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 17 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
Jerry Colonna: VCs mimic aggressive behavior to cover underlying insecurity
“I think that's the biggest problem in the venture business is that I think that many investors mimic the most aggressive behaviors that as a way to cover their fundamental insecurity.”
Jerry Colonna: Nobody in the tech startup ecosystem is actually crushing it
“What I often say is nobody's crushing it. What's important about that isn't just the sort of deflating of the stultifying and crucifying image that we're all supposed to be crushing it, but it's also the notion that we're not alone.”
Jerry Colonna: Believing perpetual happiness is achievable worsens mental health
“It's that somehow that there's this achievable state where everyone feels great and happy all the time, and that is the biggest myth, and it actually exacerbates our search for mental well-being.”
Jerry Colonna: Isolating fear of failure converts normal struggle into depression
“Well, that fear of failure is almost a universal phenomena. And rather than seeing it as a means of actually empathetically connecting with other people in the industry, we inadvertently, and because of the shame producing phenomena, use it to isolate ourselve…”
Jerry Colonna: Achieving goals often causes anxiety to return even larger
“The problem is that we achieve that goal and then all of a sudden the anxieties come back larger.”
Jerry Colonna: VCs are complicit in creating negative founder dynamics
“I think that VCs would benefit from spending more time looking at their own behavior, looking at the ways in which they are complicit in creating the conditions they say they don't want.”
Jerry Colonna: Premature caregiving and early adulthood contribute to mental illness
“At a much earlier age, perhaps, than you were prepared for, you were thrust into a position of being a parent, taking care, being a caregiver. And that's an important statement that you just made, because while it's not the only root cause of mental illnesses,…”
Jerry Colonna: Genuine choice in work behavior requires full awareness of trade-offs
“And once you have consciousness, then you have choice. And if you choose to never take a vacation, Harry, do so consciously. If you choose to derive all of your self-worth and meaning from your job, do so consciously and fully conscious of the cost and benefit…”
CMG@Ventures launched first internet-only VC fund in 1995
“In January, 95, we launched a small 30, thirty-five million dollar fund, and it was the first Fun to focus exclusively on what was then segmented out as the internet”
Jerry Colonna: Sustained emotional compartmentalization leads to depression
“Living with a mask where the outer does not match the inner over a prolonged period of time, that leads to a notion of disassociation. And disassociative states can be, again, can be helpful, right? If I'm experiencing something I don't want to experience, it …”
Colonna: Traditional unreflective VC behavior does not increase fund returns
“The current way of doing things isn't necessary. It Doesn't necessarily lead to better returns, which by the way is what the job is and is painful.”
Colonna: Emotional rapport is the essential criteria when choosing a mentor
“If you can establish that rapport with that person, then the intellectual piece is easy, but the key is to really have that emotional rapport with the person.”
Colonna: Outside parties cannot prescribe an individual's work-life balance
“It's presumptuous of anyone to say the way you're balancing things is incorrect. What is correct is for you to keep tuning in to yourself, to those voices, to And saying to yourself, how's this feeling right now?”
Jerry Colonna: Survived age-18 suicide attempt and late-thirties depression resurgence
“First, after a suicide attempt at 18, I entered therapy, and then later again, as I've shared a number of times in my late thirties, when the depression came back.”
CMP was the third company to sell web advertising in 1994
“We launched all 18 of our magazines on the web. So we were the only the third company to sell advertising on the web.”