Libsyn Directory

#48 Ask Me Anything

Release Date: 04/22/2025

Playing With Unicorns

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, fundraising, wealth management, education, island shopping, India, how to lose your accent, adventure travel, climate tech, the state of VC, and much more. Here are the key questions we covered: 00:01:17 How will all the geopolitical changes, tariffs, and Trump policies influence the world? 00:06:14 What are the key tips for finding and persuading investors? 00:08:44 What do you think is the future of fashion marketplaces? How has it been impacted by...

#47 Marketplace Trends

Playing With Unicorns

Episode 47: Marketplace Trends 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 built, but nothing could be further from the truth. In many ways, we are still at the beginning of the marketplace revolution with lots of exciting new trends. In this episode, I cover: Cross border commerce. Live commerce. New goods verticals supported by service layers. High take rate business models based on convenience. Climate tech. AI enabled marketplaces. B2B marketplaces: Marketplace for inputs. SMB...

#46 FJ Labs’ AI Thesis

Playing With Unicorns

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 perspective. In this episode, I cover: The general state of venture. The explosion in AI investing. The varying fortunes of AI startups. FJ Labs’ perspective on AI. FJ Labs’ AI investments. The episode was highly interactive with dozens of audience questions. Here are some of the questions that I answered: How is AI impacting sports, especially tennis from an entertainment and industry standpoint? How are you utilizing AI in your...

#45 Ask Me Anything

Playing With Unicorns

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, macro and much more. Here are the key questions we covered: • 00:01:44 Artificial Intelligence: Where are we now? Where are we heading? What is the timeline? Why is FJ Labs a way contrarian on the AI trend? • 00:09:42 What's your perspective on augmented reality? Is the Apple Vision Pro a revolution? And what is the timing for that to filter into our day-to-day life? • 00:15:28 What was the fundamental inspiration for me to start OLX? •...

#44 Unlocking Productivity: Streamlining Your Days for Passion and Purpose

Playing With Unicorns

People often ask me how I manage to accomplish so much while leading such a rich, passionate life as illustrated by . In this episode I share all my secrets. I will cover everything from general productivity tips to how and what you can outsource in your professional and personal life.

#43 Julio Vasconcellos and the state of Latin American tech

Playing With Unicorns

I had the pleasure of receiving Julio Vasconcellos on the show. Julio is the Founder and Managing Partner of , a leading early-stage venture fund in Latin America. It was Julio's role as the inaugural Facebook employee for Latin America that initiated his path in the startup world in the region after starting his career in Silicon Valley. He later co-founded Peixe Urbano, scaling it to over 1,200 employees and $100M+ in revenue. After a startup rollercoaster ride with multiple near-death experiences, Julio sold the company to Baidu, and went on to join Benchmark Capital as an...

#42 Kevin Ryan, Unicorn Builder

Playing With Unicorns

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 internet entrepreneurs and investors in New York. He is a co-founder of MongoDB, Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola, and Nomad Health, and founds new companies with AlleyCorp every year. Earlier in his career, Kevin helped to grow DoubleClick first as President and then as CEO, leading their growth from a 20-person startup to a publicly traded global leader with over 1,500 employees, through IPO in 1998 and acquisition by Google in 2007. Kevin...

Episode 41: Ask Me Anything

Playing With Unicorns

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 the first part of the show. He was his usual epic self: calm, poised, and playing along cutely. His presence clearly played a part in the success of the episode which was one of the most watched ever across all the platforms and was by far the most interactive episode ever with 137 live comments in addition to dozens of questions submitted ahead of time! The audience’s questions fell into 5 categories: Antarctica, Marketplaces, Startups,...

#40 Oskar Hartmann: Unicorn Accumulator

Playing With Unicorns

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 all German unicorns Made a $300M mistake on Ozon Managed to make money on Fab.com despite it going from $1.5B in value to $0 in 6 months Why selling at the point of maximum secondary liquidity is probably a bad time to sell Much more!

#39: Simpl and the Indian Fintech Ecosystem

Playing With Unicorns

On this week’s episode I had the pleasure of welcoming Nitya Sharma, co-founder and CEO of , to conclude our mini-series on the Indian tech scene. We had a fascinating conversation on the state of Indian Fintech, which in many ways is more advanced than the US. I am beyond impressed by the free C2C / B2B / B2C instantaneous real time payments allowed by UPI and the business models that emerge when you can do free microtransactions. I wish the West had the equivalent of India’s UPI (or Brazil’s Pix). I am also beyond impressed by what Nitya has built with Simpl, which I hope will be a...

More Episodes

Here are the key questions we covered:

00:01:17 How will all the geopolitical changes, tariffs, and Trump policies influence the world?

00:06:14 What are the key tips for finding and persuading investors?

00:08:44 What do you think is the future of fashion marketplaces? How has it been impacted by downfalls of marketplaces such as Farfetch? What is the role of AI in these?

00:13:19 What's your view on the best investment opportunities currently? Is the stock market, given the current drop off, attractive or still overvalued? I read a while ago your non-traditional approach to wealth management. How would you allocate $10 million now?

00:19:21 We have around 15K revenues per month, are we okay to raise a pre-seed?

00:21:14 What kind of education, school, university degrees do you recommend for kids to best prepare for them for the jobs market in 10 years considering the impact of AI? What skills should they start developing?

00:26:46 What is the best cold inbound email you ever received?

00:29:39 If you're finishing your studies today, what kind of job or company would you join to best train yourself to launch a tech startup later? Is a place like McKinsey or investment banking still relevant if the goal is to learn to work with intensity and structure?

00:32:40 As a recent French graduate with a background in BA in finance, which countries do you think offer the most learning opportunities today in terms of ease of doing business, networking, potential, etc.?

00:33:34 When will you launch the updated and new version of Fabrice AI? How can I build a network in the tech community in France?

00:38:30 Fabrice, any exciting travel coming up? What's your favorite personal use of AI?

00:42:39 If an incumbent exists in my category, are there still opportunities to enter the market?

00:45:51 What made you decide for Turks & Caicos and not another island

00:52:57 What is your favorite place in India?

00:55:48 How did you lose your French accent? What is your secret?

01:00:52 What is on your target list for climate related investment opportunities?

01:02:55 Did you do your long hike through Greenland that you wanted to do?

01:06:03 If you were building a tech company like Zingy today, would you still raise VC money or bootstrap it considering there are many examples of founders barely making any money in $500M exits?

01:08:39 What advice do you have for a home care marketplace founder who has found product market fit but ran out of money in 2023 but has "survived"?

01:10:55 What are the future big trends in AI and especially with consumer usage?

01:13:12 For personal or small retail, which AI tools do you believe are worth paying a subscription for today?

01:13:49 What do you seek in founders for pre-revenue Startups?

01:14:34 What is the biggest turn down for the VC while seeing the pitch deck? What is the biggest green flag as well? What is the red flag when cold connecting with VC people?

01:16:17 Can you address the opportunities for crossover funds?

01:18:43 Any view on Indian VC opportunities?

01:19:29 Should I hire a CTO or CFO?

01:20:23 What do you see as the future for companies like Alan (French Unicorn) nearly 10 years in €500 million raised, still unprofitable, operating on tight margins, valued at €4.5B?

01:21:15 From your perspective, what skill or type of service is the easiest to sell today is a freelance consultant?

01:22:20 How much will Bitcoin be worth in 2030?

01:26:35 What do you think of initiatives such as WorldCoin?

01:26:43 Loved the shoot-out story in the Dominican Republic. Do you have any other crazy adrenaline pumping stories from your adventures?

01:30:27 Do you prefer repeat founders or first-time founders?

01:32:22 Why is it so hard to raise capital for fashion marketplaces?

01:33:28 In your view, what is the most important trait or skill for a founder - being emotionally stable, able to handle the extreme stress, something else entirely?

01:36:11 Would you be open for a lunch in New York so I can bring all the questions I have for 45 minutes?

01:37:13 What makes niche marketplaces breakout and go big globally?

01:39:44 Is artificial intelligence dangerous for humanity? Will it increase unemployment? Should countries create rules to prevent that? Can we master something that might be beyond us?

01:46:46 What's your take on vibe coding trend or real shift?

TOPICS