Michael Skok
Founding Partner Emeritus, Underscore VC · 1 appearance on the record.
computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →
investorfounderexecutive@mjskok ↗LinkedIn ↗mjskok.com ↗
After spending over two decades as a software entrepreneur and CEO founding companies like AlphaBlox, Michael Skok transitioned to venture capital at North Bridge Venture Partners before co-founding Underscore VC. He has backed companies including Acquia and Demandware and created the Startup Secrets curriculum taught at Harvard Innovation Labs.
2 supported 0 partly supported 1 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources
6 assertions · 1 opinion · 5 insights · 4 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 3 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, 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 Michael 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
Expressed certainty vs assessment result
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
Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →
redirected or did not address 5 of 14 assessed questions (36%). 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? →
291 words/min while actually speaking · 15.8 um and uh per 1k words
Measured by listening to the audio itself: 5,687 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:
Everything Michael Skok said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
The other half of the tape: Michael Skok's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 1 episode on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Hunter Somerville 3
Every mention by year
Appearances (1)
| Episode | Date | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| 20VC: Why Valuation Is A Stupid Concept, VC Is Ripe For Disruption & Not All LPs Are Made | Sep 21, 2016 | 22m |