Kelvin Crosby: 0:06

Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, the Samaritan Partners podcast. We're not waiting for change, we're investing it. Join us as we speak with entrepreneurs and thought leaders that are focused on creating a more accessible world. So good to see you, even though I can't see you. It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and I'm so excited that you're here at investing in accessibility. And I'm your host, Kelvin Crosby, and I got my co-host, Chris Maher. How you doing, man?

Chris Maher: 0:45

I'm good, Calvin. Good to see you and be with you as always. It was so awesome to actually see you in real life. Yes.

Kelvin Crosby: 0:53

Yes. And I tell you, that was quite the experience that we had. Um, I mean, we did the cha-cha dance, you know, and we did the train. Like, we had so many moments where we're like, we got a little personal with this.

Chris Maher: 1:09

CES is uh for those of you who have never been to CES, the big consumer electronic show in Vegas. Um, I think this year was 150,000 people descend upon Vegas for this conference. So it it's pretty overwhelming to begin with, just the sheer volume of people that are flying around these these venues. Um, and then when you combine the two of us knuckleheads uh trying to navigate it together, it gets it gets pretty interesting pretty quickly, doesn't it?

Kelvin Crosby: 1:44

Oh yeah. I mean, I think one of the crazy things is I we we did pretty good on Monday. You know, we we we were good Monday, but Tuesday when we got to the the to the Venetian uh hotel and we were ready to go to the your panel, I was like, you're like, what's going on? Nobody moving. He's like, and I said, I'm not sure, I can't see anything. And and you're like, Kevin, grab on. I'm like, all right, I'm grabbing on, I'm grabbing on your backpack, and I'm going all in right behind you, brother. Here we go.

Chris Maher: 2:19

It was it was a lot of that, and that because that Tuesday is when all the really when the conference the main conference started. We did some pre-conference stuff with the CTA foundation the day before. But yeah, it was it was crazy, the people, and and um yeah, I I I was at times a an okay navigator for my co-pilot uh Kelvin, but at times I I wasn't very good. And so I apologized for the couple times, a couple of times I I was like, okay, we're going off to our next spot. I just walked away.

Kelvin Crosby: 2:54

And like you're like, oh, here we are.

Chris Maher: 2:57

Well uh we got but I but I think by by Tuesday afternoon uh we got into a pretty good rhythm, yeah. Which was, you know, uh, you know, for for for folks, a little visual of kind of me in front, Kelvin a little bit in the back to the side. He'd have his left hand on my backpack and his cane in his right hand and all his gear as we were running around doing interviews and like it was people must have been looking at us at us like, what are these dudes up to? But it was awesome. Like it was it was so great. First of all, just to see you uh for an extended period of time in person and having a chance to uh just catch up on a personal level. And I had a chance to meet your amazing wife, Abigail, which was fantastic. She's the best. Um and um and then also to kind of like create some content and do a bunch of interviews, and we met a whole bunch of uh new people and then had a chance to connect with people that you know have been on the show and that we've known for for a while and just to reconnect in person was so nice. But it it was it was it was an experience, yeah.

Kelvin Crosby: 4:01

Oh yeah. And then I think one one of my best is when both you and PK just took off, and I was just standing there. I was like, well, one minute, two, one second, two seconds, and like about 20 seconds went by, and I'm like, I think they made it to the door by now, and I'm just still

Chris Maher: 4:24

Yeah, we were it was the end of day two. We had been invited to this kind of like you know, parties, uh even a party at night that uh happens a lot at CES, and we were in outside the expo getting ready to go out to get in our Uber, and it's chaos, right? It's the end of the day. There's people everywhere, there's Ubers and taxis everywhere, and PK is Paul Kent, who's our our friend from Disabled Life Alliance. Um, and and we're trying to, who by the way, is a bilateral amputee.

Kelvin Crosby: 4:53

Oh, yeah.

Chris Maher: 4:53

So he has his 3D printed legs um that you can see because he wears shorts everywhere with his Chuck Taylor sneakers and Kelvin with all his gear and his his the See Me Cane. Um, and we're trying to get Ubers, and and Paul and I are like trying to coordinate Ubers, and and unfortunately we did. We we just kind of started walking outside to the curb. Um but then we remembered that we left our our our buddy, our buddy, and uh we got got you out to the curb and got you into the Uber, and then we went and had a great time with that party, which was awesome.

Kelvin Crosby: 5:24

It was awesome. It was good meeting some really cool people there. But I I think one of the weak things I have become really good at is hugging a tree, even though there's no tree there sometimes. It is either the stay put where you left me because you'll find me eventually.

Chris Maher: 5:39

Yeah, and and uh Kelvin, you just roll with the punches, and obviously you've been at this a long time navigating uh you know social spaces. And um, you know, I I had last year at CES done a little sighted guiding for our friend uh Mike Hess at the Blind Institute of Technology when the sighted guide he had scheduled actually wasn't available. And so I I took him around for a couple hours. And but this do, you know, being with you for two and a half days, and and I have a much, I mean, I thought I had a pretty good appreciation for what it must be like to navigate as as a blind individual, but you you know, you also have hearing impairment or um and you had your hearing aids in, which helped you, but like just one, the sensory overload and the cacophony of what's going on there, like I know was was pretty challenging for you at times, but I I have an even greater appreciation uh for how to navigate this world. If you're you know blind, low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, and and uh and and and my friend, man, like I I held you in high esteem uh already, but like you you went up a few more notches, man. You're you're you're my you're a superhero, you're my inspiration, pal. It was it was thank you for for coming to Vegas and and uh paling around with me for for a few days. It was great.

Kelvin Crosby: 6:58

So let's set the scene for this for the panel. Because you're on the panel, let's see uh, and you're on the investing and accessibility panel.

Chris Maher: 7:08

How about that?

Kelvin Crosby: 7:09

And I think what was really cool, so we get there. So this is the Tuesday morning, right? We go through and we get to um we get to the event the the stage and I'm like, I just put me near the speaker. If you put me near the speaker, I can hear it, and uh I probably can record it. And so I'm like, all right, let's do this. And he and you just you just dragged me along and we we got there and put me in a seat. And for the longest time, I didn't realize I I was facing the wrong direction until it was a little bit later. I'm like, wait, the back is to my right, and I'm just sitting at this chair with my feet in the aisle. I'm like, who cares? I can't see them, I don't know what their faces look like. So I'm like, I just started pulling things out of my backpack, got my tripod up, got my my my bar to get the mixer on it. I got the the microphone connected to the mixer, then I got my recorder and put that on the bar and got it pointed in the right direction, got the audio set up. I'm like, I think this is gonna sound okay. We're gonna see.

Chris Maher: 8:10

It was like it was amazing. Like you were a traveling technology hub, like it was it was awesome. Um, you had this big backpack, all that gear that you just talked about. Um, and you were setting up and breaking down on the fly. Like it was it was really impressive. It was it was fun, it was really fun to watch. Like, dude, you're you are you are a technical wizard.

Kelvin Crosby: 8:33

Well, we we made it happen.

Chris Maher: 8:35

We did. We did. And so so Kelvin was able to record the panel that I was on. And and a quick shout out. So this was this panel was all part of the dedicated accessibility stage at CES. First time ever. Steve Ewell, who was I I think our first guest on the show last year, uh, who's the executive director of the CTA foundation, he and his team get huge props for what they've done over the last several years to elevate accessibility and age tech at CES. But this year it felt different and felt different in a really good way because they elevated uh the presence of accessibility at CES this year, where it was uh it was not an afterthought. It wasn't in a side room, like it was front and center in this main traffic area outside the expo hall where there was this giant stage with you know accessibility stage. And it was three days of like 25 or so different sessions, panels, fireside chats. Like it was amazing. Like it, it was really exciting. It really felt like um uh moving more much more into the mainstream, which was which was really cool. And then we had this panel where I was on a panel with with several people around investing in accessibility. We had Sandy Lacy Um from Howe Perkins um or Perkins School for the Blind in the Howe Innovation Center, Maz Hamid, who is has this wonderful organization called Movement, which does part accelerator, part investing, um, Paul Kent from Disabled Life Alliance. Um, and then we had Irica, who is uh on the team at the CTA, who did uh who was the moderator, and then and then me, and it was a wonderful conversation. So really excited to to share that. But big shout out to to Steve Ewell and the CTA Foundation and his team for for the work they did in elevating accessibility this year. It was really exciting.

Kelvin Crosby: 10:25

And what was cool, it was a pack room or a pack that it was standing room only by the time your panel came up, and it was only the second one of the day. So let's go on this journey and let's hear the panel. Here we go.

Irica Cheeks: 10:40

Okay, I'm gonna start. My name is Irica Cheek. I'm a senior marketing leader at the Consumer Technology Association. I am focused on innovation, growth, and engagement. I am so happy to be here today with my esteemed colleagues and experts in the accessibility space. I'm just gonna go ahead and hand it over to them to give a brief description of who they are in the company they represent. All right, yes.

Chris Maher: 11:07

Hi, everybody. Uh, my name is Chris Maher. I'm the founder and general partner of Samaritan Partners. I'm a middle-aged white male with blonde hair, dark jeans, and a navy sweater on today. Uh, and that hair is getting grayer every uh every day. Um, Samaritan Partners is a social impact venture fund, and we only invest in the disability sector. So we invest in early stage companies that are either providing products and services, assistive technology to people with disabilities, and/or creating employment opportunities. And really nice to be here today with everybody.

Paul Kent: 11:40

Hi, everybody, good morning. Uh, I'm Paul Kent. I'm the founder of Disabled Life Alliance, uh, which is a public benefit fork that provides advisory and transactional support uh to disability innovation. I'm also the executive director of Disabled Life Foundation, which is about advocacy, awareness, and education, and also the vehicle for which we uh we'll talk about later, but uh facilitate charitable investment into innovation. I am an older white male with less hair and a blue vest and uh some very attractive uh legs.

Moaz Hamid: 12:14

Hi everyone, I am Moaz Hamid, uh black, uh clean shaven, and uh young and handsome. I'm representing the CTA Foundation. I'm a trustee of the CTA CES Foundation uh that is focusing on accessibility and aging. Uh I'm also an investor in Movement Venture. Movement Venture is uh one of the early research company uh and investment fund on the disability space, uh, as well as a board member of Martin Luther King Community Healthcare Foundation with a beautiful hospital in South LA.

Sandy Lacey: 12:54

Hi everyone, my name is Sandy Lacey and I lead innovation at Perkins School for the Blind. Uh, we're the oldest school for children with blindness or low or low vision in the United States. We're actually turning 200 in the year 2029. Um, as part of my leadership at Perkins, I run our uh Braille, which is the oldest um leading mechanical typewriter uh that produces Braille. Um we have half a million of them globally. Our assistive device center, where we make um adaptively designed furniture out of cardboard and glue. We make over 2,000 pieces a year for our kids. And then I'm the founding executive director of the HAW Innovation Center, which is an entrepreneurial support organization really focused on bringing together um innovators, whether they're students, startups, or at-large corporates, um, investors, um, and the government uh to work together to catalyze innovation in the space of disability tech.

Irica Cheeks: 13:54

Wow, we have some official experts in this space. Okay, we're gonna jump right into it. What makes an accessibility-focused startup investable? And I'm gonna ask that as you Chris.

Chris Maher: 14:06

Okay, get right into it. Um, thank you, Irica. So um, as a venture fund, our approach, which um may be a little bit different than some funds, um, we look through kind of three lenses when we're looking at uh startups that we might invest in. The first is what's the problem they're solving um and what's the impact that they are driving and what's their potential to do that at scale. So um that's partly to do with social impact, but also partly to do with product market fit, um, which is critically important. Um if we can check that box, uh the second thing we tend to look at is really the founding team and the senior team behind the business. My experience before starting the fund, I spent 25 years as an operator, and that was largely in early stage VC back companies. Um, and my own personal experience is that the founding team is as important, if not more important, to the future success of a startup than what the business actually is. And so we spend a lot of time getting to know the management team, the founding team. Um, and then when we can check that box, then we do a really deep dive into what is the commercial opportunity? What is that total addressable market, which you startups out there um are very familiar with that term. Um, but what is what is that, the size of that market that you're targeting? Uh, what is that product market fit? What is the commercial approach? Is it B2B? Is it B2C? Is it direct to consumer? We as a fund tend to lean towards B2B and B2B to C versus direct to consumer. Uh, that has a lot to do with my own personal experience as an entrepreneur. We also tend to lean more towards uh subscription um and recurring revenue um companies versus more episodic and transactional. But at the end of the day, big picture, I think what entrepreneurs have to really think about is am I building a what I would call a lifestyle business or an exit, an exitable basics? Okay, and so that has a lot to do with product market fit and ultimately scale.

Irica Cheeks: 16:00

Great. I'm gonna also ask that question of from your lens, Paul, if you can answer that question.

Paul Kent: 16:07

Yeah, well, so we're a little bit different than a fund. We're we're we're brokering resources that are essential for the acceleration of innovation. Yes, and where some of that is driven by the uh the assets that we work with, with the folks behind that and their interest. Um we also realize in our work that there's a large element of social capital that goes into where we would apply uh investment capital and how we do that. So it's a little bit different, it's probably a little bit earlier. Yeah, um, and that's intentional. Uh we're we're trying to get over what they refer to in the uh in the uh drug development world as the valley of death. We call it the valley of opportunity. So, what is the resources that are necessary to get it to a place where the more formalized fund structures might uh might embrace it and support it on its journey?

Speaker 4: 16:55

Okay, and Moaz, I'm gonna cross the same question to you.

Moaz Hamid: 16:58

Yeah, absolutely. In addition to what uh Chris and Paul said, we actually also very, very early, we come at phase zero in most of our investment. Um, the relationship to the problem that we are solving, that was the number one criteria basically that allowed us to select our portfolio today. A father solving for his son, um, someone solving for himself, uh, someone solving for his brother and sister, every one of our entrepreneurs actually solving for a loved one, um, and our ability to support them and handhold them to the next stage of their company. So if we had the ability to add one more founder where we have enough support for them to take them to the next stage, that's when we uh make the decision to basically invest in them.

Irica Cheeks: 17:46

Okay, excellent. And so Sandy, last but not least, only earlier.

Sandy Lacey: 17:51

Sure. Um, you know, we've met, we've actually mapped the market uh for disability tech. So when I joined Perkins almost four years ago, I we built a database where we had around 1,400 startups that were building products or services specifically for people with disabilities. That database is now over 3,300 companies, excluding big tech. Um we quantified the market. We had um in 2022, it was $818 million went into early stage investment investments in disability tech. So that's $30 million. Yeah, it was $818 million in 2022, um, according to our definition of disability tech. And um that's for early stage. So that was first money in, pre-seed, seed, and series A. Uh, we just reran the analysis and we're releasing it in the white paper next week. And in 2024, it went up to 1.1 billion. So um where there's definitely growth within the sector, we're seeing um there's still a lot of pain points that entrepreneurs face uh with scaling a disability tech company. And that's why I'm actually so uh you know pleased to see new investor entrants into the space because we consistently hear that even though the volume of dollars going into the sector is growing, that first money in continues to remain a problem for for entrepreneurs and disability tech.

Irica Cheeks: 19:24

Well, I'm gonna toss a question over to you, Paul. How can startups combine purpose with profit?

Paul Kent: 19:31

Well, like Moaz pointed out, we've all pointed out, right? Typically, the the inventor of innovation in this space is solving a real problem.

Irica Cheeks: 19:39

Absolutely.

Paul Kent: 19:40

And that immediately ties it to purpose, uh, where it gets maybe not tricky, but uh evaluation is is how big is that problem? And is the solution have broader application beyond that problem? Um but I think that's the great thing about working and investing in this space, is

Chris Maher: 20:00

that I'm pretty much certain that uh profit and purpose are uh are meaning that alone. I mean, if you also look at the research, because there is a body of research now from the last 10 to 15 years when social impact funds and ESG really came about. And if you look at organizations like conscious capitalism, over the long haul, organizations, companies that are not only for profit but also have a purpose and mission driven, over the long haul, they perform better financially and economically than companies that are just purely for-profit. Now, in the short term, purely for-profit companies may actually do a little bit better. But when you look at over the long haul, companies that, and I think that's partly to do with there's you know demographic changes that are happening in our country. When you look at the younger generation right now, they're looking for companies that are not just purely for-profit, but also are mission-driven. And so there is a body of evidence now, and all of us are believers in that, that uh the combination of for-profit and purpose or mission-driven, over the long haul, you actually perform better financially.

Irica Cheeks: 21:05

Absolutely. I'm gonna toss that my same question to you, Moaz.

Moaz Hamid: 21:10

Um, so one of the biggest problems that venture capital changed a lot. In the early 90s and 80s, an investor used to roll their sleeve and support these entrepreneurs to become profitable, and then it became a race toward how many can I invest in as quick as possible. Um, and that basically made all the uh the burden on the entrepreneur to figure that out uh and push them away from their purpose. So that's where we started to see a lot of failures in the industry in general. Uh, but I believe we are going back towards that again today. Uh, at the Movement, we roll our sleep with every entrepreneur that we bring in because um they need what we know, they need our 20 years and 30 years and 50 years of experience. Um, and without it, it's very challenging to actually figure out the market and get the market successfully. So this is what's missing today at the mentorship, the hand holding of these entrepreneurs. And we're encouraging all our investment colleagues to do the same as well.

Irica Cheeks: 22:13

And Paul?

Paul Kent: 22:14

I was just gonna add, the funders are looking for that as well. Chris alluded to it, what Moaz talked about, it is that the capital behind that is looking for that alignment. And that social capital and financial capital connection and mentorship, which is vitally important in this sense.

Irica Cheeks: 22:32

And speaking of an alignment, Sandy, when you evaluate new accessibility innovations, what signals tell you this will truly scale and change lives from your lens?

Sandy Lacey: 22:43

That's a great question. At the Howe Innovation Center, we're not actually not in the business of determining which startups are good or not. We're in the business of making sure that they get access to the resources that they need in order to be successful. Of course, I have my own opinions, but I have to set those to the side. So we actually don't make investments into startups. We're more that ecosystem amplifying, connecting fabric, where we understand when startups are fundraising, we'll source those to investors, we understand when startups are hiring and they're having trouble finding talent, and we'll try to help them find the right talent. We understand when investors are looking for a specific comparison point for a deal that they're evaluating. And we're really trying to remove friction points in the innovators' journey. So, you know, Perkins, every week we get inbound inquiries from uh innovators, whether they're students or startups or large corporations that want access to our community for primary market research or user testing. And uh we're streamlining that process of getting access to people with disabilities so that better, more in more co-designed accessible products are making it to market. Um, an accessible tech company will not give up. If you're building for the deafblind community, you're gonna find 50 people who are deafblind and test your product with them. But if you're building the next dating app, you're gonna give up and you're gonna move on, and then your product's not gonna be built accessibly. So we want to make it easy for that next dating app to include uh people with disabilities in their market uh research and user tests.

Irica Cheeks: 24:34

Okay, great, great answer. Um, Chris, can you give us a little insight from your lens and the same questions?

Chris Maher: 24:40

Well, I think another way to think about this, and for for those of you who might be new to the accessibility space from an investment standpoint and from a startup ecosystem where companies are building early stage innovation, I think a lot of people um are ill-informed or misinformed that it's a niche market and you can't make money. And when you hear the word disability, you immediately think of nonprofits and charity. That's not the case. It's a massive market with a fantastic opportunity not only to drive social impact and change the lives of millions of people, but to get a fantastic financial return. Here are just some of the quick numbers, right? Um, the the global population uh of disability is in the neighborhood of 1.5 billion people, okay, globally. Uh, to put that into context, that is larger than this the population of China. Okay, it's one in six people globally, it's one in four adults in the US. Um, if you don't have a disability, you certainly know someone who does. Um, that community uh is responsible for six or seven trillion dollars in disposable income. When you include their families and caregivers, that jumps to 12 or 13 trillion. If you just took the word disability off of that and I gave you those stats and said, hey, I'm thinking of investing in this market, you'd probably say, Yeah, duh, right? That's massive. Um, and so part of this is we need to educate and create awareness for everybody. Um, and and disability is part of the human condition. That 1.5 billion population is gonna more than double in the next 25 years. Part of that is that we're all aging. And oh, by the way, when you age and we're all living longer, we're all gonna age into this community at some point and be members of it. And if you don't have a disability now, there's a chance you might have an accident or an illness that will bring you into the community uh temporarily or permanently. So it is part of the human condition. And oh, by the way, it is not biased or prejudiced, it cuts across age, gender, socioethnatic status, geography, ethnicity, etc. So it's a massive opportunity, and it's early in the game, and part of what we're all trying to do is shine a light to bring more private capital uh for-profit investments.

Paul Kent: 26:43

I was just gonna add that you know, it what you're seeing on the stage is uh is innovation as well in terms of how we can unlock that capital and how we can bring new resources into the accessibility uh development space. Um, the numbers are do speak for themselves. It is a concessionary, it is massively investable, uh, but there are unique aspects to it that we need to bring into. The great thing is that alluding to the funders, they are aligned and they're part of that network, they're part of that ability to get into a clinic for a pilot or to do these other things. So it's um it's just very interesting that we're all innovating on how we can unlock the potential that we all see .

Irica Cheeks: 27:23

Absolutely. I'm gonna go want to go back to something that Chris said earlier. We're all gonna be in this club at some point in life. Um, one of the questions I wanted to ask each of the panelists, um, just thinking through um inclusive design and what that looks like to make better products. Um, and I'll start with Sandy.

Sandy Lacey: 27:41

Sure. Um, so there's a lot of well-intentioned entrepreneurial energy out there. Um, but frequently we see technology in search of a market. Um, you know, um, and and there's a there is a graveyard of assistive technologies out there that just haven't worked. And it's because they came out of somebody who really wanted to make a difference, but didn't actually know their customer and didn't had whatever kind of hurdles in their way to finding their customer to go to co-design alongside and with them. So we believe very strongly at Perkins that companies that are building products, whether they're disability tech or not, should be co-designing alongside and with people with disabilities because accessibility benefits everybody. Absolutely. Um, and we need to make that as easy as possible. So at Perkins, you know, we've partnered with companies like Honda and iRobots, like large, large organizations to uh student groups coming out of you know local universities to help them get access to our community uh for for that exact reason.

Chris Maher: 28:54

I think just one quick dovetail on that. I think it's such a great point. Entrepreneurs, the last place you want to be is a solution looking for a problem. I've been there as a CEO of a company and like it it doesn't end well. And so figuring out that product market fit, starting with the inclusive and universal design is critical to that. As someone else said, um, I think it was Moaz, 99% of the entrepreneurs in this space that I've met are all solving problems they have either a direct or indirect problem with. So most of you are starting with um some form of product market fit, but but that that is so essential to it because if you're if you're a solution looking for a problem, you're not going to be successful.

Irica Cheeks: 29:33

That's key, Moaz. Can you give us some insight in your life as well?

Moaz Hamid: 29:37

And and examples as well. For example, uh, one of our first early entrepreneurs that we invested in, uh, he was solving a personal concussion problem. He had a fair life-ending concussion that he survived. He lost his ability to speak, his ability to walk, uh, and he started to solve for that. And we saw that he was as he was solving for it. Um within one month, he started walking, his stuttering became a little bit better. Um, but as a fund and a funder and looking to see this opportunity, we had to do a dive and deep research into the area. And we discovered that all the solutions that he created to help himself with this concussion are actually relevant to Alzheimer's as well. So um we made him focus in the seed round an early stage to focus in the area which he started with. But as he scales into a series fee and raise additional capital, then we'll push him toward this additional capital. It's also relevant to aging. Um one in two of us, unfortunately, to say one in two of us, uh, from every two of us, one of us will actually become disabled at the age of 60. And multiple disabilities, not just a single disability. And if we're not solving for that, and we're pushing the retirement age and expecting people to work for a long time, and people are working into their 70s today, um, and we are not having any of this innovation, it's gonna start to impact our GDP. Today alone, the GDP opportunity in the United States is over 600 billion dollars. In English speaking country alone, it's 1.2 trillion dollars. It's a massive opportunity.

Irica Cheeks: 31:23

Wow. Paul, I'm gonna toss the same question over to you.

Paul Kent: 31:27

Well, you know, it's interesting that we're talking about how big the market is and the inventors in the space would be all solving a problem. You can't discount that because a lot of the technologies that are being shown and around are applicable to society at large. They start out solving a problem, but they have broad appeal. Um, so that's that's extremely investable. I think the other great thing around um the innovation space in accessibility is it's kind of bifurcating, right? It's solving problems, but it's also what I think is a bigger hope, right, and an investment opportunity is taking technology as it evolves and making it initially and immediately accessible. Um that that's part of the equation we're really not even addressing that was investment.

Irica Cheeks: 32:20

Yes. And then last, uh Chris, if you give final thoughts on that same question.

Chris Maher: 32:25

I think I kind of chimed in on that, so why don't we go to the next question?

Irica Cheeks: 32:28

Next question, we will go. Okay, last but not least, I know we have a lot to get to, and uh we have seven minutes left. What are the biggest opportunities in disability innovation as you see it within the next five to two years? Sandy?

Sandy Lacey: 32:43

Oh, I'm so excited I get to go first because someone was gonna say this, but I get to say it first. Um I really nobody's gonna be surprised by this. Um, you know, artificial intelligence is just creating this new digital infrastructure. And if we don't get ahead of it and get all of the AI products that are being deployed out there built accessibly from the beginning, we're gonna have the same problem we have now, which is that 96% of the internet is still not accessible. So it's 25 years since the internet went mainstream, and only 96% of 96% of it still can't be accessed using varieties from a variety of different accessible technologies. Um, that's that's a big problem. Uh, it's gonna happen again with AI. And so everybody here, I actually have like a call to action for everyone. You know, somebody who's building with AI, tell them, hey, make sure you're you're testing your product alongside and with people with disabilities. Even if you don't, you know, troll someone on social media at an AI company and call them out to do it. Um, because it's not from a lack of will or want, it's just from a lack of awareness. You know, these companies that are being built so fast, they think about privacy and security and customer delight. Like this is what investors and entrepreneurship programs have just drilled into the founders from the beginning. Privacy, security, customer delight, what's your TAM, find your product market fit, and go, go, go. Accessibility is not baked into that entrepreneurial journey yet. And so this wave of AI and AI founders are just gonna miss it. It's all of our responsibility to help them to call them in and let them get ahead of it. So this next platform of digital infrastructure that we're all gonna rely on is built accessibly.

Chris Maher: 34:41

And that's a mic drop, by Sandy.

Irica Cheeks: 34:45

Moaz.

Moaz Hamid: 34:46

Uh, one of the most exciting things for me is that the ecosystem is being created. Like I'm just looking at the audience. We have at least five uh nonprofits who are building entrepreneurship programs in the space, helping build the pipelines on it. Um, uh, not just the funder, but also the mentors, a lot of the audience, uh, the corporate America, everybody's here, universities, um, everybody who is bringing this ecosystem together and collaborating together and all in the same audience. Um, this is super, super incredible.

Paul Kent: 35:20

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I think that's the unique thing about the space too, as well, is that open source collaborative nature to move the new collectively. Um that brings indeed risk a lot of capital in a unique way. And so I think that's we're all innovating on how to support innovation that does again uh have implications throughout society, not just the immediate disability accessibility space.

Chris Maher: 35:46

I agree with everything my fellow panelists said. Um AI for sure. I think AI and other technology has an opportunity to have a tremendously positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities. You also have to be very careful that it's also not used in the other direction. Um, and that also and that starts with including the community in that process. Um and so uh super excited about that. I'm also excited about like what is going on right here at this accessibility stage. Huge shout out to Steve Ewell and the CTA Foundation uh and to Verizon for sponsoring this. Um, the momentum, you know, I've been at this for two to three years now with the fund. Uh, and this is my third year in a row at CES, and and how accessibility and age tech has grown here is just remarkable. And so I'm so excited about 2026 just because of the momentum that all of you have built within the community, and I think that's gonna start to accelerate. And then personally, I just feel like we're at a moment in time where we probably have the best opportunity if we stick together and work together to not only create a world that is better for some of us, but that's better for all of us. But it all starts with doing it together because we're gonna be better together as we approach this.

Moaz Hamid: 37:03

Can I add one more thing? Because um, it wouldn't be right to let you guys talk about AI and and I've been working in AI since 2007. Um, and I know it's a lot of fear around AI and and what is how it's going to disrupt and do. Um, in reality, since 2007, we've been building AI technologies. It's just have not reached the public yet. And since 2007, we see that AI is the biggest equalizer. There is no more difference between me and you and everybody else on this stage or in this audience. AI is one of the best things that is happening today for all of us. Um is just the only issue is we all need to learn about it. We all need to go back to school or to programs or to anything to start to learn how to use it and how to leverage it in our life because it's gonna make us more efficient and better than anyone else who is not using AI.

Irica Cheeks: 38:01

Okay, so what I'm hearing as we close out, the call to action is as you're thinking about building and designing, thinking of inclusivity. Um, there's definitely room to grow, and then there's always learning to be made. So if we learn more and we earn more and we do more for us and the planet, is there any lasting last words that anybody on this panel would like to? Okay.

Sandy Lacey: 38:26

I have one. Um when I'm on stage, I always do this. Um, we are building a community of people, whether you're an innovator, somebody who works at a corporation, even if you don't, if you even if you're not in an accessibility role, um, if you go to perkins.org slash innovation, please join our community and find out about how we're convening events and working with amazing partners uh to catalyze um innovation in this space.

Moaz Hamid: 38:55

Special thank you to the Consumer Technology Association for giving us the stage first first year to have an accessibility stage, and with out a doubt we will soon have a pavillion.

Irica Cheeks: 39:03

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all, and our panelists will be available for some questions on the outside. Thank you so much.

Kelvin Crosby: 39:15

Well, should we invest in accessibility? What do you think?

Chris Maher: 39:18

I think we I think we should, pal. I think we should. And it's uh hopefully this is just the start, not only at CES, where there's gonna continue to elevate accessibility, but hopefully more mainstream events, like super exciting. I'm actually moderating a panel at South by Southwest in March, which is where like we talk about like a big mainstream conference that is now incorporating uh sessions on accessibility. Really, really, really exciting. So but uh but my friend, it was so awesome to be with you uh for those uh those three days in Vegas and uh hopefully we'll do it again soon.

Kelvin Crosby: 39:55

Sounds good man. That wraps up Investing in Accessibility and as I always say, go live behond your channges and we will see you in two weeks. Thank you for listening to Investing in Accessibility, a Samaritan Partners podcast, where we invest in change for accessibility, not wait for change. If you want to follow us, you can find us on YouTube or LinkedIn at @Samaritan Partners. If you would like to invest in Samaritan Partners, email Chris at chris@samaritanpartners.com. If you'd like to learn more about us, go to www.samaritanpartners.com. You can take the first step in investing in change by giving us five stars and sharing this podcast with everybody that you know so we can spread the word so that we can get access to all by Investing in Accessibility.