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 6 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
Lee: VCs use post-term sheet legal negotiations to diligence the CEO
“From an investor point of view, a term sheet sign is not a deal done. We continue to do our due diligence up to the last day, and the entire negotiation process with a founder on the terms is a, like the most revealing of all due diligence”
Lee: GGV has walked away from deals over protracted legal negotiations
“We have been known to step away from a deal, because through that negotiation process, the only the lawyers are making money, because the clock keeps going, the turns keep going, and I'm like, three million deal, they're gonna spend half a million on legal?”
Lee: Founders should reverse-diligence VCs starting from the first meeting
“Having the right investor who knows what it takes to build and have done similar things becomes very important. So doing that due diligence becomes very important. And you should feel very empowered to ask those questions, even from day one of your engagement …”
Lee: GGV portfolio company Kingsoft WPS trades at a $20B valuation
“The best company, one of our investment, WPS, which is like the Kingsoft equivalent, or the Microsoft Office equivalent of the Western world, is the number one player in China. They are budget-based, right? Of course, you know, one could say they are SaaS. The…”
Lee: Tracked one startup from Series A before finally investing at Series E
“I've tracked companies for five years, and the entire team knows me from A to E, and I only came in at Series E.”
Lee: GGV reserves 50% of its early-stage fund for follow-on investments
“In our early stage fund, we do one-to-one, right? So, let's say our fund is five hundred million, we may, we will only plan to invest 250 half, and reserve the other half, you know, for subsequent support of the portfolio company.”