First Builders

Georgia Rust is the Creation Engine Product Lead at Figma, where she leads the team behind generative AI plugins, shaders, design systems, and the core canvas capabilities that over ten thousand designers flew to Config 2026 to see unveiled. In this episode, Georgia shares what it means to build at the intersection of design and AI, why the creative community's fear of being automated away ge...

Kristina Subbotina is the founder and CEO of Lexsy, an AI-powered legal operating system built for startups and the venture funds that back them. After nearly a decade inside the system, clerking for a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit, practicing at Cooley, and advising startups through their full lifecycle, she launched one of the first AI law firms in 2023, serving over 100 startups and reachi...

In this episode of First Builders, Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Wyatt Stokesberry, Co-Founder and CEO of Molli Health. Wyatt spent years inside the health insurance machine, rising from early employee to Executive Vice President at Excel Health Plans before walking away to build a new model from scratch, one designed specifically for the 70 million Americans who work for themselves. W...

In this episode of First Builders , Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui talk with Kyle McAllister , Co-founder and CEO of Trially, about what it really looks like to build inside the clinical trial ecosystem. Kyle shares how his experience working across Epic and Cerner shaped his understanding of healthcare systems and why clinical trials remain one of the most operationally complex parts of the industry...

In this episode of First Builders , Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Meagan Gamache , VP of Product at Render, to explore what it really means to build products for the people who build everything else. Meagan shares her unconventional path from biology and academic research into engineering at Heroku, where she discovered a deep appreciation for the speed, feedback loops, and craftsmansh...

In this episode of First Builders , Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Zane Hengsperger , Founder and CEO of Nox Metals, an AI-powered metal supplier building automated factories in Detroit. Zane grew up around manufacturing. His father owned a machine shop, and from an early age he saw how the industry actually works on the ground. After a brief stint in tech, he made a deliberate decision...

In this episode of First Builders, Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Eliana Berger, Co-Founder and CEO of Joyful Health, following the company’s recent $22M raise and rapid growth. Joyful Health began with a simple but overlooked issue. Healthcare providers often have no clear way to track or recover the revenue they are owed. Financial data is scattered across systems, timelines are uncle...

In this episode of First Builders, Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Tina Hwang, Head of Legal at ClassDojo, whose career spans some of the most consequential moments in modern tech. From Google’s rise to WhatsApp’s global expansion, Twitter’s governance transition, and Ancestry’s privacy leadership, Tina has operated at the intersection of hypergrowth, regulation, and trust. Tina shares w...

In this episode of First Builders , Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Siran Cao , Co-Founder and CEO of Mirza, a company simplifying how families access public benefits. Inspired by her childhood navigating fragmented systems and later by scaling frontline operations at Uber, Siran is on a mission to modernize the safety net with dignity at its core. Mirza offers a streamlined, mobile-firs...

In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Duanni Hurd , Founder and CEO of Starlight Caregivers, to explore what it really takes to build and sustain a business in one of the most essential and human industries: caregiving. Duanni shares her unconventional path from global hardware and graphics companies during Silicon Valley’s golden era to founding and l...

In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Filip Aronshtein , Founder and CEO of Dirac, to unpack what it takes to create software for the physical world and why assembly, not just design or production, is the missing layer in modern manufacturing. Fil shares his path from neuroscience labs and defense research into entrepreneurship, including work on brain...

In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Lina Scroggins , SVP and Chief Product Officer at Mercy, to explore what it means to build and lead product orgåanizations inside some of the most complex, high-stakes environments. Lina shares her journey spending nearly two decades at Google, where she helped build systems and teams during the company’s formative...

In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Charles Julius , Co-Founder and CEO of Loamy, to explore what it really takes to build platforms for essential, historically under-digitized industries. Charles shares his unconventional path from healthcare law to software engineering, and how formative experiences at Procore and Motive (formerly KeepTruckin) shap...

In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with David Apple , founder and CEO of Shark Tooth Biotech , to explore purpose-driven building, rare disease innovation, and what it really takes to start over in an entirely new industry. David helped scale two of the most iconic SaaS companies of the last decade—Typeform and Notion—as an early go-to-market leader. Tod...

In this holiday special episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down to reflect on 2025, what it was like to build The Council in this tumultuous year, the launch of First Builders, and some predictions for 2026.  In this conversation, Amber and Rachel discuss:  Firm highlights like Rachel joining full time, starting to deploy Fund II, and launching the podcast  Viral mom...

AI is moving faster than ever—but reliability remains the missing layer. In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Haroon Choudery, founder and CEO of Autoblocks AI, to unpack what it takes to build trustworthy AI systems in high-stakes, regulated environments. Haroon has spent over a decade building at the intersection of AI, healthcare, and infrastructur...

Regulation and policy is often seen as a barrier to innovation, but it doesn’t have to be.  In this episode of First Builders, hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Prashanthi Raman , former head of government affairs at both Cruise and Lyft, after starting her career as an attorney in healthcare policy.  Prashanthi has worked at the intersection of policy and tech for over a decade, and...

What if AI fit the way frontline workers actually do their jobs, instead of forcing them to fit the tools? In this episode of First Builders, hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with portfolio founder Zacharie Esmili, Co-Founder & CEO of Quintess AI, a voice AI platform built for maintenance technicians and the managers who support them. Before starting Quintess AI, Zach spent nearly a...

A real-time debrief on a breakout moment. GC AI just announced its Series B led by Scale Venture Partners and Northzone after crossing $10M ARR and serving legal teams at more than 1,000 companies in under two years. Founder and CEO Cecilia Ziniti returns to First Builders to talk about going from day one to “kindergarten,” keeping the quality bar high while hiring fast, and why customer milestone...

What if the same wealth tools billionaires use were accessible to everyone? In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Alessandro Chesser, Co-Founder & CEO of Dynasty, a licensed Nevada trust company helping founders and investors maximize equity value through smart ownership structures like QSBS stacking. Before founding Dynasty, Alessandro spent eight...

How do you build a billion-dollar company when you’re not in Silicon Valley? On this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Jack Greco co-founder, COO & CFO of ACV Auctions, which went public at a $3.85 billion valuation, to explore what it means to build and scale from the ground up in Buffalo, New York. Jack shares what it took to transform a scrappy regi...

What if healthcare started at home? In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Cameron Carter, Founder and CEO of Rosarium Health, a company helping older adults and people with disabilities age safely in place through smart home modifications. A seasoned healthcare operator turned founder, Cameron previously held leadership roles at Truven (acquired by IBM...

What if freezing your eggs could also help another family grow theirs? In this episode of First Builders , hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Lauren Makler, Co-founder and CEO of Cofertility—a groundbreaking fertility company where women can freeze and store their eggs for free if they donate half to a family in need. Lauren spent nearly nine years at Uber, scaling from marketing to l...

What does it really take to build in healthcare from the ground up?  In this episode of First Builders, Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Eliana Berger, co-founder and CEO of Joyful Health—a financial operating system for independent healthcare providers. Eliana has been a “first” more than most: first PM on Attentitve’s conversational messaging team, first PM at Charlie Health, founding P...

What does it take to scale a healthcare data company over a decade—while bridging silos across an entire industry? Web Sun, Co-Founder and President of Komodo Health, joins First Builders to share the company’s journey from an early idea with bold ambition to a global leader in healthcare insights. Over ten years, Komodo has grown into a category-defining platform that powers better outcomes by al...