From STEM Fresh Grads to Founders: How Two Google Software Engineers Turned Chronic Illness into a Health Startup and set their own entrepreunarial journey

🎙️ From Fresh Grads to Founders: How Two Google Software Engineers Turned Chronic Illness into a Health Startup

Annabel Zhou and Vivian Shen launched Toastie—an app to track and manage chronic illness—just after graduating with computer science degrees, all while working full-time at Google

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to spot real opportunities: Why a messy spreadsheet turned into a startup idea—and how to recognize your own “this could be better” moment
• Why you don’t have to wait until you’re 40: How two software engineers launched Toastie almost straight out of uni
• How to start without quitting your job: Smart ways to test your idea and keep your cashflow safe while working full-time
• How failure fuels future success: What second-time founders know about learning from what didn’t work
• What mindset helps you build for impact: How to go from frustration to mission-driven founder—even if you’re still figuring it out

🧠 About the Guests:

Annabel Zhou and Vivian Shen are software engineers at Google and co-founders of Toastie, a health tracking app designed to help people with chronic illnesses understand patterns in their symptoms, meals, and daily routines. Instead of settling for messy spreadsheets, they built an app that transforms scattered health data into meaningful, doctor-ready insights. Toastie is proof that you don’t need to quit your day job—or have it all figured out—to start something important.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 Introduction to Multiple Hats
• 00:37 Meet Annabel and Vivian
• 01:05 Living with chronic illness and tracking with spreadsheets
• 03:34 From personal pain to product idea
• 09:19 Building Toastie while working full-time
• 13:01 Lessons from their first startup
• 19:26 Validating ideas with real users
• 22:30 Support networks and community
• 27:40 Future vision for Toastie

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Sign up for Toastie’s pre-release

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Are you sitting on an idea sparked by a personal frustration?
• What skill could you apply right now to start exploring a solution?
• Could your “annoyance” be your next opportunity?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

 

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