Playing With Unicorns
Episodes
#53 Ask Me Anything
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
#52 Marketplaces in the Age of AI
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past few weeks, a growing narrative has emerged arguing that AI could destabilize the economy and disrupt entire business models. Last week, ...
#51 Zach Resnick, Founder & CEO of Ascend
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
I had the pleasure of chatting with Zach Resnick, the founder and CEO of Ascend (formerly FlyFlat), a membership program for frequent travelers that e...
#50 Venture Market Trends
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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....
#49 Dan Park and the Incredible Comeback Story of Clutch
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 incredibl...
#48 Ask Me Anything
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, fundraisin...
#47 Marketplace Trends
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 bu...
#46 FJ Labs' AI Thesis
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 perspecti...
#45 Ask Me Anything
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
#44 Unlocking Productivity: Streamlining Your Days for Passion and Purpose
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ep...
#43 Julio Vasconcellos and the state of Latin American tech
10 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#42 Kevin Ryan, Unicorn Builder
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 inter...
Episode 41: Ask Me Anything
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#40 Oskar Hartmann: Unicorn Accumulator
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#39: Simpl and the Indian Fintech Ecosystem
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#38 The Indian Tech Ecosystem & FJ Labs' Thesis in the region
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 char...
#37 Building India's 76th Unicorn & the Indian car market at large
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we cover: Niraj's path to creating Spinny, including creating two much less successful startups right out of college The differences...
#36 Building a Web3 Unicorn with Lorien Gabel (Figment)
20 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 On...
#35 Thoughts on the market
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ha...
#34 Ask Me Anything
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
#33 From VC to Web2 to Crypto with Mark Lurie
13 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Lurie is the CEO and co-founder of Shipyard Software. Shipyard Software builds decentralized exchanges (DEX) for specific types of trades, trader...
#32 Building a shipping unicorn with Laura Behrens Wu, Co-Founder & CEO of Shippo
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 tak...
#31 From Start-up to Grown-up with Alisa Cohn
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alisa Cohn (@AlisaCohn) is a prominent startup coach who has advised founders and executives at Venmo, Etsy, DraftKings, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, ...
#30 A Conversation with Thomas Plantenga
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 me...
#29 The Latest Marketplace Trends
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#28 What's the deal with crypto
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Satoshi Nakamoto famously wrote the Bitcoin white paper on November 13, 2008 it proposed to solve the Byzantine Generals problem. The Byzantine G...
#27 The Tech Of Tomorrow
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#26 Jeff Wald & The End of Jobs
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#25 Clearco & the future of SMB lending
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 (forme...
#24 How Slice is helping mom-and-pop pizzerias compete with Dominos
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#23 Synthesis: The startup scaling up the most innovative ideas from Elon Musk's school
15 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The education system has not evolved since the industrial era. New tools have been introduced over the years, but nothing has dramatically changed. To...
#22 Why Startups Fail with Tom Eisenmann
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#21 How to build the perfect pitch deck
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#20 So you want to launch a SPAC ?
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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: ...
#19 Reinvesting in the Latam Tech Ecosystem with Brian Requarth
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#18 Thirty-Six Lessons from Company Founders & CEOs with Tim Jackson
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Jackson is a fellow entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author. He has lived an interesting life from a career in journalism for the Financial Ti...
#17 The State Of Solar
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
#16 Startup Talent & Startup Trends
23 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 on...
#15 Mistakes to avoid as an Entrepreneur
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
#14 A Conversation with Christian Angermayer
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Christian is the rare breed of polymath Renaissance Man operating in a world that rewards specialization. We had an extremely broad and far-ranging co...
#13 What's the deal with SPACs?
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#12 The Surprising Case for Optimism in 2020
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 div...
#11 Loonshots with Safi Bahcall
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 pe...
#10 Validating Your Startup Idea
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 hypoth...
#9 Coming Up with a Startup Idea
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many aspiring entrepreneurs struggle to come with compelling startup ideas. I discuss how to quickly determine whether the idea is worth pursuing furt...
#8 The Business Of Venture Capital
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most entrepreneurs merely see venture capitalists as a source of capital without understanding how venture capitalists operate. Jeff Weinstein who co-...
#7 FJ Labs' Startup Studio Model
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 wan...
#6 DIY vs Accelerator vs Studio
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#5 Ask Me Anything
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#4 FJ Labs' Investment Thesis
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
#3 How VCs Evaluate Startups
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode I covered how and when to fundraise. In this episode, I cover how venture capitalists (VCs) evaluate you once you are in front of...
#2 Build a MVP for less than $20k
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I start by covering the theoretical do's and don'ts of building a minimum viable product (MVP) before giving an in depth and specific example of how I...
#1 Fundraising: Everything there is to know in terms of fundraising for venture backed startups
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Given that it's episode 1, I start by explaining why I am creating this podcast before covering everything there is to know in terms of fundraising fo...