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Andrew Farah

Co-Founder & CEO, Density · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutive@andrewfarah ↗LinkedIn ↗density.io ↗

Farah co-founded Density in 2014, developing anonymous sensor hardware and software systems to track real-time occupancy and measure workplace space utilization. Under his leadership, Density has raised over $220 million in venture funding to help Fortune 500 enterprises optimize commercial real estate footprints.

15statements → 7claims → 2claims resolved → 3.8/5average certainty → 1.8/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 3said about them ↓

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 5 not checkable as stated how the 7 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 5 assertions · 1 opinion · 6 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 7 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 5 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Andrew argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
4.4 billion square feet of US corporate office space sits vacant
“In the US, there's eleven billion square feet of leased or owned corporate office space, and 4.4 billion square feet of that space is vacant but paid for.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 17:38 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
100% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: speaking style how? →

262 words/min while actually speaking · 2.5 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Andrew Farah: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 17 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 4,004 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Andrew Farah is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 0/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10
setup questions received 65%

Everything Andrew Farah said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Distribution strategy drives 80% of a company's success
“I think that like 80% of all great companies behind 80% of a company's success is, is typically a really interesting distribution strategy. Sometimes that's a viral method. Sometimes that's a big deal with IBM and in Microsoft's very early days. Sometimes that…”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 16:54 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Assertion Supported
4.4 billion square feet of US corporate office space sits vacant
“In the US, there's eleven billion square feet of leased or owned corporate office space, and 4.4 billion square feet of that space is vacant but paid for.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 17:38 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Opinion
VC decision-makers and corporate boards suffer from extreme demographic homogeneity
“I think that it definitely could really use some improvements in the diversity of the people who are making those decisions. You know, whether it's corporate boards or it's managing directors, it is amazing, the homogeneity.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 23:04 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Insight
Users invent more creative applications for fundamental products than founders
“The ones that seem to be really fundamental problems, things that people really care about, For whatever reason, people tend to be more creative with them than you could be.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 4:29 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ludlow's Jonathan Triest introduced Density to leads in all three rounds
“Jonathan is a close friend and someone, he's one of our earliest investors, and he has introduced us to the lead of every round we've done, and we've done three.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 6:07 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Insight
Narrative stories in investor updates are as important as core metrics
“The truth of your business, the facts of your business, those things are critical, but just as important are the surrounding stories around what's happening within the business.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 8:02 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Insight
Early diversity hiring is a startup's best recruitment engine
“Doing your absolute level best to fill a team with diverse candidates is not only hard, it is probably the single best thing you can do as an early stage startup. Because when you have people from different backgrounds early on, call it in the first 50 employe…”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 10:09 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Assertion Supported
Density maintained 100% voluntary employee retention over its first four years
“We have a hundred percent retention since our founding four years ago, We've never voluntarily lost anyone.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 14:31 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Insight
Moving a hardware product to mass production takes 12 to 18 months
“You're looking at 18 months, probably minimum from start. That's like from prototype to mass pro or mass production, 12 months, maybe if you're great at it and you know exactly what you're doing.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 20:37 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Disclosure
Density retains hardware ownership and charges solely for data access
“Well, we don't sell the hardware. We sell only access to the data. In fact, we retain responsibility for the hardware itself, so that if a customer no longer needs that door, or if the device breaks for some reason, or if the technology improves for being able…”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 21:55 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Insight
The best VCs assume a founder's premise to evaluate upside potential
“The best venture capitalists I've ever spoken to assume your premise and then ask, okay, what could happen if you were right? And you spend 45 minutes talking about that portion of the idea and not 45 minutes justifying your existence.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 23:32 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Real-time foot-traffic data will replace fixed transit schedules
“Architects won't have to guess at what rooms to build, and interior designers won't have to argue about whether or not a particular asset got used, and trains won't run on time schedules. They'll run on actual Predictable demand based on foot traffic.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 25:17 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Density's sensors could eliminate security tailgating without using cameras
“We can eliminate tailgating. I mean, I'm not entirely sure that that's true, but I think we might be able to eliminate tailgating. And when I say tailgating, I mean, like, two people go into a secure facility through a door and only one badge is in.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 26:06 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Density averages 45 days to hire versus tech industry average of 75
“The tech industry's averages is 75 days. I think we average about 45 days”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 9:44 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Density was the seventh side project of Farah's software consultancy
“Anytime we had excess profits or additional cash, we would put it into side projects, and Density was the seventh.”
Andrew Farah Sep 7, 2018 ▶ 4:02 20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hardware Startups Fail Today & The Right Way To Think About Employee Retention with Andrew Farah, Founder & CEO @ Density

The other half of the tape: Andrew Farah's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 2 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 3

Every mention by year

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: The Mindset The Best Investors Assume When Assessing Opportunities, Why So Many Hard Sep 7, 2018 16m
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