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The High Risk, High Reward Model of Backing Immigrant Founders l Build Mode

Immigrant founders have built some of the world’s most valuable companies, but many still face barriers that make it harder to get a startup off the ground. Visa restrictions, limited access to friends-and-family capital, shallow networks, and a venture industry built around pattern matching can keep promising founders from getting funded before they have a…

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Immigrant founders have built some of the world’s most valuable companies, but many still face barriers that make it harder to get a startup off the ground. Visa restrictions, limited access to friends-and-family capital, shallow networks, and a venture industry built around pattern matching can keep promising founders from getting funded before they have a chance to prove themselves.

In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Manan Mehta, co-founder and managing partner of Unshackled Ventures, to talk about why he believes immigrant founders represent one of venture capital’s biggest overlooked opportunities. Manan breaks down how Unshackled built an investment model designed to help founders navigate immigration barriers, why traditional VC pattern matching causes investors to miss potential outliers, and how his team evaluates founders at day zero—often before they have a product, customers, or traction. He also explains why the structural gaps that make some founders harder to fund may be exactly where investors should be looking for outsized returns.

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New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday.

Chapters:
00:00 – Why VCs Miss Outlier Founders
01:45 – Why Manan Mehta Founded Unshackled Ventures
04:15 – The Problem With VC Pattern Matching
06:15 – The Friends-and-Family Gap for Immigrant Founders
08:18 – How Unshackled Helps Founders Navigate Visas
10:40 – Building a Startup in Today’s Immigration Environment
12:19 – Solving One of Unshackled’s Hardest Immigration Cases
14:39 – What the U.S. Stands to Lose
16:59 – Raising Unshackled’s First Venture Funds
19:40 – Can You Start a Company on an H-1B Visa?
22:13 – How to Evaluate a Founder at Day Zero
28:30 – Measuring IQ, AQ, EQ, and SQ
30:26 – How Fear Drives VC Pattern Matching
33:01 – Why Structural Gaps Create Outlier Opportunities
35:14 – Finding Startup Capital Outside Traditional VC
38:09 – Why Founders Need to Understand Their “Why”

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.

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CNET

New VR Glasses and More! Everything Announced at Meta Connect in Less Than 10 Minutes

Meta’s September Connect event reveals a bunch of new Meta products, including a deep dive into its new Muse AI personal assistant, audio-only smart glasses in many new frame styles and new VR Glasses that weigh as much as a deck of cards. Check out all the highlights in less than 10 minutes. You can…

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September 23, 2026

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Meta’s September Connect event reveals a bunch of new Meta products, including a deep dive into its new Muse AI personal assistant, audio-only smart glasses in many new frame styles and new VR Glasses that weigh as much as a deck of cards. Check out all the highlights in less than 10 minutes.

You can find the products mentioned in this video linked below
*CNET may get a commission on these offers

Read more about it on CNET.com

Video Credits:
Video Editor: Owen Poole
Thumbnail Designer: Zooey Liao

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CNET

Tech Editors React to Meta Connect 2026: Will Smartglasses Become Mainstream?

PCMag’s Iyaz Akhtar leads a panel of tech experts from CNET, PCMag and Mashable to unpack all the news from the Meta Connect 2026 launch event. Click into the livestream at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET for an in-depth recap of all the news from Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote address. Read more about Meta Connect on…

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3 hours ago

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September 23, 2026

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PCMag’s Iyaz Akhtar leads a panel of tech experts from CNET, PCMag and Mashable to unpack all the news from the Meta Connect 2026 launch event. Click into the livestream at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET for an in-depth recap of all the news from Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote address.

Read more about Meta Connect on CNET.com:
Meta Keeps Trying to Fix Glasses Privacy Concerns With New Update

Video Credits:
Host: Iyaz Akhtar
Guest Host: Timothy Beck Werth
Guest Host: Will Greenwald
Guest Host: Angela Moscaritolo
Guest Host: Scott Stein
Producer: Stephen Beacham
Video Editor: Stephen Beacham
Thumbnail Designer: Tharon Green

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#meta #metaconnect #metaconnect2026 #metaglasses #aiglasses #smartglasses

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CNET

Hands-On With Meta VR Glasses and All of Meta’s Other Glasses and AI

Muse AI on Meta glasses? Hearing enhancement? VR glasses that run Quest games? Camera-free glasses? All that and more to talk about, but very little on privacy. You can find the products mentioned in this video linked below *CNET may get a commission on these offers Read more about it on CNET.com Timecode Chapters: 00:00…

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3 hours ago

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September 23, 2026

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Muse AI on Meta glasses? Hearing enhancement? VR glasses that run Quest games? Camera-free glasses? All that and more to talk about, but very little on privacy.

You can find the products mentioned in this video linked below
*CNET may get a commission on these offers

Read more about it on CNET.com

Timecode Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Meta’s Wearable Future
00:23 – Gen 3 Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses & Battery Life
00:30 – Camera-Free Ray-Ban Audio Glasses
00:43 – FDA-Cleared Hearing Assistance Feature
06:24 – Agentic AI: Meta Muse Demo
01:40 – New Styles & Celebrity Collaborations
01:59 – Hands-On with Meta’s $1,299 VR Glasses
02:37 – Sports Streaming, IMAX & Entertainment
02:43 – Controls, Eye Tracking & BeatSaber
02:81 – Pricing, Competition & Final Thoughts

Video Credits:
Host: Scott Stein
Scripted by: Scott Stein
Producer: Celso Bulgatti
Camera: Celso Bulgatti
Video Editor: Jon Gomez
Thumbnail Designer: Zooey Liao

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Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
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