

Build Mode
TechCrunch
On Build Mode, TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield Editor Isabelle Johannessen cuts through the startup mythology to uncover how founders survive the brutal early days, navigate impossible funding landscapes, and somehow keep their companies — and sanity— intact. Each season, Isabelle is joined by founders, investors, and operators to dig into specific aspects of the startup journey, from creative go to market strategies to founder mental health. The interviews are full of candid startup wisdom—think cap table drama, co-founder breakups, and pivot panic. So, if you’re starting a company or or even just thinking about it, this is your survival guide.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 4, 2023 • 46min
Getting people to try new things IRL with Sarah Peterson from The Nudge
This week Becca is joined by special guest co-host TechCrunch reporter Amanda Silberling to talk with Sarah Peterson, COO and co-founder ofTthe Nudge which is a text-based app that helps you make the best plan in your city. They get into the benefits of a sibling/co-founder relations, how to build trust with a user, and why everyone needs that planner friend in the friend group. Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
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 Connect with us:
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Mar 28, 2023 • 40min
Building Generative AI before it was cool with Angela Hoover from Andi
This week Darrell and Becca are joined by Angela Hoover, CEO and co-founder of Andi, a generative AI search chatbox company. Angela and our hosts talk about building in generative AI before Chat GPT made it cool, how she went from working in construction to starting an artificial intelligence company, and how the Andi team plans to use the momentum in the AI space to reach their next goals. Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Mar 21, 2023 • 49min
Making more mammoths with Ben Lamm from Colossal
Ben Lamm is no stranger to starting an interesting company but Colossal Biosciences, the world’s first de-extinction company is definitely the most sci-fi startup we’ve seen yet. This week on Found he talks with Darrell and Becca about what bringing back the infamous Wholly Mammoth means for conservation, how they secured VC funding despite being a long way away from profitability, and why they structure the company like a typical SaaS startup. Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Mar 14, 2023 • 42min
How Gen Z builds community with Teddy Solomon from Fizz
Welcome back to Found, the TechCrunch podcast where you hear the stories behind the startups from the entrepreneurs themselves. This week we’re talking to Teddy Solomon, the co-founder of Fizz, a social media app aimed at college students focusing on building community on campus. For this interview, we’re joined by TechCrunch social media expert, Amanda Silberling. Darrell, Amanda, and Teddy discuss what Gen Z is looking for in their social media, how to thoroughly moderate the platform, and how this kind of community building could go far beyond colleges.Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Mar 7, 2023 • 46min
Talking trash with Matt Roger from Mill
While working on developing the iPhone and then going on to co-found Nest, Matt Rogers became an expert in changing consumer behavior on a mass scale by creating products that seamlessly fit into everyday life. In his newest venture, he’s turned his sights to solving food waste starting in the kitchen. Mill sends customers a trash can that dries and shrinks kitchen scraps so they can be sent back to be used for animal feed. In this episode, Matt, Darrell, and Becca talk about thinking through every part of the customer experience from packaging to sending back their food waste, why he prefers starting a company to investing in one, and what decisions he thinks defined his previous companies.Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Mar 6, 2023 • 33min
Bonus Episode: Say Hello to the Startup Battlefield Winner
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for—the winner is announced! In this episode, we get to know the winner of the 2022 Startup Battlefield competition. We’ll hear what’s next for their company and get insight from TechCrunch staff, VCs, and audience members on why they were the right choice.Be sure to check out all of the other podcasts in the TechCrunch Podcast Network: Found, Equity, The TechCrunch Podcast, Chain Reaction and The TechCrunch Live Podcast..
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com

18 snips
Feb 28, 2023 • 59min
Augmenting creativity with Alice Albrecht from Re:collect (re-release)
Last year when we talked to Alice Albrecht from Re:collect, the Found team couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities of a tool like Re:collect, so we're sharing this episode again. Re:collect is a software tool that augments creativity by helping people focus, recall, and connects their ideas. The conversation covered a lot of ground from how to hone your pitch when your product is so cerebral, how technology can help creativity but Alice argues will never replace it, and how developing AI requires building safeguards from the jump.Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Feb 27, 2023 • 15min
Bonus Episode: Getting to know the Battlefield 200
Inside Startup Battlefield is back in our feed with episode three. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for—the winner is announced! In this episode, we get to know the winner of the 2022 Startup Battlefield competition. We’ll hear what’s next for their company and get insight from TechCrunch staff, VCs, and audience members on why they were the right choice.New episodes of Inside Startup Battlefield drop every Monday. Be sure to check out all of the other podcasts in the TechCrunch Podcast Network: Found, Equity, The TechCrunch Podcast, Chain Reaction and The TechCrunch Live Podcast..
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Feb 21, 2023 • 53min
Modernizing 911 calls with Michael Chime from Found
Michael Chime, the co-founder and CEO of Prepared, is leading the charge to modernize 911 calls by providing access to video and photos. Most people are calling in emergencies with their smartphones so the Prepared team is working to help dispatchers have all the data possible to relay to first responders. In today’s episode, they talk about implementing this new tech in an industry that’s slow to innovate, navigating privacy concerns when capturing and collecting videos of emergencies, and how he’s grown into the CEO role as the company has expanded. Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:On Twitter
On Instagram
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Feb 20, 2023 • 32min
Bonus Episode: Making the Pitch Perfect
Inside Startup Battlefield is back in our feed with episode two. In the second episode of Inside Startup Battlefield, we take a trip to TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 to hear pitches from the top five companies: Aaron Hall from Intropic Materials, Elizabeth Lawler from App Map, Chad Mason from Advanced Ionics, Sheeba Dawood from Minerva Lithium, Tim Lichti from Swap Robotics. We get to know the companies and the unique problems they’re solving through their pitches and the judges’ follow-up questions. Plus we hear from our host and Battlefield Editor, Neesha Tambe, about what working with each company was like.New episodes of Inside Startup Battlefield drop every Monday. Be sure to check out all of the other podcasts in the TechCrunch Podcast Network: Found, Equity, The TechCrunch Podcast, Chain Reaction and The TechCrunch Live Podcast..
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 Connect with us:
On Twitter
On Instagram
Via email: found@techcrunch.com


