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 12 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 1 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
Matt Harris: Refusing rule-breaking founders sacrifices venture upside
“If we only back founders who are unwilling to break rules, then I think we're giving away a lot of the upside of our industry.”
Harris: Entry valuation matters little if Series A ownership hits 18%-25%
“If you own 20%, 25%, 18%, something meaningful of a company that ends up being important, then it doesn't really matter whether your entry price was 20 posts or 40 posts.”
Bain Capital Ventures pauses deals receiving unanimous partner votes
“We have a rule internally that if everybody votes for a deal, we need to pause and rethink it.”
Matt Harris: Fear of macro cycles has cost me a lot of money
“My deep and abiding fear and recognition of the cyclicality of finance and the cyclicality of technology has actually cost me a lot of money.”
Harris: Bain Capital Ventures no longer co-leads Series A rounds
“Where we end up having to somewhat frustratingly draw a hard line is we generally don't co-lead Series A's anymore.”
Bain Capital: Market size is not the top Series A criteria
“We do talk about market size, but we surely don't think it's the most important thing at a Series A.”
Harris: VC Diversity Requires 50/50 Junior Hiring Plus Senior Lateral Hires
“At the lower ranks of our firms, we need to bring in the correct balance, correct being fifty-fifty at a minimum of men and women, and minorities should be added to this question as well, and we also need to lateral in senior investing talent at the same time.…”
Harris: Software platforms' share of total payment spend will reach 80%
“To our earlier conversation, it's about eight percent of all payment spend goes through software companies. But our view is that that eight is going to 80.”
Matt Harris: Bain Capital Ventures targets $300M–$400M annual deployment
“Our goal has been to invest three or four hundred million dollars a year. Again, we do both venture and growth equity, so that seems like a lot of money, but many of those are large checks and later stage companies. Fully half of it is your classic five to twe…”
Harris: Early-Career VCs Should Reject Generic Networking For Deep Differentiation
“I wish back then I'd said, More no to social obligations and these sort of vast generic horizontal obligations that we all take on, thinking that's what a venture capitalist should do, and instead focused on one or two things that really differentiate me.”