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
Mendelson: 50% of VCs Hurt Entrepreneurs, Only 25% Help
“In my opinion, at least 50% of them hurt entrepreneurs and 25% of them don't do any good. There's only really a quarter of the VC firms that I've worked with that really help the”
Mendelson: Half of Board VCs Are Neither Respected Nor Transparent
“Just on the boards that I'm on, a good half of the VCs that I share these boards with, I don't respect. I don't think they're transparent.”
Mendelson: Claiming large startups must be in Silicon Valley is myopic arrogance
“And I think it's laughable that there are people on the coast and primarily in Silicon Valley who openly say you can't build a big business in the Silicon Valley. It is that myopic arrogance, which makes me, it makes me laugh because that gives us great opport…”
Mendelson: Venture capitalists are lemmings who retreat in downturns
“Venture capitalists in general are lemmings, and when the times are bad, they get out of the market.”
Mendelson: A thriving startup ecosystem requires a culture that respects failure
“More importantly, the pillar of having a culture of failure is super important. I'm from Detroit. And for many years, they had creative class, they had money, they had lawyers, they had people who could work there. They had great ideas, but they lacked the abi…”
Mendelson: Late-Stage Venture Investing Is Purely a Financial Exercise
“If we were late stage investors, totally different. It's a financial exercise at that point.”
Mendelson: Foundry Group's highest returns come from downturn investments
“Some of the best deals we've ever done were with entrepreneurs in a down period where no other VCs would invest in them. We were able to, you know, invest in these great companies because we were the only people out there writing checks, and we had outsized re…”
Mendelson: The Knot and WeddingWire are merely vendor lead-generation tools
“Right now you've got the knot, you've got wedding wires. All they are is lead gen machines for vendors.”
Mendelson: Foundry Group Does Not Employ PR or Marketing Staff
“We don't have a PR firm. We don't have a marketing person. Our marketing is every once in a while we lose our brains and put up a music video or write a book.”
Mendelson: Foundry Group Operates With Four Partners and Zero Associates
“There's four partners and there's no associates.”
Mendelson: Foundry Group Will Never Chase Investment Deals on Price
“We're not going to chase deals on price. We're not going to chase deals because of some other term sheet.”
Foundry Group maintains a steady investment pace regardless of market cycles
“We at Founder Group, we've been together 20 years as a team almost, and we consistently invest in the same number of deals every year because we want to be time diversified, and we don't care if the times are great or horrible.”
Mendelson: Pre-board materials transform board meetings into strategy sessions
“When you give me information ahead of time, you as the entrepreneur should hold me accountable that I've read everything. I've digested everything. If I have any questions, I ask before the board meeting so that the board meeting becomes a strategy meeting, no…”