# Allan Guo

> Allan Guo is the co-founder and CEO of Willow, a San Francisco AI voice-dictation app that lets you write anywhere on your computer by talking. A Stanford CS student who dropped out as a freshman to build a healthcare startup, he pivoted more than ten times before landing on voice as the interface. Willow, part of Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch, raised $4.2 million led by BoxGroup with backing from founders at Instacart, Shopify, HubSpot and Gusto. Guo's pitch is blunt: the keyboard is the last slow thing on a fast computer, and he intends to kill it.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Willow
- **Organizations:** Willow (Willow Voice), Stanford University
- **Nationality:** United States
- **Education:** Computer Science (dropped out as a freshman), Stanford University, Machine learning + neuroscience research, Stanford Medical (research)
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Willow, an AI voice-dictation app used by employees at GitHub, Canva and Webflow, Raised $4.2 million led by BoxGroup with Goodwater Capital, Burst Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures, Backed by angel founders including Max Mullen (Instacart), Kaz Nejatian (Shopify), Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot), Tomer London (Gusto) and Ankur Nagpal (Teachable)

## Career timeline

- **pre-college** — Built early ventures: an EDM music label, an app for dementia caregivers, and an e-commerce business
- **Stanford** — Studied CS and researched ML + neuroscience at Stanford Medical
- **2024-2025** — Dropped out of Stanford to build a healthcare startup; pivoted 10+ times
- **2025** — Co-founded Willow with Lawrence Liu; joined Y Combinator Spring 2025 (X25) batch
- **2025** — Willow raised $4.2M led by BoxGroup (seed initially reported at $130K, later $4.2M round)

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Willow, an AI voice-dictation app used by employees at GitHub, Canva and Webflow
- Raised $4.2 million led by BoxGroup with Goodwater Capital, Burst Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures
- Backed by angel founders including Max Mullen (Instacart), Kaz Nejatian (Shopify), Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot), Tomer London (Gusto) and Ankur Nagpal (Teachable)
- Selected into Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch
- Built a dictation engine the team claims is 40%+ more accurate than built-in tools

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Appeared on the 'Conversations with AI Engineers' podcast discussing building Willow Voice
- **2025-07** — Announced Willow's $4.2M raise led by BoxGroup

## Links

- Website: https://willowvoice.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-guo/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/_allanguo
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2MaMTphhg0

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/allan-guo
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25