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 19 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
Tisch: Second and third-tier venture capital firms suck and are harmful
“I think the second The third tier VCs are uninteresting, and I think the third tier VCs are harmful, but I think the best ex-firms at each stage are good enough to not need to overly rank them. But I think the second and third tier VCs suck.”
Tisch: VC signaling is a fake concept that does not exist
“I don't believe in signaling. I think it's a fake word and I don't think it exists in this market.”
Tisch: Outside the top 25 VCs, investors are commodities or net negatives
“I don't think outside of the top five to 25 VCs, individuals, that VCs can magically impact a company. I think most of those investors join your board at series A or B, and they, those five to 25, whatever the number is, and the rest of the investment Sort of …”
Tisch: Signaling risk is the single most overstated concept in startup financing
“The signaling risk, I feel like is the single most overstated part of the ecosystem.”
Tisch: Signaling risk from multi-stage seed investments is an overrated myth
“I think that the myth of sort of you take a seed check from a multi-stage firm, especially in this market, that you are going to struggle to raise your next round if that firm doesn't sort of write the term sheet. I think that's been proven to not be a materia…”
Tisch: The market has too many companies, diluting top startup talent
“I think there are too many companies. So I think the idea that every company is going to succeed and every company deserves to be funded through a series C, that's a risk to me. So there's a massive dilution of talent in our industry in that when everybody sta…”
Venture capital investors do not add value to startups
“When entrepreneurs in a meeting ask us, you know, what value do we add? My initial response is always, investors don't add value, and that's what we'll promise you.”
Tisch: No seed investor is ten times more accurate than peers
“I don't think there's a seed investor that you can find who is figured out how to be right 10 times more often than another seed investor.”
Tisch: All founders see seed deals better than VC investors
“I don't think all founders are inherently great pickers. And I don't think all founders are inherently great investors. I do think all founders see better than investors.”
Tisch: Consumers are bored with today's software because none is fun
“The trend to me that's most interesting is that people are bored with today's consumer products. None of them are fun.”
Tisch: Startup location is overrated and geography does not matter
“I don't think geography matters for startups. And I think you know, we're based in New York because we live here and we want to live here. And just cause we're based in New York doesn't mean that we invest only in New York and Greg, our partner lives in San Fr…”
Tisch: Seed rounds should prioritize collaboration over ownership targets and board seats
“Our view is that seed should be a collaborative experience for both The founders and the investors in the sense of a founder wants to surround themselves with a group of people that can ideally create the right infrastructure for them to lean on as they go abo…”
David Tisch: The era of startup romanticism has officially ended
“And I think we've gotten to the point where the romanticism of startups is gone.”
Tisch: Rising startup valuations created hostile 'unicorn hunters' on social media
“So as the sort of word unicorn got spread, what to me has happened is we've seen the development of the unicorn hunter. And so as somebody gets deemed a unicorn, out come the claws and the people trying to kill that unicorn.”
Tisch: Digital ad channels on Instagram and Snapchat mature instantly without arbitrage opportunities
“When you see Instagram and Snapchat open up their advertising products, they're basically mature on day one.”
Tisch: Tech industry criticism of Amazon ignores core consumer value
“I think that the big companies get punished and shit on by our industry just to sort of feel good. There are total negatives that The big companies are contributing to, but in reality, if you ask a normal consumer, do they love Amazon? Amazon will bring them w…”
Tisch: Patrick and John Collison are tech's most underrated angel investors
“I think the Collison brothers have, you know, built a investment portfolio that's probably quite unique and doesn't get sort of discussed as much as some of the louder operator angels out there.”
Tisch: Founder secondaries are positive if they remove personal stress
“Once the company is off the ground, the less a founder has to worry about their day-to-day life, the better. And if taking some money off the table enables their life to be easier to balance with their work, so they're not stressed about their living situation…”