Playing With Unicorns

It's been a year since my last Ask Me Anything session. A lot has happened since then across AI, marketplaces, macro, and the broader tech ecosystem. Here are the questions we covered: ·      4:22 Why does AI feel so widely feared or disliked right now? ·      8:48 Why is AI driving massive progress while politics and public systems lag behind? ·      13:34 What are the real opportunities in commercializing AI today? ·      14:10 Will startups still need human co-founders in an AI-first world? ·      17:51 How important is a technical co-founder in the age of AI? ·      20:00 Will intelligence (IQ) become irrelevant as AI improves? ·      20:18 What skills should young professionals focus on in an AI-driven world? ·      22:48 How should education evolve in the age of AI (and how should kids be taught)? ·      26:40 What drives investor decisions at the earliest stages of a startup? ·      28:23 How can pre-seed founders raise capital, especially outside the US? ·      30:11 How might graph neural networks impact marketplaces? ·      31:32 What does it take to win in marketplaces in regions like Latin America? ·      33:10 What creates real defensibility in AI companies vs hype-driven growth? ·      35:38 Are we in an AI bubble—and what does it mean for investors? ·      37:30 What is the right funding path for startups that require large upfront capital? ·      38:54 What proof do investors need before funding an early-stage startup? ·      39:40 How has your marketplace investment thesis evolved in the age of AI? ·      42:02 Where can founders find strong fractional developers? ·      43:15 What defines AGI—and how should we think about it today? ·      45:08 How important is the initial "wedge" in building a marketplace? ·      46:29 How do you evaluate whether AI adoption actually creates value? ·      48:00 What founder traits matter most today? ·      49:45 If you were starting today, what would you build and why? ·      52:32 Who are you beyond your professional identity? ·      55:11 Do you still have insecurities—and how do you think about them? ·      57:10 What would you do if you weren't an entrepreneur? ·      59:45 What signals show a marketplace is reaching liquidity and product-market fit? ·      1:01:19 What is the core defensibility of a marketplace from day one? ·      1:02:24 What is Quince and why has it been so successful? ·      1:04:22 Which "boring" industries will produce the next big companies? ·      1:06:36 What is the biggest blind spot among VCs today? ·      1:08:15 Which AI sectors are overcrowded right now? ·      1:09:35 Can marketplaces succeed around complex, multi-service life events? ·      1:11:41 How have fundraising expectations changed in the AI era? ·      1:16:07 Should graduates join startups or big companies in 2026? ·      1:16:21 Is being a generalist still a viable career path? ·      1:18:35 Do investors prefer warm intros or cold outreach? ·      1:19:55 Should startups use services as a wedge before becoming SaaS? ·      1:22:02 What games or tools are best for child development and learning? ·      1:24:39 Will AI cause massive job losses or unemployment? ·      1:30:57 Can venture-scale companies be built in Latin America today? ·      1:32:26 How should AI be used in operational decision-making? ·      1:36:00 What separates massive marketplaces from niche ones? ·      1:37:24 How much decision-making should be delegated to AI vs humans? ·      1:39:10 What matters most in early-stage B2C startups: traction or insight?

Over the past few weeks, a growing narrative has emerged arguing that AI could destabilize the economy and disrupt entire business models. Last week, I published my view that AI is far more likely to be a productivity revolution than an economic collapse. But what does this mean specifically for marketplaces? Many founders are asking: •    Will LLMs capture discovery? •    Will AI compress take rates? •    Will traffic shift away from platforms? •    How defensible are marketplaces in an AI-native world? In this upcoming episode, I break down: •    Why most fears around AI disintermediating marketplaces are overstated. •    Where AI does threaten marketplace margins. •    The structural advantages marketplaces retain. •    The immediate opportunities AI creates for liquidity, cross-border trade, and profitability. •    What founders should do now. If you're building, investing in, or operating a marketplace, this episode is for you!

I had the pleasure of chatting with Zach Resnick, the founder and CEO of Ascend (formerly FlyFlat), a membership program for frequent travelers that eliminates 90% of travel decisions and saves 35% off biz/first class flights. Ascend has been helping my partners Jose and Jeff with all their travels for a couple years now, saving FJ Labs over six figures since we first learned about them. Prior to starting Ascend, Zach opened hundreds of credit cards, manufactured over $100M in credit card spend, and started three other travel companies. In addition, he started a crypto hedge fund and a blockchain and fintech-focused venture fund. We covered the following: •    How he opened 300 credit cards. •    Tips to save lots of $ on travel with miles and points. •    Why as a former VC Ascend hasn't raised much capital. •    How to save time and be healthier when traveling long-haul.

The venture market is in flux. AI is booming while the rest of venture is in the dumps. Venture capital as an asset class is evolving and retrenching. Fewer deals are happening at higher prices. New marketplace types are emerging. AI is impacting marketplaces in unexpected ways and new technologies are coming of age. There is much to discuss! You can follow along live on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch. If you are interested in seeing past episodes, including the supporting materials presented during the stream, check out my blog's Playing with Unicorns section. It takes me a while to write episode summaries. For the latest shows, check out Playing With Unicorns on YouTube, Spotify, or iTunes.

Clutch has had an incredible ride. As the "Carvana of Canada" it was a highflier in 2021. It had a brush with death in 2023 and effected an incredible turnaround. They are now once again on a tear. Dan Park, Clutch's Founder & CEO, joined us to share all the lessons learned along the way.  

I had not done an Ask Me Anything session in over a year which led to many questions on a wide variety of topics: macro, marketplaces, AI, fundraising, wealth management, education, island shopping, India, how to lose your accent, adventure travel, climate tech, the state of VC, and much more. Here are the key questions we covered: 00:01:17 How will all the geopolitical changes, tariffs, and Trump policies influence the world? 00:06:14 What are the key tips for finding and persuading investors? 00:08:44 What do you think is the future of fashion marketplaces? How has it been impacted by downfalls of marketplaces such as Farfetch? What is the role of AI in these? 00:13:19 What's your view on the best investment opportunities currently? Is the stock market, given the current drop off, attractive or still overvalued? I read a while ago your non-traditional approach to wealth management. How would you allocate $10 million now? 00:19:21 We have around 15K revenues per month, are we okay to raise a pre-seed?  00:21:14 What kind of education, school, university degrees do you recommend for kids to best prepare for them for the jobs market in 10 years considering the impact of AI? What skills should they start developing?   00:26:46 What is the best cold inbound email you ever received? 00:29:39  If you're finishing your studies today, what kind of job or company would you join to best train yourself to launch a tech startup later? Is a place like McKinsey or investment banking still relevant if the goal is to learn to work with intensity and structure? 00:32:40 As a recent French graduate with a background in BA in finance, which countries do you think offer the most learning opportunities today in terms of ease of doing business, networking, potential, etc.? 00:33:34 When will you launch the updated and new version of Fabrice AI? How can I build a network in the tech community in France? 00:38:30  Fabrice, any exciting travel coming up? What's your favorite personal use of AI? 00:42:39 If an incumbent exists in my category, are there still opportunities to enter the market? 00:45:51 What made you decide for Turks & Caicos and not another island 00:52:57 What is your favorite place in India? 00:55:48  How did you lose your French accent? What is your secret? 01:00:52 What is on your target list for climate related investment opportunities? 01:02:55  Did you do your long hike through Greenland that you wanted to do? 01:06:03 If you were building a tech company like Zingy today, would you still raise VC money or bootstrap it considering there are many examples of founders barely making any money in $500M exits? 01:08:39 What advice do you have for a home care marketplace founder who has found product market fit but ran out of money in 2023 but has "survived"? 01:10:55 What are the future big trends in AI and especially with consumer usage? 01:13:12  For personal or small retail, which AI tools do you believe are worth paying a subscription for today? 01:13:49 What do you seek in founders for pre-revenue Startups? 01:14:34 What is the biggest turn down for the VC while seeing the pitch deck? What is the biggest green flag as well? What is the red flag when cold connecting with VC people? 01:16:17 Can you address the opportunities for crossover funds? 01:18:43  Any view on Indian VC opportunities? 01:19:29 Should I hire a CTO or CFO? 01:20:23 What do you see as the future for companies like Alan (French Unicorn) nearly 10 years in €500 million raised, still unprofitable, operating on tight margins, valued at €4.5B? 01:21:15 From your perspective, what skill or type of service is the easiest to sell today is a freelance consultant?  01:22:20 How much will Bitcoin be worth in 2030?   01:26:35  What do you think of initiatives such as WorldCoin? 01:26:43  Loved the shoot-out story in the Dominican Republic. Do you have any other crazy adrenaline pumping stories from your adventures? 01:30:27 Do you prefer repeat founders or first-time founders? 01:32:22 Why is it so hard to raise capital for fashion marketplaces?  01:33:28 In your view, what is the most important trait or skill for a founder - being emotionally stable, able to handle the extreme stress, something else entirely? 01:36:11 Would you be open for a lunch in New York so I can bring all the questions I have for 45 minutes? 01:37:13 What makes niche marketplaces breakout and go big globally? 01:39:44 Is artificial intelligence dangerous for humanity? Will it increase unemployment? Should countries create rules to prevent that? Can we master something that might be beyond us? 01:46:46 What's your take on vibe coding trend or real shift?

Given that I have been building and investing in marketplaces for 26 years you might think that everything that needed to be built has already been built, but nothing could be further from the truth. In many ways, we are still at the beginning of the marketplace revolution with lots of exciting new trends. In this episode, I cover:  Cross border commerce. Live commerce. New goods verticals supported by service layers. High take rate business models based on convenience. Climate tech. AI enabled marketplaces. B2B marketplaces: Marketplace for inputs. SMB enablement. Friendshoring. B2B labor marketplaces. Business infrastructure. B2B recommerce. The episode was highly interactive with dozens of audience questions. Here are some of the questions that I answered: What types of marketplaces can function in real estate? What are the valuation multiples I am seeing at investment and exit? What is the best platform to build a marketplace on?

While AI investing continues to reach new highs, we have been contrarian. Given how non-consensus we are, I wanted to share our thoughts and perspective.  In this episode, I cover: The general state of venture. The explosion in AI investing.  The varying fortunes of AI startups. FJ Labs' perspective on AI. FJ Labs' AI investments.  The episode was highly interactive with dozens of audience questions. Here are some of the questions that I answered: How is AI impacting sports, especially tennis from an entertainment and industry standpoint? How are you utilizing AI in your personal life to improve your processes? Which tools? What is your recommendation towards founders or technology enthusiasts about AI that want to explore technological solutions using AI or find funding? How will AI help secondhand fashion marketplaces? How will labor marketplaces be impacted by AI? How will AI impact the media industry? What is my perspective on how AI and AR will be combined to create better experiences? What are examples of picks and shovels companies we are investing in to benefit from the AI boom? How to address sellers' fears that AI will make it harder for them to compete effectively with other sellers in the marketplace? Which roles will be most impacted by AI? Will it cause mass unemployment? Will AI amplify the best or worst traits of humanity? How will AI impact healthcare and education? What should startups focus on in terms of implementing AI: customer service, product search or other? 

I had not done an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session in over a year which led to many questions on a wide variety of topics: AI, augmented reality, crypto, macro and much more. Here are the key questions we covered: • 00:01:44 Artificial Intelligence: Where are we now? Where are we heading? What is the timeline? Why is FJ Labs a way contrarian on the AI trend? • 00:09:42 What's your perspective on augmented reality? Is the Apple Vision Pro a revolution? And what is the timing for that to filter into our day-to-day life? • 00:15:28 What was the fundamental inspiration for me to start OLX? • 00:20:45 Can you give us some context or details on Midas? • 00:23:15 Is there any way for a small retail investor to invest in early financing rounds for startups? If yes, how? • 00:24:44 At for pre-seed rounds, what should be the GMV to get your attention? Let's say a new marketplace. What GMV would be impressive in the first month, six months, and one year? • 00:25:39 What do I expect to see at the seed round? • 00:26:41 What's the correct take rate? • 00:27:56 What are my current perspectives on the crypto market? • 00:34:43 Does FJ Labs have an activist approach when investing in startups? How are you supporting the founders? • 00:38:03 Is there going to be a fiat currency crisis where the dollar will be replaced? Will something like BTC become the reserve currency? • 00:41:18 Have you decided on your next adventure for outdoor travel that you'd like to tackle? • 00:43:11 I've heard that a startup should recoup their fully loaded Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) within 6 months based on the contribution margin and then triple that amount within 18 months. Could you confirm if these numbers are accurate? • 00:44:30 What should the first 3-6 months of a new startup look like? Talk to potential customers? Generate demand? Build a prototype? Validate hypotheses? Etc. • 00:46:33 Does FJ Labs have an anti-portfolio? • 00:50:28 Do you have any thoughts on the longevity industry? Do you think platforms like Hims or Ro will evolve in that direction, or will there be a new player? • 00:53:33 I've listed things that I heard you consider when rating a startup. (1.) Team (2.) Unit Economics, significant TAM (3.) Fair deal terms, reasonable valuation, (4.) is it beneficial to the world, aligning the general direction of global trends, offering new opportunities to those with fewer opportunities. Is there anything else? • 00:55:02 What build did I play at Elden Ring? • 00:56:00 Did you have any mentor in your angel investor career? If yes, who is it? And how does the person help you? • 00:58:49 Are you tempted to invest in AI? • 01:00:08 What's the most overused buzzword that you can't stand? • 01:00:37 What valuation of a company is risky, yet a bit safe and worth the squeeze? • 01:01:27 Any particular places or people you prefer to keep up with your bio health updates? • 01:02:38 What is a surprisingly cheap and effective marketing channels? • 01:03:50 As an investor, doesn't make sense to look for opportunities other than AI even though AI is "hot" now? • 01:05:53 What are the most incredible business opportunities you have seen in preventative health lately? • 01:07:04 Can you name successful blockchain based marketplaces that work with goods other than NFTs? •01:11:39 Regarding Firgure.ai, when, in your opinion will we see humanoid robots in our daily lives? 3 years? 5 years? 20 years? •01:14:15 Do you think asteroid mining is an industry that will become feasible or profitable within our lifetime? • 01:16:08 We continue to see economic sentiment down, given the cost of money felt by consumers. Curious, given how you feel, especially the dire US consumers in Macroeconomic update where you see bright falls, bright spots in the landscape? • 01:19:35 Whom do you think had the most impact on your investing thesis? • 01:21:16 Is there something you've seen in recent startup pitches that you think the general public should know? • 01:23:00 When it comes to crypto, how game changing do you consider the ETFs to be going forward? • 01:24:22 What is the ideal number of founders per startup? Two, with one being technically oriented the other more focused on people and sales? • 01:25:43 What are the most important skills that students should develop in order to work as an analyst in a VC fund? What are the qualities you're looking for when recruiting graduates? • 01:27:34 If you live in a different time past or present, what do you think you would do professionally or future? • 01:32:08 My main competitor received ~$200 million in recent debt round in 2021, and $490 million in 2019 led by SoftBank. I think that's a good sign for me because they started 2007. • So now they're too big and too slow. My startup is like a small pirate ship that can easily change direction, add new features, et cetera. Am I wrong? • 01:36:54 Investing in France: What do you think of the system? • 01:37:48 What do you think of digital biology? • 01:38:41 With your milestone birthday coming up, I can't wait. What adventurous ambitions are you most looking forward to in the next half century? • 01:40:14 What is the dream guest you would like to have on the Playing with Unicorn podcast and why? • 01:44:58 Can you share the acceptance percentage of FJ Labs for the pre-seed and seed rounds? What are the chances that you will be invited to poll with your team? • 01:47:53 What is the last job to be replaced by AI robots?

People often ask me how I manage to accomplish so much while leading such a rich, passionate life as illustrated by my 2023 year in review. In this episode I share all my secrets. I will cover everything from general productivity tips to how and what you can outsource in your professional and personal life.

I had the pleasure of receiving Julio Vasconcellos on the show. Julio is the Founder and Managing Partner of Atlantico, a leading early-stage venture fund in Latin America. It was Julio's role as the inaugural Facebook employee for Latin America that initiated his path in the startup world in the region after starting his career in Silicon Valley. He later co-founded Peixe Urbano, scaling it to over 1,200 employees and $100M+ in revenue. After a startup rollercoaster ride with multiple near-death experiences, Julio sold the company to Baidu, and went on to join Benchmark Capital as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. There, he met Scott Belsky and the two went on to co-found Prefer in San Francisco which Benchmark backed, as they had with Peixe Urbano. Alongside his entrepreneurial journey, Julio has been investing for over a decade. Starting as a seed investor, he co-founded Graph Ventures with fellow colleagues from Facebook and Stanford. Later, he helped co-found Canary (https://canary.com.br/), the leading seed-stage fund in Latin America. In 2020, Julio returned to Brazil to found Atlantico and focus on early-stage venture investing. We covered: His history and path into tech. His transition from entrepreneur to investor. Why he built Atlantico to focus on Series A investing in Latin America. The significant investment potential within Latin America today.

I had the pleasure of being joined by my good friend Kevin Ryan. He's often been called the "Godfather of NYC tech." Kevin is one of the leading internet entrepreneurs and investors in New York. He is a co-founder of MongoDB, Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola, and Nomad Health, and founds new companies with AlleyCorp every year. Earlier in his career, Kevin helped to grow DoubleClick first as President and then as CEO, leading their growth from a 20-person startup to a publicly traded global leader with over 1,500 employees, through IPO in 1998 and acquisition by Google in 2007. Kevin is also on the Board of Tech:NYC, Vice Chairman of The Partnership for New York City, a member of the CFR Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Director Emeritus for Human Rights Watch. Kevin previously served on the boards of the Yale Corporation and INSEAD. It's also worth mentioning Kevin is the one who convinced me to go to Antarctica with him. We covered: ·         His history and path into tech. ·         How he built so many successful companies with Alley Corp. ·         Lessons learned along the way. ·         His general life philosophy and perspective on Antarctica, Burning Man, psychedelics and much more.

It had been over a year since we did the last Ask Me Anything (AMA) so the time had come. As requested by the audience, my son François joined us for the first part of the show. He was his usual epic self: calm, poised, and playing along cutely. His presence clearly played a part in the success of the episode which was one of the most watched ever across all the platforms and was by far the most interactive episode ever with 137 live comments in addition to dozens of questions submitted ahead of time! The audience's questions fell into 5 categories: Antarctica, Marketplaces, Startups, Macro, and Other (life decisions, books, etc.) which I covered in turn.

This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with my good friend Oskar Hartmann. He's had the most incredible unicorn experience: He was part of 10% of all German unicorns Made a $300M mistake on Ozon Managed to make money on Fab.com despite it going from $1.5B in value to $0 in 6 months Why selling at the point of maximum secondary liquidity is probably a bad time to sell Much more!

On this week's episode I had the pleasure of welcoming Nitya Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Simpl, to conclude our mini-series on the Indian tech scene. We had a fascinating conversation on the state of Indian Fintech, which in many ways is more advanced than the US. I am beyond impressed by the free C2C / B2B / B2C instantaneous real time payments allowed by UPI and the business models that emerge when you can do free microtransactions. I wish the West had the equivalent of India's UPI (or Brazil's Pix). I am also beyond impressed by what Nitya has built with Simpl, which I hope will be a Unicorn soon!

This week we are covering the state of the Indian tech ecosystem. We are joined by Luke Skertich, senior associate at FJ Labs, who is leading the charge with our Indian investments. In this episode, we cover: The history of India's tech ecosystem and the recent explosion in unicorns Why we are short term pessimistic, but medium and long term super bullish Why we are focusing on Picks and Shovels, Financial Infrastructure, and B2B Marketplaces

In this episode, we cover: Niraj's path to creating Spinny, including creating two much less successful startups right out of college The differences between the US & Indian car markets Spinny's unique solution to the market considering the specifics of the market Spinny's ambitions on a go forward basis The impact, if any, of the massive global multiple compression in comps like Carvana and Cazoo The state of Indian tech market

Lorien Gabel is the Co-Founder of Figment Network. He holds an LLB from Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member in good standing with the Ontario Bar. In 1994, at the age of 24, 6 months into practicing law, Lorien quit to help his brother Matt run a bourgeoning internet company, Interlog. Over the next four years, they managed the growth of Interlog to over 150 employees, 65,000 customers and profitability. It was later acquired by a large multinational telecommunications company.

These days every meeting seems to start with a conversation on market conditions. In the next episode, I am sharing my perspective on what has been happening in the public, crypto, and private markets, and what it means for investors and founders.

Mark Lurie is the CEO and co-founder of Shipyard Software. Shipyard Software builds decentralized exchanges (DEX) for specific types of trades, traders, and instruments, starting with Clipper, a DEX with the best prices anywhere on retail trades

Laura Behrens Wu is the co-founder and CEO of Shippo. Shippo is an API-first company focused on building shipping for 21st-century e-commerce. Top takeaways Build something that's a pain killer, not a vitamin. This means finding a true pain point and solving it. Constantly seek new customer acquisition channels. Keep in mind that people who succeed at corporations are not always successful at early-stage companies. 0-1 team members are not always the ones who will drive the company to 100x.

Alisa Cohn (@AlisaCohn) is a prominent startup coach who has advised founders and executives at Venmo, Etsy, DraftKings, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, and Bloomberg. She's one-time startup CFO, strategy consultant, and current angel investor and advisor, she was named the number one "Global Guru". Her articles have appeared in HBR, Forbes, and Inc and she has been featured as an expert on Bloomberg TV, the BBC World News and in the New York Times. A recovering CPA, she is also a Broadway investor in productions which have won two Tony Awards and is prone to burst into song at the slightest provocation.

Thomas Plantenga is the CEO of Vinted. He was born and raised in the Netherlands. Thomas was previously a Venture Partner at FJ Labs and an early member of OLX. Thomas never intended to join Vinted. He flew from New York to Vilnius for 5 weeks to simply to have a deeper look at Vinted's metrics. At the end of the 5th week, Thomas proposed an aggressive plan to the team, and to his surprise the team accepted. It was here Thomas knew that the Vinted team was committed to succeeding no matter what. Over the past decade, Thomas has lived in: Amsterdam, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Nairobi, Cabarete, Barcelona, and New York.  

In episode 27, I took a stab at which categories investors and entrepreneurs should focus on for the coming 5 years. In today's episode, I wanted to cover the themes and trends that emerged in the last 12 months. Ten trends clearly emerged as we saw them time and time again with a plethora of competitors in every geography. There was no unifying theme across all of them, but four of the trends cover startups that help SMBs and micro-entrepreneurs run their businesses better allowing their owners to focus on what they do best.

When Satoshi Nakamoto famously wrote the Bitcoin white paper on November 13, 2008 it proposed to solve the Byzantine Generals problem. The Byzantine Generals Problem is solving the puzzle of how multiple, separated generals can achieve consensus on the time to attack a particular city. 13 years later the world of crypto is starting to see wider adoption. In 2021 every major media outlet at one point was talking about the rise of crypto, especially NFTs.

In a way I live in your future. By virtue of receiving 150 startup pitches per week, I have a good sense of what founders are trying to build for the coming decade. At the same time, as a student of history, penetration and cost trends, I can make calculated guesses for when things go from being fringe to mainstream.   In today's episode, I take a stab at which categories investors and entrepreneurs should focus on for the coming 5 years. This time horizon is relevant because for an idea to be investable by a VC today, it means the company needs to hit its stride in 3-5 years, which in turn implies the market must be ready for the idea.

Jeff's newest book, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Wokers and Agile Corporations, provides a look into the future of work by looking into the past. In human history, there have been three monumental technological revolutions: mechanization, electrification, and computerization. These revolutions shaped the future of humanity. Jeff shows the end of work will be a good thing for humanity because it will free up time and allow humans to do creative work.

As most of you know, I want to empower people to work on the things they love. As a result, I am excited that FJ Labs invested early in Clearco (formerly Clearbanc), now valued at $2 billion, which is helping entrepreneurs all around the world to live out their dream. In this episode, I chat with Andrew D'Souza and Michele Romanow, Clearco's founders, to learn about how they started, some of the challenges they faced along the way, and advice they have for founders.

One of our main theses at FJ Labs is to focus on vertical marketplaces. Slice is a great example of a company that has found product-market fit within a vertical. In this episode Ilir Sela gives insights into how Slice empowered 16,000 pizzerias to compete with giants like Dominos and Pizza Hut. Ilir Sela is the founder and CEO of Slice, formerly MyPizza, the all-in-one ordering and marketing tech platform for local pizzerias.

The education system has not evolved since the industrial era. New tools have been introduced over the years, but nothing has dramatically changed. To reinvent education, you don't more tools to add to the arsenal, but first principal thinking. What assumption have we been making about education? And are these assumptions true? Chrisman Frank is the co-founder and CEO of Synthesis, an enrichment club that teaches complex problem-solving and decision-making for kids 7 to 14 through online team games.

9 out of 10 startups fail. This is a gloomy number. However, it has never stopped entrepreneurs from hedging their bets to create successful companies. And I want to help entrepreneurs, whether they're first, second, or third-time founders, increase their odds of success. So this week, I talked to Tom Eisenmann about his new book, Tom is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and holds the Peter O. Crisp Faculty Chair at Harvard Innovation Labs.

This is one of the most requested questions I've received since starting Playing with Unicorn podcast. People want to know "How do I build the perfect pitch deck to raise funds?"   So joining me is Kelly Anne Tully, Head of Platform and Investor at FJ Labs. Kelly has helped many of our portfolio companies raise funds. Today, Kelly and I discuss how to create the perfect a pitch deck.

Today's episode is special because Jeff Weinstein interviews Rahim Lakhani, the CFO of Alpha Capital. Most of you will remember Jeff from Episode 13: What's the deal with SPACs. He is the resident SPAC boy at FJ Labs. Rahim has an illustrious record of leading finance, strategy, and sales from Anheuser-Busch InBev to Offerpad, and now Alpha Capital.

Brian Requarth is the Co-Founder of Latitud and former CEO of Viva Real. Through Latitud, he now dedicates his time to providing mentorship and advice for entrepreneurs in Latin America (LATAM). Brian's new book, Viva the Entrepreneur: Founding, Scaling, and Raising Venture Capital in Latin America shares the hard lessons he learned while building and scaling his company. It covers best practices for communicating with your co-founder, finding great investors, and building a good board.

Tim Jackson is a fellow entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author. He has lived an interesting life from a career in journalism for the Financial Times, to VC seed funding for technology startups. It was no accident that he would eventually find himself in this world - he recalls speaking on the phone and writing a column about some guy called Jeff, who had just started a company called Amazon in 1995. Tim fell in love with VC as a managing director running a $700m fund for The Carlyle Group in Europe:

This week Kerim Baran (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbaran/) shares where we stand in the world of solar. He covers: • The history of solar • The impressive decline of the cost of panel over the last 40 years • The decline in the cost of batteries • Why ultimately batteries plus panels will cost less than maintaining the grid leading most electricity to be made locally in a distributed fashion even if fusion comes to pass and creates energy at 0 marginal cost • And Much More!  

I often pondered the makeup of successful founders and founding teams. At FJ Labs we spend a disproportionate amount of time screening for EIRs. We only build 1 or 2 companies per year, so we cannot afford to get it wrong. I was fascinated to talk Magnus Grimeland and Vegard Medbø of Antler because they filter through 50,000 candidates per year in 30 locations around the world including the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Out of the 50,000 candidates, Antler selects 1,500 and ultimately funds around 250 projects.

It is extremely hard to succeed as an entrepreneur. Even the most successful entrepreneurs have countless ups and downs. I would argue that I failed my way to success. My brother Olivier (https://oliviergrinda.com/), a successful tech entrepreneur and investor in his own right, joins me this week to discuss all the mistakes entrepreneurs make. As we have seemingly made all the mistakes there are to make, we hope you can learn from our mistakes as you go down your entrepreneurial path. I had a few technical snafus during the first 10 minutes so I apologize for the breaks in the conversation then.

Christian is the rare breed of polymath Renaissance Man operating in a world that rewards specialization. We had an extremely broad and far-ranging conversation covering: • Whether you should always pursue your passion • The relative importance of focus • How to make the most of the opportunities presented to you • Spirituality • Happiness • Much More!

SPACs have been one of the hot topics of 2020. Jeff Weinstein, who co-heads investing at FJ Labs, and our resident venture capital nerd, joins to talk about all things SPAC. He covers: • What are SPACs? • How do they operate? • Why are they hot in 2020? • What's in it for sponsors, institutional investors, the companies merging into them and retail investors?

Given the omnipresent doom and gloom of 2020, I took the time to reflect objectively on where things stand and where the world is heading. My deep dive across so many industries and technologies left me inspired and awe struck by the opportunities open to us. We will address the two fundamental issues of our time: climate change and social injustice / inequality of opportunity.

In general, I do not read "business books" as I find them simplistic. Loonshots is the exception to that rule. It blew me away. It mixes compelling personal narratives of entrepreneurs like Edwin Land (Polaroid) and Juan Trippe (Pan Am) with observations from physics and history to weave a very compelling narrative.

Last week we covered how to come up with great startup ideas. This week I present how to evaluate if the idea is worth pursuing. I detail which hypothesis you need to validate and how to go about providing or disproving them. Vivian Graves (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivian-graves/), an entrepreneur in residence (EIR) at FJ Labs, joins to share how she evaluated whether to pursue a temporary veterinarian labor marketplace idea.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs struggle to come with compelling startup ideas. I discuss how to quickly determine whether the idea is worth pursuing further. I also share tips and tricks on ideation and early validation. Arne Halleraker , who co-heads investing at FJ Labs, joins to share the startup ideas he came up with for our most recent FJ Labs ideation session this past August.

Most entrepreneurs merely see venture capitalists as a source of capital without understanding how venture capitalists operate. Jeff Weinstein who co-heads investing at FJ Labs, and our resident venture capital nerd, joins to explain the history of venture capital. He details how VC firms operate, how they are funded, and shares his take on the future of the industry. The episode is a must watch for aspiring venture capitalists, prospective investors in venture funds, and entrepreneurs raising from VCs.

Last week we covered whether first time founders should build a company on their own or join an accelerator or a venture studio. As a follow-up, I wanted to present the specifics of the FJ Labs startup studio model. Anthony Valente, Andrea Xu, and Charles Gorra join to describe their experiences at the various stages of our program.

This week we cover whether first time founders should build a company on their own or join an accelerator or a venture studio. Nancy Dong (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancydong/), our first ever guest on Playing With Unicorns, joins to share the framework she used to decide whether she should join FJ Labs (www.fjlabs.com) as an entrepreneur in residence (EIR) after stints at Uber and Harvard Business School (HBS).

Given that I was in Lake Placid looking at the foliage change without my multi-screen setup, I tried a "Ask Me Anything" session for the week. It was a resounding success with very varied questions. We covered: • The impact of antitrust laws on the venture ecosystem • The differences between being an angel and running an early stage fund • How we acquired the first customers at OLX • Whether marketplaces should start by building supply or demand • How to build your brand in VC • Much more!

In the third episode, I described how VCs evaluate startups by using a combination of the team, business, deal terms and whether the idea fits with their thesis to decide whether to invest or not. In this episode, I present FJ Labs' Investment thesis. I start by covering why we focus on marketplaces, then detail:   Our current marketplace theses: Verticalization of horizontals Transition to supply pick marketplaces B2B marketplaces The Future of Food The Future of Work The Future of Real Estate The Future of Lending