97% of enterprise developers use AI coding tools. Trust crashed from 40% to 29% in one year. METR found experienced developers 19% slower while believing they were 20% faster. The 39-point perception gap exposes why your AI investment isn't delivering—and the 4-dimension framework that fixes it.

🎙️ EP81 - The AI Readiness Assessment | The Last Mile to 4X Results with AI Coding Tools

You made the right investment. GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code—the tools work. But without readiness across 4 dimensions, AI amplifies dysfunction instead of excellence. This episode reveals the diagnostic framework and the pathway to turn your investment into exponential results.

---

In this episode, Michele (Mike) Brissoni exposes the AI-readiness gap costing CTOs millions: the delta between how fast organizations adopt AI and how prepared teams are to supervise it, validate it, and integrate it. He introduces the AI Readiness Assessment framework measuring organizational capacity across four critical dimensions, reveals why spec-driven development unlocks AI for experienced developers, and demonstrates how behavioral engineering—not more tools—closes the last AI-mile.

💡 KEY INSIGHTS:

- 97% of enterprise developers have used AI coding tools

- Trust in AI accuracy dropped from 40% to 29% in just one year

- 39-point perception gap: teams 19% slower while believing 20% faster

- Experienced developers find traditional AI coding tools distracting without proper workflows

- Spec-driven development expands AI's reach from 30% to full development lifecycle

- AI readiness gap = delta between adoption speed and organizational capacity

- The bottleneck is behavior, not infrastructure

- Four dimensions determine AI success: focus, technical practices, product health, customer feedback

- Miss one dimension and you stall, miss two and you suffer, miss four and you fail

- Companies with strong fundamentals see 4X better AI results than those without

- Elite XP teams correct mistakes in one week; canonical enterprises take a quarter

- AI becomes an expensive accelerator for your failure without readiness

🗣️ KEY QUOTES:

"They were 19% slower while believing they were 20% faster."

"AI amplifies what you have in the company."

"Driving a Ferrari Enzo at 200 mph with 45% brakes—that's your AI adoption gap."

"If developers don't have the cognitive capacity to supervise AI, you're dead on arrival."

"Spec-driven development turns AI into a real co-pilot."

"Miss one dimension and you stall. Miss two and you suffer. Miss four and you fail."

"Stop embracing AI blindly. Start being aware."

---

🎯 READY TO CLOSE THE GAP?

Get your FREE AI-Readiness Assessment for your software team.

One number showing where you stand across 4 dimensions. Zero cost.

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

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In this episode, Michele (Mike) Brissoni explores the challenges and realities of software development in the age of AI. He discusses the historical context of coding productivity, the impact of Agile and DevOps methodologies, and the effects of remote work on developer efficiency. Brissoni emphasizes the importance of fundamentals over tools, highlighting the silent killers of productivity such as multitasking and environmental noise. He uses the automotive industry as a case study to illustrate the consequences of neglecting software fundamentals and calls for a reevaluation of how organizations approach AI adoption and developer training.

💡 KEY INSIGHTS:

- AI is revolutionizing software development but poses significant challenges

- Developers spend minimal time actually coding, often less than 10%

- Agile methodology, while promoting collaboration, can hinder productivity

- Remote work has both benefits and drawbacks for developer focus

- AI tools can exacerbate existing issues in coding practices

- Mind wandering and multitasking significantly reduce developer productivity

- Automotive industry exemplifies dangers of prioritizing speed over fundamentals

- Strong organizational fundamentals lead to 4x better performance with AI

- Companies must assess AI readiness and developer fundamentals

- A shift from tools to foundational practices is essential for success

🗣️ KEY QUOTES:

"Coding is NOT the bottleneck. Indeed devs spend 10 to max 39% of their time actually coding!"

"We have destroyed them even before start coding."

"We need AI free days to prevent skill atrophy."

"Companies with strong fundamentals achieve almost four times the performance of companies without them when adopting AI."

---

🎯 READY TO FACE THE TRUTH?

Get your FREE AI-Readiness Quick Scan for software teams.

Clear data on where your team stands. Zero cost.

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

⚠️ Only 3 spots remaining for Q4 2025

---

📝 DEEP DIVE ARTICLE:

Full written analysis drops Thursday on Substack & LinkedIn

Subscribe: https://theforgeofunicorns.substack.com/

---

ABOUT THE FORGE OF UNICORNS:

Weekly insights for C-level executives, PE/VC leaders, and board members on building elite software organizations. 80+ episodes analyzing what really works in the AI era—backed by data from 130 people who built 52 unicorns.

Host: Michele (Mike) Brissoni

Background: F1-inspired behavioral engineering for software teams. 15+ years building the Software Craftsmanship Dojo. Engineer by training (robotics, telecom, software). Zero tolerance for mediocrity.

Mission: Elevate software development to F1-level mastery through systematic behavioral engineering.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes

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

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

Your $10M AI investment produces garbage code because you hired mediocre, trained badly, and blamed developers when production burned. Not their fault. Yours. This episode explores how leadership and organizational behavior shape software engineering teams—and why understanding the dynamics between teamwork, coding discipline, and behavioral transformation determines whether your software development succeeds or fails.

I reveal the Software Craftsmanship Dojo, the behavioral transformation system that turns broken teams into 1% Elite performers—using the same neuroscience that transforms terrified kids into confident martial artists.

🥋 THE 6 PARALLELS:

→ Repetition creates instinct (not compliance)

→ Fundamentals before frameworks (or 3 AM calls never stop)

→ Sparring = pair programming (safe failure builds mastery)

→ Belt system = KBI progression (measurable transformation)

→ Sensei = cultural rewiring (mirror neurons & role model)

→ Respect → Ownership (discipline builds elite mindset)

💡 KEY INSIGHTS:

- Why Key Behavioral Indicators predict team failure before production burns

- The hostile environment paradox: build the 1% without executive buy-in

- How grassroots transformation works when leadership won't act

- Why AWS certifications and Agile workshops fail (training ≠ transformation)

- The neuroscience of identity shift through deliberate practice

🎯 WHO THIS IS FOR:

- CTOs tired of being told it's a "people problem"

- Engineering leaders drowning in production incidents

- VPs watching AI investments produce zero ROI

- Anyone building software teams in hostile environments

---

🎯 READY TO FACE THE TRUTH?

Get your FREE AI-Readiness Quick Scan for software teams.

Clear data on where your team stands. Zero cost.

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

⚠️ Only 3 spots remaining for Q4 2025

---

📝 DEEP DIVE ARTICLE:

Full written analysis drops Thursday on Substack & LinkedIn

Subscribe: https://theforgeofunicorns.substack.com/

---

ABOUT THE FORGE OF UNICORNS:

Weekly insights for C-level executives, PE/VC leaders, and board members on building elite software organizations. 77+ episodes analyzing what really works in the AI era—backed by data from 130 people who built 52 unicorns.

Host: Michele (Mike) Brissoni

Background: F1-inspired behavioral engineering for software teams. 15+ years building the Software Craftsmanship Dojo. Engineer by training (robotics, telecom, software). Zero tolerance for mediocrity.

Mission: Elevate software development to F1-level mastery through systematic behavioral engineering.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes

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

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

Three years after ChatGPT's release, $2.5 trillion wasted in 2024 alone. Forecast for 2027? $4 trillion. Meanwhile, 38% burnout rate, 77% disengaged workforce, and 90% failure rate on digital transformations.

After 77 episodes analyzing 130 people who built 52 unicorns, one pattern emerged: The bottleneck isn't AI, Agile, or capital. It's the 1% problem—the extreme scarcity of people capable of executing at elite level.

This episode is different. No guest. Just me and one year of brutal research findings. The patterns nobody wants to hear. The truth about why AI amplifies dysfunction instead of solving it.

---

🎯 WHO SHOULD LISTEN:

CEOs wrestling with failed digital transformations

CTOs scaling teams but losing quality

VCs/PEs analyzing portfolio performance

Board members demanding ROI from AI investments

Engineering leaders tired of mediocrity

If you've invested millions in AI tools and seen minimal results, this explains why.

---

📊 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

- Why 52 unicorns all pointed to the same bottleneck (and it's not technology)

- The 1% paradox: How talent scarcity lowered hiring standards to catastrophic levels

- Why IT/software lacks the professional standards that make medicine and engineering reliable

- How AI acts as a mirror—amplifying excellence OR weaponizing dysfunction at scale

- The three-layer filtering system that separates elite performers from the 99%

- Why digital transformation fatigue is structural, not temporary

- How generative culture beats process-heavy bureaucracy every single time

- The real cost of accepting mediocrity: $2.5T wasted and climbing

---

🔥 KEY INSIGHTS:

"AI doesn't fail because of technology. It fails because of who uses it."

"You can't buy the 1%. You have to build them."

"Small elite teams always beat large bloated organizations."

"77% of employees are disengaged."

"38% burnout rate is alarming."

---

🫵 READY TO FACE THE TRUTH?

Get your FREE AI-Readiness Quick Scan for software teams.

Clear data on where your team stands. Zero cost.

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

⚠️ Only 3 spots remaining for Q4 2025

---

📝 DEEP DIVE ARTICLE:

Full written analysis drops Thursday on Substack & LinkedIn

Subscribe: https://theforgeofunicorns.substack.com/

---

ABOUT THE FORGE OF UNICORNS:

Weekly insights for C-level executives, PE/VC leaders, and board members on building elite software organizations. 77+ episodes analyzing what really works in the AI era—backed by data from 130 people who built 52 unicorns.

Host: Michele (Mike) Brissoni

Background: F1-inspired behavioral engineering for software teams. 15+ years building the Software Craftsmanship Dojo. Engineer by training (robotics, telecom, software). Zero tolerance for mediocrity.

Mission: Elevate software development to F1-level mastery through systematic behavioral engineering.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes

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

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

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 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

----

📖 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;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

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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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