WEBVTT
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Welcome to First Builders, the podcast for those who shape companies from the ground up.
00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:15.039
I'm Amber Illig, founder and general partner at the Council Capital, where we invest in early teams solving critical problems in essential industries.
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.440
And I'm Rachel Troy, partner at the Council.
00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:24.640
This podcast is about the people behind the playbooks, those who took a leap early and helped define companies before anyone knew their names.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.160
Now we're taking just a short little break this week for the Fourth of July holiday.
00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.879
But before we go, we wanted to celebrate a major milestone.
00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:32.640
It's been our first month of first builders.
00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:39.679
And we've had some really incredible conversations so far with guests who built early, bet big, and paid entirely new paths.
00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:43.200
So in this special episode, we're bringing you a few of our favorite moments.
00:00:43.359 --> 00:01:03.439
You'll hear from Maya Bittner on navigating acquisition and IPO as a multi-time founder that landed at Chime, Nathan Baschez on writing virality and building it in public at his company Lex, Jason Prestonario at Particle Health on challenging healthcare giants from the inside, and Rohini Pondi on what it really takes to scale product and platform at breakout companies like Square and Mercury.
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:09.920
Each of them bring a different lens, but together they paint a really powerful picture of what it means to build before the playbook exists.
00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:16.640
Whether you've been listening since day one or you're just joining us, this episode is a snapshot of the energy and insight that we've been so lucky to share.
00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:20.959
We're grateful to all of our guests and to you, our listeners, for making this such a special launch.
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:22.879
Happy fourth and enjoy the show.
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:33.760
Concepts that this mentor was telling me about was this could apply to angel investing or managing, but you might have a conversation sync with your team and you all see the same ingredients.
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:40.959
You see chocolate, you see sugar, you see flour, you see butter and on the table, and you're like, okay, great, we're all talked about the same things.
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:46.239
You walk away from that thinking this team's gonna come back to me and they're gonna make some amazing chocolate chip cookies.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.799
And they come back and they made fudge brownies.
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And you're like, wait, that's not what I thought we were gonna do.
00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.239
And if it was in my hands, I would have made the cookies instead of the brownies.
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.799
And so you kind of have to know where you want to push.
00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:01.280
Like, was it really the cookie that was important, or was it that there was a dessert available?
00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:15.199
And using that analogy, like I kind of have to think about that a few times because as an IC, you get to own all of it, and you have to lose that control a little bit as you kind of manage folks and and help grow your team because they need to learn the same things of how to how to bake.
00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.039
But you don't want to take away the joy of baking because you're just in it with them all the time.
00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.800
What you want to do is create your value from building something valuable, a valuable company.
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:26.639
And so then, okay, what's the purpose of creating really thoughtful content?
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:39.360
It's for like a hundred people in the world, like in the world, the right hundred first people to like kind of really be able to download the best version of your thinking, and then what that does for your relationship or your ability to collaborate with those people.
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:42.319
Maybe they join you, maybe they fund you, whatever.
00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:43.759
That's what the writing is for.
00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:55.199
It's for your own discovery process and learning and straightening out your own thinking, and it's for relationship building with like specific people where you meet them at something and you start talking about a thing, and you're like, I wrote a thing about that.
00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:56.400
I would love to hear what you think.
00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:59.120
Like, here's my thing, and then you, you know, that that helps.
00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:03.680
Is there anything patients can do to advocate for better interoperability?
00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:14.960
Just because, you know, I'm listening to this, and I'm sure there are other people listening to this saying, like, my gosh, you know, it's overwhelming to think about the number of doctors I've seen and how they all have different pieces of information about me, and I can't find them in one place.
00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:16.479
Is there anything we can do?
00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:28.639
So, first off, um, you know, you certainly can go to our website and and look at our information blocking page and ensure uh I think we still have um a um petition that you can sign.
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.000
So people can and should go to our website for that purpose.
00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:42.800
Second, I think whenever you're talking to your providers, right, you should and and frankly, even you know, anybody in the ecosystem, um, hey, do you have access to my medical records?
00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:43.759
If not, why not?
00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:58.479
I actually have joked before that um it's kind of only a half joke, part of the reason that I wanted to join Particle is I just thought it was so annoying that I would go to you know the doctor and I'd have to sit there and fill out a form every single time.
00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.199
I'd be like, I've already seen this doctor 12 times before.
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Yes, yes, and like why are we doing that?
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Right?
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Like, why are we doing that?
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So whenever you're doing that, uh again, don't don't bother, you know, um uh receptionists and it's probably not their fault, right?
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:17.279
But um, but when you talk to the doctor, right, finally, it's uh, hey, you know, do you know that there's a different way you can do this?
00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:22.720
A lot of money has been locked up in these late stage successful companies who have been waiting for the right moment to IPO.
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:28.079
From startup founder to acquired by Chime to seven years at Chime and now the IPO.
00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:29.920
I worked my ass off.
00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:35.360
That's just kind of my personality and childhood trauma, but like works well in the tech industry.
00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:40.000
The pinch acquisition, it happened really quickly, really, really, really, really, really quickly.
00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.720
We worked really closely with Satya, who was the partner at homebrew that led our pre-seed round.
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:54.160
And he was like, you need to go back to the drawing board, and maybe it's not even fintech, but you need to kind of start again from the from scratch, come up with a problem and build a solution to it.
00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:55.839
This is not working, you need to bail on it.
00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:01.360
I had met Ryan King some years ago at a homebrew portfolio founder dinner when we were just getting started.
00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:07.519
And I actually wanted to join Ryan and Chime at that time because I thought Ryan was like really sp, I still do.
00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.079
Like Ryan is just like an outstanding person.
00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.240
And I was like, this guy is something else.
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Like, I want to go work for this guy.
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.879
Um, and so yeah, I I wanted to join Chime at the very beginning of our pinch journey.
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:20.720
But my co-founder, Michael Ducker, right?
00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.240
This was his first company, and he was like, no, I want to go do like the, I want to do the startup thing.
00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.199
And so then, yeah, when it like wasn't working, we came back with our tail between our legs to join Chime.
00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:34.639
We wanted equity for our investors and we wanted it to technically count as an acquisition, right?
00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:36.240
We wanted to be able to say we were acquired by time.
00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.600
Yeah, I was employee like 75, and Chime has had, I don't know, I don't know, it's like 1200 employees or something like that.
00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.000
Um, and so yeah, it's like it's fun, it's exciting.
00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:47.279
I don't know, I just really love my job.
00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:56.399
From Maya's lessons on resilience to Nathan's frameworks for idea exploration, to Jason's fight for healthcare data access, and Rahini's wisdom on cross-functional leadership.
00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.480
This first month has been packed with takeaways.
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.600
If something you heard today resonated, send this episode to a founder or early operator you admire.
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.160
And be sure to go back and listen to the full conversations.
00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.480
We promise they're definitely worth a deep dive.
00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:13.600
And you can find all episodes on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, really anywhere you get your podcasts.
00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:19.199
And for more insights from our guests and community, head to our website at www.thecouncil.co.
00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.639
Stay close to the first builders community by subscribing to our newsletter.
00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:28.160
It's where we share early drops, deep dives from our guests, and what we're seeing in the next wave accompany builders.
00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.800
You'll find all the ways of follow and connect in the show notes.
00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.319
Thanks for being a part of this journey.
00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:34.399
We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.
00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.720
Until then, have a safe and great July 4th.
00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.079
See ya everyone.
00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:08.480
Welcome to First Builders, the podcast for those who shape companies from the ground up.
00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:15.039
I'm Amber Illig, founder and general partner at the Council Capital, where we invest in early teams solving critical problems in essential industries.
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.440
And I'm Rachel Troy, partner at the Council.
00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:24.640
This podcast is about the people behind the playbooks, those who took a leap early and helped define companies before anyone knew their names.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.160
Now we're taking just a short little break this week for the Fourth of July holiday.
00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.879
But before we go, we wanted to celebrate a major milestone.
00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:32.640
It's been our first month of first builders.
00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:39.679
And we've had some really incredible conversations so far with guests who built early, bet big, and paid entirely new paths.
00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:43.200
So in this special episode, we're bringing you a few of our favorite moments.
00:00:43.359 --> 00:01:03.439
You'll hear from Maya Bittner on navigating acquisition and IPO as a multi-time founder that landed at Chime, Nathan Baschez on writing virality and building it in public at his company Lex, Jason Prestonario at Particle Health on challenging healthcare giants from the inside, and Rohini Pondi on what it really takes to scale product and platform at breakout companies like Square and Mercury.
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:09.920
Each of them bring a different lens, but together they paint a really powerful picture of what it means to build before the playbook exists.
00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:16.640
Whether you've been listening since day one or you're just joining us, this episode is a snapshot of the energy and insight that we've been so lucky to share.
00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:20.959
We're grateful to all of our guests and to you, our listeners, for making this such a special launch.
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:22.879
Happy fourth and enjoy the show.
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:33.760
Concepts that this mentor was telling me about was this could apply to angel investing or managing, but you might have a conversation sync with your team and you all see the same ingredients.
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:40.959
You see chocolate, you see sugar, you see flour, you see butter and on the table, and you're like, okay, great, we're all talked about the same things.
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:46.239
You walk away from that thinking this team's gonna come back to me and they're gonna make some amazing chocolate chip cookies.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.799
And they come back and they made fudge brownies.
00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:51.439
And you're like, wait, that's not what I thought we were gonna do.
00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.239
And if it was in my hands, I would have made the cookies instead of the brownies.
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.799
And so you kind of have to know where you want to push.
00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:01.280
Like, was it really the cookie that was important, or was it that there was a dessert available?
00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:15.199
And using that analogy, like I kind of have to think about that a few times because as an IC, you get to own all of it, and you have to lose that control a little bit as you kind of manage folks and and help grow your team because they need to learn the same things of how to how to bake.
00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.039
But you don't want to take away the joy of baking because you're just in it with them all the time.
00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.800
What you want to do is create your value from building something valuable, a valuable company.
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:26.639
And so then, okay, what's the purpose of creating really thoughtful content?
00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:39.360
It's for like a hundred people in the world, like in the world, the right hundred first people to like kind of really be able to download the best version of your thinking, and then what that does for your relationship or your ability to collaborate with those people.
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:42.319
Maybe they join you, maybe they fund you, whatever.
00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:43.759
That's what the writing is for.
00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:55.199
It's for your own discovery process and learning and straightening out your own thinking, and it's for relationship building with like specific people where you meet them at something and you start talking about a thing, and you're like, I wrote a thing about that.
00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:56.400
I would love to hear what you think.
00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:59.120
Like, here's my thing, and then you, you know, that that helps.
00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:03.680
Is there anything patients can do to advocate for better interoperability?
00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:14.960
Just because, you know, I'm listening to this, and I'm sure there are other people listening to this saying, like, my gosh, you know, it's overwhelming to think about the number of doctors I've seen and how they all have different pieces of information about me, and I can't find them in one place.
00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:16.479
Is there anything we can do?
00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:28.639
So, first off, um, you know, you certainly can go to our website and and look at our information blocking page and ensure uh I think we still have um a um petition that you can sign.
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.000
So people can and should go to our website for that purpose.
00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:42.800
Second, I think whenever you're talking to your providers, right, you should and and frankly, even you know, anybody in the ecosystem, um, hey, do you have access to my medical records?
00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:43.759
If not, why not?
00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:58.479
I actually have joked before that um it's kind of only a half joke, part of the reason that I wanted to join Particle is I just thought it was so annoying that I would go to you know the doctor and I'd have to sit there and fill out a form every single time.
00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.199
I'd be like, I've already seen this doctor 12 times before.
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:03.280
Yes, yes, and like why are we doing that?
00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:03.520
Right?
00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:04.560
Like, why are we doing that?
00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:11.919
So whenever you're doing that, uh again, don't don't bother, you know, um uh receptionists and it's probably not their fault, right?
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:17.279
But um, but when you talk to the doctor, right, finally, it's uh, hey, you know, do you know that there's a different way you can do this?
00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:22.720
A lot of money has been locked up in these late stage successful companies who have been waiting for the right moment to IPO.
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:28.079
From startup founder to acquired by Chime to seven years at Chime and now the IPO.
00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:29.920
I worked my ass off.
00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:35.360
That's just kind of my personality and childhood trauma, but like works well in the tech industry.
00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:40.000
The pinch acquisition, it happened really quickly, really, really, really, really, really quickly.
00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.720
We worked really closely with Satya, who was the partner at homebrew that led our pre-seed round.
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:54.160
And he was like, you need to go back to the drawing board, and maybe it's not even fintech, but you need to kind of start again from the from scratch, come up with a problem and build a solution to it.
00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:55.839
This is not working, you need to bail on it.
00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:01.360
I had met Ryan King some years ago at a homebrew portfolio founder dinner when we were just getting started.
00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:07.519
And I actually wanted to join Ryan and Chime at that time because I thought Ryan was like really sp, I still do.
00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.079
Like Ryan is just like an outstanding person.
00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.240
And I was like, this guy is something else.
00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:13.920
Like, I want to go work for this guy.
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.879
Um, and so yeah, I I wanted to join Chime at the very beginning of our pinch journey.
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:20.720
But my co-founder, Michael Ducker, right?
00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.240
This was his first company, and he was like, no, I want to go do like the, I want to do the startup thing.
00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.199
And so then, yeah, when it like wasn't working, we came back with our tail between our legs to join Chime.
00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:34.639
We wanted equity for our investors and we wanted it to technically count as an acquisition, right?
00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:36.240
We wanted to be able to say we were acquired by time.
00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.600
Yeah, I was employee like 75, and Chime has had, I don't know, I don't know, it's like 1200 employees or something like that.
00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.000
Um, and so yeah, it's like it's fun, it's exciting.
00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:47.279
I don't know, I just really love my job.
00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:56.399
From Maya's lessons on resilience to Nathan's frameworks for idea exploration, to Jason's fight for healthcare data access, and Rahini's wisdom on cross-functional leadership.
00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.480
This first month has been packed with takeaways.
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.600
If something you heard today resonated, send this episode to a founder or early operator you admire.
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.160
And be sure to go back and listen to the full conversations.
00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.480
We promise they're definitely worth a deep dive.
00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:13.600
And you can find all episodes on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, really anywhere you get your podcasts.
00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:19.199
And for more insights from our guests and community, head to our website at www.thecouncil.co.
00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.639
Stay close to the first builders community by subscribing to our newsletter.
00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:28.160
It's where we share early drops, deep dives from our guests, and what we're seeing in the next wave accompany builders.
00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.800
You'll find all the ways of follow and connect in the show notes.
00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.319
Thanks for being a part of this journey.
00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:34.399
We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.
00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.720
Until then, have a safe and great July 4th.
00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.079
See ya everyone.
