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.
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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.”
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.”
Material is targeting early-stage gross margins of 25% to 30%
“Well, I guess it depends on the complexity, but, you know, I'm going to be targeting in the 25 to 30% margin, at least at the early stage.”
Burton: Lockstop Enforces a Strict $100,000 Minimum Check Size
“I absolutely hate to say this, especially on YouTube, but we've left the 50 K checks on the table, so we don't allow any investments under a hundred K.”
Vigo reveals he owns only 14% equity in Bevz
“So I have 14%. Our founding team together has about 70%, so it's a combo of me, my co-founder Victor, and my CTO.”
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…”
Ariana Vargas pauses Stigma's VC fundraising to protect user trust
“The problem and the sort of bad news for today's call is that it takes time to earn trust, and the moment we take on a big amount of capital, we understand that you all as venture capitalists have returns to make and growth targets to hit, and I won't trade on…”
Wang: Boundless spends over $400 to acquire a $500 customer
“Out of 500 dollars our customer acquisition cost is a little over 400 dollars.”
Xiao Wang: Boundless loses money on every new customer upfront
“I can be blunt and say, look, we are not, we are losing money per customer. And that's ok. And because we are, we believe that if they have a great experience, that, you know, they will come back to us for future immigration needs.”
Clark: Atomos requires roughly $160M to build spacecraft
“To develop and build the spacecraft, our total capitalization needs are going to be, you're going to widen your eyes at this, it's going to be around one hundred and sixty million dollars.”
Kugel: Tire Agent is raising on a $10M convertible note
“So we're doing a ten million dollar convertible note.”
Wang: Boundless CAC is over $400 on a $500 price point
“So as of now, so of 500 dollars our customer acquisition cost is a little over 400 dollars.”
Laura Bilizarian: Teamable does not actually need outside venture capital
“I mean, just cause, I mean, just cause I'm on the show, and I wanted to, you know, give you guys a chance to get in, like, I really don't.”
Diamond: Alpha Bridge is earmarking $1M for founder wellness platform
“So we're earmarking a million dollars from the fund we justify because we feel like we're gonna get into the best deals based on this program.”
Hudson: Precursor avoids AI infrastructure due to technical complexity and intense competition
“So like, just as a front level, we're just not doing much in AI infra, just, I don't have the technical ability to analyze them, and I haven't found many interesting categories where I don't instantly meet two dozen very credible teams.”
Bannister has hard rules against 50-50 co-founder splits and early acquisitions
“I have a hard rule. I have very few hard rules, and that's just one of them. If I hear that, I'm out. And the other one's fifty-fifty partnership, unless they're brothers or sisters.”
Bevz Founder Jason Vigo Discloses He Owns Only 14% Equity
“So I have 14%... Our founding team together has about 70%, so it's a combo of me, my co-founder Victor, and my CTO.”
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…”
Amateur Golf Society founding team retains only 25% equity
“Ah, 25%. So it's 20 for myself and then five percent for my COO.”
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.”
Yin offers Sundae $150K at a $7M post-money valuation cap
“I unfortunately can't get behind the 10, but I would put out my offer at one 50 at seven post on a save.”
Phillips: 11 Tribes underwrites deals to a 10x return multiple
“Well, it's just, we underwrite to 10.”
Yin Passes on Capital-Intensive $10M Retail Expansion Plan
“At sort of this ten million plan, it feels too much. Because I do think actually in this day and age, having other companies who have done it, you can Open these stores in a less dilutive way. So for that reason, I'm out.”
Jessa Lux: Accepting VC funding is not worth enduring investor stress
“The momentum would have been great, and those follow-on deals would have been great, but it's not worth a check to get someone in the door who's going to be a source of stress.”
Manus says five of her six African startup investments failed
“I've actually invested in six companies in Africa. Ok? Five went belly up.”
Hudson warns that heavy local capital in emerging markets is problematic
“We've had totally polar experiences. We've had some companies where we've had tons of local capital, and it's been highly problematic.”
Gemist is raising a $3M seed round at a $15.5M post-money valuation
“We did convertible note for the pre-seed, I believe six million cap, and then seed round was 3,000,011 and a half post, and this one is 15 and a half post.”
Charles Hudson: Precursor avoids Employee Assistance Program investments like the plague
“We've done a lot in mental health. We've also done a ton in the employer benefits channel. And the one thing I've tried to avoid like the plague is EAP.”
Wheaton: Dressed is raising $1.5M to scale peer-to-peer rental model
“We're raising 1.5 million to scale our peer-to-peer model that is more efficient and more scalable than Rent the Runway.”
Hussain plans to raise a $10M to $25M Series A next year
“The reason that we're raising a million dollars right now is to get the feature product sets out as quickly as possible, and we're immediately going into our A round next year. We'll be raising about 10 to twenty-five million dollars at that point to substanti…”
Spot On Requires Two-Hour Booking Window Due to Driver Supply
“So currently we're not on demand. We have a two hour booking window, and that's because we have to get enough drivers on our platform in order to be on demand.”
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.”
Charles Hudson wants to back companies that take down G2 Crowd
“I'm basically interested in taking down G two crowd.”
Hyatt: I do not fund founders to figure it out later
“So, so, I don't back companies based on this idea that you're going to get a lot of money, and then hopefully, because you're a good guy, you're going to figure it out.”
Passett: Bluefoot seeks $3M at a $30M valuation for its seed round
“Three million, yes, at a thirty million valuation.”
Jonathan Kumar says Samaritan is not targeting an acquisition or IPO
“We're not targeting an exit right now. We're focusing on, on building an incredible business that helps nonprofits and cities better understand, reduce, and ultimately prevent situations of homelessness.”
Michael Hyatt passes on Samaritan, feeling uncomfortable profiting from alleviating homelessness
“So I'm gonna pass, and here's my reasoning. I can't get comfortable around being involved in a business like this because I don't feel comfortable pushing for profit and scaling and all this kind of stuff, and when I have to consider what we're really doing.”
Poola: SkyHi members average 1.77 flights against a 3-flight breakeven
“Right now it's 1.77. Our breakeven on our current financial model is a little over three.”
Mohnot: I avoid models where high usage hurts company economics
“I don't ever want to invest in a product where the more the customer uses the product, the worse the company does. Like, that's not interesting to me.”
Sarah Downey: DraftKings Investor Sees Passionate DFS Players Fail to Scale
“I've seen a number of pitches that are similar to this, I think because we're in Giraffe Kings and they all have this same kind of chemistry of a founder who just like, who's a player and they're a passionate player, but they're not a business person and they …”