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 28 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
Eisenberg advises European tech founders to relocate due to regulations
“If I'm in Europe and I'm starting a company, I would get out.”
Domain specialization blinds venture investors to disruptive insights, argues Eisenberg
“When we think we're specialists, we think we know a lot about something. If you think you know a lot about something, you have really expert questions, so to speak, to ask a lot of the founders. But my guess is if you were that knowledgeable in And specialized…”
Work-life balance is a failure of modern culture, argues Michael Eisenberg
“I've actually never, ever thought about work-life balance. I don't believe in it. I think it's a failure of modern culture to seek work-life balance.”
Eisenberg: Venture capital is a craft, not an asset class
“The venture business is completely sui generis. It's not a class. There is a small number of people in this craft who make money, and there's a small number of startups.”
Eisenberg: 21st century geopolitics will be defined by AI capability
“If the 20th century was about nuclear countries versus non-nuclear countries, the 21st century is AI countries versus non-AI countries.”
Eisenberg: The best time to invest in early-stage VC is during busts
“The best time to invest is when it busts. You need to maintain a constant investment pace, no matter what the external circumstances are around the bust in early stage venture capital.”
Michael Eisenberg: Massive funds like Tiger Global overwhelm down-market cap tables
“What we often don't pay attention to is if you've got the largest war chest at the table, you've got a shot to overwhelm the cap table in a down market. Meaning, if I'm Tiger and, you know, I'm taking a large round from Tiger at a company, then the company nee…”
Eisenberg: More startups die of indigestion than starvation
“You know, when I was at Benchmark, they used to say that more companies die of indigestion than die of starvation. I actually think that's still true.”
Eisenberg: Selling VC Secondary Shares Without the Founder Harms Reputation
“Founders talk to each other, and unless it's really obvious you're taking money off with the founder, and it's probably a small amount if you're a large stakeholder, I think that's reputation negative over the long term and not consistent with playing the long…”
Eisenberg: Equal partnership structures foster safer, more collaborative VC firms
“One of these about the equal partnership is you're not worried about your economics or even negotiating them subconsciously. And that makes the partnership more of a safe space and more of a collaborative space. And I think it's one of the really powerful thin…”
Early-stage VCs must maintain a steady investment pace through market busts
“But it turns out that the best time to invest is when it busts. And so you need to maintain a constant investment pace, no matter what the external circumstances are around the bust in early stage venture capital.”
Overcapitalizing lean founders causes them to explode, says Michael Eisenberg
“When you overstuff founders who are better at lean with capital, they explode. And conversely, if you've got guys who can press on the gas and play the game on the field when everyone's got capital, you ought to load them up.”
Tech companies have become long-duration assets like bonds, argues Eisenberg
“But the second thing is technology has become a long duration asset, which it never was before. So you used to think of bonds as long duration assets or Refrigerators is long duration assets. Houses. But now people look at Amazon and go, whoa, 30 years plus so…”
Eisenberg: Partner time, not money, is a VC's most precious commodity
“And the reason you need to stay small and focused is your most precious commodity is not your money. It's your time.”
Aleph's motto: being different is better than being better
“Our motto at Olive is different is better than better. Everything we do should be different, not better. Everything our companies should do should be different and not better.”
Eisenberg: Companies get premium multiples when they are sole plays on trends
“Companies get premium multiples when it's the only way to play a future trend in the public markets.”
Eisenberg: Great hard tech founders will reject SaaS investors' capital
“Some founders, or the great founders, are likely not taking SaaS investors' money. Because the SaaS playbook, as it's become called, doesn't apply to any of these harder technologies.”
Michael Eisenberg: Board meetings should take 45 minutes, never four hours
“I've come to the conclusion that with good preparation, most board meetings can be finished in 45 minutes. There's real governance that needs to go on there. There's core strategic issues that you need to kind of pound on. But most of them can be finished in 4…”
Eisenberg: Israeli founders struggle to scale because of small domestic market
“People think Israelis know how to scale things, and for the most part, when you grow up in a small country, it's harder to think of scale, and so when you're a foreign investor, you need to help Israelis think in big scale.”
Eisenberg: Global actors and extremist groups must be taken at their word
“You can't look the other way from atrocities, and we need to take people at the word. When they say, when Iran says they're coming to destroy Israel, Take them at the word. When Hamas says we're coming to destroy the Jewish people, we need to take them at thei…”
Eisenberg: Crisis humanitarian work teaches teenagers more than high school
“By the way, that's a better, apropos college, that's a better lesson than any high school education will give you.”
Eisenberg: Winning deals strictly on price signals venture investor failure
“If I'm forced to pay the highest price, it means I'm not doing my job well. I'm not building a good enough relationship with the founder.”
Eisenberg: Inexperienced junior VC board members impair decision-making in downturns
“When you have junior people also deploying capital, it becomes even less of a safe space. And it really can affect board dynamics and good decision-making and Calm decision-making when things get rattled.”
Venture funds should target 15 to 25 portfolio companies, says Eisenberg
“In the venture business, I think about it as shots on goal, which is a portfolio should have somewhere between 15 and 25, call it, shots on goal.”
Traditional portfolio diversification theory fails in venture capital, argues Eisenberg
“Kind of traditional notions of portfolio diversification, which is where I think diversity comes from, are poorly applied in venture.”
Michael Eisenberg: Board prep should use written letters, not slide decks
“It's generally a letter and not a presentation. It's rich in data, but it up front identifies these are my core one, two, or three strategic issues that I gotta get board input on. And, ah, you prep for it, you do calls beforehand, and then the conversation is…”
Eisenberg: Market downturns hit startup founders psychologically more than financially
“Busts are psychologically impactful far more than they're financially impactful. It takes people a long time to realize you're in a bust, and then even longer time to come out the other side, and that's true of founders.”