I’m Walter Thompson. After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:

Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
Real, actionable advice comes from those who've actually done it.

There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off, you can be a startup founder.

Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:

To help founders make fewer mistakes.
To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders.

This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.

Interested?

Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.

Thanks for listening.

Fund/Build/Scale season 2: Why I'm doing this podcast (and why you should listen)