Prediction Didn’t hold up
Shepherd predicts impending tariffs will drive down digital advertising costs
“Basically we all know what's happening and we have history to say that people are going to pull out and advertising should get cheaper.”
Opinion
Shepherd: US government will let struggling universities fail without bailing them out
“Of course, the government's going to let you go out of business, especially in the current environment. Yeah. The government doesn't care.”
Opinion
Shepherd: Higher education and business environment are America's primary competitive advantages
“What makes, I almost said a phrase, what, one of the things that makes the United States stand out is the quality of our education system at a higher level. So people come here from all over the world to go to Harvard and to go to Stanford and to go to whereve…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Shepherd: Trump admin may get trade concessions from Vietnam and lower tariffs
“I think it's very possible they'll get some concessions from Vietnam or concessions from, you mentioned Sri Lanka or wherever. They'll get some concessions. And the whole press release saying, look, it worked. We got our concessions and we won. The tariffs are…”
Insight
Shepherd: Automation killed manual Google ad bidding as a competitive advantage
“It used to be that if you were a more sophisticated bidding person, if you knew how to game the algorithms in Google better than the next person, you could be successful. That's not the case anymore.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shepherd: Clients who maintained 2020 ad spend grew 80% to 90%
“We have clients that grew 80% that year, 90% that year, almost doubled that year because they were able to have the stomach to stay in it and weather the fact that we're going to come out of this okay, and they got more eyeballs for lower costs.”
Insight
Shepherd: Breakdown of new vs. existing customer revenue signals founder sophistication
“If they could tell me how many, what percentage of the revenue they want to have come from new customers versus existing customers, I know I'm dealing with someone who's pretty sophisticated and pretty smart and has a really good chance to succeed.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shepherd: PE Demands for Startup Efficiency Mean Strictly Higher ROAS and ROI
“In the current interest rate environment, private equity firms that run startups have demanded over the last three years what they call efficiency. And by efficiency, they almost always mean higher return on investment, higher return on ad spend, higher ROI, w…”
Insight
Shepherd: Startups advertising only to existing customers efficient themselves out of business
“However, if we are spending money only on advertising to existing consumers, By definition, we are not getting new consumers and our business will go into a death spiral and we will efficient ourselves right out of business.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shepherd: Mason Interactive is a $30M completely bootstrapped agency
“I mean, we have a, I have a thirty million dollar Self-funded agency, completely bootstrapped in a low margin services business.”
Insight
Shepherd: Agencies must give expert advice first, then execute client requests
“It's not my job to do what a client asks. It's my job to give my client my best advice based on billions of dollars of assets under management and 16 years of doing this and hundreds of brands. It's my job to give them my best advice and then do what they ask.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shepherd: 40% of Mason Interactive's business evaporated overnight in 2020
“Something like 40% of our business evaporated overnight.”
