{"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":"Why Great Founders Are “Angry at the Problem”","slug":"why-great-founders-are-angry-at-the-problem","published_at":"2026-05-19T21:14:05+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964/why-great-founders-are-angry-at-the-problem","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fund-build-scale-6723964","url":"https://fundbuildscale.podbean.com/e/why-great-founders-are-angry-at-the-problem/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/8itupa7hq54sr7p6/Why_Great_Founders_Are_Angry_at_the_Problem_a6wpz.mp3","summary":"For this episode, I interviewed Eugene Malobrodsky, partner at One Way Ventures and former founder of AnchorFree, the company behind HotSpot Shield, one of the first consumer VPN products to scale globally. Before becoming a VC, Eugene spent 15 years building and scaling a startup through the 2008 financial crisis, painful layoffs, difficult fundraising environments, and the long grind from idea to acquisition. Today, he backs immigrant founders building applied AI, deep tech, fintech, healthcare, and enterprise startups at the pre-seed and seed stage. Topics include: Why many founders become founders for the wrong reasons What venture capitalists really mean when they talk about “100x outcomes” How to think about fundraising runway and dilution Why technical founders often struggle with storytelling What makes a startup venture-backable versus a profitable lifestyle business The most common mistakes early technical teams make How investors evaluate first-time founders with no track record Why customer discovery matters more than building features too early Why the best founders are often “angry at the problem” they’re trying to solve He also spoke about what immigrant entrepreneurs misunderstand about networking in Silicon Valley, and the growing uncertainty around H-1B visas and startup immigration policy. RUNTIME 56:28 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:13) \"I'm just not great at following directions and working for somebody else.\" (5:44) How Working in VC Changed His Thinking (7:42) What Founders Misunderstand About VC Funds (20:53) A Practical Framework for Seed-stage Fundraising (25:50) What Makes Him Take the Meeting (31:19) Where One Way Ventures is Betting in Deep Tech (35:11) The Most Common Mistakes Technical Teams Make (38:23) Why Founders Need a 90-second Story (43:16)…","meta_description":"For this episode, I interviewed Eugene Malobrodsky, partner at One Way Ventures and former founder of AnchorFree, the company behind HotSpot Shield, one o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3388,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fund-build-scale-6723964/episodes/why-great-founders-are-angry-at-the-problem/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/why-great-founders-are-angry-at-the-problem.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}