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
The future of Social Commerce with Sam Jacobs, Co-Founder @ Go Places
Sam Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Go Places, the operating system for social commerce.
In just 18 months, Go Places has become a trusted partner to some of the world’s biggest brands including Samsung, Mars, The Body Shop, and Trip. Backed by deep experience from Amazon and Coca-Cola, Sam and his co-founder Jack are building the infrastructure layer for TikTok Shop, combining performance, content, live shopping, affiliate management and analytics into a single high-performance engine.
Go Places runs 9 in-house live shopping studios (growing to 25 next year), manages 60+ trained presenters, and has developed AI-powered tools like One Place - a real-time data platform that helps brands understand the full impact of social commerce beyond the TikTok checkout.
We dive deep into:
📈 The rise of TikTok Shop and why social commerce isn’t just a trend — it’s becoming a core pillar of brand distribution
🎥 Lessons from China’s live shopping boom and why it’s just getting started in the West
🛠️ Building infrastructure: from creator training to studio logistics and custom AI tooling
💡 How enterprise brands are learning to think like challenger brands in social commerce
🤖 AI’s role in content generation, performance analysis, and dynamic presenter optimisation
🚀 Scaling a startup from 6 to 35 people in 12 months — while maintaining speed and culture
🧠 The underrated skill every founder needs: how to sell
🌍 Why luxury brands are coming to TikTok Shop — and how Go Places helps them adapt
Plus, Sam shares his North Star vision, the wildest stat from TikTok Shop, his dream dinner guests (including Mourinho and Ryan Reynolds), and his future unicorn pick in AI-powered finance support.
This is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of commerce, creator-led brands, or scaling complex operations at speed. Sam brings clarity, ambition, and sharp execution to one of the most exciting spaces in consumer tech right now.
