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 15 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
Petersen: Most VCs collude more with competitors than their own partners
“There's a lot of collusion in VC. Like, I have a feeling that most VCs actually collude more with competitors than with their own partners.”
Petersen: Chinese believe in China, while half of Americans hate America
“Chinese people believe in China. Half of Americans hate America.”
Petersen: Anthropic is a better investment than OpenAI at equal valuation
“I think I'm going Anthropic. No offense, because Sam's a friend of mine, but. Yeah, the enterprise business seems great. And the team, I think there's a lot of value of like this cohesive team that's been together forever, and OpenAI's had ups and downs, and p…”
Petersen: A passive board is preferable to an active, 'helpful' board
“I don't really want a more active board. They're not super active in the business. They're not like telling us what to do. They don't help that much, but they don't ever hurt. And like, I would much rather have that than like a really helpful board. I don't th…”
Petersen: Employees complaining on anonymous social networks are cowards
“There's this anonymous social network. It's like the terrible, all the cowards go there and just talk trash. Like, You're obviously a coward until you're allowed to talk in public and ask the open question, but you're too cowardly to do it. And you post on the…”
Petersen: Parker Conrad was wrongly scapegoated at Zenefits
“I think Parker was wrongly scapegoated and run out of town at benefits. Then he, and he proved it by going to build rippling into a business that's much bigger and better than reference benefits ever was in the exact same space.”
Petersen: Building Traditional Investor Relationships Is Overrated for Founders
“I think relationships are overrated, but if you know, once you have existing investors, hopefully they keep backing you through over time.”
Petersen: Startup Corporate Boards Are Dangerous and Often Lack Qualifications
“I think that boards are very dangerous because all of a sudden you've empowered these people with title and decision-making authority. Now you're, you have argument from authority, right? Like you're, because the board says it must be the right thing to do. Ev…”
Petersen: Every highly funded company eventually spends money unwisely
“I've never seen a company successfully raise a bunch of money and not start spending it in ways that aren't actually very smart.”
Petersen: Remote work prevents effective team formation and company culture
“I think remote work is Very, very difficult to achieve a build a company culture. I think individuals can succeed. I'm incredibly productive working in my house with there's no distraction. I'm incredibly productive individual contributor, but great things get…”
Petersen: OpenAI and Anthropic deserve high valuations for miraculous products
“Like they deserve it. They're this, these things are just incredible, miraculous products.”
Petersen: People claiming to understand macroeconomics are probably wrong
“I always found macroeconomics to be impossible. I think people who pretend they understand it are probably wrong.”
Petersen: Flexport employees must focus exclusively on company mission at work
“Finding people at Flexport who are focused on anything other than making Flexport successful at work, It's like really, really frustrating. I don't care what you want to focus on outside of work at all, what your politics are, what your cause is. I think that'…”