why aren't all 9 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public
record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable
ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't;
assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card:
▮▮▮▮▮ certainty ·
▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
What-if
Sahil Lavingia regrets taking Accel's $400K seed check over super angels
“Frankly, if I could go back in time, I would have said no to them. I would have given that 400 K a hundred K to four different people, super angels or angels, or even split it further.”
Assertion Partly supported
Gumroad reached $10M revenue years after Kleiner Perkins wrote it off
“Gumroad, it took me seven, eight, nine years to get to a place where Gumroad kind of is considered, like, you know, we're at ten million in revenue doubling every year, but that's because of a macroeconomic shift, namely COVID, that just happened out of the bl…”
Insight
Sahil Lavingia says Reid Hoffman's early launch advice is outdated
“Yeah, I think Reid's quote was accurate maybe 10 years ago when he probably said something like that, but the truth is the bar for where your product needs to be today is so much higher, and yes, you should be embarrassed because I think the best founders will…”
Disclosure
Gumroad laid off 75% of its staff to achieve profitability
“Did a round of layoffs, 75% of the company went from 20 people down to five people, got to profitable, got rid of the San Francisco office, and moved out of San Francisco, left six years in, moved to Provo, Utah.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sahil Lavingia worked on Gumroad just four hours weekly post-downsizing
“I just started writing and painting and really just not thinking about Gumroad more than the four hours a week I was doing support.”
Disclosure
Gumroad raised $10M from Kleiner Perkins, Levchin, Ravikant, and Sacca
“Raised ten million bucks from Kleiner Perkins, Max Lefgen, Naval, Chris Saka, the wonder kind of story, college dropout, everything like that.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Max Levchin invested in Gumroad after testing product with an MP3
“So Max Levchin, I wanted him on the cap table so bad for Gumroad. He was the last person to say yes, and he asked for all of these references. It was so intimidating meeting with him, and when he finally said yes, I asked him afterwards. I was like, what got y…”
Disclosure
Lavingia: Accel Invested $400K in Gumroad's $1.1M Seed Round
“Our pre-seed round, or our seed round back then it was called, was 1.1 million. Excel put 400 K into that.”
Assertion Supported
Lavingia: Gumroad launched before Stripe in 2011
“In 2011, Gumbert actually launched before Stripe launched”