Unicorn Builders

Michel Tricot: the Story of Airbyte ($1.5 Billion Valuation)

In today’s episode of Unicorn Builders, we speak with Michel Tricot, CEO of Airbyte, an open source data integration platform that’s raised over $180 Million in funding, about how their open source, future-proof solution is helping businesses everywhere extract tangible value from the data they are all now producing. Developed over several years alongside an open source community of engineers, Airbyte have made sure they address real pain points for their partners by learning as much as possible about the problem space from those working right at the coal-face.
We also speak about why Michel believes the demise of the Bay Area startup sector has been greatly exaggerated, how his lifelong passion for data has carried through to all his big business decisions, why data now determines success for most businesses in the modern economy, and how building trust with customers in your industry is a great investment in future growth.
Topics Discussed:
Michel’s lifelong love of data, and how toys translated into cutting-edge software solutions
Moving to San Francisco, and why the ups-and-downs of investment cycles don’t change the fundamental innovation present in the Bay Area
Why collecting data is ultimately about getting a big-picture view of what’s going on, regardless of what sector you operate in
How Airbyte went about learning as much as possible about the problem space they were getting into before making any big decisions
Why Airbyte went with PLG, and managed to successfully leverage their community for great market growth
How the open-source success of Airbyte provides a model for other budding tech businesses to facilitate organic innovation both within and without

Martin Mao: the Story of Chronosphere ($1.6 Billion Valuation)

In today’s episode of Unicorn Builders, we speak with Martin Mao, CEO and co-founder of Chronosphere, a Cloud-Native Observability Platform that raised more than $250 million in funding and has been ranked as one of the top ten fastest growing SaaS companies ever, reaching unicorn status in just 2 years and four months.
Topics Discussed:
What Chronosphere does, the problem it solves, and the types of companies using the platform today.
The origin story behind the company — born from personally experiencing the problem while Martin and his co-founder working on the Observability team at Uber.
Why Chronosphere takes a top-down GTM motion.
How Martin thinks about category creation.
How Chronosphere engages firms like Gartner to educate them about how they see the market evolving and their PoV.
Three actionable takeaways that Martin attributes to the incredible growth of the company.
The top challenges Chronosphere faced in the early days and how they overcame those challenges
Why investors are so excited about the opportunity to back the company with more than $250 million.
What personally excites Martin about the work he gets to do every day.
What’s in store for the future of the company and where Martin plans to take the company over the next 5 years.

Marc-Alexander Christ: the Story of SumUp ($8.5 Billion Valuation)

In today’s episode of Unicorn Builders, we speak with Marc-Alexander Christ, Co-Founder of SumUp, a mobile point of sale solution that’s raised $1.5 Billion in funding, about the trials and challenges of disrupting the established payments industry, as well as the benefits it brings to small businesses everywhere. By simplifying orders, unifying payment processes and providing critical insights on everything from tax payments to business performance, SumUp is empowering small businesses with software tools that, until now, have been the reserve of major enterprises.
We also talk about Marc-Alexander’s background in banking and real estate finance, the inspiration for revolutionizing existing payments systems which inspired founding SumUp, causing a major market disruption and the inevitable skepticism that brings from incumbents, and why small businesses became the focus of this global-facing payments platform.
Topics Discussed:
Marc-Alexander’s background in banking and real estate finance, and how he eventually found himself in the startup sector
The inspiration for SumUp’s disruptive payments system and what it means for small businesses
Why doing something new will always bring skepticism from incumbents, but why real disruption is always worth it
Why focusing on payments addresses a critical pain point for SumUp’s clients in the small business world
How resilience and investor appeal have both contributed to SumUp’s success in the startup economy

Introducing Unicorn Builders

According to AngelList, seed-funded founders have a 2.5% chance of building a company worth more than $1 billion. Unicorn Builders interviews founders who've defied the odds and made it happen. This show is brought to you by FrontLines.io