Real is Real.

I was born with the name Dale Wayne Wood. My middle name came from John Wayne, my father's idol. His other idol was Johnny Cash. If you know anything about those two men, you know the values instilled in me from day one. Laws are important. Ethics are more important. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. The small guy should be looked out for. And above all, real is real.

I come from San Antonio, Texas—a blue-collar town where a handshake actually means something, where your word is your bond, and where taking a punch and picking yourself back up is everything. Flash doesn't sell in San Antonio. Success does.

My work ethic was forged by my parents. My grandfather, John Wood, was the first Texas Highway Commissioner, casting a long shadow. My father, Billy Frank Wood, was a construction worker who built massive, unbuildable bridges between Texas and Mexico. He taught me to love the Latin world, pushing himself relentlessly to live up to his father's ideals. My mother, forced into the workforce after a divorce when I was a teenager, had that same unbreakable drive and refused to ever be called a failure. Because of them, problem-solving and outworking everyone else became paramount to me. My brother and I are first-generation college students who wouldn't stop at one degree—we each earned three.

If you ask what separates me in the venture capital and business world, it comes down to one simple fact: I will outwork anyone, and I will not stop until I do not fail.