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 12 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
Cuban: 99% of startups will never secure an outside investor
“For 99% of companies that start up, you're not going to get an investor and you live close to the people who are going to be your customers to help your business get started, particularly if it's a service oriented business.”
Cuban: Raising venture capital is an obligation, not an accomplishment
“Raising money is not an accomplishment, it's an obligation. It's more about getting someplace where you can solve a problem and do something unique and special, and once you get to that point, yeah, a little bit of investment, because the less you take, the mo…”
Cuban: The best time to start a business is when broke
“I don't think people realize that sometimes the best time to start a business is when you're broke. Right? You got nothing to lose, and if you're looking to be an entrepreneur, you don't want to take on a lot of debt and, you know, the car and the house or the…”
Cuban: Unwillingness to sacrifice nights and weekends disqualifies potential entrepreneurs
“If you're not willing to do even that, you're not an entrepreneur because there's always a measure of sacrifice involved no matter where you are.”
Cuban: My biggest investment mistakes were smart founders who couldn't sell
“No business has ever succeeded without sales. And some of the biggest mistakes and investments I've made is the kids were smart. The people were smart. But they had no sense of customers and accomplishment and selling and, you know, achieving customer goals an…”
Cuban: Broadcast.com launched internet audio by encoding radio feeds from VCRs
“I took a eight-hour VCR and went to a local radio station, and we hooked up this VCR to their audio board, and we record on these eight-hour VCR tapes. Then I would take them back to my second bedroom and encode them. That was the start of audio on the interne…”
Cuban: Founders must know how competitors could destroy them before fundraising
“I always tell people you've got to be brutally honest. You've got to kick your own ass. You've got to know how a competitor can destroy you. Because once you understand what can destroy your business, you know what you need. And once you know what you need, th…”
Cuban: In entrepreneurship, you only have to be right once
“What I tell people is it doesn't matter how many times you fail, you only have to be right one time. Just one time, then you're going to be called an overnight success, be called lucky, but you're going to be laughing all the way to the bank, or whatever it is…”
Cuban: Dell succeeded by passing falling digital hardware costs to consumers
“I noticed this company, PCs Limited, out of Austin, and what they did that was brilliant. Up until then, the price performance curves of digital products were going down, but companies always just try to retain that margin. They didn't pass it on.”
Cuban: Blindly buying pitches on early Shark Tank yielded worst investments
“And I thought, I'm gonna do my three episodes, but I'm just gonna raise hell. Right? I'm just gonna go on there and buy everything. I don't care what it is, but I'm just gonna just buy everything. And so that's what I did. And I bought some of the worst compan…”
Cuban: Portfolio founders must report bad news first in regular updates
“What I do is I typically get weekly or bi-weekly emails, and I always want bad news first. You always have access to me. You can email me any question, but I expect good news, right? I invested because I expect you to do good things. So I want to know the bad …”