Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
Riding Unicorns is the go-to podcast for anyone interested in venture capital and high-growth startups. Hosted by VCs James Pringle and Hector Mason, the show explores what it takes to build and back successful tech unicorns.
Each episode features candid conversations with top founders, operators, and investors—unpacking the strategies, challenges, and insights behind scaling category-defining companies. From fundraising and product-market fit to hiring, growth, and beyond, no topic is off-limits. Whether you're a founder, VC, angel investor, or just curious about the world of startups, you’ll find valuable takeaways in every episode.
Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
AI, Infra vs Apps & Spotting Red Herrings with Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird
Akash Bajwa, Principal at Earlybird VC, one of Europe’s longest-standing early-stage funds.
Akash shares his journey into venture and how he helped launch Earlybird’s London office, now a core hub for the firm. We dive into the state of AI investing, how to distinguish enduring companies from short-term hype, and what traits define the next wave of outlier founders.
With experience backing companies like Briefcase (AI for accountants) and Spatial (3D generative AI), Akash offers a deep and practical perspective on both infrastructure and application-layer AI—and how to evaluate founder-market fit in the era of LLMs.
In this episode, we discuss:
- 🧠 What “the art of early-stage” really means at Earlybird
- 🤖 AI-native founders vs experienced SaaS veterans – who wins?
- 💡 Infra vs apps – where to invest, and how to spot defensibility
- 🚀 Why velocity and learning rate matter more than credentials
- ⚠️ Red herrings in AI and why some infra startups vanish overnight
- 🛠️ From vector DBs to prompt tooling – what survives when labs move fast
- 🔎 Deep dive on recent Earlybird investments including Briefcase and Spatial
- 💬 Why go-to-market insight is more valuable than tech alone
- 🔮 How to underwrite GenAI founders in an environment that’s changing monthly
Whether you're building at the frontier of AI, trying to raise your seed round, or navigating a product roadmap in a fast-moving category, this conversation offers frameworks you’ll want to revisit.
