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All the President’s Pens

Here are the numbers we're reading and watching for Thursday.

22 percent

The portion of companies that presented at Y Combinator Demo Days this week with at least one female founder, FiveThirtyEight reported. The tech incubator’s president has been vocal about the need to increase diversity in tech, and Y Combinator’s data show the number of women is increasing, albeit very slowly.

We also spoke with one venture capitalist about what it’s like to get pitches from over 100 companies in two days.

15 days

That’s how many days off Microsoft is requiring companies it contracts to give employees, albeit those who work full-time for Microsoft. It is unclear as of yet how many people will benefit from the mandate, as Microsoft doesn’t have information on the current policies of companies it works with.

$150

The list price for a pen similar to the one President Barack Obama uses to sign bills into law. A.T. Cross makes them, and we talked to their CEO about what it’s like to be the official pen provider to the White House.

27.6 percent

That’s the interest rate on Marketplace Weekend host Lizzie O’Leary’s credit card back in 2000. After moving to New York and buying what she thought she needed to truly belong, O’Leary describes learning some hard truths about debt, and how identity can’t be found in things. You can read more stories about money lessons learned through our joint project with the New York Times entitled “My Biggest Financial Lesson.”

114,000 residents

That’s how many residents currently live in The Villages, a senior community outside of Orlando, Florida. As reported by the WSJ, census data shows that The Villages is the country’s fastest growing city with a growth of 5.4 percent in the year ending July 2014. It’s even more impressive when considering this is the second year the city has held this distinction.