Science & Technology

The wrong time to hire with David Park, Narada

This week on Build Mode, we’re joined by David Park, co-founder and CEO of Narada, an enterprise AI agent platform spun out of UC Berkeley AI Lab research. Narada uses large action models to automate complex, multi-step workflows across enterprise systems. After previously co-founding and exiting Coverity, Park is now building his second company with…

Published

1 month ago

March 5, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

In this episode, he shares why Narada spent a year making nearly 1,000 customer calls before raising institutional capital, how the company reached 99.99% reliability in production environments, and why he believes too much funding too early can derail even the strongest teams. Park also reflects on his experience as a Startup Battlefield Top 20 company and the lessons he’s carried from his first exit into building Narada.

He breaks down:
🧩 Why customers won’t tell you your “baby is ugly” — but their wallets will
🧩 How Narada achieves enterprise-grade AI reliability
🧩 Why raising money before product-market fit can be dangerous
🧩 The discipline of building a lean, “mean building machine”
🧩 When to scale your go-to-market team (and when not to)
🧩 Why founders must stick to their values, even under pressure
🧩 Lessons from Startup Battlefield and building in public

Apply to Startup Battlefield: We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself): techcrunch.com/apply. Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast.

Grab your tickets: If you want to take these conversations beyond the podcast, then come join us in person at a TechCrunch event on June 9 in Boston, we’re hosting our founders Summit, which is essentially build mode in real life. It’s a full day focused entirely on founders, builders and the conversations that actually move startups forward. It’s also a great way to sharpen your story.
If you’re thinking about applying to Startup Battlefield, then October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, we’re back for TechCrunch Disrupt, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with 1000s of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets at techcrunch.com/events

Use code buildmode15 for 15% off any ticket type,

Chapters:
00:00 – Why customers won’t tell you the truth (but their wallets will)
02:43 – What Narada does: enterprise AI agents powered by large action models
04:28 – Enterprise reliability: reaching 99.99% accuracy
07:32 – Trust, security, and on-prem deployment
12:26 – Bootstrapping, 1,000 customer calls & finding real pain
15:05 – Raising after traction & meeting their lead VC at Disrupt
18:47 – Scaling responsibly after product-market fit
22:46 – Go-to-market strategy & leveraging channels
23:48 – From Coverity exit to Narada: a founder’s second act
27:05 – Founder advice: passion, grit & integrity
30:20 – Fake it till you make it? Not quite.
30:44 – Startup Battlefield experience
36:05 – Final reflections on disruption & building for impact

New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday:

Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. 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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26 Comments

@عليموحان-س5ع

March 5, 2026 at 5:27 am

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@FlorineMontalvo

March 5, 2026 at 7:24 pm

👍🚀 XA20P in the Top 3 Crypto Picks for 2026 💪

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@AyleeRowan

March 5, 2026 at 7:24 pm

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Reply
@HermelindaGrimes

March 5, 2026 at 7:24 pm

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Reply
@JanainaBechtel

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@CullenJared-r3y

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@ErrolYeung-u6l

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@AdrianusStclair

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@LuizaPeter-v7t

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@LilyBermejo

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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@WalkKeeney

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@KurtisDelhaye

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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@SandraJanzen-e9w1x

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@KrauskopfBurrow

March 5, 2026 at 7:25 pm

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Reply
@FischerOtero

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@BettiHendrickson-e5n

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@PropinasEspinosa

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@LaureDum-w5w

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@TrishIvory-d1e

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

I agree with you wholeheartedly that XA20P coin is the future of crypto so I added $50K to my positions

Reply
@ShashiAlbiter

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@MarianneRyan-d8k

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@AquilioTerry

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@MarcellusBurke-l6u

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@SerenaBarboza-t1k

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

The cat is out of the bag since Elon Musk made a new crypto called XA20P and it is EXPLODING

Reply
@ForestHarley

March 5, 2026 at 7:26 pm

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Reply
@MadinaWilfred

March 5, 2026 at 7:27 pm

Larry Fink the man who moves trillions of dollars just said he believes $XA20P coin will move with Bitcoin to a $15 TRILLION market cap which is bullish for $XA20P

Reply

Science & Technology

Why Taskrabbit’s Founder Prioritizes Diversity Early │ Build Mode Podcast

As a founder or any team builder, diversity is best built at the start. As Taskrabbit founder Leah Solivan learned, procrastination leads to weaker teams and a harder effort later. We dive into all of her expert tips for builders and founders in the latest episode of our podcast Build Mode right here:

Published

1 day ago

April 3, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

As a founder or any team builder, diversity is best built at the start. As Taskrabbit founder Leah Solivan learned, procrastination leads to weaker teams and a harder effort later.

We dive into all of her expert tips for builders and founders in the latest episode of our podcast Build Mode right here:

Science & Technology

Are orbital data centers all hype, or an actual AI infrastructure solution? l Equity Podcast

Tech companies are racing to build data centers in space, pitching orbital compute as the next frontier for AI infrastructure, even as the technical and economic realities remain far from clear. Add in OpenAI’s massive $122 billion round and Bluesky’s latest AI backlash, and the message is clear: The future of AI is being shaped…

Published

1 day ago

April 3, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane unpack these massive capital bets, user backlash, and off-world compute plans along with Whoop’s major valuation and the literal downfall of robot Olaf.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:20 A humanoid Olaf robot collapses at Disneyland Paris
03:30 OpenAI raises $122B at an $852B valuation
11:30 Whoop lands $575M and bets big on wearable data
18:50 The risks (and value) of personal health data
23:00 Bluesky’s AI feed builder sparks backlash
30:00 Can Bluesky keep growing — and compete with X?
36:30 The race to build data centers in space
44:30 SpaceX, Starlink, and the business of orbital compute
49:30 Outro

CNET

Apple at 50: Sharing Our Biggest Apple Memories

With Apple turning 50 this week, Bridget Carey goes down memory lane with her CNET teammates on what it was like to cover the iconic company and how the products shaped our lives. Read more on CNET.com Apple’s 50-Year Legacy of Product Innovation, Through CNET’s Lens 0:15 CNET reporters share their favorite Apple memories 0:22…

Published

1 day ago

April 3, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

With Apple turning 50 this week, Bridget Carey goes down memory lane with her CNET teammates on what it was like to cover the iconic company and how the products shaped our lives.

Read more on CNET.com
Apple’s 50-Year Legacy of Product Innovation, Through CNET’s Lens

0:15 CNET reporters share their favorite Apple memories
0:22 Bridget Carey’s start with Apple
0:39 iMac G3
0:48 Jeff Carlson learns newspaper layout and Page Maker on a Mac
0:56 Aldus PageMaker
1:02 Transporting a Mac Classic across campus on a bike
1:15 Scott Stein takes a PowerBook 145 to college
1:46 Abrar Al-Heeti’s favorite gadget is the iPod Nano (3rd Gen)
2:05 Faith Chihil bought an iPod with a click wheel in 2021 and uses it today
2:25 Can someone help Faith Chihil fix her Scion’s aux input?
2:43 Bridget Carey holds off on buying the first iPhones
2:48 iPhone 3Gs was Bridget Carey’s first Apple purchase
3:00 Vanessa Hand Orellana stands in line for iPhone 3s
3:26 Patrick Holland accidentally. became the face of the Apple Store
3:56 Bridget Carey starts her job at CNET in 2011
4:07 Bridget Carey goes to the Apple Store to cover the death of Steve Jobs
4:21 Patrick Holland watched fans pay tribute to Steve Jobs by leaving notes at the Apple Store
4:52 Patrick Holland describes working at the Apple Store
5:06 Iyaz Akhtar waits in line at the Soho Apple Store for Mac OS X Leopard
5:35 Bridget Carey remembers reporting on crazy lines for Apple product launch days
5:43 Vanessa Hand Orellana remembers reporting from iPhone lines
5:56 Jeff Carlson attends Apple’s infamous U2 Songs of Innocence album release event
6:09 Tim Cook and Apple give half a billion iTunes users a U2 album for free
6:36 Apple releases a fix to delete the U2 album from your phone
6:44 Russell Holly’s iPhone 6 bendgate
6:55 Scott Stein wears AirPods for the first time and becomes a meme
7:25 The very first Apple Watch demo underwhelms Vanessa Hand Orellana
7:37 Vanessa Hand Orellana watches Tim Cook announce the very first Apple Watch
8:05 Apple Watch Series 4 changes Vanessa Hand Orellana’s opinion on the Apple Watch
8:15 Apple Watch’s pivotal move into health tech and EKG
8:30 Apple Watch helps Vanessa Hand Orellana’s family member get medical diagnosis
8:55 Bridget Carey wants to know how Apple impacted your life

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