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Melody McCloskey

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

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

founderexecutive@melodymcc ↗LinkedIn ↗styleseat.com ↗

Melody McCloskey co-founded StyleSeat in 2011 to provide an online marketplace and scheduling platform that connects beauty and wellness professionals with clients. Under her leadership, the platform has processed billions of dollars in appointment bookings and secured tens of millions in venture backing from prominent investors.

17statements → 3claims → 1claims resolved → 3.82/5average certainty → 2.12/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 1said about them ↓

1 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 2 assertions · 1 opinion · 10 insights · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 2 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 Melody 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
McCloskey hired StyleSeat's first engineer via equity-only Craigslist ad
“I found my first engineer by posting an ad on Craigslist and saying, I'm stealth company seeks engineer to build first version of product for equity, only no money. And believe it or not, that actually resulted in a fantastic engineer from Google who had made …”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 3:32 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat

How they sound: speaking style how? →

239 words/min while actually speaking · 2.4 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Melody McCloskey: 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 23 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 3,777 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Melody McCloskey 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 ▾ 1/10
pushed back at the host 2/10
setup questions received 75%

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

Insight
McCloskey: Executives rarely transition successfully between early and late startup stages
“I think it's very rare to see that flexibility. I, it is that rare bird to find the person who can work at the public style company, or the company that's on that smooth paved road that is scaling, that can also go do the early stage stuff, or that gravelly ro…”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 10:39 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: Leaking low runway to VCs severely damages fundraising terms
“When, I mean, the biggest challenge is when you are, let's say you're in the A stage of raising money, and you don't have a lot of runway, and as a startup, you need to try and keep as much of the power in that negotiation process as you can, while also, you k…”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 11:55 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Opinion
McCloskey: Every founder should bootstrap their startup
“I think everyone should bootstrap because especially in boom times, I mean, a couple of years ago we had pretty significant boom times.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 13:27 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: The individual VC partner matters far more than firm brand
“The partner is so much more important to me than the firm because there's such asymmetry of information between founders and VCs that makes it really hard for a founder.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 17:48 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: Operating experience makes board members far more valuable than pure investors
“One of the big lessons that I've learned around what makes a good board member is having as much operation experience as you can, because investors can sort of say, well, here's what we've seen other companies do. Here are some trends and here's some data. And…”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 18:50 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: VCs maintain information asymmetry because transparency isn't in their interest
“The challenge is that founders can't really share that information because it's not in their best interest, and VCs don't Really want to be transparent because it's not in their best interest, right? They sort of hold all the power. And what that means is that…”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 22:42 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Assertion Supported
McCloskey hired StyleSeat's first engineer via equity-only Craigslist ad
“I found my first engineer by posting an ad on Craigslist and saying, I'm stealth company seeks engineer to build first version of product for equity, only no money. And believe it or not, that actually resulted in a fantastic engineer from Google who had made …”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 3:32 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: Founders must transition from doers to leaders after year two
“But after that first year or two, you have to take a completely different type of approach to running and building your business, which is not having all the answers and not being the person to go do it. You turn from a doer to someone who needs to empower the…”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 5:28 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: Founders Should Gather Mass Advice From Peers Even If Ignored
“Getting to the next level, whatever problems you have to ask people and you have to ask a ton of people. You can ignore their advice, right? But just getting that information in those data points on this is how other really successful businesses have done it a…”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 7:45 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
Melody McCloskey: Founders cannot survive long-term without loving a frenetic pace
“And so those constant challenges you have to love, because if you don't love that super frenetic pace, it's gonna, gonna kill you because it's incredibly, incredibly intense.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 9:10 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
Melody McCloskey: CEO longevity requires comfort with executive criticism and transparency
“And if you aren't really comfortable with that level of criticism and transparency, I think that can be challenging to stick around for the long run.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 10:10 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Insight
McCloskey: Bootstrapping forces founders to achieve product-market fit faster
“And I think what bootstrapping teaches you is you may never see this dollar again, so you better spend Every hour, every day, getting, you know, to product market fit as fast as possible because time is running out.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 15:06 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Disclosure
Melody McCloskey: Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick were StyleSeat's first angels
“Our first seed round, my very first, well, my first two advisors and angel investors were Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 15:53 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Prediction Not checkable as stated
McCloskey predicted StyleSeat would reach profitability by 2018
“And I think, you know, we're going to be profitable in the next year.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 23:36 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Disclosure
McCloskey lived in a closet paying $400 monthly rent to launch StyleSeat
“I saved a ton of money because I lived in, I think it was technically a closet in this home with a whole bunch of other roommates. I paid 400 dollars in rent and I did that for a couple of years and saved a little bit of, yes, saved a little bit of money”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 14:01 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Disclosure
Melody McCloskey worked out of Travis Kalanick's house during StyleSeat's early days
“In the beginning, it was Garrett, and then I was working out of Travis's house three days a week for like a year, and then it became Jenny Lefcourt, who after, you know, as the needs have changed for the business, the, my mentors have changed.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 21:49 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
Assertion Not checkable as stated
McCloskey: StyleSeat processed $1.6 billion in platform bookings in 2016
“Last year we did about 1.6 billion in bookings across the platform.”
Melody McCloskey Mar 31, 2017 ▶ 23:14 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat

The other half of the tape: Melody McCloskey's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 1 time in 1 episode on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 1

Every mention by year

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2020 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Mar 31, 2017 17m
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