Startups

Here are the five best pieces of founder advice I learned as a host of Found

After more than two years — and nearly 100 episodes — as a host of TechCrunch’s recently ended Found podcast, I have learned a lot about how founders approach building their startups. I’ve heard stories about how founders know when it is the right time to expand from their core product, to how startups approach […]

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Scale AI hit by its second employee wage lawsuit in less than a month

Scale AI relies on an army of workers it categorizes as contractors to do essential AI work like labeling images or rating LLM responses for Big Tech and others. But the AI startup, most recently valued at $13.8 billion, is facing mounting legal challenges over its labor practices. On January 3, 2025, former Scale AI

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Former CEO of MoviePass’ parent company pleads guilty to fraud over ‘unlimited’ plan

The former chief executive of the parent company of MoviePass, Theodore Farnsworth, pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy after being accused of misleading investors over the service’s “unlimited plan.” Farnsworth also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud as the chief executive of Vinco Ventures, a publicly traded company. Helios &

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Chinese VCs are hounding failed founders to claw back their investments

In the U.S., it’s accepted that most startups fail — and when that happens, VCs (generally) accept their losses and move on. But that’s not the case in China, where VCs are trying to claw back their investments in failed startups by pursuing the personal assets of their founders in court, The Financial Times reports.

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Fermata uses computer vision to detect diseases and pests in plants

When Valeria Kogan started her Ph.D. program in bioinformatics, the scientific field that uses computation and software to analyze biological data, in 2017, she imagined her career would always be within the fields of mathematics, medicine, or biology. But after the first AI boom in the late 2010s, she got an intriguing opportunity in a

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Kombu is changing the way we make our ‘booch’ with its modern kombucha brewer

Kombucha, a fermented tea that has been around for thousands of years and was once considered a niche health drink, is currently experiencing a surge in popularity as more consumers look for gut-friendly beverages. However, this fizzy drink isn’t exactly cheap, and home brewing can be messy, overly complicated, and time-consuming. Additionally, the supplies needed

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Kombu is changing the way we make our ‘booch’ with its modern kombucha brewer at CES 2025

Kombucha, a fermented tea that has been around for thousands of years and was once considered a niche health drink, is currently experiencing a surge in popularity as more consumers look for gut-friendly beverages. However, this fizzy drink isn’t exactly cheap, and home brewing can be messy, overly complicated, and time-consuming. Additionally, the supplies needed

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The US just added Tencent to its list of ‘Chinese military’ companies

While the Chinese internet giant Tencent is best-known for its super-app WeChat, it’s also a major investor in U.S. tech companies and startups. Some of its most notable and still active investments include Reddit, Snap, and Fortnite creator Epic Games. Things might get a little awkward, though, because Tencent was designated a “Chinese military company”

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Inside the wild fall and last-minute revival of Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that imploded over the holidays

Friday, December 27, was supposed to be the start of a relaxing holiday weekend. But it was chaos for thousands of small business owners who use Bench, an accounting and tax startup based in Canada that raised $113 million from investors like Bain Capital Ventures and Shopify. That morning, they found themselves unable to log

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