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 9 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
Levine: Navigation apps create far more value through certainty than time-savings
“If you ask people, what is the value of ways? Then it's not about avoiding traffic. It's about creating certainty. And certainty is way higher value than saving time. So, you know, exactly when you're going to get there. And this is a way higher value.”
Levine: Waze investors advised selling for $20M–$30M following Google Maps navigation
“Our own investors told us that, look, if we can sell the company for 20 or thirty million dollars today, do it, because you are not going to be successful.”
Levine: Waze's crowdsourcing model will never work in Japan
“Japan is a very good example where it didn't work, and it will never work, right?”
Levine: Microsoft invested in Waze due to lacking proprietary navigation maps
“Microsoft decided that, wait a minute, we don't have our own maps, so let's invest in Waze. So we ended up getting investment from someone that we did not expect.”
Levine: Waze took 4 years and Netflix took 10 to reach PMF
“For Waze, it was four years. For Microsoft, it was five years. For Netflix, it was 10 years.”
Levine: Waze cut only executive management salaries during 2010 cash crunch
“What we did is we reduced the salary of the management only. And to a certain extent, I would say people didn't even know. We decided in the management meeting that this is what we're going to do.”
Uri Levine: Waze originally planned to sell map data before pivoting to ads
“When we started Waze, we thought that we're going to sell map data and traffic information. And we ended up with doing advertisement.”
Levine: Waze's initial 2009 global launch worked in only four countries
“It was actually good enough in about four places in the Czech Republic, in Slovakia, in Latvia, and Ecuador, and that's about it. Rest of the world, not good enough.”
Levine: Waze raised approximately $50M throughout its entire existence
“So Waze raised about fifty million dollars throughout the entire journey. We started by raising 12. That was this, the first investment round, and then we raised 30. And then was the last round that we raised, actually not a lot.”