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 12 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
Modern tech entrepreneurs prioritize quickly flipping companies over building lasting value
“And the class of entrepreneurs we have today, and I don't criticize them for it. Most of them are not building real value in real companies. They're making something, flipping it, and going.”
Venture capitalists prioritize avoiding looking stupid over generating massive returns
“And while most people think these guys invest with the primary goal is to show a big win, the primary goal is not to look stupid.”
Sprinklr and Hootsuite are fundamentally publishing tools, not conversation managers
“Well, those guys really at their core are publishing platforms. Their core DNA is for the brand to create content and manage an authoring workflow of one or many people.”
VC-backed SaaS competitors often outspend their total revenue on sales and marketing
“The other people who show growth do it by spending tens of millions of dollars to grow ten million a year. In other words, their sales and marketing budgets tend to be bigger than their revenue.”
LiveWorld claims to be the oldest continuously operating social media company
“We were, we are the oldest standing social media company. Everybody else started later, went out of business, or stopped.”
LiveWorld's SaaS product operates at 80% to 90% gross margins
“There's a SaaS, which typically is going to have 80, 90% margins. There is the workforce agents, which typically has seventy-something percent margins, and then there's consulting services, which typically have, you know, forty-percent-something margins.”
LiveWorld raised $130 million across private rounds and a 1999 IPO
“And then we raised a series of funding, funding rounds of up to about sixty million dollars and went public in 1999 for another 60 something million, so about a hundred and thirty million, including a few million of what's called NBC Peacock money.”
LiveWorld currently generates approximately $10 million in annual revenue
“Around ten million a year. Company runs around ten million.”
LiveWorld currently operates at an annual loss of approximately $1 million
“And right now we're losing money, but typically it's 10 or 15% profit. Oh, a million dollars a year, something like that.”
CEO Peter Friedman retains up to 17% equity in LiveWorld
“I actually own about 10%
Straight equity now, and maybe 17% with options.”