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 3,562 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
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.”
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.”
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.”
Cost Plus Drugs manufactures generic pills cheaper domestically than in Asia
“And so we can make generic pills here in the United States cheaper than what we can buy them for from India or China.”
Shane Legg estimates a 50% chance of AGI by 2028
“So I actually came up with an estimate then that it was about a 50% chance of what I call AGI now by about 20 28.”
Incoming Cisco CEO John Morgridge told Lerner she was 'everything wrong'
“Yeah, and he denies it, but I will swear on the lives of my cats, the first thing he said to me was, I hear you're everything that's wrong with Cisco.”
Angle: FTC staff post blocked deals on doors as badges of honor
“In fact, I had to testify, I was deposed as part of this process, and I was walking, you know, between sessions, walking the facility, and
On the doors of the agents at the FTC, the employees, like, badges of honor on the doors were deals blocked.”
Wingstop's private equity buyers diverted cash flow to avoid paying Swad's note
“Instead of using the money to make the payment to me for the company that I built, they took the money and they built corporate stores with it, which was adding to the intrinsic value of the company. They were bonusing themselves. If it ever looked like at the…”
Newmark denies Craigslist killed newspapers, blaming TV news, Google, and Facebook
“I, in the past, felt that Craigslist did have a substantial effect on newspaper survival, but until
No one had done any of the numbers.
I'd spoke to industry analysts like Ken doctor and Rasmus Nielsen, who said it was ridiculous to think Craigslist had that b…”
McKenzie: Musk offered to buy Substack and make Chris Best Twitter CEO
“And he responded by getting Chris on a call and saying to him, well, how about Twitter acquire Substack, and you, I'm looking for a CEO to run the company.”
Lion Capital ballooned headcount and destroyed profitability post-acquisition
“Within six months of selling the company to them, we went from 17 employees to 59 employees. The business didn't triple. They only grow the business about six to eight percent a year, if that. They destroyed profitability.”
Ainsworth: Competitors admitted targeting Marucci to slow its market share growth
“There's no question. We've had conversations with some of those other companies across, over the years, and they said, we could take some hits from some smaller companies, but what you guys did, y'all were taking so much market share, you know, we kind of had …”
Bosch: SmartSweets' first co-packer stole the recipe to launch a competitor
“That manufacturer took the recipe and ended up going on to launch a product themselves,”
Wolfe Herd: Tech could prevent breakups within 10 years
“And my dream, Guy, is 10 years from now, We will be able to prevent breakups before they ever happen. We will be able to prevent bad relationships from ever having a potential of happening.”
Yassin: Advertising-based content creation is a flawed, fraudulent model
“Advertising-based content creation is a flawed model, and I would dare say it's a fraudulent model. This is the model that has been working, but it will not work in the future.”
Nike requested Allyson Felix's image for a World Cup ad during disputes.
“The Women's World Cup was coming up, and I remember, like, this very vividly. I was sitting in Cameron's nursery, and I got a call from Wes, and he has, he's like, don't shoot the messenger, but Nike wants to know if they can use your image in this campaign. I…”
Vogt: Teslas may adopt low-cost LiDAR while Cruise drops it
“I think in the future, you know, the cost of LiDAR is coming down to the point where they basically cost the same as a camera, and so I wouldn't be surprised if in the future you see Teslas with very low-cost LiDARs, and you might see cruise vehicles with very…”
Vogt: Software and AI are no longer Cruise's biggest bottleneck
“And so the technical problems, the software and AI problems are no longer the biggest bottleneck. Now we're turning our attention back to manufacturing and scaling and building out charging and cleaning and maintenance infrastructure in cities.”
Zimmer: Men's Wearhouse stole Macy's tuxedo rental deal during legal review
“My team and I were in New York in Terry Lundgren's office, the CEO of Macy's, making a deal to be the... Tuxedo. Tuxedo rental, and we had the deal. It went to legal review, and while it was in legal review, Men's Warehouse stole it.”
Baszucki: Exposure to bad content on Roblox is extremely infrequent
“And right now where we're at is it's very, very, very infrequent that anyone on our platform runs into intentionally bad content.”
Cuban: Drug manufacturers fear insurance company retaliation for supplying Cost Plus
“Part of the challenge is getting manufacturers to sell to us because they're afraid of the response they'll get from the insurance companies.”
Def Jam undershipped Logic's debut album and bought zero shelf space
“And to say what Chris won't, they undershipped us. They didn't believe in us so much that they undershipped my album. And you had all these other huge artists with, you know, 400,000 plus CDs in stores, and I had fans going to Best Buys, having to have the wor…”
Krim: Casper financed the Sleepopolis acquisition but had no editorial control
“They wanted to buy this site, and we talked to them about financing that acquisition so that they could operate it, and they had complete, independent editorial control, and they ran their business. We were just a financing partner for them.”
Howroyd: Teacher Stood on Desk Claiming Black People Were Suited for Slavery
“And we had a teacher who stood up on the desk that day, the first day I went into his history class, and explained so eloquently, if you can even see the paradox of that, how blacks are so suited to slavery.”
Steve Jobs told Drew Houston Dropbox was a feature, not a product
“He was like, alright, well, in so many ways, he's like, well, you guys are a feature, not a product. You know, we're gonna have to build our competitor, and I guess we'll have to get to work on, you know, in so many words, killing you guys.”
Radenbaugh: E-Bike Supply Chains Will Never Exist in the United States
“The supply chains for electric bikes, they don't exist in America. They're not going to exist.”
Troy Carter: America will never achieve true racial reconciliation
“So we're still reminded of our place in, in, in this country, so you'll never get to reconciliation. We all know the truth, but we'll never get to reconciliation.”
Brown: Matching beef industry scale will be game over for meat producers
“When we get the economies of scale that they have, and, ah, when we've, you know, expanded our suite of products and so forth, that it's going to be game over for them.”
Brown: The beef industry asked lobbyists to shut down Impossible before launch
“Even from before we had our first product, I know from a direct source that a representative of that industry actually reached out to a lobbyist and basically Said to, you know, ask that, ask the lobbyists to get Congress or the USDA to shut us down.”
Wilson Blames Infamous Lululemon Pilling On Customers Sizing Down For Shapewear
“Women were coming into the store and not wanting Lululemon for athletics. They were coming in looking for it to shape their bodies. But the sewing technique and the fabric wasn't meant for it. So what they were doing is buying two to four sizes smaller than wh…”
Retailer Asked Daymond John to Remove Founders' Photos For Looking 'Gang'
“A large retailer did ask me to take the picture of myself and my three other partners off the hang tag, cause it said we look like a gang.”
Men's Wearhouse intercepted Generation Tux's exclusive rental deal with Macy's
“My team and I were in New York in Terry Lundgren's office, the CEO of Macy's, making a deal to be the... Tuxedo, rental, and we had the deal. It went to legal review, and while it was in legal review, men's warehouse stole it.”
Incoming CEO Morgridge told Lerner she was everything wrong with Cisco
“Yeah, and he denies it, but I will swear on the lives of my cats, the first thing he said to me was, I hear you're everything that's wrong with Cisco.”
Wilson claims 2013 sheer pants pilled because women bought sizes too small
“Suddenly, women were coming into the store and not wanting Lululemon for athletics. They were coming in looking For it to shape their bodies. But the sewing technique and the fabric wasn't meant for it. So, what they were doing is buying two to four sizes smal…”
Ethan Brown predicts eating animal meat will become a niche novelty
“There's part of us that's always gonna do this, right? Hunt people who hunt, you know, like, I go back to our farm and stuff, like, it's just part of who we are. But I think in the main, You know, it will be viewed as something that we used to do, and I think …”
A private equity firm demanded controlling interest in exchange for 17% equity
“They're asking for a controlling interest in your company for a 17% of your equity, you know.”
A 2X participating preferred term blocked Serena & Lily from raising capital
“One of our other major investor on Sandhill Road came up with the capital. They actually put the money into the company on top of our cap stack, on top of the capital chart, At a very heavy duty preference of a two X preferred participating, very gnarly securi…”
Acquirers demanded perpetual rights to founders' name, image, and likeness
“And meanwhile, our investors want us to take the acquisition offer regardless of the egregious terms, including, ah, owning our name, image, and likeness in perpetuity.”
Starr: Further tipped minimum wage hikes will make restaurant survival impossible
“I think at a certain point, especially with tipped employees, I don't know if it should keep going up, because, I mean, it's going to be impossible for restaurants to really keep, to stay in business.”
Huang: AI will empower new college graduates rather than taking their jobs
“AI is going to help this next generation of new college grads achieve greater things, build greater things, not take their jobs.”
Huang: Humanity will achieve centuries of technological progress in coming decades
“We will do in the next several decades what it took humanity several hundred years to achieve.”
Steve Ells: Robots will not displace restaurant cooking anytime soon
“And so the, your question, will robots displace that? I mean, maybe someday, but certainly not Not anywhere in the near future.”
Square's early investor prototypes broke numerous banking laws and financial rules
“Everything worked, but it was breaking many, many laws and rules.”
Amazon board member offered VC funding to stop Amazon attacking Square
“I remember one guy telling me, oh, Amazon's gonna attack you? Don't worry, I'm on the board of Amazon, and I developed Amazon Prime, and we can get them to leave you alone. Like, if you take our money, we'll guarantee that Amazon doesn't attack you.”
Hastings: Films will keep human actors because audiences demand human drama
“And I think in the same way you know films will have human actors, not because it can't be something else but because other humans won't be that interested.”
La Colombe clashed with its first PE backer over canned cold brew
“We did the deal, and that lasted 52 days to the first board meeting.
I said, ok, I believe that cold brew is going to be a thing, and La Colombe needs to be the father of it.
We also need to create ready-to-drink drinks that include milk, and hopefully one, if…”
Nirav Tolia predicts AI action platforms will completely replace multi-link search
“Particularly in a world of AI, where most consumers are going to go to one place, ask a question, and everything's going to be taken care of behind the scenes. It's not going to be, You go to Google, you get 15 links, you click on all of them, you hit back, yo…”
Tech Deck falsely accused Carlton Calvin of infringing their intellectual property
“And at the time they sent around a letter saying that I was infringing their intellectual property, even though the exact opposite was true in, you know, it was really, so it was really dirty actually in my understanding of the world.”