Building an AI startup is one thing. Raising one of the largest seed rounds of the year before launching a product is something else entirely.

In this episode of Build Mode, host and Startup Battlefield lead Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Andrew Dai, founder and CEO of Elorian and former Google DeepMind researcher, to unpack how his company raised a $55 million seed round at a $300 million valuation before generating revenue or releasing a product.

Andrew shares what investors saw in Elorian's vision for visual AI, how he approached fundraising after leaving Google DeepMind, and why choosing the right investors mattered more than maximizing valuation. He also offers practical advice for founders building in AI, explains why today's fundraising environment rewards clear storytelling over technical jargon, and shares what surprised him most as a first-time founder.

They get into:

How Elorian raised a $55 million seed round before launching a product
Why visual AI is one of the next major frontiers in artificial intelligence
What investors look for when backing frontier AI startups
Why the highest valuation isn't always the best fundraising outcome
How to pitch highly technical products to non-technical investors
What founders should look for when choosing venture capital partners
How to hire top AI talent away from Big Tech
Why moving quickly matters more than ever in today's AI race
How founders can build defensible AI companies as technology evolves
Andrew's advice for first-time founders raising venture capital

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 Meet Andrew Dai: From DeepMind to Building Elorian 01:48 Why Visual AI Is the Next Frontier 04:50 Raising a $55M Seed With No Revenue 08:46 Landing Nvidia, Jeff Dean, and Top AI Investors 12:17 Managing the Pressure of a $300M Valuation 14:40 How AI Founders Should Pitch Investors 20:47 Hiring, Scaling, and Building a Frontier AI Company 27:00 Turning Down Bigger Offers & Advice for Future Founders

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.