This isn’t David Park’s first rodeo. A graduate of TechCrunch Startup Battlefield, the veteran founder certainly has experience in the enterprise space. In this episode of Build Mode, Park joins Isabelle Johannessen to discuss how he and his team are intentionally iterating, financing, and scaling Narada. This enterprise AI solution uses large-scale action models to automate complex multi-step workflows across enterprise systems.
At face value, Narada has everything an investor would come knocking down its door: a dream founding team of experienced researchers and operators from Stanford and Berkeley, major corporate customers, and a working product. So when Narada applied to Startup Battlefield in 2024, the team was surprised to find very little funding. That choice was by design.
Asked why he waited to hold a fundraiser, Park said, “I didn’t want to waste too much money.” “Because when you have too much money in the bank and you’re not close to product-market fit, it’s tempting to spend money on things that don’t actually help evolve your company in the right direction. That removes the friction to do a lot of the wrong things.”
Park previously founded and exited Coverity. This founding experience taught us one important lesson that we took back to Narada. That means taking the time to talk to your customers before you do anything else. Park said that in the early days, he and his co-founders didn’t focus on reaching out to venture capitalists, but instead the three of them called more than 1,000 customers to deeply understand their pain points. Once the problem became very clear, the solution began to emerge. These teams needed an AI product that could speak like a human and reliably perform multiple steps simultaneously.
“If you want to build a real business, ask the hard questions. Don’t just sell. Spend time with your customers. Because once you have a contract and a purchase order, that’s just the beginning.” Park advises thinking of these early conversations as more than just a cold call. “And some of the clients we’ve worked with ourselves have ended up with multi-million dollar deals, right? And it’s always easier to sell more to a company that has already chosen you and has some level of trust in you.”
A seasoned founder, Mr. Park has a fundamental belief that building a company the right way requires putting the customer at the center of every decision. Because at the end of the day, no matter how trendy, interesting, or well-received your product is in the industry, if people don’t pay for it, it’s not a success.
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October 13-15, 2026
Apply to Startup Battlefield: We’re looking for early-stage companies that have won an MVP. So, nominate a founder (or yourself). Be sure to mention you heard about Startup Battlefield on the Build Mode podcast. Please apply here.
Founder Summit 2026: If you want to take these conversations beyond the podcast, attend the TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 event in person on June 9th in Boston. This is essentially a real-life build mode. A day completely focused on founders, builders, and the conversations that really move startups forward. It’s also a great way to refine your story. Get your tickets.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: We’ll be back at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco from October 13th to 15th. There, the Startup Battlefield 200 will take place. So if you want to support them, or network with thousands of founders, venture capitalists, and technology enthusiasts, grab a ticket.
Isabel Johannessen is our host. Build Mode is produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development is led by Morgan Little. And a special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.
