Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the host's own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
Full method →
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 5 · P 5 · Cm 4 4.85
Q Yeah. Well, well, usually I like to introduce people. Your, your title is insert very important title here at Vayner fund. What does, what does that mean?
A That's, that is accurate. It is, it's not really important what the title is, uh, in our little fund, I guess. Um, it could be partner, it could be janitor, it could be anything, but whatever it is, it is very important, and I want people to know that. That I am very, very important at Vayner Fund, but it's actually just a litmus test because one of my life mottos is don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive. And I think that being the marquee title on my LinkedIn, uh, stresses that. So I, I truly don't take it that seriously. I don't care how important anyone thinks I am, but if you can't take the joke and you scoff at that title, we're probably not gonna work well together.
AI assessment note: “it's actually just a litmus test because one of my life mottos”
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 5 · P 5 · Cm 4 4.85
Q she was saying that that's like probably one of the most valuable investments that you can make because like, you can throw like, what was it? Michael Rubin, you saw you through the white party. Uh, that was crazy. Tell people, tell people, I know you know what that event was. Tell people what that event was, who Michael Rubin is. And why that was the event of the year.
A Michael Rubin is a wildly successful businessman that has catapulted in popularity in the past few years, despite him being a wildly successful businessman for decades now, uh, I'd say, um, he's done an absolutely incredible job of tapping into Culture as a whole and making sure that he is top of mind culturally hanging out with The most interesting rappers, up and coming rappers, musicians, television stars surrounding himself with key people and seemingly doing it in an authentic way. Um, where he has established this, this white party that he does in July, uh, every year now as the, the event of the year for the most part, it's the who's who of relevant folks held at his house in the Hamptons. Um, The, the video that was cut up this year from this white party essentially looked like a Hollywood trailer for the most part. Like it was wild. Um, I was super jealous that Gary got to go, um, and has gotten to go to everyone. Still don't have that plus one, but that's okay. Um, that's, that's on me for not being relevant enough, but that's fine. Uh, but another point to Michael Rubin and his strategy, it's not just him kind of swagger jacking. Well, that's a terrible term. It's not just him trying to commandeer culture and inauthentically just post selfies with famous people. Like, sure, he posts that, but he did, uh, have a pretty interesting soundbite where somebody's like, well…
AI assessment note: “Michael Rubin is a wildly successful businessman that has catapulted in popularity”
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q Exactly. And that's the reason I wanted to bring you on. Is because I think you live a really happy and good life, and you don't take things too seriously, and you kind of just go with your curiosity, And I'm curious, just like, is that intentional? And, and yeah, how do you think about crafting your life?
A Definitely. Um, it is absolutely intentional at this point. Um, I think it was subconscious prior to recent years, I'd say, but now I take a very active role in, um, I guess just evaluating how happy things make me from a business perspective, but also from a life perspective, because it has been drilled home that, what do you know, we only have one life. I won't go so far as to quote our Beloved neighbor to the north. Um, we all know what I would say, but, um, had a minor health incident that wound up not being a big deal at all that I'm aware of because the doctor did, uh, close the loop on that by saying, I guess we'll just call it a medical mystery, which was not very comforting, but as far as I know, totally fine happened last year, but it really put life in perspective because at, for a brief moment in time, I genuinely was convinced I was gonna die. And that reframed so much for me where it's like, oh, how could you not want to just optimize for being happy every single day of your life? Because it's the most important thing. And like, you're the one that has to wake up and live in your body every day. So You gotta go, you first.
AI assessment note: “it is absolutely intentional at this point.”
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.30
Q Yeah. Knowing what you know now, Phil, do you need to go to networking events if you want your best shot to win at startups or venture?
A I think it's, it's yes and no. I think you still have to show up places. I think if you are showing up intentionally at certain events that are hyper specific to what you're interested in, um, I think that's great. I think you can pre-curate, um, uh, Hat tip to what you're passionate about, what I know you're excellent at, which is community. I think you can find a sub community or two either on Reddit or on X now or something and go to events either online or in person in that circle, kind of to the point that you said, like, we like to only go with friends. Well, usually our friends know interesting people. And one of my favorite things to do is to To host a small event where it's like, Hey, you show up, bring one person that nobody knows, or you think nobody knows and say that to 10 to 20 people. And what do you know? You have a 50 person event, but it's really close knit, intentional. I brought this person because, and I think that's a much more interesting way to go about it. But if you are trying to get your start and you're trying to break in, I think you find, you find, or you try and narrow in on what you're looking for a bit first, rather than the broad, I want to break into tech, but like what sector do you want to be an engineer? Do you want to aspiration to be a COO one day? Do you just want to be a CEO or you have ideas, something hone in on what it is and find th…
AI assessment note: “I think it's, it's yes and no. I think you still have to show up places.”
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.30
Q Yeah. You have to work sometimes, but you know, yeah, I guess that's a question for you. Like how, what's the right amount of lifting up your head versus putting your head down?
A I mean, if you're not going to events three nights, I'm kidding. I have no idea. Um, I, I think the balance is different for everyone because sometimes I'll, I'll show up places and go to these events. And part of it is to meet other people, but part of it is also, I have learned that exploring new places or going places that I know, and then just being a part of that event that inspires me. Creatively. And that creativity could mean strategic structuring of an investment or a deal or something, or it could mean creating content or a piece of art or thinking about things differently. Creativity means a lot of different things to me, but that inspires me to be my best and makes me happy. And I feel top of my game when I'm doing those things. So as long as that feeling persists, I'm game to keep Bouncing around and, and checking things out. And I know, I know when I'm getting close to my limit and that's when it's time to kind of hunker down and I guess, I guess go a bit more heads down, but heads down along the way. Cause I mean, we can work from anywhere. We have the, the blessing to be able to do that. And as long as you responsibly balance it, I mean, you just have to listen to yourself.
AI assessment note: “I think the balance is different for everyone because sometimes I'll, I'll show up places”
Partly raw tape
D 3 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 3 3.55
Q Could you give an example of something that you said no to? Over the last year and something that you said yes to that you might have not five years ago.
A Definitely. Um, I think best example is perpetually attempting to eliminate the word should from just overall commitments and everyday life. There are certain things that we all have to do that maybe we don't want to do. And I'm not saying you can just completely throw everything to a whim and I don't want to do this, so I don't have to do it. There are things you have to do. But having an honest conversation with yourself around, are you just doing this because you think you have to do it or because you have to do it? So the easiest thing is mostly cutting out networking events. And those have always been somewhat of a bane of my existence because in the field of venture capital, kind of important to Schmooze and network and mingle, but it's usually done with a lack of intention that I think is detrimental. Um, I'll go so far as to say to your mental health, because you're kind of floating around your show up to this event, whether or not you drink doesn't matter, but you're just showing up with no real goal and hopefully meeting people. And then you have folks just like staring at the name tag, if there's a name tag and, oh, you're not important, or I don't think you're important or whatever. And it's just, Kind of soul crushing. So really looking at how you spend your time and showing up in person is a really powerful thing in my opinion. So you should only be showing up if …
AI assessment note: “So the easiest thing is mostly cutting out networking events.”
