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 17 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
Gladwell: Remote Work in His Twenties Would Have Derailed His Career
“When I look at my own career, I would not be where I am today if in my twenties and thirties I was working remotely.”
Jain: Early VC would have killed Bilt's 18-month regulatory fight
“If I had raised venture capital money at the beginning of the company, there's no way I would have had the freedom to make the decision to fight for 18 months to go try to solve that. Because we were looking at this for a 10, 20, 30 year opportunity was worth …”
Senra: Ovitz would have made more money and avoided hatred in finance
“I think almost if he took his exact same skill set, because he essentially the world, what is an agent? Agent is a salesperson. He was like the world's greatest agent. So it was like world's greatest salesperson and literally just moved it to the East coast an…”
Kendra Scott Says Her Brand Would Have Failed on the Coasts
“And I wouldn't be sitting here with you, Cody, if I had started my business on the coasts, I wouldn't because I needed that support and that love. And this state really gave me my wings to fly.”
Daymond John: I could make FUBU a billion-dollar brand again
“Could I make it a probably
A billion dollar brand again?
Yes, I could. It would be a whole different model.”
Galloway: Google's existence is a direct result of Microsoft antitrust action
“So if there hadn't been a DOJ ruling against Microsoft in 1999, we'd all be saying, I don't know, bang it. Google is a function of antitrust.”
Sanchez: Margin erosion from coupons prevented Bed Bath & Beyond's recovery
“The real thing that they did was discount because the coupon had already eaten the margin that would have bought them time to make up for their other dumb mistakes.”
Jorgenson: Electric cars at scale would not exist without Elon Musk
“Social networks would have happened without Zuckerberg. Search engines would have happened without Larry and Sergey. Pick your thing. We would have had operating systems without Bill Gates. We would have computers without jobs. It's not clear that we would hav…”
Sanchez: Starting her businesses 15 years earlier would have cost her millions
“Like, I think a lot about how much less money I would have made if I had started 15 years earlier. Which is like not very popular to say. Like, I talk so much shit about old bosses and old companies, but the truth of the matter is, I learned so much on somebod…”
Housel: Renting for 10 years would have yielded higher net worth
“I would not be surprised. In fact, I think it's almost certain that I've been a homeowner for 10 years, that if I had rented the whole time, my net worth would be higher. I think that's probably right.”
Freitas: Would Reject Public School Even with an Ideal Curriculum
“What I tell people is if the public school overnight taught everything that I loved, I still wouldn't send my kids. And the reason why is because of the str the structure that it's been set up to achieve.”
Rad: Tinder definitely would not have been built if teams worked remotely
“We definitely wouldn't have built Tinder if we were remote, that's for sure.”
Herjavec admits raising capital would have enabled building better products
“If I would have raised money and given up some equity, I could have built a great product.”
Zimmer: UTA narrowly avoided a disastrous music agency acquisition before COVID-19
“Particularly right before the pandemic, we were trying to buy a very big agency, primarily because of its music business, and at the last minute, the seller couldn't control his colleagues, and the deal fell apart, and I was like, oh my god, I'm so embarrassed…”
Just: Learning poker earlier would have saved ten years of career mistakes
“And I also say, like, if I could have learned poker when I was younger, I think I would have saved 10 years out of mistakes in my career.”
Rad: I might not have built Tinder under billion-dollar pressure
“If someone came and told me when I was building Tinder, hey, you got to build a business that is going to transform the world, a billion dollar business. I don't even know if I would have built Tinder, because I didn't have the foresight to say that this would…”
Sanchez rejected Branson's Necker Island invite due to mistaken hero complex
“I thought there is no way, you know, my company cannot afford to have me offline for that long. And it's still a regret of mine to this day because I thought I was being the hero and I was going to save everything. Everything was fine. I could have been gone f…”