Build Mode

n the season finale of Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Paul Irving, Partner and COO of GTMfund, to discuss go-to-market strategies for the AI era. Paul shares specific, actionable advice on how early-stage startups can win even when facing well-funded competitors who iterate at lightning speed. He also explains why distribution has become the final remaining moat when technical advantages disappear in months instead of years, and why every company needs a unique go-to-market motion tailored to their specific ICP. 

If you just can’t get enough AI-native GTM strategies, check out this episode of the GTMnow podc...

We're bringing you a special TechCrunch podcast crossover episode. Isabelle joins Equity Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan to dissect the year's biggest tech developments, from mega AI funding rounds that defied expectations to the rise of "physical AI," and make their calls for 2026. 

The group tackled everything from why AI agents didn't live up to the hype in 2025 (but probably will in 2026), to how Hollywood will push back against AI-generated content, to why VCs are facing a serious liquidity crisis.  

Listen to the full episode to hear: 

Founders Gabriel Sanchez (Enspectra Health) and Tom Harries (Earth Funeral) share what it takes to build in heavily regulated industries where "move fast and break things" simply won't work. In this episode of Build Mode, they reveal the realities of navigating FDA approval processes, state-by-state regulations, and cultural taboos while building products that are literally matters of life and death. Gabriel walks through Enspectra's nearly decade-long journey to FDA clearance for their skin imaging device, while Tom discusses building a human composting service as an alternative to cremation and burial. They offer tactical advice on iterating while waiting for regulato...

Venture capitalists Ross Fubini (XYZ Ventures) and Leslie Feinzaig (Graham & Walker Ventures) pull back the curtain on how VCs build their own go-to-market strategies — not just how they evaluate startups, but also how they win over LPs and founders alike. In this episode of Build Mode, they share hard-won lessons from raising their first funds and how that experience allows them to empathize with founders. They discuss why "founder-market fit" applies to VCs too, how authentic thought leadership beats manufactured content, and why the best investor relationships start years before you need the money. Plus, the importance of building tru...

Alltroo co-founders Kyle Rudolph and Jon Walburg share how they transformed their pro-athlete star power into a fundraising platform that allows their community the ability to donate to a variety of organization and win high-value prizes. In this episode of Build Mode, they reveal how they leveraged their networks to disrupt the charitable giving industry, from raising half a million dollars for the NFL in their first year to learning hard lessons about scaling too fast. They discuss the pivot from $10,000 golf tournaments to $10 sweepstakes entries, building trust with both celebrities and fans, and why your network is your...

Glīd CEO and founder Kevin Damoa shares what it takes to win Startup Battlefield 2025 and build a company solving real infrastructure problems. Fresh off his victory, De reveals how a veteran's perspective on logistics led to an autonomous solution bridging congested roads and underutilized rail. Plus, he shares how mindfulness, mission-driven culture, and $70M in early customer commitments positioned Glīd for success. 

Chapters: 

00:00 Intro 

01:13 What Glīd does: Autonomous transloading explained 

02:40 From military logistics to founding Glīd 

04:05 Moving containers: The versatility of TEUs 

04:47 $70M in commitments and five rai...

Luna co-founder Jas Schembri-Stothart and Untapped Solutions founder Andre Peart share how they cracked go-to-market for audiences most startups avoid. In this episode of Build Mode, they reveal the guerrilla tactics, trust-building strategies, and creative experiments that helped them reach teenage girls and formerly incarcerated workers—from crashing Taylor Swift concerts to keynoting re-entry conferences. 

Chapters: 
00:00 Intro  

03:15 Getting Grilled by Teens: Luna's School Roadshow  

05:04 The Ambassador Army That Designed the App  

06:11 When Teen Content Goes Viral on TikTok  

07:32 Untapped's Origin: From Prison to Building Solutions  

11:03 The Power of Storytellin...

Forethought AI co-founder Deon Nicholas shares how he built a company that puts customers (not hype) at the center. In this episode of Build Mode, he unpacks his “7-Failure Rule,” the early experiments that shaped Forethought’s success, and why conviction should always come from your users, not your investors. 

Chapters:

00:00 Intro 

01:23 The Founder Journey: Adapting Every 6-9 Months 

05:33 From AI Research to Solving Business Problems 

11:12 Finding Your Customer: The Importance of User Conversations 

18:22 Building Demos and Landing First Paying Customers 

25:12 The Seven Failure Rule for Product Ma...

Build Mode is TechCrunch's newest podcast, hosted by Startup Battlefield Editor, Isabelle Johannessen. This season we’re talking with founders and VCs sharing hard-won lessons on getting to market—the right way, the hard way, and the creative way.

TechCrunch is launching a new podcast Build Mode, which brings candid startup wisdom from the people who build, break, and build again. Build Mode is hosted by our very own Startup Battlefield Editor, Isabelle Johannessen who is joined by founders, investors, and operators to dig into the uncomfortable truths about startup life. Think cap table drama, co-founder breakups, and pivot panic. Wherever you are in your startup journey, this podcast will be your field guide. Season 1 is launching November 13.

This is our last episode of Found so we wanted to share where it all started. Please enjoy our very first episodewith Jordan Crook and Darrell Etherington interviewing Iman Abuzeid from Incredible Health. Please be sure to check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity And if you find yourself missing Found, you can always go back into the archives at techcrunch.com/found.

For this week's episode, we’re sharing a bonus conversation from backstage at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt. Tim De Chant talked with Areeb Malik, co-founder and CTO of Glacier; Allison Wolff, co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Planet, and Hyuk-Jeen Suh, co-founder of Venx and general partner at SkyRiver Ventures. On stage the panel discussed how a startup can balance doing good with delivering the financial returns they need to keep the lights on. They continue in that vein for this bonus conversation as they dive deep into how successful founder have built profitable companies that are good for the world.

Enterprise AI is booming so it’s no wonder that, as companies figure out how to implement it, the industry of AI infrastructure is emerging. This week Becca and Dom talk to Nick Frosst from Cohere, the AI company building natural language models for enterprise customers. They discuss why Frosst thinks the AI boom isn’t built on a bubble, whether or not AI companies are building toward a “digital god”, and how AI regulation could be a good thing. 

(0:00) Introduction

(6:15) Enterprise applications for AI language models

(12:12) Building multilingual models

(14:58) Fundraising and the A...

In this episode, Dom and Becca are joined by Former Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn to talk about his mission to reverse America's loneliness epidemic through Pie, an app built to facilitate connections in the real world. They discuss the lessons Dunn brought from fundraising for Bonobos to Pie, founder mental health, and building a consumer movement in the midwest.

On this episode of Found, Dom is joined by Sara and Erin Foster along with their advisor at Oversubscribed Ventures, Phil Schwarz. Across their careers, the Foster sisters have co-founded the clothing line Favorite Daughter, co-led creative for Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF, and currently co-host a podcast together. Erin Foster even created the top Netflix show “Nobody Wants This,” starring Kristen Bell. But in this conversation we get into how they made the pivot to VC, the type of investments that excite them the most, and how they balance all of the different facets of their careers.

Duration: 00:20:22

This week on found, Dom and Becca are talking with the co-founders of Alloy Women’s Health who just closed a new funding round to expand its mission of fixing menopause care. Monica Molinar and Anne Fulenwider discuss raising capital in a competitive health tech landscape, their choice to bypass traditional insurance models, and how this funding will help them scale their telehealth platform nationally.

00:00 - Introduction 
04:37 - Turning personal experience into a business idea
08:55 - The challenges of raising awareness about menopause
10:00 - Why Alloy bypasses insurance 
15:00 - Scaling a telehealth model
1...

This week on Found, Dom and Becca are diving into the world of data governance with Collibra CEO Felix Van de Maele. They get into how maintaining organized data started as a niche concept and became the bedrock of AI and privacy compliance. They also talk about the early challenges of building a startup in Belgium, the lucky breaks that saved the company, and why Felix believes every employee is a “data citizen.”

00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - The Importance of Organized Data in the Age of AI
05:00 - Collibra’s Early Days
07:13 - How the 2008 Financ...

In this episode, Dom and Becca dive into the future of trucking with Raquel Urtasun, CEO and co-founder of Waabi, a company pioneering driverless, long-haul trucks powered by generative AI. They talked about Waabi's unique simulation-based training approach, its vision for autonomous technology, and how it could redefine the trucking industry and workforce.

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each

This week we’re taking you backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt. Becca Szkutak had the chance to talk with Dan Lorenc, the CEO and co-founder of cybersecurity startup Chainguard following their conversation on stage with prominent investors, The Chainsmokers. They discuss how the EDM duo's venture fund MANTIS went from being viewed skeptically by traditional VCs to becoming a highly sought-after investment partner in the B2B space, how Lorenc scaled the company in a difficult time for cybersecurity, and what value celebrity investors can add to a startup.

Check out the full onstage conversation here.

00:00...

Recorded live from TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, Found co-hosts Becca Szkutak and Dominic Davis sit down with Kai Kloepfer, CEO of Biofire, a smart gun company that aims to prevent firearm misuse. Kloepfer gets into the hurdles of building a hardware startup in the firearm industry from fundraising to building a reliable product. Please note this conversation deals with topics around gun violence and suicide. 

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to h...

This week on Found, Dom and Becca talk with Howie Liu, the CEO and co-founder of Airtable to talk about how the Airtable team used smart UX to make app development accessible to even the least technical users. They also discuss how human-computer interaction is at the core of Airtable’s mission and behind each new product they put out. And they get into early missteps, the investor advice that Liu didn’t follow, and the unlikely inspiration behind Airtable’s design.

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcas...

This week on Found Dom and Becca talk with  Josh Reeves, co-founder and CEO of Gusto. He shares how the company is transforming small business operations. We explore the complexities of payroll, benefits, and compliance, and how Gusto is helping entrepreneurs navigate these challenges. They also discuss hoe Gusto has managed to stand out in a competitive industry and the important of being excited by the problem you're solving as an entrepreneur. 

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out th...

In this week's episode of Found, KiwiCo’s Sandra Lin talks about building a STEM-focused toy business. She explains the importance of inspiring creativity in kids, the company’s massive growth to 50 million crates delivered, and how she sought out feedback from parents and kids alike. They also discuss how the company recently expanded from and online-only DTC to selling in brick and mortar stores. 

00:00 - Introduction 
01:24 - The Story Behind KiwiCo: From Idea to Business
04:53 - Turning an Idea into a Marketable Product
06:32 - Testing and Feedback Beyond the Bay Area
10:00 - Early...

Most used car dealers in the U.K. get their stock from auctions, and one startup is moving the process online to make it easier for both car owners and car dealers. This week, Becca and special co-host Kirsten are talking with Harry Jones, the co-founder of Motorway, a U.K. startup helping professional car dealers to bid in an auction for privately owned cars for sale. Motorway has seen rapid success, with a car sold every three minutes and a GMV of £2.2 billion last year. In this episode, Becca, Kirsten and Harry chat about the importance of focusing o...

This week on Found, Dom and Becca talk with Haitham Eletrabi, the creator of Tennibot. They discuss his journey from civil engineering to inventing a device that he calls the "roomba for tennis". Tennibot not only picks up tennis balls autonomously but also saves players and coaches time, allowing them to focus on improving their game. Join us as we explore how this innovative product is transforming the tennis world, from its humble beginnings to becoming a game-changer in sports tech.

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts...

Finding order in chaotic datasets is key for companies to be able to implement AI solutions that actually work. This week’s guest is Prukalpa Sanka, the co-CEO and co-founder of Atlan, a platform designed to help data teams build trust, streamline workflows, and collaborate more effectively. Atlan emerged from the challenges of managing complex data projects and is now empowering organizations to scale their data operations while maintaining transparency and trust. In this episode they discuss how Atlan has maintained a fun company culture despite the stress and how her and her co-founder have maintained a great working re...

Research is completely lacking when it comes to information about women’s hormonal health. Today’s guest is working to compile data and help women find the care they need. This week on Found, we’re talking to Sylvia Kang, the CEO and co-founder of Mira, a women’s health company that is providing home hormonal testing. They discuss the challenges on fundraising for women’s health startups, the importance of research to drive change and access in healthcare, and how Mira forged a new path by becoming FDA approved.

00:00 - Introduction and Overview of Women’s Hormonal Hea...

Microplastics are everywhere: In our water, cleaning supplies, and in so many of our everyday household essentials. This week’s guest, Sarah Paiji Yoo, started Blueland to  help us cut out microplastics and reduce the amount of single-use plastics we use, once and for all. Blueland creates eco-friendly and plastic free cleaning supplies. This week, Dom is joined by Tim De Chant to talk with Sarah about all the challenges of developing sustainable and safe cleaning supplies from formulation to creating a retail strategy and the role of corporate advocacy in driving environmental change.

Found pos...

It’s not every week that Becca and Dom get to talk to a founder who has been building companies for the past 22 years. This week on Found, we’re joined by Eric Ly, co-founder of LinkedIn and the current co-founder and CEO of KarmaCheck  startup that is making the background check process quicker and more transparent. Ly discusses his vision for streamlining background checks, the challenges of building multiple companies, and how his entrepreneurial mindset has evolved since the early days of the internet. You’ll learn about the future of online trust and the potential impact of blockch...

In this episode of Found, Becca and Dom sit down with Gavin Uberti, co-founder and CEO of Etched, an AI chip startup focusing on developing specialized chips. Gavin shares the bold bet his startup is making on transformer models for AI chips, aiming to take on industry giant Nvidia. They discuss how Etched is developing specialized chips that they claim will be an order of magnitude faster than competitors, and Uberti shares his insights on the future of AI hardware as models continue to rapidly scale up in size and capability.

[00:00] Introduction to Etched and AI chips  Duration: 00:39:55

HR software is big, big business. And no one understands that better than this week’s guest, Parker Conrad the CEO and co-founder of Rippling, a global HR company that offers global payroll, onboarding, time tracking, benefits management and more. In this episode he talks about what goes into building a leading HR tech company—from what it’s like building out features companies love, to dealing with fierce competition in this ever growing landscape. Conrad also gets into the power imbalance that can arise between VCs and founders and the drama at his previous company that inspired him to bui...

 There is a whole marketplace for used tech, it isn’t just a good deal for the customer, but it also helps curb waste that can lead to soil contamination, non-pot able water, and dangerous living conditions.  On this week’s episode of Found, we’re talking to Thibaud Hug de Larauze from BackMarket, a global marketplace for refurbished devices.

In this conversation they cover:

Despite the fact that water covers 71% of the Earth, there is still so much we don’t know about the ocean floor and  today’s founder is looking to change that. Joe Wolfel is the co-founder and CEO of Terradepth, the company that is working towards increasing ocean knowledge through autonomous, high resolution, scalable data collection in the deep ocean. On this week’s episode of Found, Becca is joined by guest co-host, Tim De Chant to discuss why mapping geological features at the bottom of the ocean isn’t just something worth doing for curiosity’s sake, it’s important t...

The higher education system isn’t working. Students pay way too much, professors don’t get paid enough, and many community college students that aspire to go on to get a Bachelor's degree aren't able to. But one startup thinks they have the solution. Today Becca is talking with Tade Oyerinde, the CEO and founder of Campus, a fully accredited online community college. They discuss how Tade found a school that was willing to come on board and align with his mission, the challenges of getting investors on board, and what he thinks it will take to make the high...

What is the right way to regulate AI? There appears to be as many different answers to that as there are regulators. In this week's episode of Found, we're bringing you a live interview from TechCrunch's recent Strictly VC event. Becca Szkutak talked with Helen Toner, the director of strategy and foundational research grants from the Center of Security and Emerging Technology and a former board member of OpenAI. Although she's not a founder herself, this conversation centers around topics crucial to every founder building today as AI continues to impact nearly every industry. 

Found p...

Today on Found, we’re talking to David Rogier, the CEO and founder of Masterclass, a streaming platform where you can learn from the world’s experts on a variety of topics, from baking to screen writing to developing empathy. Before David launched MasterClass, he worked as a VC. Through his connections there received a $500,000 seed round before he even had an idea for a company. That was nearly a decade ago, and today Dom, Becca and David talk about how he’s built the company since.

They also talked about:

It probably doesn’t come as too big of a surprise that cowboy boots aren’t typically sold online. So where is the modern cowboy supposed to shop? This week we’re talking to a founder who carved out a DTC market for western wear.  Paul Hedrick, the founder of Tecovas,  joins Dom and Becca to discuss the marketing strategy they came up with to change the perception of shopping for cowboy boots online and how the company has expanded to brick and mortar stores. 

In this conversation they cover:

This week on Found, we have an interview from TechCrunch's Strictly VC event in DC. Becca sat down with Steve Case, the founder of AOL to discuss policy, innovation, and AI. Case, now the founder of Revolution Ventures, told the live audience that open access not only helped his company back in the 90s but is also why the internet was able to progress in the way that it did. Regulators should aim for the same goal with AI policy despite the potential risks. He  argues that opening  up access to horizontal AI players like OpenAI and Google would al...

Many pots and pans on the market are coated in teflon, a poisonous chemical that can be harmful when it gets too hot. Luckily, there is an answer on the market — Caraway, a home goods brand that touts itself as being non-toxic but still high quality. Jordan Nathan founded the company after his own experience with Teflon poisoning that left him searching for a better — and healthier option. On this week’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca are joined by Nathan to discuss how he built a brand around aesthetically pleasing non-toxic home goods as we continue to dive i...

There is estimated to be 40 million acres of lawn or turf grass in the U.S., making the grass in people's backyards one of the largest crops in the U.S. and yet lawn care products are full of harmful chemicals. So Coulter Lewis decided to start a sustainable lawn care company that will help people learn how to care for their grass in a way that’s good for the planet. Sunday is a DTC that allows consumers to sign up and send in a sample of the dirt from their lawn that is used to pick out wh...

When someone starts two incredibly successful enterprise companies, they must really understand the issues enterprises face and how to solve them. This week on Found, Becca and Dom talk with Arvind Jain, the CEO and co-founder of Glean, an AI-powered work assistant that connects and understands enterprise knowledge. The idea for Glean was born out of Jain’s experience at his previous startup Rubrik.In this conversation they cover:
 

Food is medicine. This week’s guest on Found is Ashely Tyrner, the CEO and founder of  FarmboxRx which helps their customers manage their chronic diseases through bespoke grocery boxes  In this episode, Becca, Dom, and Ashley get into the logistics  of delivering fresh produce to their member and how they have become profitable while accepting SNAP/EBT and partnering with health plans. 

In this conversation they cover:

This week we're bringing you a conversation from our friends over at Equity. Alex Wilhelm caught up with EarlyDay’s two former CEOs, Emma Harris and Melissa Tran, and their new boss, Chris Bennett at Wonderschool, to chat through the deal, what’s ahead for their sector, and more.

 Wonderschool is a startup that works with individuals and local governments to spin up more childcare businesses by providing software and other support and they have acquired EarlyDay. EarlyDay, another venture-backed startup, operates a early childhood educator marketplace.

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple...

Clinical trials are ongoing for the first long-lasting, reversible male birth control which is the first innovation in male birth control since the vasectomy hit the scene in 1897. This week’s Found guest is Kevin Eisenfrats, the co-founder and CEO of Contraline, a biotech company developing innovative methods to use hydrogel as a contraceptive. Contraline’s first product, ADAM, is what some are calling the first male IUD. The company will begin clinical trials in the U.S. very soon.

In this conversation they cover:

Most OBGYNs are not specifically trained in menopause, which means that women are left to suffer through their symptoms on their own. This week’s guest on Found is looking to change that. Joanna Strober is the CEO and founder of Midi, a virtual healthcare platform built specifically for women in midlife staffed with healthcare providers specifically trained to care for people going through perimenopause and menopause.

In this conversation they cover:

Most skyscrapers have sky-high carbon footprints due mostly to inefficient methods of heating and cooling. Today’s guest, Joselyn Lai is the co-founder and CEO of Bedrock Energy, a company that works with buildings to install geothermal systems. They have developed a system to drill the exact amount of boreholes at the precise depth needed to create the most efficient system per building.

Today Dom is joined by a special guest host, TechCrunch Climate reporter Tim De Chant.

In this conversation they cover:

In order to get drivers to convert from gas-powered cars to electric, there needs to be reliable charging infrastructure. Today on Found, Dom and Becca are joined by Louis Tremblay, the CEO and founder of FLO, a company that manufactures electric vehicle charging stations and has been creating charging infrastructure in the US and Canada for the last 15 years. Tremblay also talked about how he intentionally built this company to be a rewarding and fun place to work and what advice he has for new founders trying to do the same. 

In this conversation they cover:

If you’re not in construction or in the middle of a renovation, you might not think much about wood waste but in 2018 alone landfills in the US received 12.2 million tons of wood. Most of this is useful material that could be reused, but the lack of infrastructure means the wasted wood can't always reach the developers, woodworkers, and creators who need it. This week on Found, we're talking to a founder who has a SaaS solution for this broken supply chain. Ben Christensen is the founder and CEO of Cambium, a company that is reimagining the wood supply ch...

Between the rising cost of groceries and the all too common food desert, access to healthy and affordable food in America is getting harder to find. Today’s guest, Nick Green is the co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, a membership-based online grocery store that focuses on natural and organic food and household products. Thrive Market isn’t just focused on offering healthy options, they want to ensure everyone has access to them so they’ve become the first online grocer to accept SNAP and EBT benefits. In this episode, Green discusses how it’s possible to build a business...

Every wildfire season seems to be getting more intense than the last but today’s guest is here to tell us that wildfires actually have a good side. Today on Found, we’re joined by Allison Wolff, the co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Planet, a cloud-based planning and monitoring tool for adaptive land management. Wolff discusses why the wildfires we’re seeing today are hotter and spreading more quickly than we can contain and how proper land management can help create the environment needed for the lower, slower burning fires forrest need. 

They also talked about:

Of all the work tasks you could automate with AI, submitting expenses would probably be high on the list. Today on Found, we’re talking to Eric Glyman, the CEO and cofounder of Ramp, a spend management platform that is building AI tools to make financial workflows easier for employees and employers. In this episode they talk about what Glyman and his co-founder learned from their first startup and how they see AI changing fintech forever.

They also talked about:

Recycling is one facet to solving the climate crisis, but most of us are doing it wrong. Today on Found, Becca and Dom are talking with Rebeca Hu, the CEO and cofounder of Glacier, an AI robotics company that is building robots to accurately sort recycling. They talk about how many of us are wish-cylers who hopefully throw non-recyclables into the bin and how Glacier’s robots are sorting the recycling and making sure all of our recycling mistakes are corrected.

They also talked about:

Applying for government benefits is a slow, tedious process that often leaves applicants in limbo for several months.  Advocate looks to help. Today on Found Becca and Dom are talking with Advocate’s founder Emilie Poteat, the company that helps Americans engage with federal benefits programs through its technology-enabled services platform. In this episode they discuss how the Advocate team is using AI to automate advocacy and get the wait time for people seeking aid to nearly nothing.They also talked about:
 

Do you know what brand your bedsheets are? Probably not. Today’s guest Ariel Kaye has been working to change that with Parachute, a DTC bedding and home goods company. Kaye started Parachute in 2013—the hayday of DTC brands. She joins Dom to talk about what it was like building as a solo founder while she’s established a well-known brand and expanded beyond bedding. 

They also talked about:

This episodes dives into the massive web of the wedding industry with Shan-Lyn Ma, the co-founder and CEO of Zola. Ma talked about why she decided to launch the business after trying to buy a gift for a friend and realizing that wedding registries were still living in the past. Ma spoke about how the company navigated changes in the digital and competitive landscapes over the last decade and how the company powered through the pandemic's impacts on the industry.

(0:00) Introduction

(3:33) Creating a better wedding planning experience

(8:45) Building in the wedding industry

Is it time for the resume’s reign to come to an end? Tigran Sloyan is the co-founder and CEO of CodeSignal, a skills assessment platform used by many tech companies to hire engineers based on their engineering chops rather than their keyword-packed resumes. In this episode, Becca, Dom, and Tigran talk about how traditional resume-based hiring perpetuates biases and limits opportunities for individuals without extensive networks or prestigious credentials and how skills assessment lead to more equitable hiring. They also get into the CodeSignal team’s plans to go beyond assessment to skills development, how AI will play a ro...

Not many businesses start with a seemingly incurable case of Bacterial Vaginosis but today’s guest, Beatrice Dixon, found a company and a cure all in one. The Honey Pot is a plant-based vaginal wellness brand that was co-founded by Beatrice after she launched by selling her products at hair shows. On today’s episode, she tells Becca and Dom how those hair shows lead to the Honey Pot hitting shelves in Target.

They also talked about:

It’s hard to remember a time when newsletters weren’t flooding every inbox but today’s guests were on the forefront of bringing easily digestible news directly to their audience. Today on Found, Becca is joined by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, co-founders and co-CEOs of theSkimm which is a digital media company, dedicated to succinctly giving women the information they need to make confident decisions. They talked about how they’ve navigated the digital media industry for over a decade, how they pitched this to investors when they were new to the game, and the importance of building...

Gut health might be having a moment on TikTok but Ben Goodwin the co-founder and CEO of Olipop knows first hand the monumental impact a healthy microbiome can have on your mental and physical health. Today on Found. Becca and Dom are joined by Ben to talk about how he led the gut-healthy soda brand to amass $200 million in gross sales just five years after their launch.

They also talked about:

Grab your spoon and a carton of milk because today on Found we’re talking to Magic Spoon co-founder and CEO Gabi Lewis. Magic Spoon creates cereal flavors that play on our nostalgia for Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs with a grown-up high-protein twist. Dom and Becca talk with Gabi about how he and his co-founder prioritized product-market fit and found investors who didn’t think cereal was dead. They also talked about:

On today’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca talk to Markus Witte, co-founder of Babbel, a language learning app that had been operating since 2007. Babbel has become one of the most prominent language-learning apps but their first product was essentially just a vocab game and they quickly discovered that a multi-modal way of learning will always be more effective. Markus also talked about why he decided to step down as CEO and take on the role of chairman and how all four co-founders have worked together to stick to the original mission of Babbel even after nearly 20 years. 

This week Found is going down under. New Zealand-based TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan talked with Alex Zaccaria the co-founder and CEO of Linktree about how they've scaled the freemium model to grow the social media reference landing page startup. Alex also talked about the challenges and benefits of fundraising internationally, the upside to raising in a more difficult climate, and how they see Linktree changing the way creators curate content for their audiences.

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check...

Welcome to a very special host-only episode of Found. Dom and Becca are breaking down 2023 in startups by looking back on some of our favorite conversations and looking forward to predict some startup trends in 2024. They talked about innovative climate tech companies, AI ethics and fundraising, building good founder relationships, and what next year could look like for startups. Thanks to all our listeners for an amazing year, we’ll see you in 2024!

Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the ot...

This week’s episode is focused on Charlie Hernandez and his journey of building My Pocket Lawyer, an online platform that is meant to democratize access to legal advice and guidance for those that might not be able to afford a lawyer. Hernandez talked about why he decided to put his law degree to use to tackle this problem. He also talked about:

This episode centers on James Wagoner, the co-founder and CEO of Joule Case, a startup that is creating a cleaner alternative to diesel generators. Wagoner talked about his journey to launching the company after the first company he, and his co-founder, started didn't survive the 2008 financial crisis. He also talked about: 

Found p...

Today on Found, we’re talking to David Rogier, the CEO and founder of Masterclass, a streaming platform where you can learn from the world’s experts on a variety of topics, from baking to screen writing to developing empathy. Before David launched MasterClass, he worked as a VC. Through his connections there received a $500,000 seed round before he even had an idea for a company. That was nearly a decade ago, and today Dom, Becca and David talk about how he’s built the company since.

They also talked about:

Medicaid is in its regulatory moment. Today we’re joined by Neil Batlivala from Pair Team, which is building the infrastructure that will help the most vulnerable populations get the clinical and social care they need through the Medicaid expansion. Dom and Becca talked to Neil about how his previous health tech experience lead him to start a company solely focused on connecting care facilities like food pantries and shelters to clinical training and care through Medicaid funding. They also talked about:
 

Studs co-founders and good friends Lisa Bubbers and Anna Harman want to own your ear piercings. They are helping Gen Z people and millennials create their dream earscape with piercing studios that are opening across the country. They talk with Becca and Dom about building and fundraising for a VC-backed brick and mortar business.They also talked about:

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Today on Found, we have something a little different and extra special for you. We’re bringing you two bonus conversations all about sustainability in fashion from TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. First up you’ll hear our very own Harri Weber sit down with three guests, Jim Ajioka from Colorifix, Beth Esponnette from unspun and Julie Willoughby from Circ. They are all powerhouses in sustainable fashion and they all happened to join Harri on the Sustainability Stage. Watch their full conversation here. 

In part two, we have a great conversation between TechCrunch’s Morgan Sung and Jemima Bunbury from BLEND...

On today’s episode, host Becca Szkutak is joined by our old friend Darrell Etherington to talk with Nasrat Khalid of Aseel. Aseel started as an ecommerce company making it possible for local artisans in Afghanistan to sell to customers across the world and has evolved into working in humanitarian aid delivering emergency food supplies to people in need in Afghanistan and Turkey.

They talk about:

Launching an e-commerce startup in the grocery space is no small task. On today’s episode Becca and Dom are joined by Abhi Ramesh, the CEO and founder of Misfits Market, a grocery startup that sells surplus and unwanted produce directly to consumers who don’t mind funny-looking foods. They talk about how he started the company in his apartment handling every aspect from personally buying the unwanted produce from the farms, to storing the food, to packaging and shipping, all while running the website and trying to fundraise. He racked up six-figure credit card debt to fund the logi...

Welcome back to Found, TechCrunch’s podcast that brings you the stories behind the startups. This week our hosts Becca Szkutak and Dom-Madori Davis talk with Jonas Torland from 7Analytics, a Norwegian company that has built a data platform that powers tools and products for sustainable risk management. Their models predict the water paths of floods which allow them to predict and map the damage.

They got into:

This week we’re bringing you a conversation with Hilary Mason from Hidden Door, an AI-driven narrative game engine. This mini-episode recorded in person at TechCrunch Disrupt and Dom and Hilary get into how generative AI is changing online gaming, building a team of creatives, and fundraising in the gaming space. 

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This week’s episode features a conversation with Giovanni Fili, the founder and CEO of Exeger, a startup that creates flexible solar cells that can create electric energy off of any light condition. Fili talked about what it has been like devoting the last 15 years of his career to a company based on tech that hadn’t previously been proven to work. He talked about running a deep tech company as a non-technical founder and how he’s built a capital-intensive startup off of relatively little funding.

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This week, our old friend Darrell Etherington joins Becca Szkutak to talk with Professor Esther Rodriguez-Villegas from Acurable. Acurable is a medical device company that makes patient-friendly wearable devices that accurately diagnose and manage respiratory conditions at home. As a career-long academic,  Rodriguez-Villegas never intended to be a founder until she learned about how the currently available medical devices made it extremely difficult to detect and treat diseases like sleep apnea and epilepsy. On this episode they talk about balancing academic research and running a company, how to scale a medical device startup, and how Acurable has spread to h...

The Found team recorded this episode live from TechCrunch Disrupt. Dom and Becca sat down with Window Snyder, a trailblazer in the cybersecurity industry who has dedicated her decades-long career to ensuring the internet and our devices are secure.  Snyder talked about why after years of working at companies like Apple, Microsoft, Fastly, and Square now was the right time to launch her startup, Thistle, which looks to build the security infrastructure needed to keep internet-connected smart devices safe.

They also covered:

On today’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca talk with Bianca Cefalo, CEO and co-founder of Space DOTS which is a space tech startup that makes testing materials in space cheaper and easier. This may sound a little far out but it is extremely difficult to validate new materials to be used in space. In this episode, Cefalo talks about how difficult it is to bootstrap a deep tech company, the challenges of testing materials in space, and how she leads their growing team.

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This episode is centered on Graham Hine, the co-founder and CEO of ePlant, a startup that creates sensors that monitor the health of trees. Hine talked about what got him interested in the tree space to begin with and what it was like transitioning to being a founder after working for years at a startup founded by his brother. Hine also talked about why the company decided to launch both B2B and consumer strategies and the wide breadth of potential use cases for the tech.

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Have you ever thought about all of the experiences, shows, books, people, places, and other pieces of media that have all been mixed together to make your unique personality and interests? Do you think you could build a multi-media map to visually show all of these elements? On today’s episode of Found, the co-founder and CEO of Sane, Ida Josefiina is explains how they’re breaking social networking as we know it to find a solution for collective reasoning and even mitigate existential risk.

In this episode you’ll learn:

This week’s episode is focused on Feyi Ayodele, the co-founder and CEO of CancerIQ, a precision health company designed for physicians to help their patients with monitoring cancer risk and prevention. Ayodele talked about she came up with the startup idea while hiking Mount Kilimanjaro with her mother. She also talked about how she approached fundraising as a former VC herself and what it was like selling CancerIQ to healthcare organizations and hospitals.

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This episode centers on Marco Zappacosta, the co-founder and CEO of Thumbtack, a startup that runs a marketplace for home services and beyond. Zappacosta talked about his unusual path to entrepreneurship which included almost getting a degree in neuroscience before deciding to start a company without having an existing idea. He also talked about growing Thumbtack through multiple market cycles and his mindset around leadership.

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This week’s episode focuses on Anurupa Ganguly, the founder at CEO at Prisms, a startup designing VR math curriculum for middle and high school students. Ganguly talked about how her time as a teacher in the Boston and New York City public school systems were early inspirations for the company. She also talked about what it has been like selling to schools and her take on company culture in relation to remote and hybrid work.

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This episode focuses on ReBokeh, a startup that created an app that applies filters that allow people with low vision to see better. The founder and CEO Rebecca Rosenberg talked about how her own experience with having low vision inspired the product and what it was like building the startup as an undergrad when everything went remote in 2020. She also spoke about how the app will likely have multiple revenue streams and what it was like pitching the product to VCs who didn’t believe the disability Rebecca has even exists.

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This week’s episode features a conversation with Mandy Price, the co-founder and CEO at Kanarys, a SaaS startup that helps companies tackle their diversity and inclusion problems with data. Mandy talked about why she started the company after a decade-long career as a lawyer. She also talked about why she didn’t want Kanarys to just be focused on hiring metrics, as many other DEI platforms are, and when the company decided to start building out its sales team after years of inbound interest.

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This week’s episode features a conversation with Catherine Tabor, the founder and CEO of Sparkfly, a company that helps brands with marketing and customer engagement. Tabor talked about building a company fluid enough to adapt to changing technology trends over the last decade and how she was dismissed by venture capitalists despite landing notable customers. Plus, she talked about her leadership style and why she has a 1:1 meeting with every employee once a quarter.

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As a founder, you’ve got to be ready for anything, but nothing could have prepared Mercury CEO and founder Immad Akhund for the rapid growth his company experienced after the SVB bank crisis. We’re mixing it up this week and sharing an interview from our sister podcast, Equity. TechCrunch fintech reporter Mary Ann Azevedo talks with Akhund about how they onboarded a record number of startup customers and helped guide their current users through the SVB bank crash, how he thinks about fundraising and investing during this downturn, and how he thinks about standing out against competitors like...

This week’s episode features Charles Baron, the co-founder and CMO at Farmers Business Network (FBN), a startup that offers a suite of online services to farmers. Baron talked about what led him — a former venture capitalist — to want to build in the agtech space. He talked about why the company chose to expand into multiple verticals quickly and how big of a need there was for what FBN offers.

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On today’s episode, we hear from the founders of Spout, a startup that makes a device that can pull fresh drinking water out of the air. Co-founder Reuben Vollmer talked about trying and failing to get the company off the ground for years before meeting his co-founder Tyler Breton. Both talked about how important getting the design of the product right is and how big of a need there is for a product like Spout.

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This week’s episode features Web Sun, the co-founder and president of Komodo Health, a startup that uses data to create a comprehensive map of the U.S. healthcare system. Web talked about what drove him to entrepreneurship and how mutual friends introduced him to his co-founder thinking they’d get along — little did they know. He also talked about navigating fundraising during the bull market and layoffs. Plus, Becca and Dom talk about their remaining questions after the interview. 

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This week we hear from Amy Brown, the co-founder and CEO of Authenticx, a Midwestern startup that helps insurance companies and medical organizations extract data from their call centers using AI. Amy told Becca and Dom about how her background working in the same call centers inspired her to foray into entrepreneurship. She also talked about the sacrifices and very human side of being an entrepreneur and how they were very intentional when building their AI model.

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On this week's episode, Dom and Becca are joined by Eli Ben-Joseph, the co-founder and CEO of Regard, a startup that uses AI to streamline the clinical side of medicine that's hoping to reduce physician burnout. Eli talked about his journey from deciding to forgo attending medical school because of the very issue he then decided to build a company to fix years later. He also talked about why it was important for them to build an AI model that requires a human touch and what it is like to sell to hospitals. 

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On today’s episode, Becca and Dom chat with Dr. Stacy Blain, the co-founder and chief science officer at Concarlo Therapeutics. Blain talked about how she had been researching how to cure drug-resistant cancers before she accidentally found her way into entrepreneurship after her academic grants started getting denied. She also talked about why scientists make great founders and how the importance of the company’s mission is not lost on her

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This week, Becca and Dom are joined by Sarah Sandnes, the co-founder and CTO of SafetyWing, which is creating a global safety net for remote workers. Sandnes is a digital nomad herself, so she understands the frustrations of frequently crossing borders and how difficult it can be to find affordable and high-quality health insurance as an employee. She also talked about how she and her co-founders have built a fully remote company that spans almost the entire globe -- because even digital nomads deal with time-zone frustrations.

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This week Becca and Dom are joined by Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, the co-founder and CEO at Samooha, a startup creating the infrastructure needed for data collaboration. Kamakshi talked about what it is like being a repeat founder in a male-dominated technical field. She talked about juggling being a parent and a company leader and how she thinks being a mother makes her a better entrepreneur. Plus, she talked about what may be the wildest startup acquisition story we’ve heard yet.

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Exciting news this week! Dominic-Madori Davis is joining Becca Szkutak as Found’s newest co-host. Say hi to her in a review or tweet us @found.

In this week’s episode, we are talking with the co-founders who are  reimagining boxed wine. Boxed wine hasn’t typically been thought of as aesthetically pleasing or particularly delicious, but Juliet co-founders Allison Luvera and Lauren De Niro Pipher, are on a mission to change that. According to the co-founders, glass bottles serve nothing but tradition and are a sustainability nightmare. So they dove into rebranding boxed wine with their elevate...

Getting diagnosed with a learning disability or attention disorder is crucial to getting students the support they need to be successful in the classroom, however, the assessments are extremely cost and time prohibitive. This week on Found Darrell and Becca are talking with Stefan Bauer about how Marker Learning is cutting the cost of learning disability assessments by conducting them remotely, how they’ve successfully worked with school districts to help them test their required amount of students, and the potential to take Marker Learning into the prison system to assess incarcerated people and provide them with tools to le...

We’re coming at you live from TechCrunch’s Early Stage in Boston. Darrell and Becca are joined onstage by Russ Wilcox who founded E Ink and is currently a partner at Pillar VC. They discussed how Russ navigated multiple economic downturns and eventually sold E Ink to Amazon, why he made the change from Founder to VC, and how he can usually tell within the first two minutes of a meeting if he will invest. 

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Welcome back to Found, the TechCrunch podcast where you hear the stories behind the startups from the entrepreneurs themselves. In this week’s episode, Trevor Martin co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences comes on to discuss how the company is using CRISPR systems to detect and cure genetic diseases. He talks with Darrell and Becca about using the importance of transparency when creating innovative medical technology, using CRISPR to build therapies that will help patients in the real world, and what funding looks like for a company that has a long road to profitability.

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We’re thrilled to be nominated for a Webby award in the Best Technology Podcast category. You can help Found win by voting here. Voting closes April 20.

Building a startup is hard in any market and there is no right way to do it. You can rely on Found to get the real stories behind the startups and hear from entrepreneurs about how they’ve grown their companies and the choices they’ve made along the way.

Recently, we’ve had an awesome lineup of startups on the show, from Swedish fintech giant Klarna, to the comp...