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 138 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 1 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
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…”
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…”
Manus: Data shows female founders consistently ask for less venture funding
“But I also, it's very interesting, and this is data, this is not me, this is not my opinion, But interestingly enough, women always ask for less. Women founders always ask for less. It's not a lack of confidence. It is something else, and we're all trying to d…”
Jillian Manus: Courtney Caldwell should be CEO instead of Ty
“I would prefer, Courtney, if you were, had the title of CEO because I think that represents the high tech piece, and because of your background with Oracle, and your ability to understand and be able to communicate the technical pieces of the product I think t…”
Manus: Software and Data Drive Value in Connected Health Devices
“The big revenue generator is the software. Okay. It's not the device. The device is purchased or licensed, but it's really the software and the data. Okay. That is the true value.”
Jillian Manus: Outlines is overly complicated across manufacturing, recovery, and recycling
“I think that this is overly complicated. You are designing, you're manufacturing, you're recovering, you're replenishing, you're recycling. It's a lot. And I would love to see you focus on one thing, or even build almost a SaaS product that's logistics for rep…”
Manus says five of her six African startup investments failed
“I've actually invested in six companies in Africa. Ok? Five went belly up.”
Jillian Manus: Ginger, Hurdle, and Kaiser already have mental health video libraries
“I invest a lot in this space and I know that there are a lot of companies like Ginger and Hurdle and a number of other ones that have this content. Just Kaiser, even the healthcare systems, has a whole library of these exactly looking like this.”
Jillian Manus: Stigma is a feature, not a company
“That's not a company. That's a feature. Like, that company could put it into Slack.”
Jillian Manus: Stigma's $9 million pre-money valuation is very frothy
“I think that nine pre is very, very frothy.”
Jillian Manus: Founders should stay silent if they don't know an answer
“Every founder should know, don't say anything. If you don't know something, don't say anything.”
Dotcal's absolutely ridiculous valuation is going to get even more ridiculous
“And by the way, the valuation is ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it's going to be even more ridiculous.”
Manus: Platforms must either be completely free or charge a considerable fee
“Sometimes that middle point is the worst point. One dollar, maybe, I mean, one dollar seems ridiculous. It's just not right. You either do free, or you do something considerable.”
Manus offers $25,000 of personal capital to Who's Your Landlord
“So I'm going to put 25,000 in. Ok, awesome. Ok, of my own.”
Manus: Startups building alongside an anchor partner often get acquired by them
“A lot of these companies, I have two right now, they have an anchor, they're building it out, and that anchor's going to buy them.”
Manus: Who's Your Landlord still lacks clarity on its core product
“I think that the business is yet to understand what it wants to be. I think that Ofo is trying to serve both sides here, and I don't feel that we understand the big product yet.”
Jillian Manus says nonprofits fail to scale because constant fundraising derails missions
“A non-profit, many of them have difficulty scaling, obviously sustainability issues, I know so many organizations that I give money to, they don't have the metrics, they're unable to sustain themselves, and they'll get halfway through their mission, and then t…”
Manus questions if competitor Albert could replicate Cushion's fee negotiation
“Then why couldn't Albert do this? They probably could.”
Manus: Bandwagon provides little value to sports teams
“They like to control their tickets, they like to know what's going on, but I don't see this as a big value to the teams, to tell you the truth.”
Manus: Playven's revenue does not justify an $8M valuation
“No, you shouldn't have because your revenue and this does not, ah, represent an eight million dollar valuation.”
Manus: Topias Soininen lacks capacity to build a cross-sport platform
“But also, I don't think he has the capacity to build out a platform for all sports across, right, all venues.”
Manus: Reverses her initial pass to invest $100,000 in Bounce
“I'm gonna reverse, because everything we've brought up, everything we've hit you with, you're, you've seen all these different issues, I'm gonna go in for a 100,000.”
Manus: Amazon will compete in retail delivery within one to two years
“I'm thinking more like a year down the line. I'm thinking a year to do two years down the line. I, to be able to turn that on is nothing for them.”
Jillian Manus: Utility Tokens Are the Path to Success for Most Companies
“I think utility tokens are dope. I think they are exactly where all companies should be, and I think tokenizing is going to be the path to success for a lot of companies”
Manus: Working mothers are more efficient because parenting forces strict time management
“I think, I actually think people who have children use their time more wisely, women who do, because they really have to. They don't have a choice. And so I really find that time management, interesting enough, for working mothers is Is more efficient. They wo…”
Manus: Xiao Wang checks every box for an early-stage founder
“If you take apart a founder, right, and you take apart a product at the very early stages he checks every single box. And then some.”
Manus: Teenagers will view unGlue as punitive rather than buying in
“I don't see a teenager buying into this. You know, I see that they're going to be presuming this as punitive.”
Manus: unGlue's product can be replicated quickly by competitors
“See he, it took him, ah, two years to build this, but the fact is, is that he has a small team, and I think this can be replicated pretty fast.”
Jillian Manus argues business is built on relationships, not product quality
“I don't care how good your product is. Because that's not what business is built on. Business is built on relationships. That's what business is built on.”
Manus: Millennials avoid physical possessions to invest in experiences
“One of the mentalities of millennials is that they don't want to have things, okay? They're trying to get rid of their things. So they're investing more in experiences. Everybody knows that it's not, right? So because one of the reasons is they travel around a…”
Manus: Millennials buy vinyl for audio quality, not tangibility
“That's not true, because if you ask millennials, the millennials that are buying the vinyls are actually buying them for the quality. Because millennials are more music-centric than ever, than any general, you know.”
Manus Commits $100,000 of Her Own Capital During Shift's Pitch
“And I'm gonna put a 100,000 of my money right now.”
Manus: Passed on Tushy because founder dismissed investor feedback
“And that's the reason I passed, because she kept saying, you're wrong. And after that, I thought, you know what, I know nothing. About this. So there is nothing I'm going to be able to add.”
Manus: Commits $100,000 at $15M valuation cap to Teamable with caveat
“I'm gonna give you a 100,000 at 15. Okay. Hold on. Okay. There's a caveat here. Okay. If after me, after sitting down with me and having a larger conversation, okay, you feel that I add more value than you expected me to, then you will consider lowering the va…”
Manus: Without a patent, Sudden Coffee lacks real defensibility
“There's no patent around it. There's no defensibility, really.”
Manus: Coffee shop communities form around the destination, not the coffee
“There's community formed in coffee shops organically, but I think, and I might be wrong, that's really not around the coffee, but it's around just the place, the destination.”
Manus: Sudden Coffee is a marketing play, not amazing coffee
“What I see this as is not the best It's a, actually a marketing play. I don't see anybody going around saying, this is the best cup of instant coffee I've ever had. But I have, I, but it's getting people to accept it as the best instant coffee they've ever had…”
Manus: Cut food loses nutrition without heavy salt preservatives
“The nutritional value actually minimizes after something is cut, something is, you know, so unless these are heavy prepared foods with a lot of salt to preserve them, I worry about the actual nutritional value.”
Manus: Gym-first adoption beats direct-to-consumer for fitness hardware
“I think they're doing it the right way, where they have the gym marketing dollars behind them, and the adoption will be in the gym, and then they can expand it into at home.”
Manus: Branding around bridge rounds boxes a VC fund into a corner
“I think putting yourself in a bridge is really actually boxing yourself in. To a corner that I don't think you guys need to be there.”
Manus: Waiting until right before Series A prevents access to top deals
“I don't think you're going to get into really any of the good companies by just waiting that late right before the A to any of the companies.”
Manus: Early-stage investors act as startup co-founders
“I always tell founders that early stage investors are actually co-founders.”
Manus: There Are More Concussions in Soccer Than Football
“There are more concussions in soccer than there are in football.”
Manus: The most ridiculous startup ideas often become the best businesses
“You know, one person said to me that the businesses that you roll your eyes at, right, are the ones that ultimately are the best. The people that have the most ridiculous ideas are the ones that you should pay attention to the most.”
Manus: FranShares operates as a fund-of-funds, not a marketplace
“Actually, Kenny, it is a fun to fund because if you, because you're taking a management fee from what I understand from the deck. So you're managing our money and investing it into franchises that qualify, which is exactly what a venture capitalist does.”
Manus: Number one books in publishing are always faith-based
“And the number one books are always faith-based books.”
Manus: Outlines is overly complicated trying to do manufacturing and recycling
“I think that this is overly complicated. So you are designing, you're manufacturing, you're recovering, you're replenishing, you're recycling. It's a lot. And I would love to see you focus on one thing, or even build almost a SaaS product that's logistics for …”