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 269 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 2 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
Guy Raz predicts AI podcasts will be profitable within five years
“In, in, within five years, AI generated podcasts will be, they already are pretty good. They will be so good that people will make money out for them, and my value will probably be going, doing things live.”
Guy Raz: Older Founders Have a Higher Rate of Startup Success
“There's a lot of evidence to show that late Sort of entrepreneurs who are older, not late, but older, have a much higher rate of success because they come to the table with a lot of experience”
Food Investors Now Demand $50M To $100M In Sales For Acquisitions
“You know, what I'm hearing from investors right now in the food space is they're waiting, they're really looking for brands to hit 50, really a hundred million dollars in sales. You know, a couple years ago, it was 20. If a brand hit twenty million dollars in …”
Guy Raz: Surfing helmet adoption will mirror skiing within 10 to 20 years
“Yeah, and I've seen it more and more in California. I see more and more people wearing helmets, and I think in 1020 years, it's just, we're gonna look back and be like, people didn't wear helmets surfing? That was, it's like skiing.”
Raz: Title Nine donated $1M directly to U.S. Women's National Team players
“By the way, earlier this year, the company wrote the biggest check in its thirty-two-year history, one million dollars to the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, just to pay their players more money so they'd get a little closer to making what the male soccer p…”
Raz: Bumble rejected a $450M acquisition offer from Match Group
“According to Forbes magazine, Bumble turned down an acquisition offer of four hundred and fifty million dollars this past August from the Match Group.”
Over 200,000 riders deleted Uber in 2017, causing a Lyft business spike
“Kalanick has since left that group, but before that happened, more than 200,000 riders deleted their Uber accounts, and all of that has led to a spike in business for Lyft.”
Raz: Retiring baby boomers sell businesses cheaply and offer mentorship
“A lot of them want to sell their business, and many of them want to sell their businesses for a relatively small amount of money. Sometimes are also willing to mentor whoever buys it, and so there are some really interesting opportunities out there.”
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.”
Chewy Sells More Pet Supplies in the United States Than Amazon
“I think it's the biggest distributor of pet supplies. I think it's bigger than Amazon when it comes to pet supplies in the U.S.”
Raz: Raising Cane's surpassed KFC as third-largest US chicken chain
“This past summer of 2025, Cane's surpassed Kentucky Fried Chicken as the third largest chicken quick service restaurant in the U.S.”
Raz: Food startups often need $10M in sales for serious investors
“Fundraising for food is hard. We know that, we hear that on the show all the time, and many businesses won't even get serious investors looking at them until they hit ten million dollars in sales.”
Raz: LeBron James and Michael Phelps paid for WHOOP subscriptions
“He got it on the wrist of Michael Phelps and LeBron James without ever paying them. In fact, LeBron James and Michael Phelps paid him to use it. They paid for a subscription, and the way he did it Was by going to their trainers.”
Guy Raz: Microsoft Will Permanently Retire Skype on May 5, 2025
“Microsoft announced that it would permanently retire Skype and shift its remaining users over to Microsoft Teams. Skype will ring for the last time on May fifth, 2025.”
Flowers Foods plans to acquire Simple Mills for nearly $800 million
“I also want to share that just this month, Simple Mills announced plans to be acquired by Flowers Foods for almost eight hundred million dollars. Caitlin will continue to lead the brand, and if the name of that company, Flower Foods, sounds familiar, it's beca…”
Chick-fil-A leads the fast food industry in sales per square foot
“The most successful quick service restaurant in the world in terms of the yield sales per square foot is Chick-fil-A. They beat everybody. Shake Shack, In-N-Out, McDonald's, even though they don't have as many locations, a typical Chick-fil-A does about eight …”
Guy Raz: The average age of first-time founders is 39
“Most first-time founders average age is 39, 40.”
Guy Raz: 1kg of beef produces 100kg of carbon emissions
“For every kilogram of beef, a hundred kilograms of carbon emissions are produced. And you know, for poultry, it's about 10 kilograms.”
Raz: Slutty Vegan reached $4M in revenue within six months
“I read that within six months of starting The Ghost Kitchen, your revenue is four million dollars.”
Robert Allbritton sold Politico to Axel Springer for $1 billion in 2021
“By the way, in twenty-twenty-one, Robert Albritton, Jim's co-founder and the man who financed and owned Politico, sold it to the German media giant Axel Springer, reportedly for a billion dollars.”
Raz: Marc Lore's food delivery startup Wonder reached a $3.5 billion valuation
“He was first on the show back in May of 2021, and he's back on the lab today to talk about his latest venture called Wonder, which was just valued at a whopping three and a half billion dollars.”
Guy Raz: The average US first-time founder is 41 years old
“Actually, the average age in the United States is 41, I believe, for the, for a first time founder. And generally, the outcomes are better the older you are when you start a business.”
Walmart's $3.3B Jet acquisition was the largest US e-commerce startup buyout
“It was the highest anyone had ever paid to acquire an e-commerce startup in the US at that point.”
Siete Family Foods reached $200M in US retail sales in 2020
“In 2020, Siete hit two hundred million dollars in total retail sales in the U.S.”
Health-Ade projected $200M in retail kombucha sales for 2020
“By the way, according to the company, HealthAid is on track to sell two hundred million dollars worth of kombucha in retail stores this year.”
Raz: By 2025, many interviewed founders will have launched during lockdown
“I think in five years time, I'm going to be doing tons of interviews with people who came up with their ideas during this period.”
Founders invented chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
“But it wasn't always a classic flavor, because in fact, it was invented by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in that tiny little shop in Burlington in the 19 eighties.”
Danone Sold Stonyfield to Lactalis for $875 Million in 2017
“By the way, back in 2017, the same year we first spoke to him, Danone sold Stonyfield to another company called Lactalis, one of the biggest dairy companies in the world. And the amount Lactalis paid for Stonyfield? Eight hundred and seventy five million dolla…”
Raz: Newell Brands acquired Chesapeake Bay Candle for $75M in 2017
“About a year after we spoke, in the fall of 2017, May actually decided to sell the company. She wound up making a pretty good deal with Newell Brands. It's a New Jersey-based business that also owns Yankee Candle. The purchase price? Seventy-five million dolla…”
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' personal fortune is estimated at just $1 million
“His personal fortune is estimated to be not much more than one million dollars.”
Raz: Home Depot reached $40 billion revenue faster than any US company
“Home Depot went from zero revenue in 1979 to seven hundred million in 1985, the fastest company in U.S. History to hit 40
Billion dollars in revenue.”
Raz: Lactalis acquired Stonyfield from Danone for $875 million
“Earlier this year, Danone sold Stonyfield to another company called Lactalis, one of the biggest dairy companies in the world. And the amount Lactalis paid for Stonyfield? Eight hundred and seventy-five million dollars”
Raz: Rent the Runway is profitable and America's single largest dry cleaner
“Rent the Runway isn't just profitable. It's also become America's single largest dry cleaner.”
Berkshire Partners' 2016 investment valued Kendra Scott Design over $1 billion.
“Last December, Berkshire Partners made a large investment in her company. The size of the deal wasn't disclosed, but according to a report in Reuters, Berkshire's investment raised the value of the company to more than a billion dollars.”
Beyond Meat negotiated retail placement in meat cases alongside animal meat
“And unlike other veggie burgers, Ethan has negotiated with supermarkets to display the Beyond Burger
In the meat case, right next to the chicken and the steak.”
Reid signed Meghan Trainor against industry consensus, yielding three top-10 hits
“In fact, in 2014, against the instincts of most other record executives, L.A. Signed Meghan Trainor. And within a year, she brought Epic Records three top 10 singles.”
Raz: The Container Store filed bankruptcy and was acquired for $150M
“Soon after, you know, we spoke, the Container Store, which you are not involved with at all anymore, but it announced it was filing for bankruptcy, and then I think a few months ago, it was actually acquired by
Buy Bed Bath & Beyond for about a hundred and fi…”
Raz: Olipop Is Valued at Over $2 Billion
“It's now valued at over two billion dollars, maybe more. That was the last I saw, which was last year.”
Guy Raz: UGG reached its first annual profit of $140,000 in 1989
“By the end of that year, for the first time ever, UGG turns a profit, 140,000 dollars, which is great news.”
Justin's generated $20 million in annual revenue by 2012
“You're doing twenty million a year in 2012”
Guy Raz: High costs in the Bay Area cause contractor shortages, spurring DIY
“There is a shortage of contractors in the Bay Area. It is really hard to find them because, you know, cost of living is high, and contractors, they charge a lot here so a lot more people are doing DIY stuff”
Raz: Chomps aimed at male gym-goers, but found most buyers are moms
“The guys that, that created that brand were really targeting, you know, men who were going to the gym who wanted to, like, hit a protein. The majority of their customers are moms, on-the-go moms, and that's what they started to see very rapidly.”
VMG Partners valued KIND at $45 million in a 2009 investment
“This is VMG, the private equity firm, I believe, that bought a share. I mean, at that point, in 2009, they valued it at forty five million dollars, the business.”
Raz: WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey is part owner of American Giant
“Miguel is an owner of, part owner of a brand called American Giant.”
Healy co-funded a Salem biodiesel startup with Willie Nelson using waste oil
“By the way, in the early 2000, Cameron was looking for a way to make sure that all that oil used to make kettle chips didn't go to waste. So he funded a biodiesel startup in Salem that still exists today, and he did it with another old hippie who's also a voca…”
Raz: Osher produced Tony-winning musicals Jersey Boys and Hairspray
“By the way, over the years, John has had a pretty interesting side hustle, backing Broadway musicals. He's actually been listed as a producer on some pretty big hits, including at least two Tony winners for Best Musical, Jersey Boys and Hairspray.”
Raz: Liquid Death launched its billion-dollar brand with a $1,500 video
“You know, Liquid Death launched its brand with a 1500 dollar video.”
Raz: Specialized Almost Went Bankrupt in 2001 Before Adidas-Inspired Turnaround
“Mike Sinyard who founded that company, was struggling in, like, 2002 1001, and almost went bankrupt. And he happened to read an article about Adidas and how Adidas really turned around their business in the United States in part because of a brand Bible.”