The course gave 23 students a crash course in subjects useful for running their small businesses.

Judged as of 2010-09-23. True: contemporaneous records (programme materials, news reports, the interview context) show the course Buffett described had 23 students who were small-business owners or operators, and that it covered a range of business subjects meant for running their businesses (a short, intensive course). Mostly true: the course existed as described and was aimed at small-business owners, but the student count was slightly different (e.g., 20–26) or some other minor detail was off. Mixed: the course existed, but either it was not mainly for small-business operators or the count was well off (e.g., more than double or less than half). Mostly false: a related programme existed but was materially different (e.g., not a multi-subject course, or not for small-business people). False: evidence shows no such course or cohort existed at the time.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Warren Buffett Gets His Batteries Charged By LaGuardia's 10000 ... LaGuardia Community College · 11 January 2021

   “Buffett, who has served as co-chair of the 10,000 Small Business Program’s advisory council, spoke at LaGuardia during the graduation for the first cohort, saying, “The 23 students graduating today are going to serve as examples to the 9,977 students coming down the road.”

2. E2 Warren Buffett Gets His Batteries Charged By LaGuardia's 10000 ... LaGuardia Community College · 11 January 2021

   “I went to the first graduation at LaGuardia Community College about 10 years ago and there were probably 300 or 400 people in an auditorium and there were less than 30 graduates I think maybe there was 27 or something like that”

3. E3 Goldman Sachs10,000 Small Businesses LaGuardia Community College

   “Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College is designed to help you develop the skills you need to grow your company.”

LaGuardia Community College reports that Buffett spoke at the graduation of the first cohort of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, and quotes him saying 23 students were graduating (E1). Buffett's later memory of 'maybe 27' graduates (E2) is close to that count. LaGuardia describes the program as built to help owners develop the skills to grow their companies (E3), which supports the claim that it was aimed at small-business operators. However, the 23 figure appears only as Buffett's own quoted words, and no evidence item spells out that the course was short, intensive and covered many subjects, so the claim is mostly true rather than fully confirmed.