Episode Summary

Anna Zhou and Vivian Shen, the co-founders of Toastie, join Georgie Healy for one of the warmest and most personal conversations the show has had. Two software engineers at Google by day, they have quietly built one of the most thoughtful health tracking apps in the world by night, all without spending a single dollar on marketing.

Toastie was born from a problem they were both living. Anna was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and handed a few photocopied sheets to figure out the rest of her life from. Viv has been managing PCOS for years, experimenting with medications and diets on her own. They realised the tools available simply were not built for people like them, so they built one themselves. Today Toastie helps users track symptoms, food, body signals, lab reports and scans, surfacing the patterns and irregularities that would otherwise go unnoticed.

In this episode they unpack why almost one in two Australians live with a chronic illness but no one talks about it, why slapping AI on everything is the wrong instinct and how they decide which features actually need it, and the cold LinkedIn email that landed them their first global partnership before they even had a product. They also share why ChatGPT and Gemini are not enough when the stakes are this high, what their users actually write to them in the feedback form, and the story of the user who quietly security audited their app and was so impressed they wrote in to tell them.

Plus the early hackathon they won by faking the backend in real time, why they call themselves boomers when it comes to social media, the worst startup advice they have ever received, and a special offer just for In The Blink of AI listeners.

🎁 Use promo code ITBOA2026 to get a 90 day free trial of Toastie

🍞 Find your Toastie personality: https://toastie.au/quiz

Time Stamps

00:00 Intro

02:20 AI Hacks and Life at Google Sydney

07:00 How They Met and Their Hackathon Wins

10:51 What is Toastie and Why It Matters

13:50 The Personal Stories Behind the Product

16:23 How They Use AI (And Where They Don't)

17:37 The Cold Email That Landed a Global Partnership

20:00 Why General AI Models Aren't Enough

23:25 Building, Prioritising and the Competition

25:13 Why They Refuse to Call Themselves an AI Company

27:57 Trust, Security and User Feedback

30:00 Going Viral With Zero Marketing Spend

33:33 Handling AI Hate Online

35:43 Rapid Fire and What's Next

38:45 Special Offer for Listeners

In the Blink of AI is made possible by our wonderful partners

Deel

Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, and get visas handled fast, so you stay focused on scaling. Deel takes care of onboarding, HR, IT, EOR, benefits, and compliance, so your team can grow without borders.

It’s why more than 40,000 fast-growing companies trust Deel to move fast.

Visit https://www.deel.com/dayone

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Weekly Substack: https://georgiehealy.substack.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georginahealytech/

The Day One Network

In The Blink of AI is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.

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