First Builders
45 posts
First Builders
@first_builders_
First Builders: a podcast about operators shaping companies from the ground up, produced by @TheCouncilCap. Hosted by @AmberIllig & @rachtsui
San Francisco Katılım Mayıs 2025
23 Takip Edilen29 Takipçiler
Public benefits exist. Access is the real problem.
Siran Cao went from scaling frontline ops at Uber to rebuilding how families navigate childcare, nutrition, and health support.
On First Builders, she covers workforce infrastructure and restoring trust in the safety net.
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Empathy is not soft. In caregiving, it is infrastructure.
Duanni Hurd went from Silicon Valley hardware leadership to building a 24/7 home care company.
On First Builders, she shares why trust drives scale, why care cannot be Uberized, and how AI can support operators.
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First Builders retweetledi
Loved diving in with @FilArons on his journey as a repeat founder, engineer at Northrop Grumman, and now CEO at @DiracInc. Dirac bridges assembly design to manufacturability for companies like Anduril and Siemens.
@rachtsui and I are proud to to have them in The Council portfolio!
00:00 Introduction
02:35 The Journey into Engineering and Hard Problems
05:27 The Birth of Dirac: From Aerospace to Software
08:11 Addressing the Opioid Crisis: A Personal Story
10:43 Deciding What to Build: Timing and Passion
12:58 Navigating Hardware and Software Challenges
15:32 The Day-to-Day of Tackling Hard Problems
18:31 Manufacturers' Willingness to Innovate
22:57 Building Trust in Complex Industries
24:58 Embracing Risk in Entrepreneurship
26:39 The Assembly Company: Dirac's Unique Approach
31:48 Reintegrating American Manufacturing
36:24 Defining Success and Milestones at Dirac
38:14 Rapid Fire Insights: Leadership and Innovation
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From neuroscience labs and defense systems → the factory floor. Filip Aronshtein founded Dirac to tackle assembly in manufacturing.
On First Builders, he explains why execution, trust, and working with reality beat elegant theory.
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Early Chrome OS builds → healthcare data infrastructure → advising founders.
Lina Scroggins spent 17 years at Google building systems before playbooks existed.
On First Builders- why operations is strategy, systems beat symptoms, and leadership doesn’t need managing people.
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From construction and trucking → the food supply chain.
Charles Julius built platforms at Procore and Motive before founding Loamy to reduce food loss.
On First Builders, he he explains why trust, design, and correctness beat speed.
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Français
@davidcapple left SaaS to build treatments for a rare disease @SharkToothBio affecting his son and over a million others.
On First Builders, he shares why purpose, first principles, and AI matter when building in biotech.
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2025 was the year everyone tried AI.
2026 will be the year everyone cancels 90% of those tools and doubles down on the 10% that actually ship outcomes.
Holiday special episode of First Builders is live. 🎙
Hosted by @AmberIllig & @rachtsui
#FirstBuilders #Startups #VC #AI
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AI doesn’t fail because of bad ideas, it fails because reliability is an afterthought.
On First Builders, @AutoblocksAI founder @haroonc explains why testing & evaluation are the missing layer in AI, especially in healthcare and other high-stakes environments.
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From Lyft to her leadership at Cruise, Prashanthi Raman has been a vital force in transforming industries.
On First Builders, she dives into her journey through healthcare and tech, highlighting the importance of understanding policy, building trust, and leading with intention.
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From rail to robots to voice AI.
Zach Esmili, CEO of Quintess AI, built voice AI from his work at RATP Dev, Cruise, and Burro.
- Maintenance as “healthcare for equipment”
- Why voice beats screens for frontline workers
- Operator-to-founder leap in industrial AI
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From Carta → Dynasty
@SandroChess (@getdynasty_com) scaled Carta’s sales from $0 to $300M and now builds tools to make billionaire-level wealth accessible.
On First Builders:
– QSBS stacking & Nevada trusts
– Lessons from Carta’s early days
– Building trust in complex markets
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