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 16 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
Abrams: Top VC repeatable playbooks for startup success are a myth
“I actually think that's sort of a myth, that there's some sort of playbook for startup success that the top VCs have that they can do again and again”
Abrams: AI is currently overhyped in startup pitches and VC focus
“I think one of the things I think is overhyped now is AI, and, or really, or maybe talking about AI, because I'm sure a lot of the, you know, I've invested as an angel in over-fifty startups, I'm sure plenty of them are using AI, but when I hear everybody talk…”
Abrams: VCs claiming to 'fall into VC' contradicts firm diversity excuses
“When you hear venture capital, you know, famous VCs sometimes in the media talking about the lack of diversity in their firms and being challenged about it and saying that they can't relax their standards, and fair enough, but when then you hear people saying …”
Abrams: Investor empathy and founder experience provide a key VC advantage
“For me, an investor that has an entrepreneur background that has been in my shoes, that's a big advantage to me because I think they're going to be able to understand my side of things better. And contrary to somebody who's been recently in the news, I actuall…”
Abrams: VC stances on valuation sensitivity are personal religion, not data
“When it comes to this idea of whether you should be price sensitive or not, there's a lot of different opinions, and none of them really seem to be backed up by data, so it'd be interesting if a venture capitalist came on the show and said, look, we analyzed o…”
Abrams: Overvaluation was a late-stage unicorn problem, not a seed problem
“I think the biggest problem with valuation was the later stage valuations of so-called unicorns. That was, I think, a bigger problem, and it's, that's still, to some extent, sitting around in some companies, some overvalued companies having raised hundreds of …”
Abrams: 'Spray and pray' label is weaponized by lead investors chasing ownership
“So I think spray and pay can be a bit sometimes a pejorative by folks who want to say, okay, we lead our deals because they're looking to get a certain minimum ownership or whatever they're looking for.”
Abrams: Top VC brand signaling matters much less than people pretend
“The idea that, that being a Sequoia company is going to be this huge advantage in terms of the branding, there's a lot of great investors these days that have great reputations, so chances are, if you have a bunch of Competitors. They probably have great names…”
Abrams: Most startup boards are fundamentally ineffective
“This is an unpopular opinion, but I think most boards are just not very successful, and you look at some of the things that you read in the press about very famous companies sometimes, and some of these companies have some of the most famous venture capitalist…”
Abrams: VCs cannot effectively serve on 10 to 15 boards simultaneously
“I think a lot of people are on too many boards. So even if you are a fantastic board member, I don't know how you can be a fantastic board member at 10 companies or 15 companies at once. I just think that requires sort of a superhuman attribute.”
Abrams: Startup boards need operational executives over celebrities and investors
“And I think more boards should probably have more nerdy Choices like more CFOs, more CIOs, CTOs, CMOs. I think there should be just more boring operational people on, on some of these boards than the, you know, quite as many celebrities and investors, but ulti…”
Abrams: Facebook Delivers Fake News and Nobody Has Solved Discovery
“What people are getting on Facebook, you know, it's a lot of fake news. It's a lot of clickbait news. I think that nobody still has solved this problem.”
Abrams: Sand Hill Road VC Team Collaboration Is Largely A Myth
“And my experience working with a large central road firm is you primarily are engaged with one partner. Even if they talk about their sort of collaborative team approach, the reality is you're pretty much talking, you know, mostly engaging with one person. And…”
Abrams: Machine Learning Software Fails At News Curation Compared To Social
“Not with machine learning software that doesn't really work, but really Harnessing the power of social to help people find the right stuff.”
Abrams: Netscape Missed Webmail And Messaging Due To Lack Of Focus
“Netscape had a lot of opportunities it didn't actually successfully achieve, because if you think about so many of the things that came after, you think, why didn't, you know, why wasn't Netscape the company that did web mail and instant messaging and just so …”