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
Tejada: All PagerDuty board members except the CEO were conflicted during fundraising
“Today, my board
Looks like a lot of venture backboards.
We have two founders and two investors and me.
It has to change because just think of the conflict, right?
I just raised around.
Everybody on the board was conflicted except me.”
Tejada: Former operators understand board trade-offs better than pure investors
“When you're having conversations around executive comp or employee stock plans or et cetera, it's really great to have somebody in the room that has been through that process and really understands the trade-offs in the way an investor just may not be able to …”
Tejada: Board governance requires a different mindset than direct operational leadership
“Probably my great learning there was that you gain a lot of insight by not being in the middle of everything, and so being sort of on the fray of how something operates and supporting the operating team is, is, exercise is a very different muscle than being in…”
Tejada: Australia's business market lags 10 to 15 years behind the US
“Everything's in like a 10, 15 year time warp from the U.S.”
Tejada: Diligence requires valuing a business independently rather than trusting others
“My learning model is to diligence something almost from the ground up and figure out How I would value that business as opposed to taking somebody else's word for it.”
Tejada: Board candidates should perform mutual due diligence on prospective boards
“And you also, if you can find a way to get to know those people in the process before you're in a room with those people, that is super helpful because there should be diligence on both sides of that equation, not just on their side or on your side.”
Tejada: Board members must make decisions despite having incomplete operational context
“The thing you have to remember when you're sitting in a boardroom is you know, a small fraction of what's actually going on in that business. You do not feel any of the pressure that that management team is feeling from all of the different stakeholders, emplo…”
Tejada: Serving as an independent board member makes executives better CEOs
“Being a board member makes me a better CEO.”
Tejada: Board transparency means avoiding surprises rather than sharing every operational detail
“So being transparent doesn't mean telling your board everything.
Right.
But it means making sure that there are no surprises.”
Tejada: All communications between the board and management must CC the CEO
“So we have a principle that if my team talks to the board, they copy me. And if my board talks to the team, they copy me.”
Tejada: Private equity board members act like Olympic fitness trainers
“Working in a private equity-backed business is like working for an Olympic fitness trainer, right? They're not your coach. They're the people that are going to beat the crap out of you and make you stronger, faster, smarter, etc.”