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 8 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
Chris Dark: Raising venture funding is not an achievement in itself
“A lot of people think raising money is like the achievement, and it's not.”
Chris Dark: Founders should test investor promises by asking for help before closing
“Everyone's going to tell you, every investor's going to tell you how helpful they're going to be. They're going to introduce you to everyone in the world that you want to meet and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's really simple. You say, okay, that's fant…”
Chris Dark: Great investors never leverage legal contracts to screw founders
“When the tough get going, they start looking at the legal docs and how they can screw the company and the founders. That's not cool, and no great investor does that in the long run.”
Chris Dark: Corporate acquisitions hinder innovation through excess process and regulation
“And anyone that's done that knows why it's difficult. You know, there's all of a sudden process and regulations and all sorts of stuff, which just makes it very hard to innovate.”
Chris Dark: Investors cannot know a startup better than dedicated founders
“There's no way you understand the business as well as the founders. You're very arrogant if you think you do. There are many people that think they do, but of course you don't because they work. 24, seven thinking about one thing only, and you're probably thin…”
Chris Dark: Investors calling a startup 'interesting' means they will not invest
“If someone just keeps telling you it's interesting, that is, of course, the word of death. Interesting means they're not interested.”
Chris Dark: Valuation gaps like $40M versus $50M have minimal impact on founder equity
“People get very caught up on, oh, well, you know, I'm raising at forty million, maybe I think it should be 50. And actually, if you actually go and work out the difference To your ownership as a founder in those scenarios, it's very, very little. It's much mor…”
Chris Dark: Most prospective founders actually prefer being early startup employees
“A lot of people Think they want to be a founder, but they don't really. What they actually want to be is kind of the fifth, sixth employee have a little bit of infrastructure around them, and work in a kind of fast-paced startup. Very few people really want to…”