Build Mode

For years, crowdfunding had a reputation as the place founders went when they couldn’t raise venture capital. Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor thinks founders should look at it very differently.

In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Everett to talk about crowdfunding as an alternative and sometimes a precursor to traditional venture funding.

Everette’s own path into entrepreneurship was unconventional. Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, far from Silicon Valley, he says he didn’t know what venture capital, SaaS, or ARR were when he started his first company. Instead, he threw parties to make enough money to fund the software he was building. He eventually sold that company at 21, an experience that taught him some hard lessons about understanding the value of what you’ve built.

Today, as CEO of Kickstarter, Everette is making the case that founders don’t necessarily have to choose between crowdfunding and venture capital. A successful Kickstarter campaign can help founders raise non-dilutive capital, find their first customers, test demand, and establish product-market fit—all before giving up a piece of their company. And for founders who eventually do want VC backing, Everett argues that traction can give them considerably more leverage at the negotiating table.

He also explains why Kickstarter is increasingly attracting established companies and creators, what makes hardware particularly well suited to crowdfunding, how AI is changing who can become an entrepreneur, and what founders need to have in place before launching a campaign.

They get into:

How Everette funded his first startup by throwing parties

What selling his first company taught him about understanding your value

The differences between donation, equity, and reward-based crowdfunding

Why Kickstarter can work particularly well for hardware startups

What crowdfunding can give founders that venture capital can’t

How Kickstarter can help founders find early adopters and test product-market fit

Why crowdfunding can give founders more leverage when they eventually raise VC

What founders need before launching a Kickstarter campaign

Why Everette says the stigma around crowdfunding is disappearing

How AI is pushing more people toward entrepreneurship

Why AI-powered hardware is growing on Kickstarter

Whether founders actually need venture capital after a successful campaign

The three things Everette thinks every Kickstarter campaign needs

How founders can build trust with backers

Why major brands are increasingly launching products on Kickstarter

What Oculus, Peloton, and Oura did differently

Why Everett believes ownership and creative independence matter for founders

Chapters:

00:00 — Why founders should consider crowdfunding

01:36 — Everette Taylor’s unconventional path to entrepreneurship

03:25 — Learning the value of what you’ve built

05:08 — How Everette became CEO of Kickstarter

07:11 — The different types of crowdfunding

10:32 — Equity crowdfunding vs. Kickstarter

13:01 — Can B2B startups use Kickstarter?

14:34 — What crowdfunding can offer that VC can’t

16:29 — What founders need before launching a campaign

17:36 — Is there still a stigma around crowdfunding?

18:56 — How AI is changing entrepreneurship

20:46 — Using Kickstarter as a path to venture capital

22:56 — Three tips for launching a Kickstarter campaign

25:19 — How early is too early for Kickstarter?

26:39 — Why big brands are coming to Kickstarter28:33 — Everette’s favorite projects to back

29:21 — What Oculus, Peloton, and Oura got right

31:15 — The case for ownership over venture capital

Join us at TechCrunch Disrupt October 13-15 in San Francisco. Use promo code: buildmode25 for 25% off your ticket.

Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And watch the full videos on YouTube. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday.

Hosted by Isabelle Johannesen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

Ashley Tyrner-Dolce spent more than a decade building FarmboxRx without taking a single dollar of venture capital and ultimately exited the company while still owning the majority of it.

In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Ashley to talk about what bootstrapping actually looks like when you don’t have money from a previous exit or a wealthy network to fall back on.

Ashley started the company after experiencing food insecurity herself. Years earlier, while pregnant with her daughter, she relied on food stamps and lived in a rural food desert where getting fresh food could mean a 30-minute drive. She eventually launched Farmbox Direct as a direct-to-consumer produce delivery company before pivoting the business into healthcare and building what became FarmboxRx.

Along the way, Ashley tried to raise venture capital, but investors pushed her to turn the company into a meal-kit business, a direction she believed would take it away from the customers she wanted to serve. Instead, she kept bootstrapping. That meant cutting expenses, reinvesting money into the company, negotiating longer payment terms with vendors, using credit card points for travel, and at times stopping her own salary to make payroll.

Now an investor herself at HLM Investments, Ashley explains what bootstrapping signals to a VC, why founders should think carefully about when they raise outside capital, and why she believes traction can put founders in a much stronger position before they take a check.

They get into:

How Ashley started FarmboxRx without venture funding

Why early VCs wanted her to turn the company into a meal kit

What bootstrapping looks like when you don’t have a financial safety net

How she stretched cash flow and negotiated vendor payment terms

Why she sometimes stopped paying herself to make payroll

How cold calling helped land FarmboxRx’s first healthcare customers

Why founders should stay involved in sales

What bootstrapping signals to Ashley now that she’s a VC

Why she walked away from term sheets and acquisition offers

The financial upside of maintaining ownership through an exit

Why she wouldn’t raise a seed round if she started another company today

When founders should consider taking venture capital

Why bootstrapping after a previous exit is a very different experience

How founders can build investor relationships even when they aren’t raising

Chapters:

00:00 — The case for bootstrapping01:42 — How Ashley started FarmboxRx03:50 — Bootstrapping without a financial safety net07:16 — Why VCs struggled to understand the business10:21 — Proving the investors wrong12:34 — Building a network without VC backing15:24 — Getting advice from VCs without taking their money17:36 — Why Ashley refused to change her vision20:14 — Walking away from term sheets and acquisition offers22:32 — What bootstrapping signals to a VC25:08 — Getting creative with cash flow27:09 — The upside of bootstrapping28:54 — What Ashley would tell a founder starting with $50K30:26 — How to land your first customers34:44 — Would Ashley take VC money today?35:55 — Why founders should wait longer to raise36:55 — Not all bootstrapping is the same39:30 — The difference between bootstrapping with and without money

Join us at TechCrunch Disrupt October 13-15 in San Francisco. Use promo code: buildmode25 for 25% off your ticket.

Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And watch the full videos on YouTube. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday.

Hosted by Isabelle Johannesen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

Building flying taxis takes billions of dollars. So instead of relying on traditional venture rounds, Archer Aviation went public just a few years after it was founded.

In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer Aviation, to talk about the unconventional fundraising strategy behind building one of the most capital-intensive startups around.

Archer is building electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, designed to turn trips that can take 90 minutes by car into flights of 10 or 15 minutes. The company is developing the technology for both commercial air taxis and defense applications and has been selected as the exclusive air taxi provider for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

But developing and certifying an entirely new category of aircraft requires enormous amounts of capital. Adam explains why he realized early on that raising $50 million or $100 million at a time wouldn’t be enough and why he decided to take Archer public when the company had fewer than 100 employees. Since then, Archer has raised nearly $4 billion.

Adam breaks down how he prepared Archer to take advantage of the public markets, why timing matters so much when pursuing an IPO, and how retail investors and online communities have changed the equation for companies building ambitious hardware. He also explains why he thinks the window for earlier-stage companies to access public markets may be opening again.

They get into:

Why Archer is building electric air taxis

How eVTOLs could change airport-to-city transportation

Archer’s plans for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Why hardware startups need dramatically more capital than software companies

Why Adam decided to take Archer public so early

How Archer raised nearly $4 billion

Why founders need to prepare for an IPO long before they actually pursue one

How retail investors have changed the public markets

Why liquidity became an important part of Archer’s fundraising strategy

What founders need before considering an early public-market debut

Why strategic partners can help validate an early-stage company

The risks of going public too soon

How capital helped Archer catch up with more established competitors

Why founders should choose a problem they’re willing to spend decades solving

Join us at TechCrunch Disrupt October 13-15 in San Francisco. Use promo code: buildmode25 for 25% off your ticket.

Chapters:

00:00 — Why Archer went public so early

01:36 — What Archer Aviation is building

02:21 — Air taxis, defense and the future of eVTOLs

04:05 — Adam’s journey from finance to founder0

6:25 — Why electric aviation became possible

09:29 — Will people actually ride in flying taxis?

11:27 — Archer’s plans for the 2028 LA Olympics

13:50 — Why building hardware requires billions

16:54 — Was going public the right decision?

17:40 — How retail investors changed the public markets

21:46 — How Archer prepared to go public early

24:50 — Is the early IPO window opening again?26:42 — What a startup needs before going public

28:09 — Why Archer chose a SPAC

29:57 — Should first-time founders consider going public?

30:55 — How Archer attracted talent before it had the money

32:48 — Why capital became Archer’s competitive advantage

33:39 — What comes after the exit?

35:25 — Adam’s advice for founders building capital-intensive startups

Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And watch the full videos on YouTube. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday.

Hosted by Isabelle Johannesen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

Robotics is having an AI boom, but don’t expect it to have a ChatGPT moment.

In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Xavier Chi, co-founder of Mbodi, a startup building AI software that lets people teach industrial robots new skills using natural language.

Xavier first joined Isabelle on the Startup Battlefield stage, where Mbodi became a crowd favorite with a live robot demo. Now, he’s back to talk about what happened after Battlefield and why he believes this generation of AI could finally help robotics companies overcome some of the problems that have historically made them so difficult to scale.

Xavier breaks down why traditional industrial automation still requires so much programming and customization, how Mbodi is working with ABB Robotics to bring its software into factories and warehouses, and why deploying robotics in the physical world creates a very different set of challenges from building traditional software. He also explains why robotics startups have struggled to build scalable software businesses and how generative AI could begin to change that.

They also get into what VCs are looking for in robotics startups, how founders can de-risk an investment before fundraising, whether the excitement around humanoid robots is justified, and why Xavier believes robotics won’t experience a single ChatGPT-like breakthrough. Plus, he explains why reliability is so critical on the factory floor — and how Mbodi recently achieved a 99.6% success rate during an eight-hour test.

They get into:

Why industrial automation is still surprisingly manual

How Mbodi lets people teach robots using natural language

Why labor shortages are driving demand for automation

How winning an ABB Robotics competition led to a major partnership

What Mbodi gained from Startup Battlefield

Why robotics software companies have historically struggled to scale

How generative AI could reduce the need for custom robotics integrations

What VCs want to see before investing in a robotics startup

Why robots don’t necessarily need to look human

Why software could capture more of the value in robotics as hardware gets cheaper

Why robotics won’t have a ChatGPT moment

Why reliability is so important when robots enter production

How Mbodi achieved a 99.6% success rate in an eight-hour test

Chapters:

00:00 — Mbodi’s unforgettable Startup Battlefield demo01:32 — Why industrial automation is still so difficult03:55 — What companies are actually using robots for06:33 — How Mbodi landed its partnership with ABB Robotics08:30 — Are startup competitions worth a founder’s time?10:00 — Why Xavier wanted to compete in Startup Battlefield11:18 — The hardest question Mbodi faced at Battlefield13:04 — Why robotics software has struggled to scale16:35 — Raising venture capital for a robotics startup18:02 — Convincing VCs you’re the right team19:12 — Do robots really need to look human?21:42 — What needs to improve across the robotics stack25:08 — What VCs want from robotics startups28:00 — How to de-risk a robotics investment30:06 — What’s next for Mbodi31:30 — When will robots enter our homes?35:35 — Why robots can’t afford to fail36:01 — Mbodi’s 99.6% reliability test

Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And watch the full videos on YouTube. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday.

Hosted by Isabelle Johannesen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

There is no such thing as the perfect pitch. But you can get close by implementing a few research-backed methods to your delivery, deck, and message.

In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Dr. Eike Gerhardt, who has aPhD in pitching and spent nearly a decade studying the science of startup pitching before starting Autopoiesis Sciences. And he’s joined by Demetri Maxim, co-founder and CEO of Nephrogen, who came in second at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2025.

Together, they break down Demetri’s actual Startup Battlefield pitch to unpack what worked, what could be improved, and what research tells us about how investors respond to founders. Eike explains why credibility signals matter, how technical founders can simplify without oversimplifying, and why Q&A should be treated as a second pitch. Demetri shares how he learned to explain complex biotech to generalist investors, how redesigning his deck changed his confidence onstage, and what he would do differently today.

They also explore how body language and authenticity affect a pitch, how investor questions can reveal bias, and how founders can use AI to prepare for difficult Q&A.

They get into:

What Demetri got right and in his Startup Battlefield pitch

How to explain complicated technology without oversimplifying it

The credibility signals investors look for in a pitch

Why some technical language can actually make founders more credible

How to decide what belongs in your pitch versus the Q&A

Why technical details can sometimes make your startup sound riskier

How body language and authenticity influence investors

Why Q&A should be treated as a second pitch

What research reveals about bias in investor questions

How to use AI to rehearse difficult investor Q&A

Why there is no single “perfect” startup pitch

The biggest pitching mistakes technical founders make

Here are the studies mentioned in the episode:

Kanze, D., Huang, L., Conley, M. A., & Higgins, E. T. (2018). “We Ask Men to Win and Women Not to Lose: Closing the Gender Gap in Startup Funding.” Academy of Management Journal https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.1215

Figge, P., Graf-Vlachy, L., König, A., Demann, F., & Diessner, M. (2025). “Shades of Grey or Black and White? How Entrepreneurs’ Use of Cognitively Complex Language Affects Investor Funding.” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587251347042

Clarke, J. S., Cornelissen, J. P., & Healey, M. P. (2019). “Actions Speak Louder than Words: How Figurative Language and Gesturing in Entrepreneurial Pitches Influences Investment Judgments.” Academy of Management Journal https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.1008

Jiang, L., Yin, D., & Liu, D. (2019). “Can Joy Buy You Money? The Impact of the Strength, Duration, and Phases of an Entrepreneur’s Peak Displayed Joy on Funding Performance.” Academy of Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.1423

Chen, X.-P., Yao, X., & Kotha, S. (2009). “Entrepreneur Passion and Preparedness in Business Plan Presentations: A Persuasion Analysis of Venture Capitalists’ Funding Decisions.” Academy of Management Journal https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.36462018

Zhu, L. Y., Young, M. J., & Bauman, C. W. (2024). “Linking Anxiety to Passion: Emotion Regulation and Entrepreneurs’ Pitch Performance.” Journal of Business Venturing https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106421Allison, T. H., Davis, B. C., Webb, J. W., & Short, J. C. (2017). “Persuasion in Crowdfunding: An Elaboration Likelihood Model of Crowdfunding Performance.” Journal of Business Venturing https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2017.09.002Clark, C. (2008). “The Impact of Entrepreneurs’ Oral ‘Pitch’ Presentation Skills on Business Angels’ Initial Screening Investment Decisions.” Venture Capital https://doi.org/10.1080/13691060802151945

Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And watch the full videos on YouTube. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday.

Hosted by Isabelle Johannesen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.