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Playing With Unicorns

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Nov 10, 2021 • 45min

#30 A Conversation with Thomas Plantenga

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.  
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Sep 22, 2021 • 26min

#29 The Latest Marketplace Trends

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.
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Aug 5, 2021 • 50min

#28 What's the deal with crypto

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.
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Jul 30, 2021 • 34min

#27 The Tech Of Tomorrow

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.
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Jun 25, 2021 • 48min

#26 Jeff Wald & The End of Jobs

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.
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Jun 16, 2021 • 57min

#25 Clearco & the future of SMB lending

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.
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May 21, 2021 • 1h 5min

#24 How Slice is helping mom-and-pop pizzerias compete with Dominos

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.
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6 snips
May 15, 2021 • 44min

#23 Synthesis: The startup scaling up the most innovative ideas from Elon Musk's school

Chrisman Frank, Co-founder and CEO of Synthesis, discusses the lack of innovation in education and the need for first principle thinking. They explore the benefits of mixing age and ability levels in education. The importance of teamwork and division of tasks is emphasized through a simulation game called 'Art for All'. Creating complex tasks for highly intelligent students and the development of practical problem-solving skills are discussed. The concept of infinite games and the mission to accelerate human progress through education is explored. The fundraising journey and the power of purpose and community in changing education are also discussed.
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Apr 26, 2021 • 1h 20min

#22 Why Startups Fail with Tom Eisenmann

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.
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16 snips
Mar 29, 2021 • 1h 5min

#21 How to build the perfect pitch deck

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.

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