why aren't all 8 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
Disclosure
Square Wallet failed because Square backed it too long without 10x value
“We tried Square Wallet. It was unsuccessful. We backed it for too long. We kept it going for too long. I think there wasn't enough focus on creating the same kind of 10 X value proposition in that product that Square's core product originally had.”
Opinion
Garg: VCs fail to systematically evaluate co-founder dynamics during diligence
“What VCs generally do is they rely on their systemic ability to sort of perceive these things in meetings or reference checks. One of the things they don't do is systematically evaluate and try to dig into what are the relationships between co-founders look an…”
Assertion Partly supported
Discussing equity splits at length correlates with higher long-term enterprise value
“There's a guy named Noam Wasserman who has found that whenever founders discuss equity splits at length, even if they end up just dividing it 50 50, okay, the fact that they've had the conversation is a higher indicator of long-term company success based on en…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Very few of the most successful tech startups raised huge Series A rounds
“If you look at the data, look back at all the companies that have been founded, and ask yourself, how many of the best companies that we're most proud of started out with a really huge Series A's? Very few of them have that dynamic. That doesn't mean it's not …”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
MTV Networks offered Facebook a Series A term sheet at $45M valuation
“We put a term sheet on Facebook series eight, a forty five million dollar post.”
Insight
Garg: Seed startups should raise twice their estimated testing cost
“At the series seed, I always say, like, you want to basically double your money, so it's going to take you 600 grand to answer three or four top hypotheses, try to raise a million to.”
Opinion
Garg: Series A startups should target 20 to 24 months runway
“It's going to take me nine months to figure out or 12 months to figure out the key hypotheses I need right now. So let me add another, you know, nine to 12 months of runway onto that. So that puts you kind of into the range you mentioned, that kind of 20 to 24…”
Assertion Supported
Twitter completed about 14 acquisitions in 14 months under Rishi Garg
“After that, we did a bunch of different projects, about 14 or so acquisitions in about 14 months.”