyslexic.
I was relieved, to say the least. The diagnosis changed my life and kicked off a multi-year journey of discovering my unique learning style. I learned that listening to audio while reading text was better than reading text alone. I learned that visual trumped auditory learning. I learned that my dyslexia was not a disability but could be a superpower. Sure, there are things that I struggled with, but there were also things that I excelled at more than my peers because of my dyslexia.
Why isn’t every child in the U.S. tested for dyslexia at a young age?
Enter Polygon. I’m thrilled to announce our Seed investment in Polygon, a platform for tele-evaluations for learning disabilities. Polygon is a new kind of psychology practice specializing in assessments and support for dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning differences. They’re on a mission to enable every person with a learning difference to reach their full potential.
The first time I spoke to founder Jack Rolo (who I was lucky to have return my cold email!), I immediately gravitated toward his personal story of discovering he was dyslexic and his vision for a world in which every individual has access to evaluations, allowing people to discover their differences and harness their strengths. Jack’s vision, combined with co-founder Meryll Dindin’s technical prowess, was a clear recipe for success. I also loved hearing stories of how Meryll spent a summer sleeping on Jack’s couch as they were getting Polygon off the ground!
There are times when personal experiences align with market opportunities and this investment is one of them. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Jack, Meryll, the entire Polygon team (they’re hiring!), and an awesome group of co-investors, including Pear VC. Welcome, Polygon!
