Unicorn Bakery - For the World's Most Ambitious Founders & Teams

Rahul Vohra sold his first company Rapportive to LinkedIn and then founded Superhuman. Superhuman is a premium email provider that is significantly faster to use than Gmail and other alternatives. Today, Superhuman has raised more than 100 million dollars and has tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of users. But how do you develop a premium product in an area where there is a lot of co...

Alex Finkelstein is a general partner at Spark Capital and has names like Twitter (X), Discord, Snap and Slack in his funds portfolio. But how does a fund like Spark Capital, and Alex in particular, invest? ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery What you'll learn: Why is it sometimes useful as a founder:in to not just look at everything rationally? How far does Alex go to win deals...

In the last 4 years Job van der Voort has founded remote.com, raised about $500 million from investors like Sequoia, Accel, Index and General Catalyst, reached a valuation of $3 billion and turned the company profitable last year. Fabian talks to Job about structures that make hyper-growth possible, how remote.com managed to scale without a fixed HQ & what it took to do so, and personal growth as...

Why VCs shouldn't try to tick boxes & focus too much on pattern recognition | How to choose your Fund-Strategy | Importance of the German Market | Seedcamp's Investment Process after receiving a Pitchdeck - Reshma Sohoni & Kate McGinn, Seedcamp Seedcamp has been investing in startups for more than 15 years. A few of the investments include companies like Wise, UiPath, Revolut, Ramp and many more....

Founder Collective is a New York based fund that has invested in Uber, Trade Desk, Stack Overflow and many more top startups. Fabian talks to Managing Partner Micah Rosenbloom about the risk of using money to magnify problems rather than solve them. "Too much capital at early stages quickly leads to bad habits and inefficiencies," says Micah - but why is that? Plus, find out why high valuations of...

In this episode, I talk with Matt Turck General Partner at the New York based Venture firm Firstmark Capital about succeeding as a VC. Firstmark invests in a very focused way, primarily in Series A rounds.  Matt himself has been focused on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Data for more than 10 years. AI Hype: What do companies and founders need to survive  the hype? Growth Fundraising:...

Jonah Goodhart has had two exits with a total volume of more than $1.5 billion. He was a founding investor in Right Media (sold to Yahoo), but according to insiders, he was much more involved. He sold the advertising management platform MOAT to Oracle in 2017 for about $850 million. That's why we're talking about Jonah's company building for B2B SaaS startups. ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez...

HiBob is now doing more than 100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR). They have cracked the threshold from 10m to 100M ARR in 3 years. But how does the organization need to be set up to withstand hyper growth?   What you'll learn: How do I find my culture in early stages? How do I retain culture in hyper growth? What is the path from founder to CEO? Why didn't HiBob raise at a valuation higher than...

Taboula's success story is exciting for you as a founder in many ways: naivety and mistakes can break your neck on the one hand. In this episode, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at a company that has focused on authenticity and the ability to self-correct. Today, Taboola is publicly traded, turns over more than $1.5 billion and employs more than 1,500 people, according to LinkedIn. ALL ABOUT U...

In this episode, Jonathan Rothenberg, Chief Strategy Officer at Cyderes, shares their experiences and tips on M&A. He emphasizes the importance of a solid company foundation and M&A from a buyer's perspective. Why is due diligence critical here? And why should you focus on acquisitions? You'll also learn why and how market changes affect M&A deals. In addition, there's a look at the seller perspec...

In this podcast, Bastian Krautwald talks about the impact of the current market situation on founders and their startups. He explains how he has adapted his internal goals to the new reality. We talk about how Basti has adapted his teams and business models to succeed in the current environment. Bastian Krautwald also talks about how he communicated his decisions with his stakeholders and the impo...

In this podcast episode, Mark Sherman of Telstra Ventures talks about the changes that have taken place in the venture and startup industry over the last 20 years. Telstra Ventures invests in companies with $1 million to $10 million in revenue, with a particular focus on identifying promising companies early and understanding product-market fit. Sherman also discusses the impact of artificial inte...

General Atlantic invests in growth startups that leverage technology and are already successful in the marketplace. Important criteria for investment include business model, management, market and margins. In addition to capital, the firm offers industry knowledge and expertise in human capital and go-to-market strategies. Exit strategy is not the most important factor, but IPOs and sales to strat...

If you're currently looking for capital for your startup, check out re:cap: https://go.re-cap.com/unicorn Chris Barton developed an app before apps even existed - today, over 1 billion people use his invention. Many scientists thought it was impossible to develop an algorithm like Shazam's. But Chris Barton didn't give up. Developed the product, and since the launch of the iPhone, it has been deli...

Especially in today's market, major macro changes can happen quickly. But how do I react to this as a founder? Pascal Finette does just that with be radical: He helps companies arm themselves against disruption and has written his new book "Disrupt Disruption" to do just that. What you learn: How do I recognize impending disruption and what signals do I need to watch out for? How much do I need to...

Formerly an operator at Uber China, now an investor at Stride VC - that's Cleo Sham. In addition to exciting impressions of the Asian market, she also has operational insider knowledge for your success. What you learn: Do you necessarily need people on the ground if you want to operate in a non-European market? What are the differences between the Asian market and Europe and the US? What kind of h...

Blake Hutchison has a different view of the company: His years of sales experience now help him keep an eye on the problem at Flippa, just as they do at other companies: Where is the strategy hiccuping, where are SOPs not quite optimized, and where do you need to tweak things to hit the target? What you'll learn: How does the leadership style differ for a sales-savvy CEO versus a product-savvy CEO...

Ragnar Sass built Pipedrive up to a billion dollar exit - but how does it work? Which KPIs are important for this, how do I manage a clean cap table as a founder and how do I deal with investor feedback on my KPIs? We talk about concrete numbers, mistakes in hiring and cap table management from Ragnar's last years and why he is now rethinking employee ownership with Salto X. What you'll learn: Wha...

Amir Salihefendic completely bootstrapped doist and didn't bring in any investor money even at the market high of 2021 - but why not? In this episode you'll get a deep insight into bootstrapping mindset and the art of keeping a huge market success alive without outside help. Todoist is probably the best known product of the group and has more than 5 million users. Basically, I find it exciting tha...

Dennis Crowley founded Foursquare and is one of the most blatant insiders of the last 20 years. Originally known as a consumer product, the company now does more than $100M in revenue with B2B licensing. Dennis sold his first company to Google and dubbed it a failure. That's why he turned down Mark Zuckerberg's offer to buy the second company. After pivoting the business model to B2B, Dennis knew...

30+ awards für company culture and a lot of learnings in capacity building and leadershipment – that is what Robert Glazer brings into the interview. He wrote three books and shares all of his knowledge, so that you can start your personal development as a leader and elevate your team. What you’ll learn: How to be a good leader for a remote team or a physical one How to hire exactly the people you...

Sanchan Saxena was one of the first employees at Instagram, then led product management at Airbnb, and then was responsible for everything consumer at Coinbase. What you'll learn: How do the product strategies of Kevin Systrom (Instagram), Brian Chesky (Airbnb), and Brian Armstrong (Coinbase) differ? What qualities do I look for in product management? How do I test a senior executive in product ma...

Kison Patel created Dealroom.net, the solution for corporate transactions as a tool, without investors. Over the years, he has additionally launched MA Science, an educational brand for the Mergers & Acquisitions (company acquisitions) space, and has shaken up the scene. What you'll learn: What problems are really worth solving with a product or software Pricing of software solutions (Dealroom som...

Finding Focus, User Engagement at Any Cost & The Social Dilemma - Nir Eyal, bestselling author. Nir Eyal is internationally known for his books "Indistractable" and "Hooked". What is actually the difference between habit-forming and addictive products and what is our responsibility as a founding team here?  Additionally, we talk about how you deal with distractions in your everyday life and develo...

Alexander Langholz is CFO at Cherry Ventures and has previously supported various IPOs for years. He talks to Fabian about the business as CFO of a venture capital fund, IPOs and fundraising strategy. What you learn: What impact does the current market situation have on venture capital firms (using Cherry Ventures as an example)? At what point do I absolutely need a CFO in the company? How have fu...