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 45 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 2 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
Allen: A VC told me I was "too young and too Black"
“I remember my first company, I actually had a venture MD pull me aside and tell me I was too young and too black to get funded. Like they weren't gonna listen.”
Nadel: Founders investing VC money must pay the minimum possible wage
“When you're investing your own money, do the right thing. When you're investing my money, pay the minimum you can pay.”
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.”
Brown: Killers Will Join Uncovered and Have Their IPs Tracked
“The killers will come and become members of Uncovered, and we'll track their IPs, and we'll give that information to law enforcement to solve these cases.”
Stahl: HILOS operating profit margins will exceed Google and Amazon next year
“The, if you look at profit, we are, our operating profit by next year will be over. More profitable than Google or Amazon, because we don't fundamentally invest or hold the costs of the things that we fulfill for brands.”
Muccio: James Altucher ghosted every founder he committed to on The Pitch
“He did that to every founder he committed to on our show, and he also did it to the show.”
Allen: VCs issue performative diversity pledges while ignoring Black founders
“What they're doing is they're putting out messaging that, that is asking that a community at large, when they have us, Already here. But I see all these letters from the, you know, the managing directors of this firm or that firm saying, you know, we are commi…”
Downey: RealKey's AI pitch is 'snake oil' hiding a logic engine
“I'm saying that if, I agree with you, like, if they really had that, that would be something, but my intuitive sense when you said that, because I've just been steeled against this from so many pitches, is that you don't have true AI, it's not built, it's just…”
Phil Nadel argues third-party retail is not a viable standalone business
“Third party retail is not a business.”
Srinivasan Claims Spot On Is NYC's Most Profitable Ride-Hailing Company
“So we are actually the most profitable ride hailing company in New York City.”
Trenda: Good Talk is first since Instagram or Snap with celebrity PMF
“So we're the first company since Instagram or Snap to create product market fit with that segment of users.”
Hyatt: AI prediction engines will eventually make human user research obsolete
“I think I could invest in your company, and I think for the next two, three years, you can make some money, but I don't think you're going to be right for long, because I believe we have to wipe out all the people, and you have to make a prediction engine that…”
Jillian Manus sees no ethical conflict in profiting from homelessness solutions
“I don't see any ethical questions in this case. I see this as investing in hopefully a sustainable business That will provide paths to self-sufficiency and to salvation in many cases for people who've been marginalized and literally passed over, you know, ever…”
Jonathan Kumar says enriching VCs is acceptable if it speeds homelessness relief
“Like I am glad about getting to people in five years instead of 10, if we were doing banquet fundraisers and passing the hat for donations, it's all about how can we help people across the country experiencing homelessness the fastest. And if we need to make s…”
Josh Muccio: James Altucher never wrote checks to any Pitch founders
“He never actually wrote checks to any of the founders on our show.”
Sorensen predicts in-flight nut death will force overnight airline nut bans
“I, I'm convinced that in the next five years, there'll be someone that dies on a plane from nuts, and overnight, the whole industry will be nut-free, or allergy-friendly. Like, I am so convinced in my heart that that will happen.”
Clark: Atomos technology could get humans to Mars in 30 days
“Realized that the tech for this business could also get humans to Mars in 30 days.”
PopCom is launching an ICO aiming to raise $30 million
“We are launching an ICO and I'm pitching for the first time in Dubai. I'm, we're shooting for thirty million and that's why I didn't raise a lot of money.”
Smith: James Altucher Ghosted Sandbox Commerce After His On-Air Offer
“Yeah, so we, nothing happened. James has not invested yet.”
Jillian Manus: Female founders face a double standard regarding pitch assertiveness
“When a woman has to pitch, especially to a majority of men, alright, you have to come off tough. Yeah, that's fair. You have to, and it's, unfortunately, it's a catch-twenty-two for women. Either you're cocky or me. Yeah, if that was a man standing up here and…”
Bilizarian: If an investor doesn't close within 48 hours, I move on
“I mean, to me, if it doesn't close within 24 to 48 hours, I move on. It's just a test of responsiveness, responsiveness of the partner.”
Jake Chapman: Influencer social apps hook users like drug addicts
“And with certain social businesses, I don't like that the premise is really all based on We're going to trigger, like, a little dopamine high in all of these people and keep them coming back. It makes them, like, drug addicts, and, like, it literally is a dopa…”
Conwell: VCs Automatically Assume Black-Focused Startup Markets Are Small
“When VCs hear black, they automatically think small. Every time.”
Conwell: Podcast AI will be replicable as a weekend project by 2025
“Yeah, I hate to be the killjoy of the year, but literally a year from now, somebody wanted to recreate podcast AI, they'll probably be able to do it as a weekend project.”
Brown: Uncovered Will Track Killers' IP Addresses When They Join
“We do believe that the killers will come and become members of Uncovered, and we'll track their IPs, and we'll give that information to law enforcement to help solve these cases.”
Forenza: Aware's AI coach tracks emotions more precisely than a human therapist
“It's much more precise that a therapist or a life coach, but of course we don't see it as a replacement to that.”
Allen: The advice to never build for investors is bullshit
“You know, I've had investors tell me you never want to build a company for investors. That's bullshit. Investors are going to invest in what they like. And if they're the only ones that can provide you access to capital, then you have no choice. Otherwise your…”
Daraby: Most luxury brands are elitist and reject average-sized consumers
“Most luxury brands are incredibly elitist and horrible, and they don't want the average American wearing their clothing.”
Lee: Building a Great Startup Isn't About Condensing Your Ideas
“Building a startup isn't about condensing your ideas. It's not about building a startup is not about saying, I can't do that. Right? Building and shooting for something great is, yeah, we can do that. Why not? And you give it a shot. My point is basically, you…”
Andrew Hoagland says G2 Crowd pays for software reviews weekly
“Every week I get an email from G two crowd paying me to write reviews.”
Hyatt: Offsite events have virtually nothing to do with building company culture
“Culture is built with 75 things. One of those 75 may be this infrequently. It doesn't have anything to do with really building culture.”
Dixon predicts consumers will eventually buy everything from automated self-service machines
“So it's a matter of time before we're buying everything out of self-service machines.”
Clark: SpaceX's launch reliability is not top tier
“So firstly, SpaceX's reliability
Isn't top tier.”
Soininen: Playven could have raised its bridge round at $8M
“We could have, ah, gone to them at eight and we probably should have, ah, we like.”
Kugel: Tire Agent is raising on a $10M convertible note
“So we're doing a ten million dollar convertible note.”
Dickson claims the VC model only works for 10% of startups
“So, I feel like the VC model is broken. I think it's demonstrated that it's broken. It does work for 10%, 12% of companies, but the rest of us have to find our way and figure it out, and I believe in blockchain technology.”
Dickson predicts investors will hug her for tokenizing the cap table
“When my investors understand the token economics and how the cap table will be tokenized to their advantage and their return, they're going to be giving me hugs. They're going to be putting my picture up in their office because I'll be a great return for them.”
Agrawal: People will not continue using toilet paper long-term
“There's no, absolute, no way in hell that People are going to continue to use toilet paper moving for the next X number of years. It's just not sustainable.”
Sonnad: Tesloop exposes more people to Teslas than Tesla's marketing
“Well, how I see it, at least in the short run, we're really, we're doing Tesla a favor, because when you look at the numbers of Tesla's test drives, and how they're trying to get customers in their cars, we're actually introducing a lot more people into Tesla'…”
Meghan Carreau: Childhood obesity has nothing to do with socioeconomic status
“That's actually a common misconception, though, because there are lots of kids, you know, one out of three kids and one out of five developing OPC-related disease actually has nothing to do with socioeconomic.”
Candee: Avoid conducting layoffs as long as possible before acting
“I feel like layoffs are something where you avoid them as long as you can, so it's really important to just kind of move forward as fast as possible until things seem more and more inevitable.”
Bokoff: Jillian Manus Dominated the Room and Led Investor Pushback
“I'm not sure that it was five people telling me the same thing aggressively as much as I did feel there was a stronger voice in the room and she and I may not have hit it off directly, so.”
Segura: Prenatal care exists primarily to manage maternal blood pressure
“Well, the reason why prenatal care exists as a category is actually to manage blood pressure. Everything else is an extension.”