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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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: What's the deal with SPACs. He is the resident SPAC boy at FJ Labs. Rahim has an illustrious record of leading finance, strategy, and sales from Anheuser-Busch InBev to Offerpad, and now Alpha Capital.

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 for entrepreneurs in Latin America (LATAM). Brian’s new book, Viva the Entrepreneur: Founding, Scaling, and Raising Venture Capital in Latin America shares the hard lessons he learned while building and scaling his company. It covers best practices for communicating with your co-founder, finding great investors, and building a good board.

Tim Jackson is a fellow entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author. He has lived an interesting life from a career in journalism for the Financial Times, to VC seed funding for technology startups. It was no accident that he would eventually find himself in this world - he recalls speaking on the phone and writing a column about some guy called Jeff, who had just started a company called Amazon in 1995. Tim fell in love with VC as a managing director running a $700m fund for The Carlyle Group in Europe: