# Fund/Build/Scale Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964 Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964.md RSS feed: https://feed.podbean.com/fundbuildscale/feed.xml Official site: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Author: Walter Thompson Episodes: 120 ## Resource After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned: 1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck. 2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge. 3. 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 — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder. Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale: 1. To help founders make fewer mistakes. 2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey. 3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out. 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. I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising w… ## Machine-readable JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fund-build-scale-6723964 Markdown: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964.md ## Episodes - [Why Most Startups Shouldn't Raise Money (Even If They Can)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/why-most-startups-shouldn-t-raise-money-even-if-they-can) — 2026-07-06T22:01:00+00:00 - [Money Is the Only Customer Validation That Matters](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/money-is-the-only-customer-validation-that-matters) — 2026-06-14T00:05:35+00:00 - [What Hospitals Are Actually Buying in the AI Boom](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/what-hospitals-are-actually-buying-in-the-ai-boom) — 2026-06-13T19:13:12+00:00 - [The 10x Rule: Turning a Research Paper into an AI Company](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/the-10x-rule-turning-a-research-paper-into-an-ai-company) — 2026-06-10T21:35:44+00:00 - [Your First Marketing Hire Is Probably Not a CMO](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/your-first-marketing-hire-is-probably-not-a-cmo) — 2026-06-05T21:06:59+00:00 - [How AI-Native Startups Actually Get Built](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-ai-native-startups-actually-get-built) — 2026-05-20T23:24:53+00:00 - [Why Great Founders Are “Angry at the Problem”](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/why-great-founders-are-angry-at-the-problem) — 2026-05-19T21:14:05+00:00 - [Before There Is Proof: Build a Startup Story That Shows You Can Execute](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/before-there-is-proof-build-a-startup-story-that-shows-you-can-execute) — 2026-05-06T23:44:11+00:00 - [How to Hire Your First Offshore Team Without Screwing It Up](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-to-hire-your-first-offshore-team-without-screwing-it-up) — 2026-04-28T17:42:06+00:00 - [How Technical Founders Win the First 5 Minutes With Investors](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-technical-founders-win-the-first-5-minutes-with-investors) — 2026-04-18T00:11:17+00:00 - [Don’t Wait for the IPO: How Tech Employees Actually Get Liquid](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/don-t-wait-for-the-ipo-how-tech-employees-actually-get-liquid) — 2026-02-20T00:52:44+00:00 - [Turning Utility Into Habit: Beyond Basic Gamification](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/turning-utility-into-habit-beyond-basic-gamification) — 2026-02-11T23:02:16+00:00 - [The Day You Raise Money Is the Day You Stop Focusing on Technology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/the-day-you-raise-money-is-the-day-you-stop-focusing-on-technology) — 2026-02-06T23:45:55+00:00 - [Selling Unproven AI to Skeptical Enterprise Buyers](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/selling-unproven-ai-to-skeptical-enterprise-buyers) — 2026-02-04T22:11:52+00:00 - [From Seed to Growth: What African Founders Need to Know](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/from-seed-to-growth-what-african-founders-need-to-know) — 2026-01-31T00:10:58+00:00 - [What Investors Actually Look For in the First 18 Months](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/what-investors-actually-look-for-in-the-first-18-months) — 2026-01-29T00:23:19+00:00 - [Is the Defensible Moat a Myth in AI?](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/is-the-defensible-moat-a-myth-in-ai) — 2026-01-23T22:40:34+00:00 - [Building Against Giants: Turning Insider Expertise into a Startup Advantage](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/building-against-giants-turning-insider-expertise-into-a-startup-advantage) — 2026-01-22T16:46:23+00:00 - [From Scarcity to Scale: Building Startups in Latin America’s Earliest Stages](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/from-scarcity-to-scale-building-startups-in-latin-america-s-earliest-stages) — 2026-01-21T00:00:32+00:00 - [Why Black Startup Founders Have to Play a Different Game](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/why-black-startup-founders-have-to-play-a-different-game) — 2026-01-10T23:13:55+00:00 - [Building an Enterprise AI Startup from Day Zero](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/building-an-enterprise-ai-startup-from-day-zero) — 2026-01-07T01:25:56+00:00 - [Building in Layers: The Compound Startup Playbook](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/building-in-layers-the-compound-startup-playbook) — 2025-12-23T02:43:23+00:00 - [How to Build in a Market That Won’t Let You In](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-to-build-in-a-market-that-won-t-let-you-in) — 2025-12-01T08:14:56+00:00 - [How to Prove You’re Building a Venture-Scale Company](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-to-prove-you-re-building-a-venture-scale-company) — 2025-11-23T01:01:19+00:00 - [The "Marionette Threat" of Generative AI with All Tech is Human’s David Polgar](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/the-marionette-threat-of-generative-ai-with-all-tech-is-human-s-david-polgar) — 2025-11-18T22:18:31+00:00 ## Actions Episode pages expose an explicit `request_transcript` action. 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