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 11 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
Mermoud: French VCs would not have offered operational support like Deckers
“Any French VC or would never, not have brought that to the table.”
Deckers acquired Hoka for $3 million before growing it to billions
“Deckers also acquired, a shoe that many people will know called Hoka. Yeah, great brand. Acquired that brand for about three million dollars. It's a multi-billion dollar brand.”
Mermoud: Unconventional products need immediate racing validation to avoid gimmick status
“Because when you have something weird, which feels weird and looks weird, if you don't want it to be perceived as a gimmick, you need performance in racing validation, like almost immediately.”
Mermoud: Hoka co-founders were 'lazy' and not serious runners before founding
“It's a legend that we were serious, enthusiastic runners before hockey. We were lazy because it was so hard and one step at a time compared to anything else we would do.”
Diard: Hoka's original grand vision was merely to become a $500M company
“The vision that we had was to become a five hundred million company.”
Diard: Hoka midsoles were twice as soft as industry standards
“And we went like pretty much twice softer than what was the tradition in the industry.”
Mermoud: Cushioning technology drove trail running's boom by protecting downhill runners
“I think it also beyond the running shoes, these new technologies created appetite for the sport of running. So the trail running is booming. It's amazing. It's a very fast growing sport today, but people are not afraid like before to run downhill. They don't c…”
Mermoud: By July 2010, nervous competitors began buying up Hoka retail stock
“In, in the summer of 2010 very early summer, like around this month of July after we had delivered like about 3000 pairs of shoes. We knew that we needed to accelerate because there was nervousness because some shoes were getting shipped, especially by a coupl…”
Mermoud: Hoka prototypes secured their first race victory at Montagnard
“I could race one week later, and win something called Montagnard. Yeah. It was the first ever victory in the Hawkeyes.”
Diard: Founders must set strict family investment limits against 80% failure odds
“The second thing is that you know that those adventurers have 80% plus chances of failure. So you just take that into account. And then the other thing is to fix boundaries when it comes to the investments that you are going to do. So here you need to be very …”