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 14 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
Adrian Aoun: Systems startups require an MVP covering the entire vertical system
“And the truth is that you can't go after systems problems until your MVP, your minimum viable product, is a version of the whole system.”
Forward built a functioning physical doctor's office 90 days after launch
“90 days into starting forward, we had a full doctor's office up and running with real doctors, real patients.”
Adrian Aoun: Tech founders dismiss regulation prematurely due to online freedom
“We are so used to just being able to do whatever we want online that any sort of regulation we look at, and we honestly throw our hands in the air and say, ah, screw it. This is dumb. Before we even seek to understand.”
Adrian Aoun: Regulation is less prohibitive for startups than founders think
“I don't think it actually is as prohibitive for startups as people would imagine.”
Adrian Aoun targets unsexy sectors like energy, education, and healthcare
“As an angel investor myself, frankly, I love those. I'm not looking for the Get rich quick scheme. More what I'm looking for is things that are going to have massive, massive impact on the world. What are the next Google, the next Apple, but let's go after the…”
Adrian Aoun does not ask founders for pro-rata rights in angel deals
“I actually don't try and ask people for pro rata rights, et cetera. I figure, you know what, if I'm a helpful added value investor and it's good for the company and it's good for them, then they'll go ahead and they'll give me an allotment and they'll be nice.”
Adrian Aoun: VC has far fewer bad actors than a decade ago
“The entire industry has done this over the last kind of five or 10 years, and you actually see far, far Fewer bad actor VCs than you did even a decade or 15 years ago.”
Adrian Aoun: Direct tech disintermediation makes consumer brands far more powerful
“Technology empowers us to make decisions for our own lives, as opposed to allowing others to do so. And as you do that, this notion of a consumer brand becomes Far more important and far more powerful.”
Adrian Aoun does not angel invest to generate financial returns
“The reason I angel invest is not because I'm hoping to make a return.”
Adrian Aoun: Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures treat founders well during downturns
“The investors that I went with in forward, people like Founders Fund or Kosla, Keith Raboy at Kosla, who I know has been on your show. These are people that when times get tough have been good actors.”
Marissa Mayer invested as an angel in Adrian Aoun's startup Wavy
“So one of the angel investors in Wavy was Marissa Mayer. Now, Wavy was a search company, and Marissa at the time ran search at Google.”
Adrian Aoun has built an angel portfolio of nearly 150 startups
“I'm lucky to be in almost a 150 companies”