Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the host's own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
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Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q So, Tim, you have to, I have to ask a question. What is a guy like, you're thinking about big ideas, splitting California, backing big guys, big, big thinkers like Elon Musk. We had John Fry on, on episode 98, talking about the, the startup you, the ABC reality show that you starred in. Why spend your time and energy on a startup show? What was the thesis there?
A Well, it was a, it was, it was fun. It was a risk. Uh, it was good for, uh, we, we, we suspected that it would be good for marketing for, uh, Draper University. Um, we, we also felt that we were doing such unusual and interesting things at Draper University that, uh, the rest of the education establishment would benefit from watching, uh, what we're doing with students. Um, and so there were lots of reasons to do it. There are few not to do it, but we, we ended up, uh, deciding to do it. We worked with ABC Family. They were, um, they were great to work with. Uh, and we really enjoyed the experience, and it was, uh, and it did not, um, interestingly, didn't take, uh, an inordinate amount of, uh, my time.
AI assessment note: “we suspected that it would be good for marketing for, uh, Draper University.”
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q finally, once they broke the mold of, oh, he actually means literally, like, Invent new rules, like put someone on your shoulders and you can only hit it if you're laying on the ground and screw the net. Who needs a net to play volleyball? I, I think, I think you probably intentionally set that up as a microcosm of really what you believe in and changing rules about society.
A Well, um, what I wanted them to come around to was that some of them came up with rules that made it a better game. And, uh, what we're always trying to do is either, if we're, if we're transforming industries, that's, that's the ultimate goal, but, um, but to look at the world as something that can be molded and improved, and I think that that, um, that, the idea that, uh, you, if, if you score three points in a row, you can, uh, create new rules for everybody to follow in volleyball is, gets people, Out of their, their zone of where they think the world should go. With our students, we often have them play a soccer game and we, we go, okay, hey, we're going out to play soccer. That's going to be great. And then they come out there and then you say, and then I say, oh yeah, there's one change. You can use your hands. And my thinking there is, look, you know, let's try different things. Let's try things. Let's see what happens. Um, schools have gotten pretty rigid out there. They're, they're telling you what to say, what to do, what to think, uh, and they're not letting you explore and experiment and try things, and, uh, and we, we have a credo, you know, and one of the things in the credo is I will fail and fail again until I succeed, and that allows People some real freedom. Freedom to think about what they're, ah, what they're doing. Freedom to, ah, speak out. Freedom to do …
AI assessment note: “to look at the world as something that can be molded and improved”
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q Uh huh. So you were, I mean, is this how you think about investing? You kind of look at a sector that you like, and then you find the business leader. That's really going to drive that thing home. Is that, is that how you work?
A Sometimes, um, sometimes we'll see something really interesting. That'll just come. Somebody will send me an email with a business plan on it. Um, and sometimes I'll, I'll go to a business plan competition at a school, or I'd go to, um, Uh, I'll go, uh, to a conference, and I'll run into a, somebody at a booth. Um, there are some, there are a lot of ways you can find a, a new opportunity to invest in. Uh, and we find that Driving deal flow turns out to be as, as important as anything to our business. Uh, and, and so I keep a high profile. That's part of the Draper University and the startup view, uh, Uh, show.
AI assessment note: “Sometimes, um, sometimes we'll see something really interesting. That'll just come.”
Redirected produced feed
D 2 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 3 3.25
Q Okay, I want to, I want to give you one last chance, Tim, to get in trouble with the SEC. You don't want, you don't want to reveal what the current fund size is you're raising?
A Different, they're different funds, um, and, and they, they are for different purposes, and they have different, uh, uh, sizes for different purposes. We, you know, we have the, the Draper Venture Network. It's an extraordinary, uh, Um, network. We have 11 relationships. They, uh, spread to 36 cities around the world. And, uh, and each of them, uh, there's one called Draper Nexus, one called Draper Dragon. Nexus is in Japan, and Dragon's in China, Draper Vena Capital in, uh, Vietnam, and Draper Esprit in London. Um, Draper Triangle in Pittsburgh, and they all have raised funds, uh, of varying sizes too. So, uh, and then, um, Draper Associates has its funds, and then Draper Fisher-Jurvinson has its funds. So it's hard to sort of picture a, uh, you know, when you ask how big are your funds.
AI assessment note: “Different, they're different funds, um, and, and they, they are for different purposes”
