

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

May 16, 2023 • 42min
Motherhood, mentorship, and management with Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan from Samooha
This week Becca and Dom are joined by Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, the co-founder and CEO at Samooha, a startup creating the infrastructure needed for data collaboration. Kamakshi talked about what it is like being a repeat founder in a male-dominated technical field. She talked about juggling being a parent and a company leader and how she thinks being a mother makes her a better entrepreneur. Plus, she talked about what may be the wildest startup acquisition story we’ve heard yet.Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.Connect with us:
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com
The TechCrunch Podcast posts every Friday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcasts: Equity, The TechCrunch Podcast and Chain Reaction.
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

May 9, 2023 • 47min
Boxed wine can be bougie with Allison Luvera and Lauren De Niro Pipher from Juliet
Exciting news this week! Dominic-Madori Davis is joining Becca Szkutak as Found’s newest co-host. Say hi to her in a review or tweet us @found.In this week’s episode, we are talking with the co-founders who are reimagining boxed wine. Boxed wine hasn’t typically been thought of as aesthetically pleasing or particularly delicious, but Juliet co-founders Allison Luvera and Lauren De Niro Pipher, are on a mission to change that. According to the co-founders, glass bottles serve nothing but tradition and are a sustainability nightmare. So they dove into rebranding boxed wine with their elevated design and carefully selected profiles.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

May 2, 2023 • 44min
Filling in the learning disability assessment gaps with Stefan Bauer from Marker Learning
Getting diagnosed with a learning disability or attention disorder is crucial to getting students the support they need to be successful in the classroom, however, the assessments are extremely cost and time prohibitive. This week on Found Darrell and Becca are talking with Stefan Bauer about how Marker Learning is cutting the cost of learning disability assessments by conducting them remotely, how they’ve successfully worked with school districts to help them test their required amount of students, and the potential to take Marker Learning into the prison system to assess incarcerated people and provide them with tools to learn in a way that’s better suited to their abilities.We also say goodbye to Darrell as a regular host of Found this week, but don’t worry you can still catch him every Friday on The TechCrunch Podcast! 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

Apr 25, 2023 • 32min
Found Live: Shifting from founder to VC with Russ Wilcox from E Ink and Pillar VC
We’re coming at you live from TechCrunch’s Early Stage in Boston. Darrell and Becca are joined onstage by Russ Wilcox who founded E Ink and is currently a partner at Pillar VC. They discussed how Russ navigated multiple economic downturns and eventually sold E Ink to Amazon, why he made the change from Founder to VC, and how he can usually tell within the first two minutes of a meeting if he will invest. 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:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Apr 18, 2023 • 45min
Curing disease with CRISPR with Trevor Martin from Mammoth Biosciences
Welcome back to Found, the TechCrunch podcast where you hear the stories behind the startups from the entrepreneurs themselves. In this week’s episode, Trevor Martin co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences comes on to discuss how the company is using CRISPR systems to detect and cure genetic diseases. He talks with Darrell and Becca about using the importance of transparency when creating innovative medical technology, using CRISPR to build therapies that will help patients in the real world, and what funding looks like for a company that has a long road to profitability.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:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com

Apr 12, 2023 • 46sec
Found is nominated for a Webby
We’re thrilled to be nominated for a Webby award in the Best Technology Podcast category. You can help Found win by voting here. Voting closes April 20.Building a startup is hard in any market and there is no right way to do it. You can rely on Found to get the real stories behind the startups and hear from entrepreneurs about how they’ve grown their companies and the choices they’ve made along the way.Recently, we’ve had an awesome lineup of startups on the show, from Swedish fintech giant Klarna, to the company looking to bring the wooly mammoth back to life, to a woman-founded perfume company that just launched its first products — and everything in between.Found is produced by Maggie Stamets with editing from Kell. Subscribe to found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and please leave us a review if you like what you hear.
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

Apr 11, 2023 • 46min
Rebranding egg donation with Lauren Makler from Cofertility
On today’s episode, Lauren Markler comes on to talk about how her company Cofertility aims to rebrand egg donation by making the process less transactional and much more affordable. She talks with Darrell and Becca about scaling while maintaining a personal touch, building a company remotely, fand inding cofounders that align on the company mission and prioritizing motherhood while building a company. 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:
On Twitter
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Via email: found@techcrunch.com

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:
On Twitter
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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:
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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
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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:
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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


