You can use jargon in your startup pitch

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 hiring, to what got entrepreneurs to take the leap in the first place, and everything in between. While not a founder myself, some of the learnings and advice I heard on the show stood o

Jan 12, 2025

Index Ventures partner Jahanvi Sardana has a reminder for all those founders worried about finding TAM for their product or service: many startups have emerged from markets that, at the time, were essentially nonexistent.

Jul 25, 2025

VC Jenny Fielding (pictured above), co-founder of Everywhere Ventures and former Techstars managing director, was basically trolling on X when she posted, “Y’all have strong opinions about pre-seed founders who have EAs to help them schedule? Just checking.” Fielding knew the post was “a little bit snarky,” she told TechCrunch, but it sparked a big conversation. Some people suggested that early-stage founders could simply use AI executive assistants. Others grew affronted that a VC implied that

Dec 26, 2024

If you spend time on X or Threads, where snarky memes rise and fall, you’ve probably seen posts referencing “founder mode” over the last few days, like this: https://www.threads.net/@carnage4life/post/C_eaQAxyIcV Or maybe this: kanye actually invented founder mode pic.twitter.com/zKmHM9jk8P— Jared Palmer (@jaredpalmer) September 3, 2024 You may even have seen this parody about “goblin mode.” The chatter ties to a recent blog post that Y Combinator founder and dispenser of startup wisdom Paul Gr

Sep 4, 2024