Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology

Paul Anthony is the co-founder of Primer, a rapidly growing payment orchestration platform with over 200 employees and more than £70 million in funding from top-tier investors including Seed Camp, Balderton, Accel, and Iconic. His journey began as the first employee at a FinTech startup (now called Depay), followed by a stint at PayPal's Braintree division, before founding Primer to solve the complex payment infrastructure challenges he witnessed amongst enterprise merchants. Paul is now also a co-founder of Colossal, an innovative new venture that leverages AI and LLMs to help digital goods creators build customised commerce experiences through a prompt-based interface.Key Topics Discussed:The Payment Orchestration Insight - How Paul's experience at Braintree meeting enterprise merchants face-to-face revealed the need for a unified payment infrastructure layer that didn't exist in the marketHypergrowth Challenges - Scaling Primer from a three-person team to Series B funding (nearly half-billion valuation) within just 16 months, whilst building a robust enterprise product during COVIDHiring Philosophy and Culture - Paul's approach of interviewing 20-30 people for every hire, treating "autonomy as a requirement not a benefit," and maintaining a "we're not a real business yet" mentality to drive innovationProduct Development Approach - The importance of building POCs and technical spikes to understand how products "feel" rather than just look good on paper, especially when serving enterprise customersThe Colossal Vision - Paul's new venture described as "Lovable for commerce," using AI to help creators build sophisticated customer journeys without technical knowledge, targeting the £400 billion digital goods marketTune in to hear Paul's fascinating insights on building payment infrastructure for enterprise clients, navigating hypergrowth whilst maintaining product focus, and his bold new vision for democratising commerce through AI. This episode offers invaluable lessons for founders tackling complex technical problems and scaling rapidly in competitive markets.

In this episode of Riding Unicorns, James and Hector sit down with Simone Maini, CEO of Elliptic, the world’s leading blockchain analytics company. Simone’s career path is anything but conventional — from a history degree and Deutsche Bank to leading a $100M+ funded crypto intelligence powerhouse.🧠 After 8 years in banking and a stint in anti-money laundering consulting, Simone joined Elliptic as Head of Product. What began as a pivot turned into a mission: tackling financial crime in the digital asset space. When Elliptic hit an inflection point, Simone stepped into the CEO role — enabling the founder to focus on product while she scaled operations and managed the board.👥 One of Simone’s most powerful lessons? Hiring an experienced Chair who had been a CEO — a move that transformed how Elliptic operated at board level and beyond. From transparency to over-communication, Simone shares a refreshing and tactical take on what it really takes to lead through complexity.We dive into:🚀 Founder to CEO transition — The playbook for scaling when roles are clearly defined 📊 Mastering board management — Running better meetings, communicating through chaos 💾 Business model evolution — Moving from SaaS to data-as-a-service for enterprise clients 📉 Crypto market cycles — Leading through volatility without losing focus 💪 Building resilience — Fostering curiosity and discipline in fast-moving markets 🏢 Enterprise adoption — Why crypto infrastructure is still early — and full of potential This is a must-listen for founders, operators, and anyone navigating leadership, growth, and the wild world of crypto. Simone’s thoughtful, candid approach is packed with wisdom on how to scale with integrity.🎧 Listen now on your favourite platform and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow Riding Unicorns for more inspiring episodes. 🦄

From international math olympiads to high-frequency trading to leading deals at Accel, Andrei Brasoveanu has carved one of the most impressive careers in European tech. After a decade on Wall Street as a quant, he joined Accel’s London office and quickly became one of their top investors—backing breakout companies like Celonis and, more recently, Polar.In this episode, we explore the mindset, methods, and milestones behind his success.What You’ll Learn:🧠 “Founders are the constant” — Why Andrei trusts people over metrics when chasing outliers💶 The Celonis origin story — How a €100k pricing bet helped three inexperienced founders build a global leader🌍 Accel’s European edge — Why they focus on non-obvious founders across Europe and Israel🔁 The art of pattern recognition — Tactical advice for young VCs on fast-tracking their investment instincts⚙️ No-code and AI — Why technical founders may have more of an edge than ever🧊 Inside the Polar deal — How Andrei convinced a former Shopify exec to raise a round he didn’t plan to🧩 Strategic angel orchestration — Why top VCs pull unicorn operators into early rounds (hint: it's not just for PR)🔐 His future unicorn pick — A cybersecurity company from an unexpected European hub building with open-source DNAThis episode is a masterclass in European venture strategy. Whether you’re an investor, a founder, or just obsessed with how unicorns get made, this one will shift your perspective.

This week on Riding Unicorns, we're joined by Martin Kassing, founder and CEO of Upvest, one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintech infrastructure companies.Martin’s journey spans private equity, Rocket Internet, multiple startups, and now leading a company that powers investment products for the likes of Revolut and N26. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore what it really takes to build an enduring infrastructure company in Europe.🎧 Topics covered include:The founding journey of Upvest and its pivot from blockchain to API investment infrastructureLessons from being a repeat founder (including early failures and a Klarna acquisition)Building a high-performance team and the hiring strategies that workThe challenges of finding product-market fit in fintechFundraising insights: raising from Bessemer, lessons from Series A and BHow Martin keeps himself motivated and structured as a high-pressure founderWhy he still does outbound hiring personally on LinkedInHis view on IPOs, partnerships, and what comes next for UpvestMartin shares candid reflections, hard-earned wisdom, and a rare glimpse into the emotional rollercoaster of building something meaningful. A must-listen for fintech founders, investors, and operators.

In this special Riding Unicorns episode, recorded live during London Tech Week and hosted at Cooley’s London HQ, we bring you two candid conversations from the frontline of startup building.🚀 First up: Yoann Pavy, a growth marketing veteran (ex-Deliveroo, Depop, Perkbox), shares why distribution-first thinking is flipping product development on its head. From testing product ideas with viral TikTok mockups to building multi-million ARR with a 3-person team, Yoann reveals:The real metrics that matter in growth todayWhy “building an audience” is deadHow vibe marketing and AI tooling are reshaping GTM🤖 Then: Oana Jinga, Co-Founder of Dexory, shares the raw truth behind building a robotics company in Europe. From early rejections to raising a Series B, she opens up on:Pivoting from home robots to warehouse intelligenceWhy VCs are finally backing robotics and hardwareThe unexpected edge UK robotics startups have over US peers💡 This is one for operators, investors, and anyone building at the edge of tech.

In this episode, we’re joined by Apostolos Apostolakis, the founder-turned-VC behind VentureFriends, a pan-European pre-seed and seed fund known for backing consumer and fintech breakouts like Plum, Blueground, Huspy, Carmoola and Instashop.Apostolos shares a remarkable story of resilience — from scaling a startup to €100M+ in revenue and 500 employees, to facing bankruptcy and rebuilding his career with a major exit, prolific angel track record, and eventually launching one of Greece’s most successful VC funds.We dive into:💥 Lessons from scaling fast… and failing hard 🏗️ Rebuilding after burnout and public failure 💡 Founding VentureFriends and filling Europe’s early-stage funding gaps 🌍 What it’s like running a distributed VC firm from Athens 🤝 How to support founders without overreaching 🎯 The evolution of his founder selection playbook 🔎 Why grit, clarity of thinking, and mission-driven ambition now matter most 🦄 His unicorn pick? Carmoola — and the story behind QED’s entryThis is a raw, thoughtful, and inspiring episode for anyone navigating the highs and lows of the startup world — whether you’re a founder, investor, or just deeply curious about the human side of VC.

In this episode, we’re joined by Deepka Rana, Principal at leading venture fund Northzone, early backers of Klarna, Truelayer, Spotify, iZettle, Kahoot, and Personio. Deepka shares her journey from physics at Imperial and investment banking to investing in some of Europe’s most exciting startups.We unpack:💸 What it’s like to operate a billion-dollar multi-stage VC fund🧠 How founders should assess the right type of capital for their journey🤖 Why AI is fundamentally changing the way software, search, and commerce work💡 The rise of agent commerce and tooling for AI-native discovery and transactions📈 Why resilience and adaptability are now non-negotiable founder traits🎯 What great board members actually do (and why most don’t measure up)🌍 The UK’s deep technical talent and what’s needed to unlock more entrepreneurshipThis episode is packed with hard-won wisdom for founders navigating today’s funding landscape, plus a fascinating look at what’s next in tech.

In this episode of Riding Unicorns, we’re joined by Carles Reina, Go-to-Market Lead at ElevenLabs, an AI Audio research and deployment company that tripled it's valuation to $3.3BN in January, after confirming a new $180M funding round. From starting out as a banker in Barcelona to scaling Uber’s first European team, and now investing in over 70 startups, Carles shares the hard-won lessons that drive startup success.We dive into:🔄 Career pivot: Leaving banking for Uber at 20 people and discovering the thrill of early-stage impact📈 Building GTM from scratch: Lessons from Tractable & ElevenLabs—experimenting on ICPs, pricing, and pitches 💼 Angel investing playbook: How to break in as an operator-investor, source top deals, and add value beyond capital🗣 Voice AI’s inflection point: Why high-quality speech models are the next frontier, and how ElevenLabs powers voice notes for surgery prep and on-demand customer support🤖 Robotics meets LLMs: The “GPT moment” in hardware, investing in companies merging industrial robotics with large language models✂️ Trimming strategies: Locking in gains (10–20%) at Series B/C while staying exposed to upside🌐 Scaling globally: Personalizing GTM across the US, Europe, Asia, and beyondThis is a must-listen for GTM leaders, startup builders, and aspiring angels looking to roll up their sleeves, experiment at speed, and back the next wave of unicorns.

In this episode of Riding Unicorns, we're joined by Romain Sestier and Guillaume Lebedel, the co-founders of StackOne, a rapidly growing startup that’s building the universal integration layer for modern SaaS and AI products. Hot off the back of their $20M Series A led by GV, the duo joins us to share their journey, insights, and lessons from the trenches.Romain and Guillaume have known each other for over a decade, having worked together across multiple companies before launching StackOne. Their deep co-founder chemistry and clarity of vision have helped them move fast and build credibility with customers and investors alike.We dive into:🔧 What StackOne does and why integrations are mission-critical infrastructure 🧠 How they approached finding a co-founder (and why that came before the idea) 🚀 Their path from idea to Series A, including early customer acquisition and GTM learnings 💼 Building a high-talent, low-ego team and making tough hiring decisions 💡 How to scale enterprise sales as a founder 🔥 The mindset shift required to build a venture-scale company 🧪 How they stay nimble while evolving the product and org structure 📣 Tips on empowering internal champions and structuring a sales process that scalesThis is a must-listen for any B2B SaaS or infrastructure founder looking to build something big, fast, and globally relevant.

Recorded live at the Capsule Scale-Up 50 event in London on 30th April 2025, this episode features a standout panel discussion moderated by our co-host James Pringle.The Scale-Up 50 is Capsule’s flagship celebration of the UK’s fastest-growing, most exciting scale-ups, recognising the founders, leaders, and investors driving the next generation of breakout success stories. Supported by Cooper Parry and HSBC Innovation Banking, the event brings together top-tier talent from across the startup ecosystem for a day of insight, inspiration, and connection.The panels features leaders from category-defining startups. Aidan Rushby (CEO, Carmoola), Tamara Orlova (CFO, Flo Health Inc.), Alexandra French (CEO, Xampla), Nikola Mrkšić (CEO, PolyAI) - these founders share their journeys in achieving product-market fit and building strong team cultures. In this episode, you will:🛒 Learn how PolyAI found product-market fit amidst the AI revolution. ♟️ Discover the unique strategies Carmoola used to disrupt the car finance industry. 🏆 Understand the significance of team culture and feedback at Xampla in maintaining growth. 🤝 Explore the dynamics of investor relations and the importance of board composition. 🤖 Hear insights on the role AI tools play in different operational areas within a business.Tune in for a discussion featuring leading entrepreneurs as they share practical wisdom, strategic lessons, and real-world experiences you can apply directly to your own business journey.