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
Building the "Spotify of Textbooks" with Gauthier Van Malderen, Founder @ Perlego
Hector is joined by Gauthier van Malderen, Founder and CEO of Perlego, the “Spotify for textbooks” and one of Europe’s leading edtech scale-ups.
Gauthier shares the remarkable journey of building Perlego from a personal frustration with expensive university textbooks into a global subscription platform transforming access to educational content. He reflects on early failures, the turning points that led to success, and how COVID accelerated the company’s growth.
The discussion dives deep into topics including:
- Solving the chicken-and-egg problem of marketplace growth
- The power of B2B partnerships in edtech
- Building a resilient and mission-driven culture
- Hiring mistakes, founder evolution, and staying authentic as a CEO
- Lessons from scaling internationally and the differences between European and US venture ecosystems
Gauthier also shares his thoughts on leadership, founder ambition, and why being “more American” changed his mindset on growth and success.
A candid and inspiring conversation about persistence, humility, and global ambition from one of Europe’s standout founders.
