🎙️EP77 - The $34 Billion SECRET VCs Don't Want You To Know
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.----🎙️ 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 LettieriFounder, Artivium Inc. | Founding Partner, TLN - The Licensing Network25 years IP licensing experience | $500M+ in royalty deals | Former Licensing Director, Iconix Brand Group----📖 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/---🔧 FREE AI-Readiness Assessment (5 spots, Q4 2025):Clear data. Actionable insights. Zero cost.👉 Contact: https://brix.consulting/free-ai-readiness-assessment/----⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 TL;TR01:00 Introduction to IP and Licensing Business Models05:46 The Role of Accelerators and Incubators12:39 Challenges in Software Development and Marketing19:00 The Power of Licensing in Business27:06 Innovative Approaches to Product Development31:50 The Ego of Founders and Company Success32:37 Future Potential Over Past Achievements34:52 Investing in Projects: A Personal Approach36:09 The Unique Venture Studio Model38:29 Licensing vs. Traditional Venture Capital40:21 The Misunderstood AI Market41:25 Social Tensions in AI Adoption43:22 The Speed of Idea to Prototype with AI45:06 The Importance of Personal Connections48:23 Cultural and Investment Mindset Differences50:25 The Power of Licensing and Branding#VentureCapital #Licensing #Startups #Europe #CapitalEfficiency #TechLeadership #Innovation #Patents #IPLicensing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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🎙️ EP76 - Karmapreneurship in the AI-era
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 punchedKarmapreneurship 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 WeissManaging Partner, Flagstaff Venture 10 years Patent Attorney → Unicorn CEO (Enjoy, $1B valuation) → Venture CapitalistFirst 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;TR02:00 Intro: Patent Attorney to Unicorn CEO Journey12:02 Navigating Entrepreneurship Challenges21:39 Business Meets Spirituality31:42 Karmapreneurship: Merging Profit with Purpose45:46 Finding Your Why (Viktor Frankl Philosophy)50:00 Software Patents & Craftsmanship54:09 AI Disruption & Human Connection1:01:06 AI in Mental Health & Education1:08:24 Community Role in Tech Advancement1:12:25 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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🎙️ EP75 - Are Your Developers Ready for AI? The David vs Goliath Story
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;TR02:00 Introduction to Speech AI and Its Journey04:49 David vs. Goliath: Competing with Giants08:01 Customization: The Key to Customer Satisfaction10:38 The Importance of Employee Satisfaction13:46 Customer-Centricity in Business16:31 Technology Development and Innovation19:32 The Role of Ethics in Business22:31 Building Trust with Customers25:21 The Importance of Soft Skills28:30 Creating a Collaborative Work Environment31:22 Long-Term Relationships and Employee Retention33:13 Conclusion: The Future of Speech AI44:37 Ethical Business and Customer-Centric Organizations46:00 Bridging the Skills Gap in Tech52:56 The Importance of Practical Experience59:27 Coaching and Mentorship in Organizations01:05:03 AI Readiness and Organizational Challenges01:13:03 Navigating the AI Revolution01:19:41 Balancing Regulation and Innovation in AI🏷️ HasTags#AIAdoption #CollaborativeAI #CulturalReadiness #TechLeadership #CustomerCentric #SoftwareEngineering #forgeofunicornsChapter #ai #software Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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🎙️E74 - Why Only Soldier-Minded Teams Become Unicorns
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 Strategies02:46 – Identifying and Nurturing Unicorns05:40 – The Importance of Team Dynamics08:50 – Evaluating Business Models & Market Potential11:39 – Grit & Resilience in Founders14:34 – Engineering Excellence & Craftsmanship17:34 – Agility & Mission-Driven Innovation20:29 – Capital Efficiency & Sustainable Growth27:41 – Building Mission-Driven Teams30:25 – Culture of Excellence45:19 – Leadership Burnout & Coaching51:47 – 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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🎙️ EP73 - AI Won’t Fix Us. It Amplifies Us!
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 Introduction01:19 Welcome to the Froge 🔥02:15 Stephan Donze: The Journey of a Technical CEO05:30 The Importance of Document Management Systems09:50 The Need for Standards in Software Engineering12:50 The Challenges of Software Quality and Reliability18:00 AI’s Role in Software Development22:01 Pragmatic AI Applications in Document Management28:30 The Evolution of Automation in Business30:24 Cybersecurity Challenges in AI31:49 The Importance of Technical Expertise in Leadership34:21 Mediocrity in the Software Industry39:01 The Talent Crisis in Software Development41:58 Tech Disruption and the blind jump on it46:15 Investment Trends in Software vs. AI53:07 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.
Über The Forge 🔥 of Unicorns - by Michele Brissoni
Welcome to The Forge 🔥 of Unicorns — the podcast where digital evolution meets elite performance. 🚀I’m Michele Brissoni (Mike) — Tech Advisor, Fractional CTO, and Board-Level Strategist.Over the past two decades, I’ve invented models and frameworks that have reshaped how organizations evolve in the software era:BOKaRy 📈 — our latest innovation, a Behavioral-OKR governance framework bridging vision, behavior, and delivery to generate exceptional ROI for boards, CEOs, and investors.SW Craftsmanship Dojo® 🥋 — born in the elite world of engineering excellence at Ferrari Formula 1 during the glorious Michael Schumacher era, evolved into a behavior-engineered continuous active learning system for elite software craftsmanship.Unicorns’ Ecosystem 🦄 — a predictable, holistic model born to fight the de-facto standard of mediocracy in IT, which kills more organizations than anything else. By fusing behavioral science, neuroscience, and organizational psychology, it combats the hidden killers while igniting elite IT performance.Born from decades of research and experimentation, these models guarantee zero disruption and measurable outcomes. They have already guided thousands of developers, C-level leaders, and Fortune 500 organizations in industries ranging from finance and healthcare to transport and telecom.Each episode of The Forge of Unicorns delivers:🎙️ Bold conversations with CEOs, investors, and technical leaders.🧭 Actionable strategies to escape failed transformations and achieve real evolution.🤖 AI mastery without the hype — practical frameworks to harness AI for measurable outcomes, not inflated promises.🧠 Behavioral insights rooted in 20+ years of research and practice.💡 Survival toolkits for boards, managers, developers, and agilists facing burnout, disengagement, and stalled revenues.In today’s volatile digital landscape, transformation alone is not enough. To survive, thrive, and secure the future, organizations need systems engineered for resilience, clarity, and exponential performance. That’s what this podcast is about.👉 Want more? Subscribe to The Forge of Unicorns Newsletter 📰 for deep dives, case studies, and more: go.brix.consulting/ForgeOfUnicorns.Stop merely following the herd of transformations by the book!Start true evolution of your organization towards elite 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟Powered by Acast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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