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 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
Steve Case: Silicon Valley startups are overvalued relative to regional startups
“In general, the companies in places like Silicon Valley, New York City, and Boston probably are a little overvalued because of the supply-demand dynamic, because most of the venture capital is based there, and most of the venture capitalists want to be able to…”
Case: Silicon Valley is overly insular and top returns will occur elsewhere
“Silicon Valley has gotten a little insular, sometimes a little cocky, and when I hear people say that essentially no breakout company, you know, no big, iconic, successful company can ever start outside of Silicon Valley, I think that's crazy, and so getting p…”
Case: Revolution ignores market cycles when evaluating new venture investments
“So I don't really look at the market cycles, particularly when we're looking at making new investments.”
Steve Case: 75% of US venture capital goes to three states
“In the United States last year, according to the NVCA that tracks us, 75% of venture capital went to three states. You know, California, New York, and Massachusetts, 50%. Half of America's venture capital went to one state. California.”
Steve Case: A Startup CEO Must Act as a Morale Shock Absorber
“I always recognized, particularly as a leader, particularly as the CEO, that I had to be A little bit of a shock absorber for the company, and when everybody was talking about how great they were, remind them that super competitive market, and remind them that…”
Steve Case: Vision Without Execution Is Hallucination
“Vision without execution is hallucination. And so it's a reminder that vision is important, but execution is more important. And that comes down to people and priorities and creating that team dynamic.”
Case: Best VCs help in key areas and stay out of daily operations
“And I think the best venture investors really focus on helping in a few areas and kind of staying out of the way in most aspects of running the company.”
Case: AOL went public at a $70M valuation before peaking at $160B
“We were the first internet company to go public in the 1992. We raised ten million dollars in our IPO. The market value that day was seventy million dollars. And seven, eight years later, when we were negotiating the merger with Time Warner, it had gone from s…”
Steve Case: Startup Breakthroughs Usually Take a Decade of Slog
“Far more often, it's a slog, and it's a decade before you kind of really break through, and through that experience, I now realize that, you know, a revolution sometimes happens in more evolutionary ways.”
Steve Case: Over 95% of Silicon Valley TechCrunch audience moved from elsewhere
“I was speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt Conference in Silicon Valley a couple of months ago, and I don't know, there may be a 1015 hundred people in the audience. I said, I want to see a show of hands. How many of you are from the Bay Area? And it was less than f…”
Steve Case: First-time board members should listen more than speak
“Spend more time listening than talking and just trying to really understand the dynamics of the board, some of the challenges and opportunities of the company, and be more surgical in terms of ways you intervene.”
Case: Only 3% of people were online averaging 1 hour weekly in 1985
“We started only three percent of people were online, and those three percent were online an hour a week on average, so it was pretty early, and I spent the next 15 or so years building that company, and then when we merged AOL with Time Warner, I stepped down …”