18VC Podcast - Next Gen Builders

18VC Podcast Ep # 7 Building Invisible AI with Bubbl Founder Tony Xiong: The AI Assistant With No App — It Just Texts You

Tony Xiong has been building since he was 15 — first a portable drive 10x faster than anything on the market, then a camera he launched into the stratosphere for Sony. Now he's building Bubbl: an AI assistant that lives in your texts and pulls what actually matters out of your message chaos. No app to install — you just text it. On Episode 7 of 18VC, we sit down with Tony Xiong, founder & CEO of Bubbl, on why the real problem was never information overload, how his Action Context Engine learns who you are, and the on-campus growth stunt that taught him a hard lesson about virality. Highlights & Key Insights: - Why the real problem was never information overload — it's knowing which 100 of your 1,000 daily messages actually matter - The "invisible AI" thesis: why the best productivity tool has no app and no interface — you just text it - Inside the Action Context Engine (ACE): how your personal context, relationship graph, and messaging style decide what's worth interrupting you for - The numbers — 47% day-7 retention, 260 beta testers, and 60,000+ messages sent to Bubbl in two months - The growth mistake: hundreds of campus signups in a day who never came back — and what it taught him about viral distribution - Why he calls Bubbl "an introvert" — it listens in the background so it can strike at exactly the right moment - How Bubbl reads your Gmail and WhatsApp without storing a single message Timestamps: (00:00) Episode highlights (00:58) Welcome to Episode 7 (01:53) From product designer to founder (02:48) Building since 15 & a stratosphere stunt (06:32) Meeting his co-founder in a group chat (07:22) What Bubbl actually is (08:18) The origin story & 20 signups on the spot (09:50) No app — just text "Hi Bubble" (11:18) The real problem isn't overload (12:58) "Invisible AI" & why SMS (15:03) How Bubbl decides what matters (16:58) Inside the Action Context Engine (20:28) Privacy: what it stores (and doesn't) (21:19) Competitors & "not an iMessage product" (23:45) Traction, retention & the moat (25:47) Go-to-market & the viral-marketing mistake (30:26) Why Bubbl is "an introvert" (32:34) Hiring & a people-first culture (34:38) Decisions & the message you never knew you missed (37:54) Life beyond building Subscribe for the earliest signal on the founders worth watching. — Connect with Tony Xiong — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haoyu-tony-xiong/ — Bubbl — Website: https://bubblai.com/ Try it: text "Hi Bubbl!" to +1 (949) 283-8690 — Connect with 18VC — 18VC Website: https://www.18-vc.com/ 18VC Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb 18VC Podcast on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@18vcpodcast?si=l69vI6hHwLgIvw4N 18VC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/ 18VC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/ 18VC X: https://x.com/Official18VC

18VC Podcast Ep # 6 Building the AI Operating System for Apparel Manufacturing with ThreadLabs Co-Founders Rylan Jimenez & Diora Juraboeva

70% of US apparel manufacturers still collect production data manually. Only 16% have real-time visibility across the floor. Most shops still run on WhatsApp threads, Gmail, and the foreman’s memory. Rylan Jimenez and Diora Juraboeva, the co-founders of ThreadLabs, are building the AI intelligence layer for the apparel production industry — not another ERP, but a layer that sits on top of whatever tools a shop already uses, so it works for both a 40-year-old LA cut-and-sew factory with no software and a Chinese factory with an ERP from 20 years ago. In this episode, the hosts Philip and David sit down with Rylan and Diora to unpack how a USC Marshall finance student and a Formula-SAE composites engineer ended up building a manufacturing OS together. We get into how they actually met (month two of college, on Formula SAE), the early ThreadLabs idea that came out of a Google hackathon in 2024, Rylan’s years as a freelance fashion designer, hundreds of hours Rylan spent on factory floors in DTLA, the pivot from a brand-facing AI design tool to a manufacturer-facing ops layer, the macro reshoring tailwind, how the Smart Timelines / Risk Flags / Update Autopilot features actually work, what the Techstars Catalyst program forced them to figure out, and Rylan’s closing advice for student founders — that genuine value doesn’t come from AI, it comes from solving the problem, and that the right first step is to do it without any tech at all. A conversation about staying close to the floor, picking the right wedge, and building in an unsexy, deeply offline industry. — Chapters — (00:00) Highlight reel (00:43) Welcome & how we met Rylan and Diora (02:54) Rylan's path: mech engineering → VC at USC (06:30) What working in VC actually teaches you about building (12:57) Why building beats investing (for now) (15:14) Diora's building journey: F1, USC Racing, Honda, Fisher-Price (17:43) Founding VC Academy together at USC (19:53) How Rylan and Diora actually met (Formula SAE, month two) (23:08) The original ThreadLabs idea: an AI tool for fashion designers (25:48) Rylan's freelance fashion-design years (16–19) (28:07) Where the name "ThreadLabs" came from — and the rebrand coming (29:16) Why now: tariffs, reshoring, and the manufacturing tech gap (32:43) The pivot: from "better ERP" to an intelligence layer on top (35:39) Hundreds of hours on DTLA factory floors — what manufacturers actually want (39:31) What the product does today vs. six months ago (44:21) Onboarding, ERPs, and going white-glove on day one (45:34) Smart Timelines, Risk Flags, and Update Autopilot — how they work (48:23) DTG, screen print, embroidery, cut-and-sew — printing types, not products (50:41) Traction: 5 pilot shops, $50K generated, and where the new product stands (53:27) Scaling beyond LA — international manufacturers and other verticals (56:35) The 3-person founding team (with CTO Dennis Pavlov (01:00:22) What the Techstars Catalyst program actually taught them (01:02:20) One word other than "founder": boring vs. people-orientated (01:05:18) The hardest part of being a founder: scope creep and narrowing down (01:08:47) How being a founder changes the way you live with uncertainty (01:11:26) Mentors, advisors, and Rylan's closing advice for student founders (01:16:08) Outro — Connect with ThreadLabs — Rylan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rylan-jimenez/?skipRedirect=true [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rylan-jimenez/?skipRedirect=true] Diora on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dioraj/?skipRedirect=true [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dioraj/?skipRedirect=true] ThreadLabs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thread-labs-sc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/thread-labs-sc/] ThreadLabs Website: https://threadlbs.com/landing [https://threadlbs.com/landing] — Connect with 18VC — 18VC Website: https://www.18-vc.com/ [https://www.18-vc.com/] 18VC Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb [https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb] 18VC Podcast on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@18vcpodcast?si=l69vI6hHwLgIvw4N [https://youtube.com/@18vcpodcast?si=l69vI6hHwLgIvw4N] 18VC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/ [https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/] 18VC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/] 18VC X: https://x.com/Official18VC [https://x.com/Official18VC]

18VC Podcast Ep # 5 "You can't AI your way out of bad taste" — Diana Melencio (GP, XRC Ventures) on building the next $100M consumer brands

"You can't AI your way out of bad taste." Diana Melencio is the General Partner of XRC Ventures' Brand Capital Fund — a NYC-based seed-to-Series A consumer fund whose LPs include some of the largest public retailers, CPG companies, and global mall operators in the world. Before becoming a GP, Diana was a two-time consumer-tech founder (OK My Outfit and Quinn) and spent a decade in equity research and growth equity at Robertson Stephens, Morgan Keegan, and Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn — including time on a Financial Times-ranked #1 Specialty Retail team. In this episode, Diana joins Lucas and Philip from Paris to explain why consumer VC is the most contrarian bet in the market right now — and why her fund's diligence process looks more like growth equity and private equity than traditional venture. In this conversation, you'll hear: * The difference between a good idea, a good business, and a venture-backable business — and why Diana now tells most consumer founders to skip VC entirely * Why XRC "sets up the acquisition from the beginning" — and the Venn diagram method she uses to source brands, starting from Fortune 500 CFO conversations * How XRC built a proprietary AI tool to track newly launched DTC brands via their Shopify checkout pages, and why she still believes consumer sourcing is fundamentally relationship-driven * The two metrics that matter most in her diligence (hint: repeat purchase rate and price-per-fluid-ounce) * What "taste" actually means in a founder — illustrated through the origin stories of two XRC portfolio companies: Homefield (built by a college student screen-printing vintage Indiana sports tees in his dorm) and Naked Sundays (founded by an Australian news correspondent who watched colleagues get skin cancer cut out of their faces) * Why the post-Allbirds, post-Casper reality of consumer IPOs has reshaped how she invests * Diana's honest answer on whether she'd found again — and the lengths she went to keep her first two startups alive (Christmas trees and Airbnb-ing her spare room included) If you're building, backing, or thinking about consumer brands in 2026, this conversation is worth 45 minutes of your week. CHAPTERS (00:00) Highlight reel (00:41) Welcome & introduction (01:36) From Wall Street to fashion: Robertson Stephens, the mentor who told her to leave, and finding 20,000 users in two months (06:17) Why fashion, and the virtual try-on problem she's still bearish on (09:13) Lessons from 2x founding: good idea vs. good business vs. venture-backable business (11:56) Navigating imposter syndrome as a GP (14:45) Inside XRC: two funds, one ecosystem, and the symbiotic deal flow between them (17:08) Biggest success vs. bitterest lesson — and the AI co-founder question (19:09) XRC's edge: C-suite relationships at strategics (21:16) Why consumer VC is the contrarian bet of 2026 (23:42) AI in deal sourcing: XRC's proprietary brand-tracking tool (26:27) The diligence process: thematic, growth-equity-style, and built for strategic exit from day one (31:09) What "taste" means: the Homefield and Naked Sundays origin stories (36:42) What separates a high-potential consumer founder (39:33) The most common fundraising mistakes (41:43) Would she found again? "It was soul-crushing." (42:55) Where to follow Diana (43:35) The childhood dream and the path here More on XRC Ventures and Diana: XRC Ventures — https://www.xrcventures.com [https://www.xrcventures.com] XRC careers (Silicon Valley intern role) — https://www.xrcventures.comhttps://careers.xrcventures.com/companies/xrc-ventures-2/jobs/78500795-2026-analysts-part-time-interns#content [https://careers.xrcventures.com/companies/xrc-ventures-2/jobs/78500795-2026-analysts-part-time-interns#content] The Brand Capital Report (Diana's Substack) — https://brandcapitalfund.substack.com [https://brandcapitalfund.substack.com] Diana on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianamelencio/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianamelencio/] XRC Ventures on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/xrcventures [https://www.linkedin.com/company/xrcventures] More on 18VC & 18VC Podcast: 18VC Website: https://www.18-vc.com/ [https://www.18-vc.com/] 18VC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/ [https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/] 18VC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/] 18VC X: https://x.com/Official18VC [https://x.com/Official18VC]

18VC Podcast Ep # 4 With Sabrina Li: “Question the Status Quo” — A Gen Z Investor's Playbook

What does it actually take to break into venture capital as a new grad — and stay sharp once you're in? In Episode 4 of the 18VC Podcast, we sit down with Sabrina Li, an investor at Sunstone Management, an early-stage VC firm in Southern California writing pre-seed and seed checks across the U.S. As one of Sunstone's earliest new-grad hires, Sabrina shares what it's like to build a venture practice from zero, how she evaluates founders and markets, and why "questioning the status quo" guides every call she makes. We unpack how a finance student from USC Marshall ended up in early-stage VC, the three levels of consumer demand every founder must understand — must-have, good-to-have, and status — and why she'd rather see one paying customer than ten letters of intent. Sabrina also breaks down what makes a defensible moat in the age of AI, how Gen Z investors are reshaping taste in the industry, how to say no to a founder respectfully, and her honest take on whether fresh grads should jump straight into venture. A few moments worth pressing pause for: — Why "question the status quo" isn't a slogan, it's a job description — The three levels of demand and how founders mistake one for another — What replaced IP as a real moat in the AI era — What separates a strong founding team from a great resume— The best rejection she's ever seen — and why feedback beats ghosting — How AI is reshaping (but not replacing) early-stage investing Whether you're a student founder preparing your first pitch, an aspiring investor mapping your path in, or just curious about how early-stage capital really works behind the scenes, this conversation is full of frameworks you can use right away. Timeline (00:00) Highlight reel (00:21) Welcome & introducing Sabrina Li (01:21) Question the status quo (03:34) From finance to venture (05:15) Breaking into VC as a new grad (08:11) On not having a single role model (09:36) Inside Sunstone Management (10:34) Why consumer over B2B (11:55) A VC's actual day-to-day (15:51) Contrarian investing (17:41) Building a deal pipeline from zero (20:21) What makes cold outreach work (23:11) Traction: revenue beats LOIs (24:51) The three levels of demand (28:11) Creating demand from nothing (30:46) Market size and what's VC-backable (34:36) Moats in the AI era (38:06) What a strong founding team looks like (40:46) Taste in investing: doers vs. storytellers (43:11) How early-stage valuation works (47:16) Mistakes founders make when pitching (50:51) How to say no respectfully (53:51) How the market has shifted since 2022 (57:41) AI, solo GPs, and Gen Z investors (1:01:21) Would Sabrina start her own fund? (1:04:46) Advice for fresh grads entering VC (1:07:21) Wrap-up More on Sabrina Li Sabrina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinyili-sabrina/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinyili-sabrina/] More on 18VC 18VC Website: https://www.18-vc.com/ [https://www.18-vc.com/] 18VC Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb [https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb] 18VC Podcast on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@18vcpodcast?si=fNESLXbsr51NArLV [https://youtube.com/@18vcpodcast?si=fNESLXbsr51NArLV] 18VC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/ [https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/] 18VC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/] 18VC X: https://x.com/Official18VC [https://x.com/Official18VC] Join 18VC Slack Channel: https://join.slack.com/t/18-vc/shared_invite/zt-3ugj1lmxu-WG6kULWaF95rp4UOnCY~kw [https://join.slack.com/t/18-vc/shared_invite/zt-3ugj1lmxu-WG6kULWaF95rp4UOnCY~kw]

18VC Podcast Ep # 3 Building the Robotic Workforce: Yondu AI's Michael Chen on Warehouse Robots, Teleoperation & Going from MIT to YC

Michael Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Yondu AI (YC W24), building the robotic workforce of the future starting with warehouse logistics. In this episode of the 18VC Podcast, Michael traces his path from building a robot waitress in his parents' Chinese takeout restaurant, to MIT CSAIL and autonomous drones, to founding Yondu with his classmate Tahmid Jamal. We dig into the bets behind the company: why Yondu deliberately doesn't build its own hardware, how "brownfield" deployment automates warehouses without halting operations, why teleoperation is their highest-quality data source, and how their world-model VLA does more with less data. Michael also explains how a focused, deployment-first startup positions itself against far better-funded players like Figure, Galbot, TARs, Amazon, and Symbotic — plus honest advice for student founders on co-founder fit, YC, and the worst mistake he made as a CEO. A tactical, wide-ranging conversation on robotics, embodied AI, and building hard tech young. (00:00) Welcome to 18VC: what this episode is about (00:42) Intro & Michael's background (03:01) Building since childhood (09:15) Resilience from the family restaurant (11:53) Drones, MIT CSAIL & ChatGPT-controlled robots (15:40) Founding Yondu & getting into YC (18:32) Why warehouses & bin-picking (22:12) Brownfield deployment as the moat (26:42) How intelligent the robots are today (27:50) Why Yondu is hardware-agnostic (33:47) Data strategy: teleop vs. mocap vs. synthetic (39:33) What teleoperation looks like (45:26) Model architecture & the "Waymo for humanoids" analogy (50:23) Competing in a crowded logistics race (55:05) Hiring, culture & staying a learner (58:22) YC tips & advice for student founders (1:05:22) Wrap-up Guest: Michael Chen — https://www.linkedin.com/in/themichaelchen/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/themichaelchen/] Yondu AI — https://www.yondu.ai/ [https://www.yondu.ai/] Yondu is hiring robotics researchers & engineers — see https://www.yondu.ai/https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/yondu/jobs [https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/yondu/jobs] More 18VC & 18VC Podcast: 18VC Website: https://www.18-vc.com/ [https://www.18-vc.com/] 18VC Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb [https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3YoAMLjZLziwqHWy3EXb] 18VC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/ [https://www.instagram.com/18venturecapital/] 18VC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/eighteenvc/] 18VC X: https://x.com/Official18VC [https://x.com/Official18VC] Join 18VC Slack Channel: https://join.slack.com/t/18-vc/shared_invite/zt-3ugj1lmxu-WG6kULWaF95rp4UOnCY~kw [https://join.slack.com/t/18-vc/shared_invite/zt-3ugj1lmxu-WG6kULWaF95rp4UOnCY~kw]