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Dan Hershberg

Founder and General Manager, Amateur Golf Society · 2 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveamateurgolfsociety.com ↗

Dan Hershberg is a Philadelphia-based entrepreneur who created the Amateur Golf Society, a tournament platform for amateur golfers. He previously founded the sports apparel brand Philly Phaithful and co-founded Workhorse Brewing Company.

18statements → 12claims → 2claims resolved → 3.78/5average certainty → 1.94/5average debate potential → 4said about them ↓

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 10 not checkable as stated how the 12 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 predictions · 9 assertions · 6 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 12 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 10 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Dan argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Hershberg: US golf participation grew nearly 20% following the pandemic
“Well, I think when you look at the amount of golfers across this country, golf has really experienced, I think, a renaissance as a result of the pandemic, so the growth in the game is nearly 20% from what it was prior to the pandemic”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 3:03 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
100% certainty 3
100% certainty 4
none yet certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Everything Dan Hershberg said on the Pitch that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Disclosure
Hershberg: PE backer gained stake by forgiving $2M in brewery debt
“What they did, so they basically forgave two million dollars worth of debt that was owed to the to them from the brewery to set the valuation. And then that's how we kind of got things started. So they didn't put any new money into it for this particular round…”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 11:43 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Private equity controls three of Amateur Golf Society's five board seats
“So there's five board seats. There's three for the private equity guys, one for myself and one for the group of fellow Cornellians.”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 21:24 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Disclosure
PE firm forgave $2M in brewery debt for AGS equity
“What they did, so they basically forgave two million dollars worth of debt that was owed to the, to them from the brewery to set the valuation, and then that's how we kind of got things started. So they didn't put any new money into it for this particular roun…”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 11:25 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Disclosure
Amateur Golf Society founding team retains only 25% equity
“Ah, 25%. So it's 20 for myself and then five percent for my COO.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 12:37 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Disclosure
Hershberg: Private equity controls three of five Amateur Golf Society board seats
“So there's five board seats. There's three for the private equity guys, one for myself and one for the group of fellow Cornellians.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 21:11 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Assertion Supported
Hershberg: Golf participation is up nearly 20% from pre-pandemic levels
“So the growth in the game is nearly 20% from what it was prior to the pandemic.”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 3:30 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society closes roughly 85% of pitched courses
“Close rate is about 85% of the courses that I talk to.”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 6:37 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: 2,500 members in 58 markets would yield $30M annual cash flow
“So if we look at every single AGA in the country, of which there are 58, if each one of those markets has an AGS tour in it with 2500 members. This business is cash flowing thirty million dollars a year.”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 14:31 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Supported
Hershberg: US golf participation grew nearly 20% following the pandemic
“Well, I think when you look at the amount of golfers across this country, golf has really experienced, I think, a renaissance as a result of the pandemic, so the growth in the game is nearly 20% from what it was prior to the pandemic”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 3:03 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society closes 85% of courses pitched
“Close rate is about 85% of the courses that I talk to.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 6:18 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Disclosure
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society is designed to scale quickly and get flipped
“We've built this business in a way where because of how efficient it is, how asset light it is, and because of the opportunity for acquisition, in my mind, I'm trying to build this as quickly as I can and then flip it.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 13:42 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: AGS will cash flow $30M annually at 2,500 members per market
“So if we look at every single AGA in the country, of which there are 58, if each one of those markets has an AGS tour in it with 2500 members. This business is cash flowing thirty million dollars a year.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 14:15 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society doubled membership and tripled engagement in pilot
“After two years of proof of concept, we saw membership double and we saw engagement nearly triple.”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 3:04 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society will generate around $200k in revenue this year
“So total revenue this year is probably going to be somewhere around 200,000 dollars would be my guess.”
Dan Hershberg Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 10:04 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society doubled membership and tripled engagement before raising $1M
“After two years of proof of concept, we saw membership double, and we saw engagement nearly triple, so I'm here in front of you guys today raising one million dollars to help us take AGS National”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 2:44 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Disclosure
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society takes a $5 cut per booking
“We monetize the membership revenue, and then we take a five dollar cut of every Greens fee booked by our members.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 6:29 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society has reached 620 members in two months
“We've only really been open for two months, and we have about 620 members right now, and our average field size is closer to 160.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 9:30 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Hershberg: Amateur Golf Society projected to reach around $200,000 in 2023 revenue
“Total revenue this year is probably going to be somewhere around 200,000 dollars, would be my guess.”
Dan Hershberg Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 9:45 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"

The other half of the tape: Dan Hershberg's own voice is left out of every number here. 4 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Statements about Dan Hershberg, by other people (4)

Opinion
Diamond: Hershberg's 20% equity versus PE's 80% is egregious
“You only own 20% of the company. Meanwhile, the original partners of the brewery own 80% of the company. It's our opinion that, like, fundamentally those numbers are a bit egregious, and we think, like, they literally should be swapped.”
Howie Diamond Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 27:29 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bsharah: PE offered VCs an observer seat and 18-month CEO retention guarantee
“They essentially said, They would give us a board observer seat and promise not to fire the CEO for 18 months.”
Al Bsharah Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 25:37 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Diamond: Board majority can remove founder Dan Hershberg at any time
“They can vote you out tomorrow.”
Howie Diamond Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 21:56 "Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?"
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Muccio: Hershberg closed $1M round for AGS with existing investors
“FYI, Dan closed out the rest of his one million dollar round from his existing investors.”
Josh Muccio Mar 4, 2025 ▶ 33:15 #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
#119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity Mar 4, 2025 13m
"Startup Funding Secrets: Will This Golf Tech Pitch Convince VCs to Invest?" Sep 20, 2023 11m
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