Assertion Partly supported
Lore: Quidsi rejected a competing buyout offer $100M higher after Amazon threats
“Yeah, it's even, even worse that we got a higher offer that we didn't take.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Amazon threatened to drop diaper prices to zero if Quidsi resisted sale
“They said, well, yeah, we're gonna take the price of diapers to zero, and we're gonna, you know, and they made some analogies to some other, used explicit language, and it was pretty scary stuff.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Quidsi rejected a $100M higher buyout offer due to Amazon retaliation threats
“Because Amazon very clearly stated that if we took that offer, they would do even more to harm the business.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Amazon explicitly threatened to price diapers at zero to force Quidsi sale
“They said, well, yeah, we're gonna take the price of diapers to zero, and we're gonna, you know, and they made some analogies to some other, used explicit language, and it was pretty scary stuff. I'll just leave it at that.”
Disclosure
Lore pitched investors that Jet.com would lose $3B before turning profitable
“I told the investors we needed, we were gonna lose three billion dollars.”
Assertion Partly supported
Jet.com raised a $618M Series A while operating with negative gross margins
“But the real key was raising, we did a six hundred and eighteen million dollar Series A. So we'd raised some money before that, and then we had the six hundred million Series A. That was a really tough round to get done. That was, at that time, we had negative…”
Disclosure
Walmart acquired Bonobos strategically to change its image and attract elite talent
“The most strategic part of the plan was to change the narrative. I knew that we didn't have the talent inside of Walmart at the time to do what we needed to do. We had to attract the best people in the world, and at that point, you know, honestly, that wasn't …”
Insight
Lore: Big chocolate brands cannot execute a customizable direct-to-consumer model
“There's no way a big company can do the sort of build a bear type approach and chocolate. And so you could really own that market.”
Insight
Lore: Price for scale and take zero margin to expand market
“I'm always Thinking about scale and working backwards, and I would say, you know, at sort of ten million units, what's your cost, ah, of the display and the packaging, you know, like, and then figure out what the retail price would be off the back of that, and…”
Insight
Lore: Interviews cannot assess candidates; hiring must rely on track records
“Thought I can interview somebody and find out if they're good, and you just can't. It comes down to resume. You have a history. You've been in the workforce. What have you done?”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lore: AI-driven text commerce will act like a best friend recommending products
“Using artificial intelligence and texting, I think people would be able to, in the future, just text what they want, and the system would know you as well as your best friend or family member, and be able to recommend precisely what you want, and either using …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
P&G and Kimberly-Clark initially refused to sell to Diapers.com
“Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark, the two big diaper manufacturers that make Pampers and Huggies, they refused to sell us diapers. They said they just don't want to waste their time on a business that's never going to work.”
Insight
Founders should solve customer love first and unit economics later
“The learning, you know, just, and it still stands today, it's the idea that as long as customers love the service, and they're repeating, and they give you good marks, that you had something. You had something that was valuable. You had a brand, and there was …”
Insight
Founders only reach maximum execution when they cannot afford to lose
“It's only when you have your life on the line and you can't afford to lose can you find the sixth gear. And when you're in that sixth gear, at least for me, It's like a out-of-body experience. It is like you don't have time to worry, think, be anxious, just ha…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
VCs rejected Quidsi's $100M funding round because Amazon was targeting them
“We had only raised 50,000,055 million dollars up until that point, which was pretty modest amount of money raised compared to today's standards, but we went out and we needed another hundred million to keep all the websites going and to really blow it out. We …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Amazon told Quidsi's team to keep competing against them post-acquisition
“Like, Amazon didn't even, when they brought us in, say, hey, we want you guys to run the mom, baby, parent category within Amazon. They said, you know what, just keep doing what you're doing. Just continue to keep competing with us.”
Assertion Supported
Jet.com reached a $1B revenue run rate within 10 months of launching
“I mean, we got to a billion people Run rate in revenue within 10 months of the business launching, which was I think probably unprecedented at the time.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Jet.com burned roughly $40 million per month after its launch
“We were burning about forty million a month.”
Disclosure
Lore killed $30M in revenue and 450 trucks to pivot Wonder
“Telling the board 450 trucks on the road and thirty million in revenue. We're going to take that to zero. We're selling the trucks. We'll take revenue to zero.”
Insight
Lore: Founders must ignore sunk costs and pivot toward superior opportunities
“You have to have the mentality that you start off a startup, and you're sort of digging for silver, but you gotta be on the lookout for gold all the time, and you might just see gold, and when you see it, you gotta go for it, and it doesn't matter what egg on …”
Assertion Supported
Lore: Wonder built 20 mobile restaurant chains that cook at customer doors
“Well, we've built now 20 restaurant chains across all different cuisines, and we put it on a mobile platform so that the restaurant actually comes to you, cooks right outside your door very fast in a high-speed convection oven, and brings the food piping hot t…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lore: Nearly 75% of Wonder customers place a repeat order within 60 days
“Close to three quarters of all the customers that try it will come back in the first 60 days.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lore: Wonder achieved over 70% household penetration in its first launch market
“In Westfield, the first town, we're over 70% household penetration.”
Insight
Lore: Customer love and retention matter more early than unit economics
“It's the idea that as long as customers love the service, and they're repeating, and they give you good marks, that you had something. You had something that was valuable. You had a brand, and there was lots of ways to solve the economics, is what we thought a…”
