Build Mode

From the NFL to Startup Battlefield: How Alltroo built a brand that wins

Startups /

On season one of Build Mode: Product, Meet Market, we explore what it really takes to get your product into the hands of customers. We’ve talked a lot about product-market fit, but this week we take a step back to something just as essential and far less discussed: founder-market fit.  Investors love to ask, “What’s your competitive advantage?” Usually they’re talking about moats, […]

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Celebrity Co-Founders Not Required: Building Influence from Scratch

Startups /

Alltroo co-founders Kyle Rudolph and Jon Walburg share how they transformed their pro-athlete star power into a fundraising platform that allows their community the ability to donate to a variety of organization and win high-value prizes. In this episode of Build Mode, they reveal how they leveraged their networks to disrupt the charitable giving industry,

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Glīd won Startup Battlefield 2025 by building solutions to make logistis simpler, safer, and smarter

Startups /

Build Mode is back with a holiday bonus episode. This week, Startup Battlefield editor Isabelle Johannessen is joined by the winner of this year’s competition, Kevin Damoa, the CEO and founder of Glīd, a logistics infrastructure company that aims to streamline the complex container shipment process. Damoa first discovered the challenges of shipping larger cargo

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How Glīd won Startup Battlefield 2025: Mentorship, mission-focus, and meditation 

Startups /

Isabelle leads Startup Battlefield, TechCrunch’s iconic launchpad and competition for the world’s most promising early-stage startups. You can contact or verify outreach from Isabelle by emailing [email protected]. She scouts top founders across 99+ countries and prepares them to pitch on the Disrupt stage in front of tier-one investors and global media. Before TechCrunch, she designed

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Why these founders ditched social ads for Taylor Swift concerts and prison tablets 

Startups /

Build Mode is back with another episode! This season is highlighting lessons learned from the world of go-to-market strategies. Startup Battlefield editor Isabelle Johannessen sat down with Luna co-founder Jas Schembri-Stothart and Untapped Solutions founder Andre Peart for their unique perspectives on reaching niche customer segments following their own candidacy during the 2024 Startup Battlefield competition. If our first episode, with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI, we

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Build Mode starts at the beginning: How Forethought AI found product-market fit

Startups /

In the debut episode of the Build Mode podcast, host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI, to unpack what it really takes to build a lasting company with and for your customers from day one. Build Mode is TechCrunch’s new podcast that pulls back the curtain on how startups actually

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Introducing Build Mode: TechCrunch’s new podcast for founders 

Startups /

Disrupt 2025 is just days away, with tickets still available here! And there’s no better time to announce that alongside our flagship event and annual Startup Battlefield 200 competition, we’re launching a brand-new TechCrunch franchise: Build Mode.  Hosted by Startup Battlefield Editor Isabelle Johannessen, Build Mode is a survival guide for early-stage founders navigating the

Introducing Build Mode: TechCrunch’s new podcast for founders  Read More »