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
Prediction Held up
Hirschhorn predicts lack of differentiation will kill food delivery startups
“Food delivery space is a great example. Massive fucking market, don't get me wrong, like, massive market opportunity, but at the end of the day, there's not a lot of differentiation. All these guys are gonna be battling on price, and they're not all gonna surv…”
Opinion
Hirschhorn argues standard sharing economy background checks are highly imperfect
“They've become table stakes for the sharing economy. Between you and me, and I guess all of our listeners, I think they're far from sufficient to really tell you that background checks are highly imperfect. They only look at a certain time frame. They only loo…”
Disclosure
DogVacay scaled to hundreds of thousands monthly within three months
“Three months in, we were doing a few 100,000 dollars a month.”
Insight
Competition is the best lever to get hesitant VCs to invest
“There is nothing like competition to get people to write a check that they might otherwise be hesitant to write.”
Insight
High-trust marketplace platforms must build proprietary vetting systems
“I think every business where trust is important needs to develop something of their own that's proprietary.”
Assertion Supported
US dog population stands at 83 million, outnumbering children
“There's eighty-three million dogs in the U.S., which is more than there are kids, by the way.”
Assertion Contradicted
US pet services is a fragmented $15B market with no dominant player
“The pet services market is fifteen billion dollars in the U.S. And completely fragmented, where nobody has even a couple points of market share, so it's a wide open opportunity.”
Disclosure
DogVacay approves only 15% of dog sitter applications
“We approve only about 15% of our dog sitter applications.”
Assertion Supported
DogVacay costs 40% less on average than traditional kennels
“And then, of course, selfishly, I'll put a dog vacay in that category, where we offer a far better experience than the kennel, and at about 40% less, on average, of cost.”
Assertion Partly supported
DogVacay leads the pet services market with under 1% penetration
“We're the leader in the space, but have a market share of, you know, 50 basis points, less than one percent.”
Assertion Supported
DogVacay hosts nearly 30,000 active pet sitters on its platform
“Now we've got about 25,000, close to 30,000 sitters on our platform who are earning income, millions of dogs who are not in cages.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirschhorn personally hosted over 100 dogs in 2011 as DogVacay's first host
“I had actually watched over a hundred dogs in my home over the course of 20 11 being the dog sitter, being the very first dog vacay sitter.”
Disclosure
DogVacay pitched 30 VC firms during its Series A raise
“For the series A, I probably did 30 pitches.”