Why hiring the weirdos works

Why hiring the weirdos works

When you’re building at breakneck speed, hiring a trusted team is crucial for an early-stage startup. In this episode of Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Isaiah Granet, the CEO and co-founder of Bland, a voice AI company that has grown from pre-seed to Series B in just 10 months. Their team has ballooned…

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When startups become a family business

When startups become a family business

This season on Build Mode, we’re diving into what it takes to build a world-class founding team. This week we’re exploring different kinds of co-founder dynamics and what it takes to build a startup with your family. Building with a family member or spouse comes with major benefits like built-in trust and an “always-on” mentality, but…

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How 1,000+ customer calls shaped a breakout enterprise AI startup

How 1,000+ customer calls shaped a breakout enterprise AI startup

This isn’t David Park’s first rodeo. The veteran founder and TechCrunch Startup Battlefield alumnus has certainly been battle-tested in the enterprise arena. On this episode of Build Mode, Park joins Isabelle Johannessen to discuss how he and his team are intentionally iterating, fundraising, and scaling Narada. This enterprise AI solution uses large action models to automate complex, multistep workflows across enterprise systems.   At face…

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The market has ‘switched’ and founders have the power now, VCs say

The market has ‘switched’ and founders have the power now, VCs say

The way venture capitalists think about fundraising can be a black box. But investors must think about their go-to-market strategy for raising their own funds, just as much as they think about how their portfolio companies find their market fit.   All season on Build Mode, we’ve explored how founders should approach marketing, but this week we’re exploring how VCs sell themselves to founders as trustworthy partners and…

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Glīd won Startup Battlefield 2025 by building solutions to make logistis simpler, safer, and smarter

Glīd won Startup Battlefield 2025 by building solutions to make logistis simpler, safer, and smarter

Build Mode is back with a holiday bonus episode. This week, Startup Battlefield editor Isabelle Johannessen is joined by the winner of this year’s competition, Kevin Damoa, the CEO and founder of Glīd, a logistics infrastructure company that aims to streamline the complex container shipment process. Damoa first discovered the challenges of shipping larger cargo…

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Introducing Build Mode: TechCrunch’s new podcast for founders 

Introducing Build Mode: TechCrunch’s new podcast for founders 

Disrupt 2025 is just days away, with tickets still available here! And there’s no better time to announce that alongside our flagship event and annual Startup Battlefield 200 competition, we’re launching a brand-new TechCrunch franchise: Build Mode.  Hosted by Startup Battlefield Editor Isabelle Johannessen, Build Mode is a survival guide for early-stage founders navigating the…

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