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
Lowenhar: Optimizer executives will fail if hired to build playbooks from scratch
“In those cases, I only would want to bring on an architect if they'd been an architect before. If they'd only been an optimizer, they are going to fail because they've never written playbook from scratch.”
Lowenhar: Startup Acquisitions Are Driven by Internal Champions, Not Companies
“You don't sell to a company. Magic box is about finding the person. You're finding the champion on the other side. The person who has motivated for their own reasons, career, money, reputation, what have you, they see the fantasy, they fall in love.”
Lowenhar: Hiring should begin with 12-month outcomes, not job descriptions
“Start with the job description. It's a fucking mistake. Start with, it's 12 months later. You've hired the person they started today, 12 months have gone by, you're clinking champagne because of how great it's been. What's changed about the business? What does…”
Lowenhar: Founder mode often confuses fear-driven reaction with real intuition
“Intuition comes from, in my point of view, A deep understanding of self and the capacity to get quiet and be well resourced. Meaning you've slept well and you've eaten well and you have enough love in your world. And I think what founder mode can confuse is my…”
Lowenhar: Live brainstorming disadvantages deliberative thinkers and introverts
“If you do live brainstorming you have diminished all the folks that prefer to sit and chew on something first.”
Lowenhar: Every well-run company operates with an unmistakable rhythm
“And what it led me to realize is that every well-run company has a rhythm. It's unmistakable. You can't miss it. You can't not see it. You just spend a couple of days, like through a spy cam watching a business, you'll see the pattern.”
Lowenhar: Founders Must Establish Clear Kill Criteria for Sales Prospects
“Where the founders often get hung up on for us is that they've moved towards selling without contemplating ideal customer profile, without contemplating qualifications, without contemplating discovery questions to get to that, and most importantly, kill criter…”
Lowenhar: 'Ready, fire, aim' is the most common CEO failure mode
“I think ready, fire, aim is the most common that we've seen.”
Backing into revenue metrics to hit a valuation target is 'death'
“Founders often make the mistake when planning for the year ahead of, I need to be at this revenue to justify this multiple. And then all of the funnel math is a plug. And that's just, that's death. As opposed to here's what's been true for the last three month…”
Lowenhar: Investors define founders by traits but CEOs by operational skills
“First question was, well, describe to me your ideal founder. What's a great founder? And the answers universally were the same. Investors would use words that meant grit and tenacity and courage and insight. And I'd say, great. Question number two. Describe to…”