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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How soap opera-TikTok hybrids became a billion-dollar business

How soap opera-TikTok hybrids became a billion-dollar business

Over the past few years, a new category of mobile apps has quietly exploded into a multi-billion dollar business. They’re called “micro dramas” — short-form, mobile-first scripted shows designed to be watched vertically on your phone. Think soap opera meets TikTok, complete with secret billionaire romances, disapproving werewolf mothers-in-law, and cliffhangers engineered to keep users tapping. The leading…

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A former Thiel fellow’s startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters

A former Thiel fellow’s startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters

When I speak to Blake Resnick, he’s walking around his drone startup’s newest office space in Seattle—a cavernous 50,000-square-foot facility that, Resnick estimates, won’t be fully set up until later in the year—potentially November. Still, the big (and for now, largely empty) building offers the promise of a fast-growing company intent on conquering its particular…

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Accel, Prosus pick six ‘off-the-map’ startups for inaugural India cohort

Accel, Prosus pick six ‘off-the-map’ startups for inaugural India cohort

Accel and Prosus have selected six startups for their first joint cohort in India, backing what they describe as “off-the-map” ideas — companies working on problems where markets are undefined and progress is difficult to measure. The inaugural cohort spans healthcare, climate, space, and longevity, reflecting a focus on science-led themes with long development timelines…

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