The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 13 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
VCs judge startups in hours, while studios evaluate founders over months
“If you look at venture, in a lot of ways, they're just kind of judging you inside of 30 minutes, and wow, I have data of thousands of hours with the CEO. In this company, and they're judging it in, in a 30 minute moment, whether it's just, they want to continu…”
Science Inc. endured 3,000 rejections to raise $350M and build Dollar Shave Club
“At this point, I think I'm at 3000 plus no's. Right. And you know, what counts is the 83 yeses that we've had, and three hundred and fifty million raised against the portfolio, and now, of course, the Dollar Shave Club billion-dollar exit.”
VC general partners expect Science Inc. co-founders to shadow portfolio pitches
“I think it's normal. All the GPs and partnerships of all the firms expect me to be there and are okay with it.”
Science Inc. operates as an LLC that co-builds startups for equity
“We co-build companies for equity. We're not, I don't have a fund. Mike and I, we, Our team, we don't not have a fund. We are an operating company. We're an LLC similar to beta works, but we don't have a fund.”
Science Inc. seeks young, feedback-receptive startup founders
“We need incredible CEOs and entrepreneurs that are both, you know, young and eager enough to want to jump into starting a new company, but also receiving enough that they'll take constructive feedback and hopefully guidance provided by our team.”
Startup incubators should stay secondary to portfolio CEOs and their teams
“Science fundamentally needs to fall into the background. The stars in our building are the CEOs and the teams that run these great operational businesses. And my team and any cultural, you know, thesis that, that science brings to it really needs to be, you kn…”
Science Inc. focuses on startups that can scale through paid media
“Unlike maybe, you know, certain investors or venture groups where they invest in a whole wide variety of different industries, I look for things that we expressly have in, you know, internal information on how to build. So for me, that typically means companie…”
Communicating the studio model to investors is Science Inc.'s greatest challenge
“But when you're launching a, an incubator or a studio that, in essence, holds equity in various degrees of a whole portfolio of different companies, it's a very different entity. So honestly, one of the most challenging parts has been Conveying the strategy an…”
Science Inc. requires clear downstream funding and M&A pathways before incubating
“We also look for businesses where we have, you know, direct connections with the funding groups and in the M&A environment. So I prefer businesses where if they're doing really, really well, I know who to go to get them financed. And I know who to go to when t…”
Inspirational leadership is essential to offset below-market startup compensation
“You're typically kind of underpaying the market. You've got to have leadership that inspires people that makes the one, you know, that makes the best people want to work with those individuals.”
Science Inc. operates crypto mines and holds cryptocurrency long-term
“We originally had set up mines, we had invested in a few companies, and we're kind of long-term holders of crypto.”