Square's current business was not part of the plan when Khosla Ventures originally invested; it started as a hardware dongle.
Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.
What would count as true or false
Judge as of 2020-02-24. True: Khosla Ventures invested in Square early on (e.g., the 2009–2010 seed or Series A), when Square's business centred on the card-reader dongle for mobile payments, and Square's 2020 business (Cash App, seller ecosystem, lending, banking and similar services) went substantially beyond that original plan. Mostly true: KV invested early and the business evolved, but the original plan already envisaged some broader merchant services. Mixed: KV's investment came after Square had already broadened beyond the dongle. Mostly false: KV invested, but evidence shows Square's later business was largely part of its stated original plan. False: KV did not invest in Square.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (4)
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E1 How Jack Dorsey grew Square from start-up to payments ... - CNBC CNBC · 24 February 2022
“Its first official round of funding in 2009 was led by Khosla Ventures at a roughly $45 million valuation, according to Pitchbook.”
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E2 How Jack Dorsey grew Square from start-up to payments ... - CNBC CNBC · 24 February 2022
“The solution came in the form of a plastic, stamp-sized dongle that could be plugged into an iPhone jack.”
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E3 [PDF] 4:10-cv-02243-SNLJ Doc. #: 351 Filed: 04/22/16 Page: 1 of 39 PageID U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (via govinfo.gov) · 22 April 2016
“Dorsey and McKelvey began working together again in late 2008 and early 2009 on a new business enterprise that would allow individuals to take credit card payments using a smartphone.”
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E4 The Square Strategy Teardown: How The Point-Of-Sale Fintech Insurgent Is Quietly Turning Itself Into A Full-Service Bank - CB Insights Research CB Insights · 7 November 2018
“Nine years ago, Square launched as way for your local food cart to accept credit cards.”
Reasoning
E1 reports that Khosla Ventures led Square's first official funding round in 2009. E2 and E3 describe Square's business at that time: a stamp-sized dongle and a venture that would let individuals take credit card payments on a smartphone. E4, a 2018 report titled as describing Square turning itself into a full-service bank, shows the business later grew well beyond that original scope. Together these support the claim that an early investment was made when the plan was a card-reader dongle, and that the later business went well past it.
Cite this claim
Vinod Khosla, “Square's current business was not part of the plan when Khosla Ventures originally invested; it started as a hardware dongle.” (said 24 February 2020). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_2d290c91decc, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_2d290c91decc
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
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