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 13 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
Schultz: Starbucks had about seven months until insolvency in 2008
“I knew that we had about seven months left, if we continued on this track, where we would be insolvable.”
Schultz: Bill Gates Sr. forced rival bidder to withdraw Starbucks offer
“And all I remember him saying is, you should be ashamed of yourself. That you're gonna steal this kid's dream. It's not gonna happen. You and I both know this is not gonna happen. And within 10 minutes, he told them to stand down, we're walking out of this off…”
Schultz: Starbucks closed 900 stores, 90% open under a year
“We closed 900 stores, and 90% of them had been open less than a year.”
Schultz: Store retraining shutdown cost Starbucks about $24 million
“I think we estimated about twenty-four million dollars that day, in terms of lost sales and labor.”
Schultz: 2008 store manager summit cost Starbucks about $30 million
“By the way, this event cost about thirty million dollars at a time when we didn't have the money.”
Schultz: Starbucks Founders' Early Vision Was Only Expanding to Portland
“And their dream, and nothing against them, their dream at the time was to expand to Portland, Oregon. That was their big idea.”
Schultz: Starbucks introduced the caffè latte to Seattle in 1985
“Overnight, we had hundreds of customers every day, and we introduced cafe latte to the city of Seattle, basically.”
Schultz: Starbucks originally served zero cups of coffee in stores
“No, there was no service of any cup of coffee at any Starbucks So it was just pounds of coffee for home use.”
Schultz pitched 242 prospective investors to raise $1.7M for Il Giornale
“The truth of the matter is that I spoke to 242 people to try and raise 1,700,000 dollars to form Il Dernali.”
Starbucks required Schultz to raise $600K before releasing $200K seed investment
“And Starbucks put a little contract in there, which was, you have to raise 600,000 dollars to use our 200.”
Schultz: Starbucks and Peet's were once a single company
“Many people don't realize that Pete's and Starbucks were one company two years prior to that.”
Schultz: Jerry Baldwin offered Starbucks for $3.8M at one-time sales
“The person who should buy Starbucks is you, and so the price is one-time sales, six stores, 3.8 million dollars, which was You know, it was fantastic news. And I'll give you a 90 day exclusive to try and come back to me with 3.8 million dollars.”
Schultz: Xerox Trainees Made 50 In-Person Cold Calls Daily in 1976
“This was 1976, and at Xerox first I sent you to a sales training school in Leesburg, Virginia, and after that, for six months, all you do is make 50 cold calls a day. But I'm not talking about on a phone. You have to go make a physical cold call. Into an offic…”