Josh Felser

Co-founder and Managing Partner, Climactic · 1 appearance on the record.

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

investorfounderexecutive@Joshmedia ↗LinkedIn ↗climactic.vc ↗

Josh Felser is an entrepreneur turned investor who co-founded early digital media platforms Spinner and Grouper. He later co-founded seed venture firm Freestyle Capital before launching Climactic to back climate technology startups.

15statements → 2claims → 1claims resolved → 4.13/5average certainty → 2.33/5average debate potential → 4.2/5argument clarity · the sources → 10said about them ↓

0 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not checkable as stated how the 2 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 1 assertion · 2 opinions · 7 insights · 4 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertion are the 2 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 1 names 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 Josh argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.2 / 5 directness 4.1 · coherence 4.4 · precision 4.1 · compression 3.8

redirected or did not address 1 of 16 assessed questions (6%). Watch them ▸

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

235 words/min while actually speaking · 6.9 um and uh per 1k words

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 3,742 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 2/10

pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10

setup questions received 75%

host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 9:52“Can I ask, is that not your role then as a board member to either encourage them and bring them up or to replace them as a CEO and have them more as a visionary and a kind of place…”

when Josh pushed back ▶ 2:56“Well, I did name Freestyle. It was my, I did come up with it,” ▶ 25:00“I'm delighted to finally do this with you, and I'm a little upset that Jenny went first.”

What they said15 What others said10 Episodes1

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

Insight

Felser: Replacing seed founders performs so poorly it requires fraud to justify

“The history of replacing a founder at the siege stage with a new CEO, that historical performance of that experience is so poor that I can't imagine, it would have to be almost a fraud situation Situation for me to do that versus kind of replacing a founder wh…”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 10:51 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Disclosure

Felser: A VC secretly pitched founders against each other at Spinner

“We had a horrible situation, Dave and I did, when we started Spinner. We had a VC who was whispering, I think I wrote about this, whispering in Dave's ear bad things about me, and whispering in my ear that things were okay.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 8:01 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Insight

Felser: Forcing a founder to stay damages long-term LP returns

“I can make a short-term decision that would actually maximize shareholder value for that company, but I could Destroy my reputation doing it, and so then that, so if I look at my ultimate duty is to my LPs, so short-sightedly I can say, well, you know, I'm gon…”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 10:14 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Opinion

Felser: Venture capital is easier than entrepreneurship due to flexibility

“It's obviously easier than being an entrepreneur, but I can do it from anywhere. I'm flexible about my hours. I can work, you know, sometimes I work until one AM, sometimes I work until three PM and have a portfolio of companies to spread the stress across.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 4:50 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Opinion

Felser: Later-stage VCs are more transactional than early-stage investors

“Well, later, later stage VCs really are become more transactional, I think, than early stage VCs.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 6:53 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Insight

Felser: Don't inform employees about acquisition talks until deal is finalized

“I wouldn't tell the team until you have a deal.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 20:37 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Insight

Felser: Operating a startup is the most stressful job

“Being an operator is the most stressful thing you'll ever do, and so I think it can evolve you, but it can also make, make it hard to experience the other pleasures in life”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 3:35 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Disclosure

Felser: Freestyle is out of alignment with founders only 1% of time

“One percent of the time, I find myself out of alignment with an entrepreneur at some point in the process.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 6:26 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Disclosure

Felser: Portfolio company sold low after founder rejected insider bridge round

“So last, last year we had a company go through the M&A process and we were surprised by it because we were on the page of this company being a billion dollar company. We really were. And all the investors were. And the founder had a rough experience raising ca…”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 8:42 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Felser pledges never to secretly discuss founders with other investors

“So I promise entrepreneurs that I will never have a conversation about them. That they don't know about with other investors.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 13:34 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Assertion Partly supported

Felser: Spinner sold to AOL for $320M after initial $500M anchor

“So with the spinner, we were asked what our number was, and we, and I remember, I was sitting in the boardroom with AOL, and I said, five hundred million. Now, first, what was that based on? Nothing. It was just, I said it with conviction. I remember, I looked…”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 16:48 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Insight

Felser: Time and the board are a founder's top M&A leverage

“Your two greatest weapons are time and your board.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 18:07 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Disclosure

Felser details $65M Crackle acquisition breakdown between cap table and management

“The breakdown of crackle was 60,000,005 million. So five million was just set aside for management and sixty million was for the cap table with a spinner. It was all cap table.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 19:26 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Insight

Felser: Pursuing M&A offers makes returning to normal operations almost impossible

“Once they actually go down this path of, you know, enabling M&A and actually being promised an offer, it's almost impossible to go back to running the company”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 20:47 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

Insight

Felser: Best way to recruit women in tech is asking for help

“So the best way to add more women in tech, though, is to ask for help. If you're recruiting, if you're either recruiting for your own venture capital firm, or you're trying to help your company, your portfolio company you recruit, ask women for help.”

Josh Felser Apr 17, 2017 ▶ 23:15 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

The other half of the tape: Josh Felser's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 10 times in 4 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Jenny Lefcourt 6 Harry Stebbings 3 Charles Hudson 1