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In Kensington, a fortunate son waves the high-tech flag [The Philadelphia Inquirer](Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 22--The gulf was not immediately apparent as Alex Klein spoke Wednesday. The 24-year-old tech entrepreneur was low-key as he chatted up juniors and seniors at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School, casual in a checkered shirt, Nikes with a pink swoosh, and holding a small cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. "Is that cool?" Klein asked, before passing around a box containing the $150, build-it-yourself Kano computer he has invented and is turning into a global company with help from Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak. Yeah, the kids nodded. It's cool. Then came a question from the back of the auditorium. And the vibe changed. "Did you have a strong support system while being raised, to get where you are now?" asked senior Joshua Camacho, 18, whose school in the shadow of the Market-Frankford El is set amid vacant houses single-parent abodes and blue-collar homes where hopes are high for better times somehow, some way. "What," Camacho added, "would you tell people who might not have that support system?" Klein stumbled while searching for a reply. He's a Yale and Cambridge graduate whose father cofounded Getty Images, Inc., and whose cousin and business partner is the tech investor Saul Klein. What had been a talk about tech turned into a philosophical reflection between a young man of privilege with a great business idea, and a group of Philly kids whose digital Rolodexes are a much smaller than their ambitions. "I was very fortunate," said Klein, whose London-based company sells the Lego-like computer he began to finance a year ago through a Kickstarter campaign that raised $1.5 million. "I did have a very strong support system. Both parents at home, my dad had a job. Didn't see him very much, but he was at home. "Um, I, uh, I went to a good college, um, I can't really give too much advice to people who don't -- who don't share circumstances that allow them to," he said. The teenagers listened intently. They had been pulled out of class for the 9 a.m. talk that was arranged by the Philadelphia Youth Commission -- part of the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Center City, a three-day meeting of rising, young entrepreneurs from across the world. "The only point that I would make here is that I've seen so many sons and daughters of incredibly wealthy, well advantaged parents do nothing of value with their life," he said, gaining steam. "Maybe they don't starve to death, but what's worse is they have no core. They have no soul. They have no purpose." Klein was one of seven Forbes honorees speaking at Philadelphia schools Wednesday. The students who gathered to hear him were a small sample of CAPA's 456-students-large student body, which is a quarter black, 10 percent white, and nearly two thirds Latino, the rest of Asian descent. Klein said he was "a bit lost in life" when the idea to create the Kano struck. He had dabbled in journalism, thought about becoming an actor, done improv, and went to graduate school in search of focus. But while playing one day with his 7-year-old cousin, he thought up the Kano, a kid-friendly computer that would allow anyone to learn programming and customize the machine into, say, a sound system, a video system, even an analog radio. The Kano consists of 36 components, including a circuit board, a custom case, an SD card that contains an open-source operating system, as well as a bright orange keyboard and DIY instructions. More than half of the 20,000 machines sold over the past year are in the U.S. market. What left an impression on junior Rahsaan Scovers, 16, an aspiring actor, was the unexpected trajectory of Klein's life. The Kano, Scovers said, shows "you can take anything from nothing and make it something." "You might end up being like him -- you never know," added a pal, Matthew Lassus, 16. Come to think of it, that wasn't so far fetched, given how much Scovers already serves as his mother's tech support team: "I fix the TV at home, the computer." "I like how he said you don't need a support system," Lassus said. What had lingered, in other words, was this idea from Klein: "I think that the key is to be a support system of one and open yourself to being supported by other people." And one more morsel, reflecting the enormous access to knowledge afforded by the Internet. "There's never been," he said, "a better time to have an open, curious mind." [email protected] 215-854-2431 @Panaritism ___ (c)2014 The Philadelphia Inquirer Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |