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 298 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 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
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.”
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…”
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…”
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…”
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.”
Hudson: Jungle is a $50M to $75M ARR business, not venture-scale
“So, what I'm really saying is, I think this is a 50 to seventy five million dollar ARR business”
Banister: Wist is well positioned to be AR's killer app
“If he executes well, and if the timing's right, and all of the pieces are lined up just right, you know, he's well positioned to have the killer app for AR. Like, I can't think of a better one, to be honest with you.”
Gutwein: DTC Has Not Figured Out How to Scale Post-Adpocalypse
“I think that overall DTC as an industry has not figured out how to scale like the new channels now that they can't spend VC dollars on Facebook and Google spend.”
Schmorak: Hostfully raised more venture capital because of its PPP loan
“No, I actually think we raised more money from investors because of it.”
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.”
Madho dislikes 'segregated' investing that limits women to female-focused funds
“One of the things that, that's happened is I go to a lot of events that only have female investors or investors that are specifically looking for female founded companies. And this is a good thing, but I also don't like segregated investors. I want bro money t…”
Michael Hyatt believes VCs avoid boasting about profiting off homelessness programs
“I don't see any VC wanting to say to their investors that they made all this money off of this type of program.”
Mohnot: SkyHi isn't Amazon Prime because high usage hurts margins
“Amazon Prime is geared to you buying more Amazon products. Like, Amazon Prime, they sell you a yearly subscription with the hopes, and Amazon Prime customers buy a lot more shit on Amazon. Here, if you fly more, that sucks for you.”
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.”
Clark: SpaceX's launch reliability is not top tier
“So firstly, SpaceX's reliability
Isn't top tier.”
Kugel: Amazon has tried to enter tires and failed to figure it out
“And you have companies like Amazon trying to get into tires, and they have not really figured it out.”
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.”
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…”
Amado Galoi: USDA subsidies make US agriculture a bad market for agtech
“One of the things we've realized over the past two years is the United States is not a fertile market for agriculture tech. And that's primarily because the USDA gives so many subsidies that it's still cheaper for a farmer to cull their animals because they're…”
Bilizarian: Women founders have major competitive advantages, not disadvantages
“I really don't want to get into this narrative of, like, competitive disadvantages, because I think there's so many competitive advantages to being a woman, but to me, words are words, right? Like, I don't, that's great that she called me cocky, but she invest…”
Demetrius Gray: The onus is on VCs to fund Black founders
“I just don't have tons of confidence in VC. Like, they have a track record, and their track record speaks for itself. Nobody, it's not a secret, and so the onus is really on them to improve. You know, it's not on me to try to convince a VC that a Black founder…”
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.”
Banister: Nurse Practitioners Are Just as Good as Medical Doctors
“And these nurse practitioners are just as good as any doctor.”
Banister: Gecko Materials' valuation is fair for its business type
“By the way, your valuation is fine for what the type of business you are. It's, we're more commenting on the types of businesses we see. And they're, it's not about you. It's just, we do software mostly. Is really what it comes down to. But you could be a Spac…”
Puga: Building a billion-dollar LatAm startup requires multi-country expansion
“So we are not going to make it just with one country in Latin America. That's impossible. We're not going to make it. That's what I saw in the past.”
Fielding: Enterprise procurement is where software deals go to die
“Over the last decade of me investing, I've heard the procurement pitch many times. It's kind of where deals go to die. Everyone hates it. Many people have tried to have SaaS companies around this or SaaS solutions.”
Lagunas claims there is no data left to train desk-worker AI models
“When we look at, you know, AI, there's no more data to train these models on. There's no more data to do anything from like a desk worker perspective.”
Yin: Levee is not a true AI company and lacks unique technology
“Because I think this is not an AI company, and, like, the technology is not unique.”
McAndrew: I maintain an anti-management consultant stance on founders
“And I'm always dubious about management consultants. You know, that's like, I definitely have an anti management consultant stance and she won me over anyway, which is impressive.”
Alvarez: There are no significant technological moats in generative AI
“So, there isn't, like, crazy motes in Gen.AI.”
Alvarez: ChatGPT helps Jungle by increasing student awareness of AI study tools
“I think something like ChatGPT helps us more than it hurts us, because it makes people more aware of AI and its capabilities, and it leads people to search more like AI sort of generated questions, flashcards, stuff like that.”
Wiseman: Battery market competition destroys pricing power and gross margins
“I'm concerned about the gross margins at this point. I'd want to see much higher margins, or at least a path that could get me to significantly higher margins, and I just think that speaks to the, unfortunately, the intensity of the competitive dynamics here, …”
Elias: F1 engineering takes conventional automakers four times longer
“The things I was able to do in Formula One would take a conventional auto manufacturer, probably four or five times the amount of time and money for that matter.”
Elias: Chinese oversupply keeps battery prices at unsustainably low levels
“I really think the battery industry specifically is artificially constrained by the oversupply, obviously, that we know from China, and that keeps the prices at a lower level than what's probably sustainable.”
Metzer: Incumbent Footwear Brands Lack The DNA To Build Technology
“And so the footwear brands, they're just not going to build technology. They don't want to extend their business into technology. You're talking about hardware and software, and it's just not in their DNA.”
Gupta: KAV Sports' $18M pre-money valuation is a steal
“I don't think it, I don't think 18 is high. I think I was, I think I got a steal.”
Locker Founder: LTK and ShopMy Gatekeep Influencer Curation and Earnings
“Platforms like LTK, ShopMy have gatekept who gets to be an influencer and curate and earn off of their recommendations.”
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…”
Sarah Cohn: B2B retail replenishment services are low-margin and uncompelling
“Taking the smallest, lowest value, lowest margin component of that full stack business, which is the recycling, and making a whole business out of that is like, that's not compelling at all.”
Jessa Lux: Top equestrian athletes often live paycheck to paycheck
“Unfortunately, people who are top equestrian athletes, they're still kind of living paycheck to paycheck. Like, it doesn't have a financial model that can support these people the way they should.”
Jessa Lux: Techstars Mentor Madness is emotionally distressing and counterproductive
“There have been times that I look back, and I'm like, they should not do that. That's, you know, like, emotionally distressing, and of course, getting contradictory advice that whole time.”
Yin: Uncovered Lacks Venture Returns and Is Pivoting to an Undefined Model
“He wants to fund the media company, which doesn't have that venture return, to be able to pivot into one of these other things that doesn't yet have clear direction.”
Oura's core challenge is being a vitamin, not a painkiller, says Sanchez
“One, I think the hardest problem that Aura's had is that it's a little bit of a vitamin and not a painkiller per se, because it's preventive health.”
Tobias: Kimoyo is a 'people renting' business, not software
“This is not, this is a people business where you're basically renting people. And for that reason, it doesn't fit my thesis and I'm out.”
Madeline Fraser: Passing on Gemist over cap table concerns is short-sighted
“You know, I think that that's a little bit short-sighted in my mind, right? Not really talking through that or having enough time to sit down with them and sort of say, hey, let's, let's think about what this could look like in the future.”