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codex · operators · Kesava Mandiga · ins_kesava-mandiga-anti-fabrication-as-rule

If you can't trace a claim to a source, write "unverified" and stop

By Kesava Mandiga · Head of PMM, JustCall (SaaS Labs) · 2026-04-11 · thread · Kesava on anti-fabrication as a portfolio rule

Tier A · TL;DR
If you can't trace a claim to a source, write "unverified" and stop

Claim

This is the rule I'm strictest about with myself. Every metric, every "we drove" number, every aggressive round — it has to trace to a customer quote, a Wayback snapshot, a press release, a repo commit. If it doesn't, the claim is "unverified" and I either find the source or drop the claim. Composite quotes don't exist. Invented metrics don't exist. Round-numbers-that-feel-true don't exist.

Mechanism

PMM credibility compounds and decays the same way. Every fabricated claim that gets caught burns the trust that the verified ones earned. The cost of saying "unverified" is small. The cost of getting caught making one up is the whole portfolio.

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