{"podcast":{"title":"Fund/Build/Scale","slug":"fund-build-scale-6723964","podcast_index_feed_id":6723964,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/fundbuildscale/feed.xml","website_url":"https://fundbuildscale.substack.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/17670315/new_FBS_1400_x_1400_tile_ggrhbt.jpg","author":"Walter Thompson","episode_count":120,"summary":"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…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-07T10:21:25.778921+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964"},"episode":{"title":"How to Build in a Market That Won’t Let You In","slug":"how-to-build-in-a-market-that-won-t-let-you-in","published_at":"2025-12-01T08:14:56+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-to-build-in-a-market-that-won-t-let-you-in","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964","url":"https://fundbuildscale.podbean.com/e/how-to-build-in-a-market-that-won-t-let-you-in/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/ryg6h77fp9gmm7cz/How_to_Build_in_a_Market_That_Won_t_Let_You_In8eeze.mp3","summary":"In most industries, if you’ve got a solid idea, a few engineers, and a working prototype, you can at least get in the game. Professional sports is not one of those industries. When Jordy Leiser co-founded Jump with Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, he wasn’t just building software — he was trying to rebuild the entire fan experience from the ground up, in a business dominated by legacy players like Ticketmaster. Four years later, his company is powering the digital backbone for teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and North Carolina Courage. In this episode, Jordy explains what it actually takes to break into a closed industry, why he reverse-engineers every funding round before he raises it, and the biggest mistake he refused to repeat as a second-time founder. RUNTIME 53:07 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:12) Breaking into pro sports, rebuilding fan experience, and reverse-engineering fundraising. (2:03) How Stella Connect (customer service) laid the foundation for Jump (customer experience for fans).(2:58) What Jump does today: a unified fan experience + data platform for teams.(4:11) The unusual founding plan: 3-4 years of R&D, designed to launch with an NBA franchise from day one. (5:46) Why sports is nothing like building a typical SaaS startup — more like a “car company” level of complexity.(6:48)The true barrier: a near-monopoly in ticketing that stops innovation cold.(7:59) Selling into a market where fans have low expectations — and why demand is obvious but still untapped. (9:54) Early customers as classic early adopters — every team already knows the pain points intimately. (11:25) The first hypothesis they had to kill: incumbents don’t want to integrate or share data. At all.(12:32) Designing for the actual fan demographic: season ticket holders skew 50+, so “cuttin…","meta_description":"In most industries, if you’ve got a solid idea, a few engineers, and a working prototype, you can at least get in the game. Professional sports is not one…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3187,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fund-build-scale-6723964/episodes/how-to-build-in-a-market-that-won-t-let-you-in/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/how-to-build-in-a-market-that-won-t-let-you-in.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}