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 8 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
Stebbings: Multi-stage VC employees must chase hype deals to get promoted
“If you are a strategic person in a multi-stage fund, getting into one of these hot deals is what's going to get you the promotion. Doing the slightly off the beaten track, but amazing company that might take three or four years to get to product market fit, or…”
Stebbings: Founders should pitch VC firm founders to avoid orphaned investments
“And that's why I also really like, and I always push people, work with the founders of firms. They ain't leaving, number one. You're not going to get orphaned. They're not afraid to take these courageous bets. They're not getting fired by other partners.”
Stebbings: VC funds with heavy reserves are misaligned on round valuations
“If you have actually a very heavy skew towards reserves, Actually, we're not aligned, because that new round that you're getting, I don't want it to be that high, because I want to double down and put more in. It's much more beneficial to me that it's lower.”
Stebbings: Offering 10% dilution prevents startups from attracting top-tier VCs
“So if you come to a venture market with a 10% dilution round, you're not gonna get the best venture investors in the world to partner with you, because you're gonna be giving it max eight percent away, because there's gonna be two percent for angels, maybe eve…”
Stebbings: Raising Capital Pre-Launch Is Often Easier Than Post-Launch
“Walt Disney is sell me this story, make it magical, and make it wonderful. That's your pre-seed and your seed, and then you need to know when to sell me the pen. And there is a very rude transition between the two that I think will catch people up, and I think…”
Stebbings: Pitch Decks Should Explicitly List Reasons Not to Invest
“One slide everyone should have on their deck, I think, is three reasons why you should not invest in us today. And then say, our, I don't know, our sales cycle is too slow, give the data. Our net retention number is too low, give the data. And then on the next…”
Stebbings: Seed checks under 2-3% of VC fund size are pure optionality bets
“Does this multi-stage fund care about me enough? Am I meaningful enough in proportion to that fund size? So it's like, what portion, what proportion of that fund size is this check? Sub two to three percent. Honestly, it's a total optionality bet.”
Stebbings: Founders should construct their cap table like a sports team
“I would just say that build your cap table like you do a sports team. Everyone has a very specific position. A left back, a right back. Have someone for PR and marketing. Have one for engineering and recruiting. Have one for fundraising. Have one for pre-produ…”