Precedents
Real decisions, told from what they knew at the time.
Most founder stories are told backward: the outcome first, then a story built to deserve it. These run forward. Each one takes a real decision a real person made and rebuilds it from what was knowable that day: the options on the table, the pressure, what they chose, and what happened. Where the legend and the record disagree, the record wins.
Newest first
Chesky in week six of an 80% revenue collapse: the principles he published before the decisions, and why 1,900 people left as alumni instead of enemies.
The decade of contemptHuang spent ten years funding CUDA against a market that did not exist, and the reason he could afford conviction is the least romantic part of the story: nobody could call the loan.
The settled betLutke wrote his COVID bet down as a falsifiable claim while placing it. When the 2022 numbers landed against it: "I got this wrong," and the cut, in one motion. What settling a bet looks like.
The hundred percentBlakely kept 100% of Spanx for 21 years on $5,000 and a day job she did not quit until retail said yes. Independence, run on arithmetic instead of bravado.
The two refusalsZuckerberg said no to $1B holding unlaunched product and the data behind it. Yang said no to $44.6B holding a feeling with his name on it. Same call. Opposite evidence. Opposite decade.
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