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

David Heinemeier Hansson is the inventor of Ruby on Rails and founder of 37signals, a company that has developed products such as Basecamp, Hey.com and more over the last 20 years. However, apart from Jeff Bezos, David and his co-founder Jason Friedman didn't take any money and bootstrapped the company. We talk about the biggest cost drivers for companies, how 37signals managed to develop multiple products in parallel and how David thinks about the differences between Europe and the US when it comes to starting a company. What you learn: When might it make sense to move away from the usual cloud services and choose your own hardware resources instead? What advantages does the USA offer compared to Europe if you want to set up a start-up? Who should raise money from venture capital investors and who shouldn't? How do you learn to correctly assess which topics (e.g. marketing or hiring) it makes sense to spend money on? Here you can find tickets for MERGE: Https://merge.berlin Don’t forget to use the code UNICORN for 30% off. Here you can setup your tech with Codesphere: https://codesphere.com  EVERYTHING ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery     David Heinemeier Hansson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-heinemeier-hansson-374b18221/  37signals: https://37signals.com/    Unicorn Bakery Whatsapp Broadcast: Find out everything you need to know as a founder: https://drp.li/jrq5S        Our WhatsApp Broadcast keeps you up to date with insights into the scene, news and top content. Marker: (00:00:00) How do you resist raising venture capital? Why was it not relevant to you? To whom would you recommend raising venture capital? (00:10:51) Would AI make it possible for me, as a non-technical founder, to build a technical company these days? (00:16:22) What are the biggest cost traps that founders run into? (00:23:16) How do you assess new costs like hiring or marketing? (00:29:08) The 37signals setup: team size and product variety (00:33:31) How did you and Jason find out what company you want to build? (00:43:23) How much money did you save by leaving the cloud? (00:51:41) US vs. Europe - what are the differences in living and working? (00:57:54) What would be the reasons to build out of Europe?

What role does creativity play for entrepreneurs? And how is the understanding of creativity changing as a result of artificial intelligence? Scott Belsky founded Behance, sold the start-up to Adobe and is now Chief Product and Chief Strategy Officer there. Adobe is one of the 50 most valuable companies in the world. At Adobe, Scott oversees all new products and is deeply involved in what the future looks like for creatives. In this podcast episode of Unicorn Bakery, Scott Belsky and Fabian Tausch talk about the impact of artificial intelligence on entrepreneurship, creativity and product development in companies. What you'll learn: -What impact is AI having on work at large corporations like Adobe? -How are product teams changing due to AI? -How did Scott feel as a founder after selling his company to Adobe? -What do investors like Scott want when looking for new talent? -When is it worth launching a new product and when is it worth developing the existing one? ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery Scott Belsky LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottbelsky/ Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/ Unicorn Bakery Whatsapp Broadcast: Find out everything you need to know as a founder: https://drp.li/jrq5S Our WhatsApp Broadcast keeps you up to date with insights into the scene, news and top content. Marker: (00:00:00) How does creativity influence entrepreneurship? (00:06:28) How does AI impact such large organizations like Adobe? (00:10:21) How do you decide if you want to launch a new product vs. improve a "good old" one and what are your thoughts on a good launch? (00:18:37) How did you feel after selling to Adobe? (00:23:33) What are you looking for when you want to invest in a business?

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 competition and, above all, free alternatives? In addition to Superhuman, Rahul has co-invested with Todd Goldberg in more than 100 startups and we talk about Rahul's framework for investing and building an angel fund. In addition to background info on Superhuman, in this episode you'll also get helpful tips on the most common pitfalls in product launches, a look at the pros and cons of a personal brand as a founder, and the impact of AI in product building. What you will learn: What are the pros and cons of personal branding as a founder? How does Superhuman use AI in product development? Why are product launches overrated? When should founders use feedback in product development and when should they trust their gut feeling? Rahul's Angel Fund: https://www.toddandrahulangelfund.com/ ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery Rahul Vohra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulvohra/ Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/ Unicorn Bakery Whatsapp Broadcast: Find out everything you need to know as a founder: https://drp.li/jrq5S Our WhatsApp Broadcast keeps you up to date with insights into the scene, news and top content. Marker: (00:00:00) How did you test the market for a premium email service? (00:07:34) Minimum Viable Product vs. Minimum Lovable Product: How long did the first version of Superhuman take? ? (00:12:25) How does the product market fit the engine of the growing company? (00:18:28) Why Superhuman has maintained a 1:1 onboarding process over the years (00:21:48) What are the most common misconceptions about THE product launch? (00:23:53) What is the difference between game design and gamification in product development? (00:31:08) When to focus on improving the product and when to focus on increasing sales in product development? (00:35:46) Superhuman's AI strategy (00:38:37) Rahul's favorite AI use cases and tools? (00:44:12) What are the positives/negatives of becoming a personal brand as a founder? (00:49:28) What are your favorite questions to find out the characteristics of a potential employee? (00:53:47) What is your framework for investing in startups?

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 and invest with founders? How does Alex shape his way of working and living to achieve as much success as possible in all areas? How do you build a successful venture company when all the world is focused on brand and reach? Alex Finkelstein, Spark Capital LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkelsteinalex/ Spark Capital: https://www.sparkcapital.com/ WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 1-2x a week get a personalized voice note or content from me that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter (00:00:00) What should newbies who just joined in the heyday of startups know about building companies? (00:04:54) What do you guys look for in good investments? (00:09:59) How do you convince companies (like Get Your Guide, for example) that you really want to work with you? (00:15:21) What's it like behind the scenes - how do you structure your work/life time? (00:18:32) How do you go about convincing executives to join the founders you think are a good fit for the company? (00:20:27) How senior/junior should you hire in the seed stage? (00:25:35) Building a successful venture capital firm: what does it really take?

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 a founder. ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery What you'll learn: What frameworks are needed to enable hyper growth? What characteristics do employees need to enable rapid growth? How does remote.com ensure new employees integrate quickly and are productive? Office culture, remote or hybrid - what is the best culture? Job van der Voort LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobvo/ Remote.com: https://remote.com/ WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 1-2x weekly get a personalized voice note or content from me that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter (00:00:00) Hyper-growth of remote.com & efficient onboarding of new employees. (00:24:46) What went wrong in the hyper-growth year? (00:28:56) How do you delegate so employees can make quick decisions and take responsibility? (00:31:39) What has changed at remote.com compared to the Pandemic & the Hype Cycle? (00:35:01) Growth at any cost vs. efficient growth - what did you have to decide and plan differently as a founder? (00:42:39) What structures help fully remote companies scale? (00:48:41) Hiring other people if you want to make them exclusively remote? (00:58:10) Hybrid vs. remote vs. office culture. (01:02:14) What are currently your biggest challenges at remote.com?

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. Recently, Seedcamp announced their 6th fund and will increase their presence in Germany with this fund. Together with Founding Partner Reshma Sohoni and Associate Kate McGinn, Fabian talks about Seedcamp’s Investment strategy, opening a new market and their investment process from a founder perspective. ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery  What you'll learn: How did Seedcamp become one of the most renowned European (Pre-)Seed Funds? Why did Seedcamp never change strategy and raise significantly larger funds? Why shouldn't VCs rely too much on pattern recognition? Reshma Sohoni LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshmasohoni/  Seedcamp: https://seedcamp.com/  Kate McGinn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katemcginn/  Seedcamp: https://seedcamp.com/  WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 1-2x a week get a personal voice note or content from me that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter   (00:00:00) Why did Seedcamp switch their fund vehicle from accelerator to solely venture capital? (00:07:53) Seedcamp's new 160 million fund. (00:12:14) What does the collaboration between Seedcamp and Angel investors look like? (00:17:43) How do you think about fund strategy and why did you choose your strategy? (00:24:50) What dynamics does it take for the fund to perform well despite the many small tickets? (00:28:54) Who is Seedcamp talking to in order to arrive and establish itself in the German market? (00:31:17 As an investor, is it dangerous to only look at pattern recognition? (00:42:32) What is your typical process after getting a deck?

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 often hurt rather than help founders:in and what the thesis is all about. ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery What you'll learn: Why is a lot of capital sometimes just the wrong approach for founders? Why does fixating on high valuations hurt me as a founder:in? Why are big VC funds part of the problem? What happens when my company doesn't become the perfect VC case - how do I deal with it? Micah Rosenbloom LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-rosenbloom-a0350 FirstMark: https://www.foundercollective.com/ WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 1-2x a week you'll get a personalized voice note or content from me that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter (00:00:00) How do VCs in early stages pick their founders and startups? (00:04:54) Why not focus too much on high valuations? (00:20:32) What happens if the dream I sold to everyone, (including myself), bursts and it doesn't become a billion dollar company? (00:26:24) How would you go about restructuring a startup if the original plan is not achievable? (00:38:35) What is the risk of VC funds that are too big? (00:46:15) What is the risk of developments (VC funds that are too big, expectations that cannot be realized) to the startup ecosystem?

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: Matt's portfolio companies Pigment and Synthesia just raised large growth roungs. Are growth financing rounds back? European Startup Ecosystem: As a French living in New York for 20 years, how does Matt perceive the European ecosystem? ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery  What you learn: What makes a good VC? How should startups choose their investors? What founder qualities are most important to Matt? Matt's take on the European ecosystem comapred to the US Matt Turck LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/   FirstMark: https://firstmark.com WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 1-2x weekly get a personalized voice note or content from me that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter  (00:00:00) What makes a successful venture investor? (00:06:36) How do you personally manage FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)? (00:12:58) What should founders look for when fundraising and choosing investors? (00:20:51) Why did your opinion change from looking for technical founder to accepting business founders, too? (00:24:52) What are your thoughts on the AI hype? (00:30:24) How do I survive the hype cycle as an AI startup? (00:38:07) How important is defensibility for startups in the (pre-)seed phase? (00:42:39) How is the growth financing dynamic changing at the moment? (00:46:14) How would you compare the European startup ecosystem to the U.S. ecosystem?

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.am/unicornbakery What you'll learn: -Validating ideas: What makes a really good SaaS idea? -How do you develop a B2B logo engine that keeps growing? -How do you find product-market fit as reliably as possible? Jonah Goodhart LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahgoodhart/ Montauk Labs: https://www.mtklabs.com/ WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: Receive a personalized voice message or content from me 1-2x a week that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter (00:00:00) How did you validate and select ideas at the beginning of your career vs. how has that changed over the years? (00:09:01) How much does your prominence in the scene and your environment influence you in idea implementation? (00:12:58) How would you go about being a First Time Founder when supposedly all the other founders around you have more experience and know what they are doing? (00:16:12) What things are really important when starting my business and what is more "go with the flow"? (00:19:33) As a serial founder, how do you define a good team? (00:23:02) As a founder, how do you decide what type of funding to choose? When do I bootstrap, when do I seek an angel investor, when do I seek a VC? (00:29:08) How much is it underestimated what damage debt financing can do if the founder doesn't know exactly what they're doing? (00:40:30) What does Product Market Fit mean to you and when did you know with your company that you were achieving it/on your way to it? (00:43:37) What does it take to build a Logo Machine in sales? (00:50:58) When can I best tailor products to my customers and when should I focus on scalability? (00:54:19) Have you ever had to turn down a customer because they wanted too much customization and what do VCs prefer - scalable products or customized? (01:04:10) How do you personally cope with the mental and stressful challenges that startups bring?

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 $2.5 billion? ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery (00:00:00) Hibob intro & shortcomings of current leadership levels. (00:06:13) How has your role as CEO changed over the years? (00:10:46) How do you take the whole company with you to achieve goals? (00:18:42) How did you find your company culture at HiBob and how did you know which one was right? (00:27:11) When did you feel with HiBob that you had achieved Product Market Fit? (00:36:56) Do you have imposter syndrome? (00:41:35) How do you build a company that is flexible to change? (00:45:25) What do you think is important about the topic of valuations and investors? Ronni Zehavi  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronnizehavi/ HiBob: https://www.hibob.com/  This episode is produced in collaboration and paid cooperation with HiBob. Fast-growing companies around the world such as Taxfix, JIMDO and Happy Socks, among others, rely on bob, an innovative, intuitive and agile HR platform, to help recruiters and managers engage, develop and retain top talent for the long term. Bob's diverse features pay dividends for HR and business development, as well as company culture and employee retention. You can find all information about HiBob here: https://www.hibob.com/de/