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The First Builders Podcast from The Council dives into the stories of those who go first—founders, funders, and early operators who helped build category-defining companies before they were household names. Hosted by General Partner Amber Illig and Partner Rachel Tsui, each episode brings a candid, practical conversation with someone who has helped shape companies before there was a playbook.
17 Episodes
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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 years at Carta, joining as the company’s first sales hire and helping scale revenue from zero to ...
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 regional idea into a national marketplace for auto dealers—and the lessons learned from leading teams ...
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 Watson), Evolent Health (IPO), Bright Health (IPO; later acquired by Cigna), and DaVita before ...
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 leading strategy at Uber Health before turning her attention to one of the most personal and impact...
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 PM at Moonbeam, and co-founder of Envision Accelerator, the first equity free accelerator for...
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 aligning payers, providers, and pharma through data. In this episode, Web opens up about: – The ear...
What happens when a frustrated operator decides to solve her own problem—and ends up building one of the most empathetic AI companies in the market? Lisa Popovici, Co-founder of Siena AI, joins First Builders to share how running multiple e-commerce brands led her to create a conversational AI platform that actually understands customer sentiment, not just scripted keywords. Before launching Siena, Lisa felt firsthand the pain of delivering great customer experience while protecting margi...
What does it take to make design a growth engine—not an afterthought? David Hoang, VP of Design at Atlassian and former design leader at Webflow, Replit, and One Medical, joins First Builders to share how intentional design can transform messy startup fog into clear, scalable roadmaps. As a designer, executive, angel investor, and writer of the Proof of Concept newsletter (11K+ subscribers), David brings a unique perspective on blending art, systems, and strategy to build products people actu...
How does a doctor become a startup founder? Danish Nagda, Co-Founder & CEO of Rezilient, joins First Builders to share his journey from the hospital floor to reimagining how care is delivered for high-risk patients. Danish left medicine to co-found Rezilient, a virtual-first care platform connecting patients to their providers in ways traditional systems can’t. He’s also the host of Uncanny Valley, where he explores the real stories of founders and innovators breaking into tech. In this e...
What does it take to go from General Counsel to AI founder? In this episode of First Builders, Cecilia Ziniti—CEO of GC AI and former GC at multiple high-growth companies—joins Amber and Rachel to unpack how her legal and operational background set the stage for her leap into building. Cecilia shares how she spotted the right moment to launch in legaltech, what it really takes to lead in a noisy AI landscape, and how she thinks about risk, timing, and team building. Whether you’re in-house,...
What happens when a high-growth operator turns founder—and builds a company rooted in personal mission? Koby Conrad, solo founder and CEO of Sunflower, joins First Builders to share his journey from Rupa Health’s go-to-market lead to creating a digital recovery platform for the 1.2 billion people affected by addiction. A former zero-to-one standout at Rupa Health, Koby helped scale the company from a $22M valuation to a life-changing acquisition. Now he’s bringing those lessons—and his own ...
Dan Perez is no stranger to high-stakes decisions. From walking away from an Oxford PhD program to scaling a digital health company through one of the most successful IPOs in recent years, Dan’s story is a masterclass in vision, conviction, and long-term thinking. In this episode of First Builders, Dan joins Amber and Rachel to unpack the origin story of Hinge Health—a digital MSK care platform now serving over 20 million lives and generating nearly $400M in ARR. They dig into what made Hinge...
In this July 4th special, we’re taking a quick pause from new interviews to celebrate the sparks that launched First Builders. This 20-minute highlight reel brings together some of the most powerful moments from our first month of guests. You’ll hear: – Maia Bittner on resilience and scaling post-acquisition – Nathan Baschez on frameworks, writing, and building in public – Jason Prestinario on taking on healthcare giants – Rohini Pandhi on scaling product and platform from the ground up It’s ...
In this episode, we sit down with Maia Bittner—a three-time founder, angel investor, and early team member at Chime—to explore the arc of a builder’s journey from zero to IPO. Maia shares how she co-founded Pinch to improve financial stability for millennials, scaled at Chime after the acquisition, and has since become a backer of new founders as an investor at XFactor Ventures. We dive into the uncommon paths to co-founder status, what made Pinch “acquirable,” and how Maia’s product instinct...
In this episode, we sit down with Jason Prestinario—Particle Health CEO of and former leader at Komodo Heath and Palantir Technologies —for a candid conversation about building in one of the most complex and regulated sectors in the world: healthcare. Jason talks about the difference between “product thinking” and “patient thinking,” why bundling in hospital systems leads to poor outcomes, and how startups can find leverage in a space dominated by incumbents. We also discuss the bold legal ac...
In this episode, we sit down with Nathan Baschez—founder of Lex, former co-founder of Every, founding team at Substack, and creator of Divinations—to unpack how he thinks about building internet-native businesses. Nathan shares the operating principles behind virality, the power of writing as leverage, and why product intuition matters more than process in the earliest startup moments. We also explore what it takes to build ideas in public—and how to know when one is worth chasing. Make sure ...
In this episode, we’re joined by Rohini Pandhi—Head of Expansion at Mercury, former product leader at Square (Block), and current partner at Transparent Collective. We explore how Rohini identified Square and Mercury early on as accelerating environments dense with opportunity, why narrative is a core tool in both product and venture, and what it means to be a true “First Builder.” Disclaimer: Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Business banking services provided through Ch...
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