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 9 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
Gerstner: Venture capital over-earned, but competition will reduce founder dilution
“I might argue the venture market has over-earned for many years, right? And so the market's gonna become more efficient, it's gonna be more competition, with more competition, that means founders are gonna have better access to capital, they're gonna have more…”
Gerstner: Early-stage venture requires hands-on craftsmanship on startup boards
“Early stage venture, those first two to three years is craft building, and we like to partner with founders who are wise enough To put around that early board table, people who have been through the trenches, and so that increases our probability of success an…”
Gerstner: VCs, not founders, bear the downside risk in startups
“In venture capital, if you fail, the risk is largely on the venture capitalist. I mean, in Silicon Valley, failure is on the part of the founder, so long as you conduct yourself in a way that's honorable, it's a badge of courage that you gave it a go. And we h…”
Gerstner: High-burn, negative-unit-economic companies cease to exist when risk premiums shift
“If you are a high burn business with negative unit economics, and you fly into a world where risk premiums change, it doesn't matter how good you are, you cease to exist.”
Barton via Gerstner: Entrepreneurs focus on possibility, investors on probability
“Being an entrepreneur is the art of the possible. Right? You have to will things into existence. And he said, you know, you constantly think about what can go wrong. When you're an entrepreneur, oftentimes you have to suspend disbelief and just think about wha…”
Gerstner: The belief that companies cannot innovate in public markets is nonsense
“This idea that you can't innovate in the public markets is nonsense, right? Jeff Bezos innovated plenty in the public markets, Facebook in the public markets. You know, look at what Marc Benioff has done in the public markets. And so I think that that the publ…”
Gerstner: Tech companies will stay private longer and scale faster
“The private markets are becoming way deeper, way more liquid. Companies are gonna scale faster because the internet provides a network upon which they can scale, and they're gonna stay private longer because they're deeper pools of private capital. And we've m…”
Gerstner: Product-led growth deserves higher multiples than sales-led revenue
“You show me a software company where
The product is flying off the shelves because the people on the other end really need and want the product and love the product, right? That company, even it has lower revenue, deserves a much higher multiple.”