Plant People is a plant-based functional wellness brand making science-backed, zero-sugar supplements built around functional mushrooms, adaptogens, and vitamins. Founded by Hudson Gaines-Ross and chef Gabe Kennedy, the company sells a line of 'Wonder' gummies and chews - WonderDay, WonderSleep, WonderFocus, WonderCalm and more - direct-to-consumer and through major retailers including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, REI and Amazon. A Certified B Corporation, Plant People grew profitably for roughly seven years before raising a Series A led by Manna Tree Partners in November 2025.
Kevin D. Williamson is an American journalist and author who roams the country as national correspondent for The Dispatch, filing the Monday-morning newsletter Wanderland and the recurring column Econ for English Majors. A former roving correspondent who spent 15 years at National Review, he writes about economics, liberty, and the texture of American life with a prose style that prizes wit, contrarianism, and the long view. He is the author of seven books, including The Smallest Minority and Big White Ghetto.
Ranga Mohan is a technology executive with roughly two decades of experience building digital platforms at the intersection of engineering and go-to-market strategy. Currently VP of Digital Technology (GTM-Marketing) at ServiceNow, he joined the Santa Clara-based enterprise cloud leader in 2025 after five years as VP of Digital Technology & International at 7-Eleven, where he led the construction of a global convenience tech platform. Earlier stints at Capital One - where he helped create the industry's first online-only mortgage pre-approval experience - and Bank of America shaped his deep fluency in scaling digital customer experiences inside large, complex organizations.
Homebound is a tech-enabled homebuilder headquartered in San Francisco that manages the entire home construction process from design to move-in. Founded in 2018 in the wake of the devastating California wildfires, the company combines a proprietary software platform with a vetted trade partner network to offer semi-custom homes at fixed prices. Homebound handles everything from lot sourcing and permitting to interior design and construction management, compressing what typically takes years into an industry-leading timeline. With over $308 million raised and 500+ homes built across markets in California, Texas, Colorado, and Florida, Homebound is rewriting the rules of residential construction for a new generation of homebuyers.
Abhimanyu Choudhary is Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer of Xoxoday, a B2B SaaS rewards, incentives, and loyalty platform serving 5,000+ enterprise clients across 175+ countries. After a decade-long career at Tata Steel rising to General Manager of Sales, he joined Xoxoday in 2018 to lead its commercial growth engine. Today, Xoxoday processes ~250,000 transactions daily and has raised over $100M in funding, most recently a Series C in January 2026 from Apis Partners and 57 Stars.
Chris Hull is Co-Founder of Jasper, the enterprise AI platform for marketing teams that went from zero to $90M ARR in under three years. A serial entrepreneur from Austin, Texas, Hull co-built three companies with the same two partners - Dave Rogenmoser and JP Morgan - cycling through a digital marketing agency, a Y Combinator-backed social proof tool called Proof, and finally Jasper, which became one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies of the AI era, raising $130M and hitting unicorn status in roughly 18 months.
Stress-Free Auto Care is a tech-enabled chain of automotive repair shops modernizing a $200B+ legacy industry. Founded in 2016 and based in Mountain View, California, it operates 30+ ASE-certified shops across California and Texas, pairing proprietary software with neighborhood mechanics to offer transparent pricing, digital vehicle inspections, text updates, and live video feeds of repair bays.
Ryan Trahan is an American YouTuber, entrepreneur, and philanthropist from Sugar Land, Texas, best known for his creative challenge series — most famously traveling across the country starting with just a single penny while raising millions for charity. With over 23 million subscribers, he has turned audacious social experiments into a force for good, raising more than $11.65 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 2025. Beyond YouTube, he co-owns candy brand Joyride Sweets (sold at Target and Walmart), founded Neptune Bottle, launched the Howdy clothing line, and continues to push the boundaries of branded storytelling on the internet.
Yuval Bachar is the founder and CEO of EdgeCloudLink (ECL), the company building the world's first off-grid hydrogen-powered modular data centers. A 20+ year veteran of hyperscale infrastructure at Cisco, Juniper Networks, Facebook/Meta, LinkedIn, and Microsoft Azure, Bachar co-founded the Open19 open hardware standards project and holds eight U.S. patents. At ECL, he is reimagining what a data center can be - deploying capacity in nine months (vs. the industry's 3-4 years), generating zero emissions, and producing cooling water as a byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells. In May 2024, ECL unveiled the world's first off-grid hydrogen-powered AI data center in Mountain View, California, and Lambda deployed the first hydrogen-powered NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems there. ECL's TerraSite-TX1 near Houston is planned as a 1-gigawatt AI factory on 600 acres.
Dwarkesh Patel is a 25-year-old Indian-American podcaster, writer, and emerging intellectual force in Silicon Valley. Through the Dwarkesh Podcast - launched from a college dorm room in 2020 - he has become the go-to long-form interviewer for AI leaders, economists, and historians, landing everyone from Elon Musk and Jensen Huang to Terence Tao. Named to TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2024, and called Silicon Valley's favourite podcaster by The Economist in 2025, he co-authored The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019-2025 with Stripe Press. With 1.2M+ YouTube subscribers and 76,000+ Substack readers, Patel has built his platform entirely through obsessive preparation and organic growth.
Ty Myers is an 18-year-old country-soul singer-songwriter from Dripping Springs, Texas, who turned a catastrophic football injury into a music career that has amassed over 1.1 billion global streams. Signed to Columbia Records at 17, his debut album The Select went Gold, spawning the Platinum-certified singles 'Ends of the Earth' and 'Thought It Was Love.' With a sound critics call 'John Mayer's Texas country cousin' — bluesy guitars, soulful vocals, and classic country storytelling — Myers released his second album Heavy on the Soul in March 2026 and is opening for Luke Combs on a 2026 arena tour.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Grammy Award-winning rapper, entertainer, and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas, who turned a childhood in recording studios into one of hip-hop's most commanding careers. Known for anthems of self-confidence and female empowerment, she graduated college while topping charts, built her own label (Hot Girl Productions), made her Broadway debut in Moulin Rouge!, and runs a foundation in honor of her late parents. Off stage she is an anime devotee, horror movie enthusiast, and tireless mental health advocate whose 'Hot Girl' philosophy has become a genuine cultural movement.