Wealth follows Innovation

Delivered “Friday the March 13”, 2026 @ 5:00pm ET

Weather in Clearwater, FL (on Spring Break) - Overcast, 25⁰ C / 79⁰ F

Table of Contents

• Wealth Follows Innovation — But Proximity Determin …

  • The Proximity Problem

  • Proximity Is No Longer Just Physical

  • Why This Matters for Younger Generations

  • Moving Toward the Frontier

My name is Gerry Hays, Founder & CEO of Doriot® (pronounced “Doe-ree-oh”), named after French-born American U.S. General Georges Doriot, the father of Venture Capital. I’m also an author (First Time Founders’s Equity Bible), inventor (U.S. patents for ads on t-shirts, coat checking, and VentureStaking - pending), and 21-year professor of venture capital and entrepreneurial finance at Indiana University.

Democratize Venture is my platform to explore the venture markets and share the insights, strategies, and frameworks I bring into the classroom. It’s also a way for me to share principles of prosperity — because at the end of the day, venture is a pathway to prosperity.

Wealth Follows Innovation — But Proximity Determines Who Benefits

There is a pattern that shows up again and again in history:

Wealth follows innovation.

Not speculation.
Not credentials.
Not even effort alone.

When new technology, new systems, or new ways of organizing the world emerge, value is created - and those closest to the innovation capture most of that value.

The Industrial Revolution created massive wealth around manufacturing.
The computer revolution created wealth around software.
The internet created entirely new industries.

Today we are watching the early stages of another wave driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and new digital infrastructure.

But there is a hidden rule behind all of these shifts.

Innovation creates wealth, but proximity to innovation determines who benefits.

The Proximity Problem

For previous generations, proximity often meant geography.

If you wanted to be part of the tech revolution, you moved to Silicon Valley.
If you wanted to be part of finance, you moved to New York.
If you wanted to work in entertainment, you moved to Los Angeles.

Opportunity clustered around physical hubs.

Today the world is more connected than ever - but proximity to innovation is still surprisingly difficult.

Young people face several barriers:

• Traditional education systems move slowly
• Corporate career paths reward stability rather than experimentation
• Many institutions are built to preserve the past rather than create the future

As a result, many talented people spend years far from the frontier where new ideas are being built.

Proximity Is No Longer Just Physical

The good news is that proximity to innovation is changing.

Today it can mean being connected to:

• startup communities
• open-source projects
• emerging technologies
• builders who are experimenting and launching new ideas

You don’t always need to move across the country.

But you do need to move toward the builders.

Proximity today is intellectual, digital, and social.

It means spending time where new ideas are tested, debated, and built.

Why This Matters for Younger Generations

The early years of a career are incredibly important - not because of the job title, but because of what environment you are exposed to.

Exposure to innovation accelerates learning.

You see:

• problems before the rest of the world notices them
• tools before they become mainstream
• opportunities before they become obvious

This compounds over time.

The people who end up building the future are usually the ones who spent the most time near the frontier.

Moving Toward the Frontier

For young people today, the question is simple:

How do I move closer to innovation?

Some ways to do that include:

• joining early-stage startups
• participating in open-source communities
• building small projects with new technologies
• surrounding yourself with builders rather than spectators

The goal is not to chase hype.

The goal is to be present where new things are being created.

Because over time, the pattern continues to hold:

Innovation creates the future.
And those closest to it shape—and share in—the wealth it generates.

Our answer is to build a Discovery Network - a place where innovators bring bold ideas and thousands of curious minds gather to discover, evaluate, and support them.

The game is called VentureStaking®.

— Gerry