Science & Technology

Why Raising Your First Round Is Harder Than Ever l Build Mode

Published

4 months ago

July 9, 2026

Raising your first round has always been hard — but in today’s market, the rules are changing fast.
In this episode of Build Mode, our host and Startup Battlefield lead Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Charles Hudson, Founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, to talk about what early-stage founders need to know before raising their first institutional round.
Charles shares a candid look at how the venture landscape has shifted, why AI is changing what investors pay attention to, and how founders can better navigate fundraising when the old playbooks no longer apply.

They get into:
• Why raising pre-seed and seed funding feels harder right now
• How AI is reshaping venture capital
• What founders should know before choosing an investor
• Why the highest valuation is not always the best deal
• How to build momentum during a fundraise
• Why storytelling and a strong blurb matter more than ever
• What happens when a startup raises too much too soon
• Why the biggest risk may not be a down round — but no round at all
• How to think about whether venture capital is actually the right path

Whether you’re preparing to raise, currently fundraising, or just trying to understand how early-stage venture is changing, this conversation is packed with practical, honest advice for founders building in today’s market.

Subscribe to Build Mode on⁠ Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, or⁠ wherever you like to listen⁠. And watch the full videos on⁠ YouTube⁠. New episodes of ⁠Build Mode⁠ drop every Thursday.

Chapters:
00:00 – The New Rules of Startup Fundraising
02:00 – What VCs Look for in First-Time Founders
08:50 – The Biggest Fundraising Mistakes Startup Founders Make
13:20 – Why Startup Valuations Are So Unpredictable in 2026
18:20 – Why Raising Too Much Money Can Hurt Your Startup
25:55 – Should Every Startup Raise Venture Capital?
29:20 – How to Choose the Right VC Investor
33:55 – Why Silicon Valley Still Gives Founders an Advantage
36:40 – How to Build Momentum During a Startup Fundraise

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.

Up Next

AirPods with Cameras, But Why?! | One More Thing

Don't Miss

You May Care Deeply About Your Startup. The Rest of the World Doesn’t

Click to comment

CNET

iPhone Duo Livestream: How Many Folds Can Apple’s Phone Take? Day 10

Apple’s iPhone Duo is out and we want to see how durable it is. So we built a robot to fold it 20,000+ times a day to test its limits. How long do you think it will last? 100,000 folds? 200,000 folds? 500,000 folds? Tune in and watch the testing live. We’ll have CNET’s editors…

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

Join us weekdays from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM PT / 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET

Read more about the iPhone Duo Folding Test on CNET.com
We Answer 16 Questions About Folding the iPhone Duo Hundreds of Thousands of Times

The iPhone Duo Is Now in Our Custom-Made Foldable Phone Test Machine. Will It Beat the Galaxy Fold 8?

iPhone Duo Review: Late to the Foldable Party, but It Steals the Show

Check out the 3D Printer Matthew Murray used to print the sled that iPhone Duo is sitting on:
Looking for the Most Accurate 3D Printer? Our Exclusive Testing Reveals One Clear Winner

Video Credits:
Host: Matthew Murray
Producer: Stephen Beacham
Thumbnail Designer: Zooey Liao

Add CNET as a trusted news source
Never miss a deal again! See CNET’s browser extension 👉
Check out CNET’s Amazon Storefront:
Subscribe to CNET on YouTube:
Follow us on TikTok:
Follow us on Instagram:
Follow us on Bluesky:
Like us on Facebook:
CNET’s AI Atlas:
Follow us on X:
Visit CNET.com:

#apple #iphone #iphonefold #iphoneduo #applefoldable #foldablephone #foldable #folding

Science & Technology

After the midterms, is the AI industry in for a rough two years? | Equity Podcast

Democrats’ historic victories in this week’s U.S. midterm elections could also transform the tech industry. The public voted on 41 data center-related ballot measures on Tuesday — in all but one, the majority voted to impose more restrictions on data center development. And even when data centers weren’t on the ballot directly, they were a…

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

Democrats’ historic victories in this week’s U.S. midterm elections could also transform the tech industry.

The public voted on 41 data center-related ballot measures on Tuesday — in all but one, the majority voted to impose more restrictions on data center development. And even when data centers weren’t on the ballot directly, they were a major talking point, with newly-elected Democratic governors and congressmembers likely to support additional regulation.

On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Sean O’Kane, and Anthony Ha discuss what the election will mean for the tech industry moving forward — not just when it comes to data centers (which OpenAI is already trying to rebrand), but also increased government scrutiny of Big Tech.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• Whether Google first satellite data center is ushering our orbital data center future
• If major layoffs at design software company Canva and website builder Squarespace can be blamed on AI
• Marvell’s $115 billion acquisition of Lumentum, in one of the largest deals in history
• Why CrowdStrike just acquired of two AI security startups
What NBCUniversal’s investment in Indian microdrama startup Elo • Elo means for the media landscape

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

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

0:47 Founder Summit recap and an Equity team update

2:23 Midterm results and the data center backlash

7:49 OpenAI rebrands data centers as “compute campuses”

10:57 Wall Street cools on the data center buildout

13:30 Regulatory certainty and building outside the U.S.

15:45 Canva and Squarespace layoffs

20:37 Can AI chatbots replace products like Squarespace?

23:22 Marvell’s $115B Lumentum acquisition

26:51 CrowdStrike buys Fiddler AI and Dreadnode

30:20 Micro drama startup raises $80M

30:59 Outro

CNET

Unboxing Sony’s New $60 USB-C Walkman Headphones

Riding on that resurgence, Bose recently released its USB-C Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds and now Sony has a $60 USB-C version of its iconic MDR-3 Walkman on-ear headphones, called the MDR-3R. And they sound a lot better than we expected. Unbox them with us. #unboxing #sonywalkman #retro #mdr3r #usbcheadphones Video: David Carnoy Editor: Jon Gomez…

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2026

CYBER TECH TV