Licensing beats equity 10x. Fabio Lettieri (Founder, Artivium | Partner, TLN) reveals how €2M turns into €100M in 24 months through royalty-based partnerships instead of ownership dilution, why Europe's 10x better engineers stay underfunded, and the $34B empire that makes nothing.

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🎙️ Episode Highlights:

After 27 episodes with 130+ guests who backed 52 unicorns, one pattern emerged: the capital allocation system is fundamentally backwards. Europe has world-class engineering talent but systematically starves it with slow, risk-averse investment. Meanwhile, accelerators spread €20K across 50 startups (nothing happens), and VCs burn €10-20M on equity models when €1-2M licensing achieves the same outcome.

Fabio's contrarian model:

- 20-50x ROI multiples in under 3 years

- €9K patent protection worldwide for 2.5 years

- ABG case study: $34B annual sales without manufacturing one product

- 24-month discipline: market or die

💡 Key Insights:

"That million euro becomes nothing when you give €20,000 to everybody. It will be more productive to give $1 million to one company." European talent is 10x better than US engineers, but the capital structure prevents scale. The alternative exists—most investors just pretend it doesn't.

👤 Guest: Fabio Lettieri

Founder, Artivium Inc. | Founding Partner, TLN - The Licensing Network

25 years IP licensing experience | $500M+ in royalty deals | Former Licensing Director, Iconix Brand Group

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📖 Deep Dive Article:

Why licensing beats equity 10x, the ABG model that makes $34B without products, and why Europe's investment mindset is the real bottleneck—not talent, not tech.

🪧 Subscribe to the Forge on Substack to stay up to date:

🔗 https://theforgeofunicorns.substack.com/

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🔧 FREE AI-Readiness Assessment (5 spots, Q4 2025):

Clear data. Actionable insights. Zero cost.

👉 Contact: https://brix.consulting/free-ai-readiness-assessment/

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⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 TL;TR

01:00 Introduction to IP and Licensing Business Models

05:46 The Role of Accelerators and Incubators

12:39 Challenges in Software Development and Marketing

19:00 The Power of Licensing in Business

27:06 Innovative Approaches to Product Development

31:50 The Ego of Founders and Company Success

32:37 Future Potential Over Past Achievements

34:52 Investing in Projects: A Personal Approach

36:09 The Unique Venture Studio Model

38:29 Licensing vs. Traditional Venture Capital

40:21 The Misunderstood AI Market

41:25 Social Tensions in AI Adoption

43:22 The Speed of Idea to Prototype with AI

45:06 The Importance of Personal Connections

48:23 Cultural and Investment Mindset Differences

50:25 The Power of Licensing and Branding

#VentureCapital #Licensing #Startups #Europe #CapitalEfficiency #TechLeadership #Innovation #Patents #IPLicensing

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Philosophy shapes AI future through karmapreneurship and soft skills revealed by Craig Weiss (Patent Attorney turned Unicorn CEO turned Managing Partner Flagstaff Venture) on execution curiosity mentorship and AI human gap.

🎙️ Episode Highlights:

Craig Weiss shares his journey from patent attorney to building Enjoy (unicorn, $1B valuation) to venture capital investor, revealing why philosophy and karmapreneurship matter more than ever in the AI era.

The AI Human Gap:

- AI amplifies organizational DNA—excellence or chaos

- Soft skills becoming MORE important as AI replaces jobs

- Code assistants need humans skilled in software fundamentals

- VCs funding AI pitches without cultural/technical due diligence

- Human experiences AI will never understand: love, loss, getting punched

Karmapreneurship Philosophy:

- Treating employees, customers, vendors well = business foundation

- Win-win over win-lose in business relationships

- Small elite teams (F1 pit crew model) beat large bloated orgs

- Execution beats ideas—always

- Curiosity and question-asking as competitive advantage

💡 Key Insights:

"AI is never gonna understand what it's like to bury a parent, or to fall in love, or to pull an all-nighter" - Craig reveals why soft skills, authentic curiosity, and coaching culture create the human foundation AI needs to actually work.

Peter Diamandis wisdom: "Ask good questions—because all the answers are out there. We differentiate by who asks the best questions."

👤 Guest: Craig Weiss

Managing Partner, Flagstaff Venture

10 years Patent Attorney → Unicorn CEO (Enjoy, $1B valuation) → Venture Capitalist

First investment became unicorn | Built consumer brand across 130,000 retail locations

📖 Deep Dive Article (Thursday): https://go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns

🎁 Your Gift as a Subscriber:

In a moment when AI requires your company to be ready, we offer limited spots for Q4 for our 🔧 Free AI-Readiness Assessment

📬 Contact us: https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 TL;TR

02:00 Intro: Patent Attorney to Unicorn CEO Journey

12:02 Navigating Entrepreneurship Challenges

21:39 Business Meets Spirituality

31:42 Karmapreneurship: Merging Profit with Purpose

45:46 Finding Your Why (Viktor Frankl Philosophy)

50:00 Software Patents & Craftsmanship

54:09 AI Disruption & Human Connection

1:01:06 AI in Mental Health & Education

1:08:24 Community Role in Tech Advancement

1:12:25 Open vs Closed Systems in Innovation

🔗 Connect:

Craig Weiss LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-weiss-9890127/

Flagstaff Venture: https://www.flagstaffventures.com/

Forge of Unicorns: https://go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns

🏷️ Tags :

#aireadiness #Karmapreneurship #SoftSkills #EmotionalIntelligence #VentureCapital #UnicornStartup #Entrepreneurship #AIHumanGap #TechnicalExcellence #BehavioralEngineering #ConsumerBrands #PatentAttorney #ExecutionOverIdeas #Curiosity #CoachingCulture #AILimitations #HumanPsychology #BusinessPhilosophy #SpiritualCEO #VentureStudio #CollaborativeAI #F1Craftsmanship #SoftwareEngineering #AIEthics #StartupFunding #VCDueDiligence #AI #Leadership #TechLeadership #Philosophy

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Spitch.AI beats tech giants through customer-centric collaborative AI and cultural readiness. Pier Giorgio Vittori (CEO US division) reveals gradual adoption framework, employee satisfaction foundation, and ethical business practices that turn David into Goliath-killer in AI era.

🎙️ Episode Highlights:

Spitch.AI was founded in 2014, expanding from Switzerland to US, UK, and Italy. Instead of out-of-box solutions, they compete through deep customization matching customer needs and local regulations.

Core principles driving their success:

- Employee satisfaction = customer satisfaction (foundational law)

- Technology serves customer needs, not adoption for hype

- Collaborative AI: human expertise supervises AI execution

- Gradual implementation matching organizational maturity

- Ethics builds long-term relationships vs. short-term sales

💡 Key Insights:

- Don't be afraid of technology, embrace it wisely."

- Without cultural readiness and technical fundamentals, AI amplifies dysfunction at 10x speed.

- Teams can't challenge AI hallucinations if they were trained not to challenge authority.

- The gap isn't technical—it's behavioral.

👤 Guest: Pier Giorgio Vittori CEO, Speech AI | US/Italy

📖 Deep Dive Article: https://go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns

🔧 Free AI-Readiness Assessment (5 spots, Q4 2025): https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 TL;TR

02:00 Introduction to Speech AI and Its Journey

04:49 David vs. Goliath: Competing with Giants

08:01 Customization: The Key to Customer Satisfaction

10:38 The Importance of Employee Satisfaction

13:46 Customer-Centricity in Business

16:31 Technology Development and Innovation

19:32 The Role of Ethics in Business

22:31 Building Trust with Customers

25:21 The Importance of Soft Skills

28:30 Creating a Collaborative Work Environment

31:22 Long-Term Relationships and Employee Retention

33:13 Conclusion: The Future of Speech AI

44:37 Ethical Business and Customer-Centric Organizations

46:00 Bridging the Skills Gap in Tech

52:56 The Importance of Practical Experience

59:27 Coaching and Mentorship in Organizations

01:05:03 AI Readiness and Organizational Challenges

01:13:03 Navigating the AI Revolution

01:19:41 Balancing Regulation and Innovation in AI

🏷️ HasTags

#AIAdoption #CollaborativeAI #CulturalReadiness #TechLeadership #CustomerCentric #SoftwareEngineering #forgeofunicornsChapter #ai #software

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Ever wonder how top tech leaders foster exceptional team environments? This Forge of Unicorns podcast episode dives deep into the secrets of high-performing teams and engineering excellence. Is leadership coaching the key to preventing burnout and cultivating a motivational workplace where innovative software solutions thrive? Or is the secret recipe of success the relentless pursuit of excellence? This is your #ai time life saver, don't miss it!

⸻

In this episode of Forge 🔥 of Unicorns, Michele Brissoni sits down with Meir Rabkin, Founder & Managing Partner at Blue Vision Capital — the investor who backed 12 unicorns in just 5 years 🦄.

They dive into what truly separates elite startups from the rest:

💡 Why relentless execution beats perfect strategy.

💡 How mission-driven leadership and engineering craftsmanship build unstoppable teams.

💡 Why burnout and chaos are symptoms of broken culture — and how AI is now amplifying both excellence and mediocrity.

🎯 You’ll discover:

• How to identify outlier founders and disruptive innovation.

• Why quality over quantity in hiring defines long-term ROI.

• How coaching and behavioral design unlock peak team performance.

• Why AI is the ultimate mirror — amplifying excellence or chaos depending on your culture.

⸻

⚙️ Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to Unicorns & Investment Strategies

02:46 – Identifying and Nurturing Unicorns

05:40 – The Importance of Team Dynamics

08:50 – Evaluating Business Models & Market Potential

11:39 – Grit & Resilience in Founders

14:34 – Engineering Excellence & Craftsmanship

17:34 – Agility & Mission-Driven Innovation

20:29 – Capital Efficiency & Sustainable Growth

27:41 – Building Mission-Driven Teams

30:25 – Culture of Excellence

45:19 – Leadership Burnout & Coaching

51:47 – Relentless Execution vs. Perfect Strategy

⸻

💥 Ready to build your own elite force of engineers and founders?

👉 Explore the Software Craftsmanship Dojo®: https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com/

📩 Subscribe to Forge 🔥 of Unicorns for weekly deep dives and exclusive interviews:

• 🔗 Substack: https://theforgeofunicorns.substack.com/

• 🔗 LinkedIn: https://go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns

⸻

🏷️ #ForgeOfUnicorns #Unicorns #Startups #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIMirror #DigitalTransformation #EngineeringExcellence #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareCraftsmanship #SoftwareCraftsmanshipDojo #Leadership #TeamCulture #HighPerformanceTeams #BehavioralEngineering #BehavioralDesign #OrganizationalExcellence #BusinessGrowth #FounderMindset #TechLeadership #ExecutionExcellence #RelentlessExecution #Coaching #BurnoutPrevention #HumanCenteredLeadership #UnicornMindset #VentureStudio

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In this episode of Forge of Unicorns – In the Head of a CEO, the host Michele Brissoni sits down with Stéphan Donzé, Founder & CEO of AODocs, to unpack one of the most uncomfortable truths of our time: AI doesn’t save you. It multiplies what you already are.

Stéphan’s journey is unique — a brilliant software engineer who became a CEO, leading a SaaS company trusted in the most critical environments (data centers, aviation, energy). He knows both sides: writing production code and scaling enterprise software under unforgiving standards.

🚨 And together, we confronted the ugly reality of the software industry:

• Bugs are not an exception — they’re written into contracts.

• Mediocrity has become the cultural baseline.

• And now, AI isn’t solving it… it’s amplifying it.

Just one week ago, IT Revolution’s 2025 DORA “State of AI-assisted Software Development” report confirmed it:

👉 AI is a mirror. An amplifier.

🏆 For elite teams with technical excellence, AI accelerates them to the Olympus of performance.

🔥 For mediocre teams, AI turns dysfunction into total chaos — faster outages, higher costs, more burnout.

This is the paradox: in a world where software engineering is often regulated by tools, frameworks, and blind hope, AI has exposed just how fragile this industry really is.

In this conversation you’ll discover:

⚡ Why software remains the “black sheep” of engineering — no standards, no predictability.

⚡ Why technical excellence is no longer optional — it’s survival.

⚡ How purpose, craftsmanship, and socio-technical practices transform AI into an ally.

⚡ What investors should look for: the difference between teams AI can elevate, and those it will annihilate.

Stéphan puts it bluntly: without engineering discipline, AI is not your friend — it’s your downfall. And as Paul O’Brien said in last week’s episode:

“AI is the greatest discovery since the internet itself.”

But only if we evolve beyond mediocrity.

📌 Whether you’re a CEO, CTO, or investor, this episode is a wake-up call.

AI is not the savior. It’s the amplifier of who we are.

And whether humanity evolves or decays depends on the standards we embrace.

—

⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:19 Welcome to the Froge 🔥

02:15 Stephan Donze: The Journey of a Technical CEO

05:30 The Importance of Document Management Systems

09:50 The Need for Standards in Software Engineering

12:50 The Challenges of Software Quality and Reliability

18:00 AI’s Role in Software Development

22:01 Pragmatic AI Applications in Document Management

28:30 The Evolution of Automation in Business

30:24 Cybersecurity Challenges in AI

31:49 The Importance of Technical Expertise in Leadership

34:21 Mediocrity in the Software Industry

39:01 The Talent Crisis in Software Development

41:58 Tech Disruption and the blind jump on it

46:15 Investment Trends in Software vs. AI

53:07 Suggestions from Stephan for other leaders

—

🎥 Watch more Forge of Unicorns:

🔗 Subscribe for weekly episodes: https://theforgeofunicorns.substack.com/

🔗 Deep dive articles on LinkedIn: https://go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns

🔗 Learn more about the Unicorns’ Ecosystem: https://brix.consulting

#AI #SaaS #SoftwareEngineering #Leadership #DORA #AODocs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unicorns are going extinct. In 2015 there were 124 new unicorns. In the last 3 years? Barely 17.

At the same time, trillions of dollars have been poured into AI, sold as the golden age of innovation. But here’s the paradox: if AI is so transformative, why are unicorns disappearing?

In this episode of The Forge of Unicorns, Michele Brissoni sits down with Paul O’Brien — Startup Economist, venture capitalist, and founder of MediaTech Ventures — to expose why accelerators are failing, how capital allocation is broken, and why venture studios are the future of predictable, software-driven success.

Paul pulls no punches:

“Most accelerators haven’t delivered results. When they present themselves as engines of entrepreneurship, founders are more likely to fail. And that’s what’s been happening.”

We explore how AI is sucking capital into a “black hole,” why cookie-cutter accelerators misfire, and how sector-specific venture studios — with deep expertise and owner-operator DNA — can finally tilt the odds of success.

⸻

🔑 What You’ll Learn

- Why 90% of startups still fail — and how to move the needle from 10% to 20% success.

- The accelerator paradox: speeding up disruption by forcing it into rigid blueprints.

- How AI is reshaping capital allocation (and why that’s dangerous).

- The role of behavioral engineering in startup survival.

- Why venture studios are the operating system of success in a software-driven world.

⸻

📌 Chapters

01:30 – Intro: Unicorn extinction & the AI paradox

07:30 – Why accelerators fail founders

16:30 – Digital transformation myths

24:30 – Behavioral engineering in startups

35:30 – Globalization, AI, and capital misallocation

49:30 – The venture studio model explained

01:03:30 – Governments, policy, and sector-specific studios

01:16:30 – Closing thoughts: doubling startup success rates

⸻

⚔️ Forge Your Edge

👉 Subscribe to the newsletter for deep dives: https://go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns

👉 Learn more about the Unicorns’ Ecosystem our Venture Studio operative system for software organization, born on Ferrari Formula 1 and improved with over 2 decades of research:

https://unicorns-ecosystem.com/

⸻

🏷️

#Startups #VentureCapital #AI #VentureStudios #ForgeOfUnicorns #leadership #incubadoras #accelerator #ai #aiinvesting #investing #investment #podcast

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Why is software still the Wild West—with no universal quality standards?

In this episode of Forge of Unicorns, 🎙️ Noël Bauza (CEO of Zei) reveals why organizations are running on systems with zero agreed measures of quality, and how the scientific method gives leaders the clarity to evolve with confidence.

🚨 Agile frameworks and AI buzzwords aren’t saving companies from failure.

Instead, CEOs are betting their futures on software with no safety net—flying blind on vanity metrics, customer reviews, or gut feelings.

Noël explains why this is dangerous, how ESG transparency is reshaping the business landscape, and why leaders who adopt the scientific method as their operating system are the ones who survive disruption.

⸻

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

- ESG is crucial for companies to measure their environmental and social impact.

- Data is essential for understanding and addressing global challenges.

- The scientific method can enhance decision-making in business.

- Quality standards in software are often subjective and lacking.

- Customer satisfaction is linked to adaptability and transparency.

- Neuroscience can play a role in improving business practices.

- AI's impact on jobs raises important ethical questions.

- Company culture influences employee motivation and productivity.

- Transparency in data fosters a proactive work environment.

- Innovation requires effective communication and collaboration.

⸻

🧠 Key Quotes

“Without data, we are not an intelligent species.” – Noël Bauza

“The more closely you stick to the scientific method, the more likely you are to succeed.”

⸻

📰 Read more

👉 Subscribe to the newsletter to deep dive into every weekly episode:

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-forge-of-unicorns-7184097792242458624/

⸻

Subject: Sorry about the glitch – Episode with Noël is fixed! 🦄🎙️

Dear Forge of Unicorns listeners,

We owe you an apology!

Episode 71 of Forge of Unicorns with Noël was published with a technical glitch – two minutes of silence right in the middle of our discussion about the scientific method applied to software engineering.

We’ve fixed the issue, and the corrected version is now live. 🎧

If you listened to the earlier release, we encourage you to revisit the episode to catch the full, uninterrupted conversation.

Thank you for your patience and for being such an engaged community.

Your feedback helps us keep improving and keep forging the next generation of unicorns together. 🦄✨

Happy listening,

Mike & the Forge of Unicorns Team

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Unicorns are dying. Cockroaches creep us out. The future belongs to Camel Startups: resilient, human-centric, and engineered to survive.

In this episode of Forge of Unicorns, host Michele “Mike” Brissoni sits down with Umar Munshi, CEO of HasanVC, to explore how ethical investing, halal venture capital, and the venture studio model are reshaping the future of entrepreneurship.

🌍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

✔️ Why 99% of Unicorns fail — and how Camels survive harsh conditions.

✔️ How ethical and halal investing principles (fairness, shared prosperity, long-term value) create more sustainable outcomes.

✔️ Why the VC power law pushes founders into shortcuts — and how Camel Startups break the cycle.

✔️ The role of Venture Studios in building resilient companies from zero to one.

✔️ Why AI should enhance humans, not replace them — and how the right governance protects talent.

✔️ The importance of purpose-driven organizations that put humans, fulfillment, and community at the core.

✔️ How the Unicorns’ Ecosystem + BOKaRy governance model serve as the operating system for modern venture studios.

🐪 Why Camel Startups Matter

Unicorns are mythical. They grow fast, burn cash even faster, and collapse under their own hype.

Cockroach startups? They survive — but no one wants to build them.

Camel startups are different:

• They survive the harshest markets.
• They scale responsibly when opportunities arise.
• They are engineered through discipline, cooperation, and hard work — not magic.

HasanVC, guided by halal ethics and human-centric investing, is pioneering this model — and showing investors a way forward.

💸 The Problem with Venture Capital Today

Traditional VC relies on the power law: spray money across dozens of startups and hope one or two unicorns pay for the rest.

The result?

• 98% of portfolio companies fail.
• Founders are pushed into shortcuts, hype, and unsustainable growth.
• Burnout and disengagement spread across teams.
• Investors gamble on mythical outliers instead of predictable outcomes.

🏗️ The Solution: Venture Studios + Unicorns’ Ecosystem

HasanVC believes the answer lies in venture studios — where ideas are validated, co-founders are supported, and companies are built systematically from zero to one with behavioral engineering not by luck. A model that mirrors our Unicorns’ Ecosystem, and our revolutionary Governance Layer (BOKaRy)

🧭 Purpose, Ethics & Halal Investing

HasanVC anchors every decision in intention (niyyah) — why do we build, not just what we build.

Halal principles ensure:

• Fairness in contracts.
• Shared prosperity between founders, investors, and employees.
• Long-term sustainability over short-term speculation.

This approach resonates far beyond the Muslim community — it’s a model of human-centric capitalism for everyone.

Hashtags:

#CamelStartups #UnicornsEcosystem #EthicalInvesting #HalalVC #VentureStudios #Podcast #Leadership

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Listen to Tyler Robertson's inspiring entrepreneur story of building a $100 million business from the ground up. This motivational podcast episode covers everything from how to start a business to insights on heavy duty truck scanner and truck diagnostic tool. Hear how he achieved success through hard work and determination and his journey in entrepreneurship.

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What if a diesel mechanic just outbuilt your tech org?

This episode of Forge of Unicorns reveals how Tyler Robertson turned a simple customer obsession into a $100M software empire — with no VC, no Agile, and no hype.

👇 In this episode:

• How deep domain knowledge can beat top-tier tech hires

• Why 50 developers got fired… and replaced by 8

• The real ROI of customer obsession

• The origin story of the BOKARY model: the North Star for software behavior and board-level profitability

🧠 “We had 50 developers and couldn’t ship. So we blew it all up. Kept 8. Started from scratch.” — Tyler Robertson

⸻

📌 Timestamps 

07:00 – From grease stains to product vision

10:05 – Understanding customer pain points

16:57 – Leadership, clarity, and developer debt

21:07 – The software dilemma: sustainable growth VS tech debt collapse

26:16 – Learning from failure: the infinite delivery

34:19 – What true customer obsession sounds like

42:21 – Predictive maintenance + product evolution

52:10 – High-performing talents: the grit mentality

57:40 – The impact of 10 years of growth: Purpose, people, and product ROI

01:04:06 – The Anticipatory Organizations mindset applied to the AI revolution

🔗 Extra Link:

Podcast Tyler and Daniel Burrus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuENITUDCtA

⸻

📈 This episode launches our last evolution: the Behavioral-OKR revolution

The BOKARY model finally bridges what boards want to know:

➡️ What’s the ROI of my software org?

➡️ How do I connect behavior, delivery, and investor-level returns?

Explore the system built for your organizational evolution:

🔗 https://unicorns-ecosystem.com/

Next Thursday, more details will be revealed in our podcast deep dive.

Don't miss it! Subscribe to the Forge 🔥 of Unicorns newsletter.

⸻

To stay up-to-date, subscribe to our different channels:

🎧 Listen to the podcast on the go on Spotify, Apple & Acast

📰 Read the newsletter

🎥 Subscribe for more no-fluff, boardroom-grade episodes

⸻

#TylerRobertson #ForgeOfUnicorns #DieselLaptops #CustomerObsession #SoftwareROI #CTO #FounderToCEO #BehavioralEngineering #OKBR #BOKARY #TechLeadership #ProductDevelopment #AgileTheater #VC #SoftwareDelivery #NoVC #TechPodcast #DeepDive

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The $30B Mistake: Why Startups Fail and Investors Sleepwalk Through It

💥 Massimiliano Sulpizi exposes what’s broken in **venture capital** and offers a cure: **Equity Match**, a platform blending **AI**, mentorship, and real founder support. Discover how he's teaching startups to build, not just pitch, in a world where 97.5% still fail.

---

🧠 Executive Summary:

This world is sick.

Startups are collapsing. Founders are burning out. Investors are flying blind.

And no one is asking the question that actually matters:

Can this team really build?

In this episode of *Forge of Unicorns*, we sit down with Massimiliano Sulpizi, founder of Equity Match, who delivers a raw, unfiltered reality check on today’s startup ecosystem—and brings a cure.

He reveals:

- Why 97.5% of startups fail

- Why most VCs don’t know how to assess technical founders or software quality

- Why platforms offering funding without coaching are setting founders up to fail

- How Equity Match is rewriting the rules: helping founders *before* they’re investor-ready

- How the new Equity Match Academy helps entrepreneurs learn from real experience, not theory

We match Max’s ground truth with the macro data from VC latest report on the collapse in early-stage capital—and show you the solution hiding in plain sight:

The Software Craftsmanship Dojo®, a behavioral and technical benchmark for startup health.

---

🎙️ Key Quotes:

- “Digital natives are not engineers. And investors are not mechanics.”

- “Startups pitch, but nobody checks if they can build.”

- “The future is open sourcing.”

---

🔗 Links & Resources:

🌐 Explore Equity Match

🧪 Try the Software Craftsmanship Dojo®

📬 Subscribe to Forge of Unicorns

---

📌 Hashtags & Tags:

#VentureCapital #EquityMatch #Startups #FounderSupport #AngelInvesting

#BehavioralEngineering #StartupFailure #TechDueDiligence #ForgeOfUnicorns #AI

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Succession isn’t just an HBO drama.

It’s real. It’s messy. And when it happens inside a high-growth SaaS company, it can break everything.

In this raw, unfiltered episode of Forge of Unicorns, we sit down with 🇫🇷 Adrien Salvat, CEO of WebInterpret to launch our brand-new format:

🎙️ “𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗖𝗘𝗢”

💥 What’s the story?

Adrien didn’t just survive a founder exit.

He rebuilt the company — culturally, structurally, and emotionally — without losing his people.

And he did it while staring down the biggest hype tsunami of the decade: GenAI.

“If you’re transparent with your people—they give it back to you.”

— Adrien Salvat

🔎 What’s inside the episode:

- The emotional trauma no playbook prepares you for

- Why transparency is the new leadership operating system

- What happens when culture breaks—and how to rebuild it

- The danger of AI adoption without behavioral readiness

- How to create positive stress and psychological safety

- Why SW Craftsmanship, OKRs, and trust are the real stack for evolution

🚫 What this is NOT:

- Another story of VC theatre with a happy slide deck

- A framework-first “transformation” pitch

- A postmortem on failed agile or AI hype

✅ What this IS for you 🫵:

- A masterclass in behavioral leadership

- A blueprint for CEOs navigating transition

- A glimpse inside the Unicorns’ Ecosystem at work:

- Transparency. Craftsmanship. OKRs. Evolution.

🎯 Who should watch this:

- CEOs & founders facing culture fatigue or post-merger trauma

- PE/VC leaders tracking sustainable SaaS governance

- Engineering and product leaders lost in GenAI noise

- Anyone tired of frameworks that don’t solve people problems

🔗 Mentioned:

- BriX Consulting

- WebInterpret

- SW Craftsmanship Dojo®

- Unicorns’ Ecosystem

📣 Subscribe to Forge of Unicorns

Because the next unicorns won’t be built by frameworks.

They’ll be built by leaders who evolve with their people.

#CEO #Leadership #CultureShift #SaaS #OKRs #ForgeOfUnicorns #BehavioralEngineering #DigitalEvolution #Podcast #ai #duet #podcast

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💥 Your tech budget is burning—and hiring hype can kill your culture.

Here’s the brutal truth:

Boards are shelling out $1M+ to AI engineers—none of whom are scientists in the classical sense

Meta’s Superintelligence Lab just dangled $100M–$300M packages for top AI talent, while tens of thousands of good people got laid off

Worse: Investors are funding AI hires not to build software, but to create products that enable layoffs—fueling a toxic, nonsensical cycle

In this eye-opening episode, Michele Brissoni sits down with Sean Smith to reveal how hype hires destroy ROI, while true transformation demands behavioral discipline and operational mastery.

🎯 What You’ll Discover:

💸 The Meta Superintelligence paradox: sky-high compensation, no neuroscience depth

🤡 Why the $1M AI hire is the ultimate mercenary—money in, culture out

🧩 The blinding absurdity: “10 certified Scrum Masters shouting at one coder”

🏎️ Why building like an F1 pit crew beats superstar hiring

🔁 How small, disciplined steps produce real, sustainable ROI

🗣️ Quotes That Hit Hard:

“We are people from the market, providing them a lot of cash … not their culture.”

“10 Scrum Masters screaming at one paddling engineer.”

“This performance isn’t achievable with casual leadership.”

💡 If You Care About…

Keeping your team (and culture) alive during layoffs

Spending on tools or people that actually deliver ROI

Leadership that doesn’t cheat the process

…this episode cuts through the noise.

🚀 Stop Buying, Start Training

Want to stop lighting cash on fire?

Cut through the hype. Cultivate behavior. Build talent from within—daily.

Begin with a behavioral assessment and start evolving with the Unicorns’ Ecosystem.

👉 https://unicorns-ecosystem.com/

📥 Subscribe & Stay Woke

Don’t miss the next episode—hit 🔔 and subscribe now.

🏷️ Tags

#DigitalTransformation #AI #Layoffs #Meta #EngineeringCulture #BehavioralEngineering #TechLeadership #Podcast #UnicornsEcosystem

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AI was supposed to help us build organizations faster.

Instead, it’s flooding the market with fragile MVPs and founders who lack the knowledge to scale.

Welcome to Episode 65 of Forge of Unicorns, where illusions shatter and the ugly truths of software engineering are exposed.

🎧 This week: Most Capital founders Kamila Michalkiewicz and Ágúst Berg Arnarsson join us to unpack the real risks behind AI-fueled hype in startups and web3 organizations.

---

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why most AI-generated MVPs are architectural disasters

• How “vibe coding” is the new silent killer of early-stage investments

• What investors should look for in technical due diligence

• The rise of impostor CTOs and how to spot them

• How Most Capital uses behavioral engineering + coaching to fix founder-team dynamics

• Why scaling requires engineering mastery, not pitch decks

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💣 Power Quotes:

“It looked like a working product. But it was built with AI, and the CEO had no idea how to scale it.”

Michele Brissoni, host

“You can get an MVP out of the box. But when complexity shows up, the whole thing crumbles.”

Ágúst Berg Arnarsson

“We ask 40 questions. If we smell ChatGPT copy/paste, then we just have the first 🚩 red flag.”

Kamila Michalkiewicz

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🧠 If You’re a…

VC or Private Equity partner:

Learn how to spot technical red flags before your money vanishes in GenAI chaos.

CEOs and Startup founders:

Find out if your prototype is truly production-ready, or if you’re riding a timebomb of tech debt.

CTO or Board Member:

Discover how to protect your org from impostors, mediocrity, and code rot.

---

🛠️ Related Links:

🔗 Subscribe to Forge of Unicorns Newsletter

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-forge-of-unicorns-7184097792242458624/

🔗 Learn about the Unicorns' Ecosystem and the Software Craftsmanship Dojo®

https://unicorns-ecosystem.com/

https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com/

🔗 Connect with Michele Brissoni on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelebrissoni/

---

📢 Call to Action:

✅ Like, comment, and share this episode to spread awareness.

💬 Drop your story: Have you been burned by vibe-coded tech?

🔔 Subscribe to stay ahead of the behavioral evolution curve.

🚀 Let’s evolve your organization, leveraging our free assessment:

https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com/#get-started

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🤔 Startups pitch AI like magic. But what happens when vibe-coded prototypes crash in production?

👉 Who’s inspecting the code, not just the pitch deck?

In this Forge of Unicorns episode, Dr. Jeremy Krell—Managing Partner at Revere Partners—reveals how real VCs assess risk in a post-hype market. With 40% of Revere’s portfolio in software, Jeremy’s team doesn’t just bet on the founder—they inspect the architecture, the codebase, and the clinical impact.

From the operating room to the terminal, Mike & Jeremy show us why engineering diligence is no longer optional.

👉 Why most AI-first startups fail the production test

👉 Why vibe-coded prototypes are a liability in regulated markets

👉 How real VCs use software as a behavioral signal

👉 And why Revere’s CTO has the final say on who gets funded

⸻

🧠 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why AI-generated code is failing real-world production tests

• How clinical venture capital teams assess code quality and cultural alignment

• Why behavioral due diligence matters more than resumes

• How Roger Penrose’s Gödel argument debunks the myth of AI consciousness

• Why Yoshua Bengio says agency + deception are the next wave of AI risk

• What it takes to govern AI-first orgs beyond checklists and demos

⸻

🎙️ Key Quote from Jeremy Krell:

“AI today writes code like a high school student. Useful as an assistant. Dangerous as an engineer.”

⸻

🧠 Why This Matters — Right Now

AI-generated prototypes are flooding every industry.

Most founders pitch speed—but ignore code quality, user impact, and long-term viability.

And boards are still flying blind, unaware of the liabilities shipped to production.

That’s why real due diligence must evolve—from checking resumes to assessing behavior, craftsmanship, and code.

Because in healthcare and AI, the margin for error is gone.

Revere’s model isn’t just about capital. It’s about care.

⸻

🛠️ Ready to See How You Compare?

🎯 Want to benchmark your tech and software due diligence?

👉 Start your free assessment

⸻

✅ Subscribe to the 🎥 YouTube Channel!

💬 Comment: Is your software ready for investor-grade production?

🪧 Subscribe to the LinkedIn Newsletter to stay up to date with our deep dives!

⸻

📖 Chapters & Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

01:00 – From dentist to VC: Jeremy’s unique edge

02:46 – What Revere Partner is investing in

07:23 – Why 40% of the portfolio is software

14:59 – How to measure quality of: care & software

21:49 – Due diligence beyond decks in the AI-era: what Revere really looks at

26:18 – AI vibe coding is knocking at your door. Limits of AI code generated

31:48 – AI in healthcare: the importance of data, AI-first approach limits

45:42 – The duet Healthcare & Software: the CARE we need to embrace

52:57 – Jeremy's call for action and final thoughts

55:55 – Final salute

⸻

🔗 Hashtags & Topics

#leadership #duediligence #audit #ai

#behavioralengineering #vc #TechnicalDueDiligence #codequality

#artificialintelligence #ethicalai #ProductionTest #cto #investing #aiethics #privateequity #ceo

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🤔 Investors are pouring billions into AI. But what if this is dot-com bubble 2.0?

👉 Who will spot the real risks — hidden inside the code, and inside the culture?

In this Forge of Unicorns episode, Maria de la Puente, one of the most respected investor advisors, reveals why today’s boards must evolve fast — or risk flying blind.

From the boardroom to the engineering floor, Mike & Maria expose the trust gaps no spreadsheet can fix:

👉 Why trusted TECH advisors and NEDs are now critical to governance

👉 Why behavioral signals are the new frontier for evaluating AI-driven organizations

👉 Why the next bubble may already be inflating under our feet.

⸻

🎧 Episode 63: Is the AI Bubble Coming? Who Do You Trust to Deal With It?

Boards must evolve fast — because AI bets can’t be governed the old way.

You can’t govern code, architecture, or behavioral dynamics with spreadsheets alone.

The smartest investors know it.

They’re onboarding trusted TECH advisors and NEDs — and building governance that can scale with this new era.

Will your board evolve — or be blindsided?

⸻

🧠 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why the next big AI risks are not technical — they’re behavioral

• How to spot the trust gap in AI-driven companies

• Why many AI founders are building fragile businesses

• How smart boards and funds are changing their governance playbook

• The role of behavioral signals (KBI) in de-risking AI investments

• What it takes to build AI-ready governance — and avoid the next bubble

⸻

🎙️ Key Quote from Maria de la Puente:

“We don’t want to repeat the same story of the dot-com bubble.

We’re putting money into AI — but we don’t know about AI.

And these people know about AI — but they don’t know about business.

So how can we trust these investments?”

⸻

🧠 Why This Matters — Right Now

The AI bubble risk is real.

And most boards are not ready.

Governing AI-driven organizations requires more than dashboards.

It requires behavioral governance, technical mastery — and the wisdom to see through the hype.

The boards that evolve now → will lead.

The boards that delay → will be left behind.

In this episode, we show how to evolve — before it’s too late.

⸻

🛠️ Ready to See How You Compare?

🎯 Want to benchmark your governance against Unicorn-grade orgs?

👉 Start your free assessment: https://brix.consulting/contact/

✅ Subscribe to the YouTube channel!

🎥 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brixconsulting

💬 Comment: How ready is your board to govern AI-driven organizations?

📰 Subscribe to the LinkedIn Newsletter to stay up to date with our deep dives!

🎧 Spotify

🎧 Apple Podcast

⸻

🔗 Hashtags & Topics

#ForgeOfUnicorns #AIBubble #AI #digitalgovernancemodel #bubble #BehavioralEngineering

#PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #technical #NED #TechnicalNED #trustedadvisor #leadershipintech #cto #trending #advisor #investing

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🤔 Why did Mining ⛏️, Formula 1 🏎️, and MotoGP 🏍️ evolve—and Software didn’t?

In this episode of Forge of Unicorns, Nicolás Bañados, Managing Partner at Galgo Capital, helps us uncover the behavioral system behind industries that evolved from danger to precision—while the software world is still fighting over frameworks and labels.

From mines to pitlanes, Mike draws the powerful parallel:

In all those environments, people arrive as apprentices—and evolve into high-performance professionals through structured mentorship, feedback loops, and mastery.

⸻

🎧 Episode 62: The Common Secret Behind Mining, F1 & MotoGP Evolution

Let’s Finally Bring It to Software.

Mine workers went from swinging pickaxes to piloting 50-ton excavators remotely.

F1 and MotoGP engineers now prototype, test, and iterate at millisecond speed in some of the most regulated environments on Earth.

And yet—they do it through engineering blended with craft, not checklists.

They all did one thing software forgot to do:

👉 Pair engineering with craftsmanship.

💡 Engineering paired with craftsmanship is not a luxury.

It’s survival—the only way to evolve without drowning in bureaucracy, tools, or hollow “transformation” initiatives.

🧱 What Software Gets Wrong

While other industries evolved, we in tech bought templates.

Frameworks. Acronyms. Certification schemes.

We tried to outsource mastery with blueprints and SaaS tools—ignoring the reality:

🧨 Digital transformation fatigue is real.

It breeds burnout, disengagement, and leaves people too numb to embrace the next big change.

But there’s another way.

We found it.

And it works.

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How high-risk industries evolved through mentorship and behavioral design

• Why software teams burn out under rigid process instead of growing through real feedback

• How to build true socio-technical systems using the Unicorns’ Ecosystem

• The role of Nonviolent Communication in team and leadership transformation

• What it takes to design an evolutionary path from apprentice to high-impact engineer

🎙️ Key Quote from Nicolás Bañados:

“The guy who used to dig in tunnels with a pickaxe can’t walk into a modern control room and succeed.

He needs mentorship, time in the field, and behavioral evolution.

Software is no different.”

🧠 Why This Matters—Right Now

As we enter the AI-native era, software must evolve.

But evolution isn’t a toolset. It’s a mindset.

It’s time to stop rebranding frameworks—and start rebuilding mastery.

We don’t need new labels.

We need systems of care, precision, and unity.

We’ve built that system.

And in this episode, we’re showing it to the world.

⸻

🛠️ Ready to See How You Compare?

🎯 Want to benchmark your teams against Unicorn-grade orgs?

👉 Start your free assessment: https://brix.consulting/contact/

✅ Subscribe to the YouTube channel!

🎥  ⁨@brixconsulting⁩ 

💬 Comment: What’s blocking evolution in your org right now?

🪧 Subscribe to the LinkedIn Newsletter to stay up to date with our deep dives!

📰 https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-forge-of-unicorns-7184097792242458624/

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Are you prepared for the real risks of CEO succession, or any other CXO hiring? In this episode of Forge of Unicorns, investor and behavioral screening expert Ron Ondechek reveals the hidden traps that boardrooms, PE/VC firms, and founders face every time a new CEO is chosen. Every time a new leader joins your organization. The risks connected with casual HR hiring by pedigree and resume.

🔑 What you’ll learn:

• Why over 4,000 CEO candidates fail each year—and what makes the “1” stand out
• The behavioral engineering secrets behind real-world leadership transitions
• The emotional trauma and cultural risks every succession and new hire triggers (but most leaders ignore)
• How the Unicorns’ Ecosystem and Stanford-inspired frameworks are rewriting culture and due diligence for elite organizations
• Why “hiring for resume” is building a graveyard of mediocrity in the digital age
• Why the majority of your leadership notch your organization down, rather than up

Power Quote:

“We look for people who can earn respect on the field. Not just executives with the right pedigree.”

Timestamps & Deep Dives:

0:00 – Intro: The trillion-dollar problem of CEO succession

4:54 – What is CEO succession?

11:53 – The 4,000-to-1 filter: inside Ron’s CEO selection process

18:20 – Emotional trauma, founder psychology, and hidden risks

25:57 – How the right leader powers cultural putting their skin in the game

30:35 – The risks of onboarding people with a canonical HR department

35:28 – The power of social interactions

41:20 – Culture in the software industry is fluctuating too rapidly

50:44 – Software industry oxymoron. Ron’s warning: how to avoid the next hiring disaster

58:33 – Final thoughts

Don’t miss:

• 🎥 XP 2024 conference and related 🧪 Experience Report on the SW Craftsmanship Dojo®
• 🎥 IAD 2024 conference: building a culture of SW Craftsmanship
• 🎥 IT Revolution ETLS 2024: in the heart of the SW Craftsmanship Dojo®

For more insights, subscribe to my other digital resources:

• 📰 Forge of Unicorns Newsletter on LinkedIn
• 🥋 SW Craftsmanship Dojo
• 🦄 Unicorns Ecosystem 🌱

Subscribe for more brutally honest conversations on digital leadership, culture, and what it really takes to build a unicorn in today’s world.

And don’t forget to join the Forge of Unicorns newsletter for your weekly deep dive!

#CEO #SuccessionPlanning #BehavioralEngineering #ForgeOfUnicorns #PrivateEquity #Leadership #CultureFit #Stanford #UnicornsEcosystem #ExecutiveSearch

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🕯️ The Torch 🔥 AI-First Leaders Dropped: Purpose

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Klarna. Babylon. Forward.

Three companies. Three massive AI-first bets.

All failed.

Why? They scaled tech. They injected the market hype: #AI

But, they forgot to align humans in their AI-driven organization!

In this episode of Forge of Unicorns, VC and unicorn builder Pedro Lopez Sela joins Mike to expose the deeper reason behind these collapses… and the blueprint that could have prevented them.

🚫 This isn’t about tools, frameworks, or automation.

🎯 It’s about purpose. Behavior. And the human operating system every elite company needs.

Tune in — and find out what your board might be ignoring right now.

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Agile is collapsing under its own market weight.

Drowned in certifications, fake agility coaches, and checkbox processes.

The purpose? Forgotten.

The manifesto? Commercialized.

The results? Burnout, silos, disengagement.

It’s not a transformation.

It’s a crime scene.

💥 But what if we could resurrect Agile from the wreckage?

Not with another framework.

Not with another Jira template.

But with OKRs — the real ones.

👉 Not dashboards.

👉 Not vanity metrics.

👉 But behavioral scaffolding — rewiring the way people think, act, and build.

In this episode, John Cowan (NextWave VC) unpacks how OKRs, when rooted in engineering mastery, XP discipline, and behavioral science, can become a true operating system for cultural evolution.

And that’s where the Unicorns’ Ecosystem takes over:

🔁 Key Results designed to shift behavior

🧠 Key Behavior Indicators that map cultural friction

🥋 Software Craftsmanship Dojo to encode technical excellence

💡 Egoless collaboration as a team operating norm

“Agile only works when you layer OKRs on top.”

– John Cowan

The Agile you were promised isn’t dead.

It’s waiting to be rebuilt — one virtuous behavior at a time.

👇 Full drop inside.

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🚨 GET STARTED - SW Craftsmanship Dojo Assessment

🧪 Want to know how your team scores against elite development?

Take the Craftsmanship Dojo Assessment and get your org benchmark.

If your score is low, your entire org is one vibe-coded sprint away from irrelevance.

Don’t wait for the layoffs.

Start evolving today.

👉 https://swcraftsmanshipdojo.com/#get-started

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They think they’re doing software right. But they’ve never seen real excellence.

That’s the leadership trap and why companies stall, lose talent, and drift into mediocrity.

In this honest conversation with unicorn builder Alexander Steeb, we expose the hidden dysfunctions behind underperforming IT teams, blind leadership, and the cost of hype-driven decisions.

👉 Why most organizations don’t know what good looks like

👉 How “walking assets” leave silently when excellence is missing

👉 Why founders need coaching more than capital

👉 And what PE firms must fix before trying to scale

This one’s for CEOs, investors, and board members tired of “transformation” and ready for real evolution.

🎧 Listen now and find out if your team is truly building toward excellence.

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