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 14 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
Dubin: Incumbents sue startups primarily to scare off capital and potential acquirers
“That's a playbook that big competitors, big incumbent competitors can do, you know, to make you look unattractive to capital, to make you look unattractive to potential acquirers.”
Dyson: Vacuum makers rejected bagless cyclone to protect paper bag profits
“And one or two of them said they actually rather like selling paper bags. It's like, you know, Gillette selling a razor blade. They can make a lot of money out of bags. So, essentially, they were curious, but didn't want to license it.”
Dubin: Incumbents sue startups specifically to scare off investors and acquirers
“That's a playbook that big competitors, big incumbent competitors can do, you know, to make you look unattractive to capital, to make you look unattractive to potential acquirers.”
The majority of customers in every Harry's cohort have remained subscribers
“Every cohort of customers since the beginning of Harry's, the majority of customers who try Harry's stay with Harry's.”
Gillette held an effective monopoly on razors when Dollar Shave Club launched
“This is, you know, Gillette at the time had, you know, an effective monopoly on this particular consumer product in this category.”
Dunn: Warby Parker and Harry's succeeded by price-disrupting incumbents
“If you think about why, why did something like Warby Parker work or Harry's work? It's because they price disrupted Luxottica and Gillette respectively.”
Razor blade prices were historically inflated by an effective monopoly
“There is a single player that really dominates this industry. And that was also true of Warby Parker. And one of the reasons why prices were so inflated is that there was effectively a monopolist.”
Gillette was one of the most profitable CPG companies ever built
“Before they sold, they would report their, you know, kind of financials. They were like one of the most profitable CPG companies ever built.”
Gillette held an effective monopoly when Dollar Shave Club was founded
“Gillette at the time had, you know, an effective monopoly on this particular consumer product in this category.”
Osher: P&G divested Spinbrush to clear Gillette antitrust hurdles
“Well, what happened is they, three years into it, they were trying to buy Gillette, and Gillette owned Oral-B and Braun. And the deal was being held up because the tooth, the oral B and the spin brush were a monopoly. It was well over 50% of all the toothbrush…”
Gillette held a massive 70% global market share in the shaving industry
“Gillette globally had, you know, 70% market share, like truly insane.”
Harry's evolved its corporate vision from a single brand to a next-generation P&G
“The vision really evolved from, hey, we're gonna build, you know, a next generation Gillette or a next generation Old Spice, you know, from a Harry's brand standpoint to, hey, we're gonna build a next generation, you know, Procter & Gamble. Like, we wanna, we …”