Will Herman

1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

10statements → 4claims → 4claims resolved → 50%fully supported → 3.6/5average certainty → 1.4/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →

2 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

4 assertions · 3 insights · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Will argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Herman raised $60M venture funding to buy back $120M of Viewlogic revenue

“A year after we sold it, we bought back about 75% of the revenue, 80% of the revenue of the company in an MBO and then ran that company. Oh, it's a management buyout. We actually got venture funding about 50 or sixty million dollars and bought the bought about…”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 4:57 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1

none yet certainty 2

50% certainty 3

83% certainty 4

none yet certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Will Herman on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said10 Episodes1

Everything Will Herman said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight

Herman: Build In-House When Strategy Is Core; Acquisitions Fail To Integrate

“When what you're working on is sort of core to your long-term strategy I feel like there's no, no better value of developing that in-house, of creating that yourselves, because you can't get your hands around the technology, or the customers, or the employees,…”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 14:51 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Assertion Supported

Herman raised $60M venture funding to buy back $120M of Viewlogic revenue

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 4:57 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Insight

Herman: Raising venture capital locks founders into pursuing an exit

“Most people don't realize that once you take venture capital, you are stuck. You're going for an exit, and that's what everybody wants.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 12:16 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Insight

Herman: Unmotivated founders should directly ask investors to wind down

“Speaking as an angel investor, no investor wants to be involved in a company that the founders don't want to be involved in. So, you know, it's just going to take a long time to die, and it's going to be a long, painful death. So, so the best way, as hard as i…”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 12:30 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Assertion Partly supported

Herman: Quintus grew to $60M revenue and IPO'd before collapsing

“That was an actually an investment, not one that I was active in, although I did help the VCs spin it out of a of another company. Company was called Quintus. High flyer went from nothing to sixty million in revenue, went public.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 2:43 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Disclosure

Herman lost nearly $500,000 in his Quintus investment

“I had I had pretty close to half a million dollars.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 4:01 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Assertion Supported

Herman: Viewlogic IPO'd in 1991 and Sold for ~$500M in 1996-1997

“We started that in 1984, took it public in 91 sold it in 9006 or 97. About a half, it was about a half billion dollar deal.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 4:35 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Disclosure

Viewlogic burned up to $30M building CAD tech before abandoning it

“Over time, we probably put, you know, 20 or thirty million dollars into building the product. Eh, maybe that's a little high, but not, that's the order of magnitude. It's pretty close.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 16:09 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Disclosure

Viewlogic eventually acquired a CAD tech competitor for $60M in stock

“Stock deal. It was probably, probably worth 50, 50 or sixty million at the time.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 17:32 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Assertion Partly supported

Herman: Viewlogic Had $160M-$175M TTM Revenue at Acquisition

“Trailing 12 was probably 175,000,160 million.”

Will Herman Oct 7, 2018 ▶ 6:37 1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
1170 Playbook he used for taking 3 companies public f\rom scratch	Oct 7, 2018	13m

Will Herman

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

Turn any episode into a week of clips.