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 57 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
Sanchez: Angel investing is dumb for 99.9% of people
“I think angel investing is dumb for your first dollars. You're going to lose 80% of your takes. So I still think angel investing is dumb for 99.9% of people. Don't play a game where you bet on other people's ability before you've bet enough on your own and sta…”
Sanchez: Reese Witherspoon's net worth is an order of magnitude higher than Brad Pitt's
“Reese Witherspoon is worth more than Brad Pitt at an order of magnitude.”
Most of the world's richest people built wealth through acquisitions
“Most of the richest people in the world Are there through acquisitions? Some version of buying and selling small companies or private equity deals.”
Sending voice notes unfairly transfers your time burden to the recipient
“I fucking hate voice notes. And the reason why is I think you're transferring your time to somebody else.”
Sanchez: Finance Culture Stifles Curiosity by Equating Uncertainty with Low Intelligence
“Most people in finance, you know, there's almost like a downside to being curious. People think, well, your intelligence must be lacking because you don't have all the answers, and that's how a lot of financial people think.”
Sanchez: Mastering dealmaking creates billionaires, while mastering budgeting does not
“But if you master budgeting, that does not make a billionaire. If you master deal making, that makes billionaires.”
Sanchez: Boring businesses fail less frequently than startups if sized properly
“It's just harder to have happen in these boring businesses if you do it right and you size them right, I think, than if you do a startup.”
Sanchez says she will never hire anyone who supports quiet quitting
“I'll never hire somebody who believes in quiet quitting or would ever do that.”
Codie Sanchez predicts a double-dip recession with rising inflation
“Well, I think we're in the first part of a recession. That'll probably be a double-dip recession and we'll actually see inflation come back up again. That's my assertion.”
Sanchez says ATMs are a terrible business with tiny profit margins
“ATMs, terrible margin business, not into it. One to three percent. These businesses typically just, you cannot collect enough of them to get enough income on them. Plus money's going away.”
Sanchez predicts Dwayne Johnson's tequila earns less than Witherspoon's media company
“The Rock will probably make less money on Terra Mana than Reese Witherspoon did on Hello Sunshine.”
Sanchez: Conglomerates own 25% of US local businesses and stores
“25% of construction stores, grocery stores, coffee shops, just about everything you can think of in the US is owned by giant conglomerates.”
Sanchez: $10k angel checks will not yield material financial outcomes
“I would probably say like, you need to get a little bit more in the deals because none of them will have a material outcome. I mean, you'll have to have a thousand X and even then, you know, it'll be really interesting, but that's like unlikely.”
Sanchez: Founders Should Poach Talent From Competitors Whenever Possible
“If you can steal from your top competitor, you should.”
Codie Sanchez: Investors with an audience should always demand unfair deal terms
“And if you have money, And expertise and like audience or a name, you should be getting unfair terms every single time.”
Codie Sanchez: Mini golf is rarely the best long-term use of land
“There's no way that mini golf courses over the longterm are going to be the best use of land for most locations. And so eventually you're going to get your business sort of taken from you by your landlord, which is okay if it's a longterm and you just get to k…”
Sanchez estimates slime creator Peachy Babies generates $200K per week
“I did, like, some rough calculations and ascertained she probably makes about 200 K a week, and I was like, this is ridiculous.”
Most companies operate at the speed of their slowest employees
“Most companies don't run at the speed of the fast. They run at the speed of the slowest.”
Sitting next to underperformers cuts individual performance by 30%
“It was basically this research showing that if you sit next to top performers, they increase your performance by on average, 15% as evidenced by a big study across multiple Years and hundreds of employees. And if you sit next to an underperformer, they decreas…”
Retaining wealth requires constant daily or weekly attention to finances
“I have a saying, which is money is a cruel mistress, and if you don't pay attention to her, she'll leave you for somebody who does. And the only way, I think, to get that mistress of money to stay with you is that you have to pay attention to her.”
Prioritize high-impact tasks first, hard tasks second, routine chores third
“Figuring out how to first do the important things that matter, second, do the hard things because those build willpower, and then third, do the efficient things because we all have to be humans paying bills and normal things like that.”
Sanchez: Buying a very small business is effectively buying a job
“And what I don't think people realize is that's buying a job. You're buying a job when you buy a company that small. And those types of deals exist all around this country. They're everywhere.”
Sanchez: Inexperienced negotiators ruin deals by failing to use silence
“And the pros know the beauty of silence. And I think that's the biggest thing people mess up in the beginning is they talk themselves out of a deal.”
Sanchez: Professional dealmakers prioritize controlling terms over price
“The pro knows that you want control of the terms, not the price always.”
Sanchez argues gyms have a tough business model due to customer density
“Gyms are a hard business. Think about it. The more people that are in your gym, what do you feel? Not happy about it. You're like, I can't use the machine. It's kind of a tough business model.”
Sanchez: First seller-financed acquisition yielded five-figure payout in month one
“So I started getting a check that was, you know, a five figure check the first month that I closed the deal from taking over this business and running it.”
Sanchez: The best company starters typically make poor operators
“And the best starters typically aren't the best operators.”
Sanchez: Candidates who solve problems mid-interview make the best operators
“If they start solving your problems, they're, it's a really good indicator that they're a good operator.”
Sanchez: A good boring business needs 15% to 50% margins
“So I would say a good boring business is 15 to 50, 15 to 50% margins. 50 would be like really good. 15 would be like, okay, we've got a healthy business within lots of characteristics. One to three is awful.”
Sanchez: Creators should build real-world experience before giving online advice
“You don't always have to be an expert, but like, you should try to do a few things before you try to talk about doing things.”
Sanchez's portfolio of 24 small businesses generates $50 million in revenue
“Well, they do about fifty million in revenue.”
Sanchez: Media business will eventually overtake portfolio cash flow
“Still the boring businesses, but I'm, if we keep it this trajectory and I don't buy more boring businesses, the media company will definitely take over at some point.”
Sanchez: Small business market will trend downward over 6 to 12 months
“I'd probably wait another six or 12 months and see what goes down. I'd like to spend a bunch of time learning about this stuff that I think is going to be super impacted. So for me, it would be like, I would learn deal making. I would learn to buy boring busin…”
Sanchez: Beginners should avoid corporate turnaround acquisitions
“I've done enough where I could do a turnaround. I wouldn't do a turnaround in the beginning.”
Sanchez: Avoids investing without securing unfair deal terms
“I try to not do deals where I don't have some unfair term.”
Sanchez: Capital is cheap, but introductions and audience are not
“Because capital right now is cheap, but introductions and audience are not.”
Sanchez: Do not use angel investing to build early wealth
“In fact, it's why I don't think that most people should angel invest until they have some money. Like, I do not think angel investing is the way to become rich or wealthy early. Like you need to maximize your earnings. You need to get cashflow because you don'…”
Sanchez: Traditional holdcos acquire fast-growing brands to offset stagnant legacy products
“The old school method of holds co is basically lots of acquisitions done on fast growing companies to bolster the fact that their old school stuff Isn't growing that rapidly unless they throw a ton of spend at it.”
Sanchez: Contrarian Thinking has spent zero dollars on paid advertising
“When I grew, started to grow country and thinking, and to this day, like zero dollars in paid.”
Codie Sanchez: Boring businesses perform better in secondary and tertiary markets
“I mean, a lot of these boring businesses, what I found is they're almost better in like secondary and tertiary markets that have some growth, but you're not paying like New York level prices for them, because then you have to really increase your prices becaus…”
Codie Sanchez secured performance-based warrants for increasing PostPilot's audience size
“So I asked for that and I asked for some warrants and options if I was actually able to increase their audience size. Cause I think my audience size can increase theirs. And they said, yes.”
Codie Sanchez: Mini golf acquisitions start around $1M due to land value
“And mini golf courses, you're going to have land plus profits is how you value them, right? So you're going to be a little bit more upmarket than that, I would guess. Like, your minimum deal is probably going to be right around a million bucks.”
Codie Sanchez: Almost no cannabis companies actually own their real estate
“We used to do that a ton in cannabis, like pretty much no cannabis company owns their land. They had to buy the land because nobody would Lease to them, and then they do a sale lease back back to a third party that would do it.”
Codie Sanchez: Acquirers must distinguish passive cash-flowing bonds from active businesses
“You need to figure out if you want a bond or a business, right? So bond is the check in the mail and a business is something you got to run. And so, yeah, for me, I like having a lot of bonds and only a few businesses because I'm operationally kind of a nightm…”
Codie Sanchez: Value business acquisitions on realities, never pay for upside dreams
“I would buy the business just off of Realities, not dreams, and then layer your dreams on top of it, but don't give them the valuation for those.”
Codie Sanchez: Buy existing industry expertise when entering a new business sector
“I always try to steal these, the 10,000 hours instead of earn them myself if I can on a new sector.”
Sanchez wants to invest in creator-led slime businesses to scale production
“And so I would like to invest in one of these people's businesses because like, how hard could this be to scale and make where you don't sell out of them every single week and you make millions a week instead of a couple hundred K?”