A year of customer calls before fundraising

This week on Build Mode, we’re joined by David Park, co-founder and CEO of Narada, an enterprise AI agent platform spun out of UC Berkeley AI Lab research. Narada uses large action models to automate complex, multi-step workflows across enterprise systems. After previously co-founding and exiting Coverity, Park is now building his second company with a different playbook: Stay lean, talk to customers, and don’t raise before you’re ready. 

In this episode, he shares why Narada spent a year making nearly 1,000 customer calls before raising institutional capital, how the company reached 99.99% reliability in production environments, and why he believes too much funding too early can derail even the strongest teams. Park also reflects on his experience as a Startup Battlefield Top 20 company and the lessons he’s carried from his first exit into building Narada. 

He breaks down: 

• Why customers won’t tell you your “baby is ugly” — but their wallets will 

• How Narada achieves enterprise-grade AI reliability 

• Why raising money before product-market fit can be dangerous 

•  The discipline of building a lean, “mean building machine” 

• When to scale your go-to-market team (and when not to) 

• Why founders must stick to their values, even under pressure 

• Lessons from Startup Battlefield and building in public 

Apply to Startup Battlefield: We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself): techcrunch.com/apply. Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast.  

Founders Summit: If you want to take these conversations beyond the podcast, then come join us in person at a TechCrunch event on June 9 in Boston, we're hosting our founders Summit, which is essentially build mode in real life. It's a full day focused entirely on founders, builders and the conversations that actually move startups forward. It's also a great way to sharpen your story. Get your tickets. 

TechCrunch Disrupt: If you're thinking about applying to Startup Battlefield, then October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, we're back for TechCrunch Disrupt, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with 1000s of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets. 
 

Use code buildmode15 for 15% off any ticket type

00:00 – Why customers won’t tell you the truth (but their wallets will) 
02:43 – What Narada does: enterprise AI agents powered by large action models 
04:28 – Enterprise reliability: reaching 99.99% accuracy 
07:32 – Trust, security, and on-prem deployment 
12:26 – Bootstrapping, 1,000 customer calls & finding real pain 
15:05 – Raising after traction & meeting their lead VC at Disrupt 
18:47 – Scaling responsibly after product-market fit 
22:46 – Go-to-market strategy & leveraging channels 
23:48 – From Coverity exit to Narada: a founder’s second act 
27:05 – Founder advice: passion, grit & integrity 
30:20 – Fake it till you make it? Not quite. 
30:44 – Startup Battlefield experience 
36:05 – Final reflections on disruption & building for impact 

New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.