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 9 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
Chen: Effective startup board members require prior operator experience
“Without being on the other side of the table, without shipping product, hiring employees, firing employees, I was not going to be a great board member, a great advisor to these founders.”
Chen: Venture risk divides into quantifiable probabilities and unquantifiable uncertainties
“There's really two or three categories of risk to think about. There's probabilities and uncertainties. I think probabilities are quantifiable risks, right? So the execution risk, the market risk, and you and I as investors can make an educated bet or guess on…”
Chen: Good venture investors must maintain relentless optimism
“To be a good investor, you have to always be optimistic to see the possible Because if you're always focused on what can go wrong, you're never going to put money to work. You're never going to invest. You're never going to believe the founder.”
Chen: Venture capitalists are advisors, never company decision-makers
“Part of venture you have to realize is you're an advisor, an influencer, you're a mentor and a coach, but you're actually never a decider, right? So I think a lot of ventures getting comfortable with a lot of things being out of control.”
Chen: Enterprise startups must address a buyer's top three priorities
“If you're not the top three priorities for your customer as a founder or executive, you either have to hit one of those top three priorities or convince her this should be a top three priority. Because it doesn't matter if you're the fifth or sixth wishlist on…”
Chen: VCs fail when investing outside their strike zone
“People get in trouble when they start swinging outside the strike zone, if you will, and do things that are not comfortable with or not good at. And then that's when things kind of fall apart.”
Jerry Chen: Low-priced products cannot sustain complex direct sales forces
“If you have kind of a small unit value, that's low price point and have a complex direct sales force, the economics would never work out no matter how hard you try.”
Jerry Chen: Budget-additive enterprise software requires a bottoms-up sales strategy
“If you're budget additive to a company, you probably want to be bottoms up selling motion and a small unit value. These new CIO or CFO is going to wake up saying, I need your new widget. So you have to be a small unit value and kind of bottoms up and that's in…”
Jerry Chen: Early founders should prioritize adoption over non-linear value
“Don't overthink about nonlinear value. Just make sure you're getting your product used by customers. And then after you get some adoption and kind of the later second act or third act of the company, then be a lot more conscious about bending that curve to cre…”