Immigrant founders have built some of the world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
In this episode of Build Mode (https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/podcasts\/build-mode\/<\/a>) , host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Manan Mehta, co-founder and managing partner of Unshackled Ventures, (https:\/\/www.unshackledvc.com\/<\/a>) to talk about why he believes immigrant founders represent one of venture capital\u2019s 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\u2014often 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.<\/p>\n They get into:<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n The four structural barriers immigrant founders face when starting companies in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n How Unshackled Ventures helps founders navigate visas while building their startups<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n Why VC\u2019s reliance on pattern matching can cause investors to miss outlier founders<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n How Manan evaluates founders before they have a product, customers, or traction<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n The IQ, AQ, EQ, and SQ framework Unshackled uses to evaluate founder potential<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n Why resilience, lived experience, and a founder\u2019s relationship to the problem can matter more than a polished pitch<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n Why structural gaps can create some of the biggest opportunities for investors<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n How founders without traditional networks can find alternative paths to early capital<\/p>\n \u2022 <\/p>\n Why founders should understand their personal \u201cwhy\u201d instead of trying to fit the traditional VC mold<\/p>\n Subscribe to Build Mode on Apple Podcasts (https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/build-mode\/id1561051074<\/a>) , Spotify (https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0Dqmcq2aDrZkS9v1fITOKV<\/a>) , or wherever you like to listen (https:\/\/pod.link\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vWUZMNjEyNzkzNjQ5NA<\/a>) . And watch the full videos on YouTube (https:\/\/youtu.be\/IR2H2Oq1Bxc<\/a>) . New episodes of Build Mode (https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/podcasts\/build-mode\/<\/a>) drop every Thursday.<\/p>\n Chapters:<\/p>\n 00:00 \u2013 Why VCs Miss Outlier Founders<\/p>\n 01:45 \u2013 Why Manan Mehta Founded Unshackled Ventures<\/p>\n 04:15 \u2013 The Problem With VC Pattern Matching<\/p>\n 06:15 \u2013 The Friends-and-Family Gap for Immigrant Founders<\/p>\n 08:18 \u2013 How Unshackled Helps Founders Navigate Visas<\/p>\n 10:40 \u2013 Building a Startup in Today\u2019s Immigration Environment<\/p>\n 12:19 \u2013 Solving One of Unshackled\u2019s Hardest Immigration Cases<\/p>\n 14:39 \u2013 What the U.S. Stands to Lose16:59 \u2013 Raising Unshackled\u2019s First Venture Funds<\/p>\n 19:40 \u2013 Can You Start a Company on an H-1B Visa?<\/p>\n 22:13 \u2013 How to Evaluate a Founder at Day Zero<\/p>\n 28:30 \u2013 Measuring IQ, AQ, EQ, and SQ<\/p>\n 30:26 \u2013 How Fear Drives VC Pattern Matching<\/p>\n 33:01 \u2013 Why Structural Gaps Create Outlier Opportunities<\/p>\n 35:14 \u2013 Finding Startup Capital Outside Traditional VC<\/p>\n 38:09 \u2013 Why Founders Need to Understand Their \u201cWhy\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Immigrant founders have built some of the world\u2019s most valuable companies, but many still face barriers that make it harder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}