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 11 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
SoftBank's scale frees founders from short-term quarterly public market constraints
“As a public CEO, you have to hit your numbers to the penny every single quarter, and you're boxed in in some ways into executing against that one strategy, and you think very carefully about your Capital allocation, your investment decisions day by day, week b…”
Housenbold: SoftBank portfolio companies will outperform competitors in market downturns
“Should we hit a economic speed bump, I think our portfolio companies and the entrepreneurs that we have the pleasure of partnering with will be in an advantaged state against the competition.”
Masayoshi Son meets every founder before SoftBank makes an investment
“Masa meets with every single entrepreneur and management team before we make an investment.”
Housenbold: Entry price is the highest determinant of investment returns
“If you look at all the historical data, both pragmatic data as well as academic data, the highest R-square determinant for investment returns is your entry price.”
SoftBank provides secondary liquidity in over half of its deals
“In more than half of our investments, we have provided a secondary component for seed and early-stage investors to have liquidity”
Housenbold: SoftBank has done multiple follow-on rounds in DoorDash, Compass, Opendoor
“In my portfolio alone, We've already done follow-ons or multiple follow-ons into companies like DoorDash, Compass, Katerra, Opendoor, as some examples”
Housenbold writes SoftBank checks ranging from $200 million to $2 billion
“And I've written checks between two hundred million and now close to two billion dollars.”
Housenbold: SoftBank Vision Fund's sweet spot is mid-to-late-stage minority investments
“We have the flexibility in our fund to do early stage, mid stage, late stage, to do private, to do public, to do minority investments, to do majority investments, but our sweet spot is meaningful size minority investments in mid to late stage”
SoftBank's due diligence process takes four to ten weeks
“And so that may take between four and 10 weeks of diligence.”
SoftBank Vision Fund is structured as a 14-year vehicle
“We're a twelve-year fund with two one-year extensions, so we're a fourteen-year fund pragmatically, and we're only 22 months into that journey.”
Housenbold: SoftBank meets with 10 new pitching companies weekly
“In a given week, I'm probably meeting with 10 new companies that are pitching SoftBank. I'm sitting in two board meetings, having a couple compensation calls, chatting with my CEOs, interviewing members of prospective members of their management team, helping …”