Instagram story viewer> @breakingprecedent> Posts

Breaking Precedent the Podcast

@breakingprecedent

8.3K

followers

329

following

The podcast that dives deep into the stories of trailblazers who are redefining societal precedents.
🎙️Hosted by @leah_solivan
@precedent.vc

POSTS STORIES REELS

🎙️Season 3 of Breaking Precedent is almost here, and I could not be more excited to share what we’ve been working on.

This season, we’re going even deeper into the decisions, risks, pivots, and invisible rules behind some of the most remarkable careers and companies.

We’re sitting down with bold founders, investors, athletes, creatives, and changemakers, including …

🧬 @annewoj23 of @23andme
👕 @salichristeson of @argent
💼 @geswart of @upwork
💰 @ehark01 of @pivotaldotcom
📖 @laralovehardin NYTimes Bestselling Author
🏐 @krobin32 of @lovb
🎶 @iamwillaford Musician and Artist
💽 @kassandmike of Buddy Media
🏀 @fezzyfel of the @warriors
🎀 @joannastrober of @midihealth
🍼 @lauraclairemodi of @bobbie
👛 @realrealjulie of @therealreal
📍 @dens of @foursquare
🎫 @juliahartz of @eventbrite
… and many more.

These are candid conversations about challenging conventional wisdom, navigating the messy middle, rebuilding when the original plan falls apart, and having the conviction to create a different path forward.

Season 3 premieres September 10. Watch the trailer and tell me: Who are you most excited to hear from?

🙌 A special thank you to our Precedent Breaking Partners who are making this Season possible: @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared by @breakingprecedent

An exit is a milestone. But it’s also the beginning of an entirely new set of decisions.

I recently had the pleasure of joining the @wealth_catalyst Summit in San Francisco for a conversation with @mgardnernd on The Exit Construction & What Comes Next.

Having built Taskrabbit and navigated its acquisition by IKEA, I know firsthand how much goes into preparing for an exit, and how quickly the questions change once the deal is done.

We explored the decisions founders need to think about long before a sale, from ownership and financial planning to what happens when years of building a company turn into a new opportunity to deploy capital, invest, and build again.

What made the day especially meaningful was being surrounded by an incredible group of women founders, investors, and leaders who are taking ownership of their financial futures and thinking intentionally about the impact they want to create.

Thank you to @syama.co and the Wealth Catalyst team for bringing together such a thoughtful community, and to Megan Gardner for sharing the stage with me.

These are conversations we need more of. Because building wealth is one thing. Deciding what to do with it, and what comes next, is another. by @breakingprecedent

Imagine going to the doctor, asking how much your visit will cost, and getting two completely different answers: $800 or $0.

Sounds ridiculous, right? Yet this is the reality of navigating healthcare in America.

For Heather Fernandez, founder and CEO of Solv Health, experiences like this are exactly why she believes the system needs to change.

We live in a world where we can compare prices, read reviews, and make informed decisions about almost anything. So why is healthcare still such a mystery?

In our conversation on Breaking Precedent, Heather shares why she believes we’re on the cusp of a major shift in healthcare price transparency, and how AI could finally help patients understand what they’ll owe before receiving care, not weeks or months later.

Because knowing what something costs shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be an expectation.

Listen to my full conversation with Heather Fernandez on Breaking Precedent. Comment EPISODE and we’ll send the link straight to your inbox.

Thank you @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared for sponsoring this conversation by @breakingprecedent

October was a BIG month at Precedent.vc! 🚀

🦄 Our first unicorn! @townassistant announced its $108M Series B at a $1B valuation. Huge congratulations to Jean-Denis Greze and the entire team!

🏆 Founder-Friendly Investors! Precedent.vc was named to @incmagazine 2026 Founder-Friendly Investors list. An incredible recognition of the founder-first ecosystem we’re building.

🎤 Big conversations! From judging Startup Battlefield at @techcrunch Disrupt to taking the stage at Inc. 5000, we’ve been connecting with founders who are challenging the status quo.

🤝 Unprecedented Lunches! We brought together founders, operators, and investors to rethink the future of work in the AI era. Thank you @geswart and @jeandenis for anchoring the conversation.

🎙️ @breakingprecedent! New podcast conversations exploring everything from breaking the capital ceiling with @pivotaldotcom @ehark01 to reinvention and building businesses that challenge convention.

What excites me most? The rules of building companies are changing. Smaller teams, bigger ambitions, and entirely new possibilities.

We’re not just backing the next generation of breakout companies. We’re building the community that helps them succeed.

Swipe through for our October highlights! 👉

#PrecedentVC #BreakingPrecedent #VentureCapital #Startups #Founders by @breakingprecedent

Where in your life are you choosing predictability over possibility?

That was the question Heather Fernandez pulled from our Breaking Precedent card deck, and I loved where she took it.
For someone who has built a career taking risks, challenging established systems, and stepping into the unknown, her answer was surprisingly simple: her morning meditation ritual.
For the past five years, she’s made time to sit in the same spot every morning, choosing consistency over the hundred other things she could be doing.

It’s a reminder that breaking precedent doesn’t mean challenging every routine. Sometimes, the habits we choose to protect are what give us the grounding to take bigger risks elsewhere.

Now I’m curious: Where in your life are you choosing predictability over possibility?

Catch my full conversation with Heather Fernandez on Breaking Precedent. Comment EPISODE and we’ll send you the link!

Thank you @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared for sponsoring this conversation. by @breakingprecedent

Why have we accepted that getting healthcare has to be so complicated?

Finding a doctor, getting an appointment, understanding your insurance, figuring out what you’ll actually pay. These are questions millions of Americans struggle to answer every day.
Heather Fernandez decided to do something about it.

After helping build Trulia from an early-stage startup into a company acquired by Zillow for $2.5 billion, Heather could have taken a more predictable path. Instead, she entered an industry she had never worked in before and set out to challenge one of America’s most frustrating systems.

Today, as the founder and CEO of @solvhealth she’s working to make healthcare more accessible and transparent, with technology that has already served over 100 million patients.

What makes Heather’s story so fascinating is the path that brought her here. From politics to Silicon Valley to healthcare, she’s consistently followed her curiosity and her belief that people deserve better systems.

In this episode, we explore the lessons she learned building Trulia, why equity and ownership can change the trajectory of a career, the realities of building in healthcare, and how AI could fundamentally change the patient experience.

We also get into motherhood, leadership, and her belief that the next decade will reward the doers.

My conversation with Heather Fernandez is live now on Breaking Precedent!

Comment EPISODE and we’ll send the link straight to your inbox.

Grateful to @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared for helping us bring forward the stories of people building meaningful change in the industries that shape our lives. by @breakingprecedent

One thing I’ve learned from building companies:
You cannot do it all yourself.

Founders and leaders need support behind the scenes, especially when the work is moving quickly and every hour matters.

That’s why we’re grateful to have @awaysquared as a sponsor of Breaking Precedent.

Squared Away connects busy leaders and growing teams with highly skilled virtual executive assistants who can help with scheduling, inbox management, operations, project coordination, and the everyday details that keep work moving.

Because building something meaningful requires focus, and the right support can help create more of it.

Breaking Precedent listeners can get 25% off their first month at: gosquaredaway.com/breakingprecedent

Thank you, Squared Away, for supporting Breaking Precedent. by @breakingprecedent

What if the biggest opportunities for innovation are hiding in the systems we’ve simply learned to tolerate?

Heather Fernandez has spent her career asking questions that challenge the status quo.

From working on Capitol Hill to helping scale Trulia from a 12-person startup to a $2.5 billion acquisition, her path has been anything but conventional.

But her next challenge was even bigger: healthcare.

As the founder and CEO of Solv Health, Heather is tackling the everyday frustrations millions of Americans experience when trying to access care. From finding an available appointment to understanding what a visit will actually cost, she’s questioning why something so essential has to be so complicated.

Tomorrow on Breaking Precedent, Heather joins me to talk about her unexpected journey into entrepreneurship, the power of ownership, building a company in an industry you know nothing about, motherhood and leadership, and why she’s so optimistic about AI’s potential to transform healthcare.

We also explore why the next generation of leaders might be the ones willing to roll up their sleeves and actually do the work.

A conversation about challenging broken systems, taking unconventional paths, and refusing to accept that the way things have always been done is the way they have to stay.
New episode drops tomorrow!

Thank you @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared for making space for conversations with founders who aren’t afraid to question the status quo. by @breakingprecedent

Excited to share that @precedent.vc has been named to Inc.’s 2026 Founder-Friendly Investors list!

When I started @precedent.vc my vision was to build more than a venture fund. I wanted to create an ecosystem where founders feel supported, challenged, and empowered to build companies that redefine what’s possible.

Having been a founder myself, I know how much the right investors can matter. It’s not just about capital. It’s about having people in your corner who believe in your vision, bring valuable perspectives, and show up through the challenges of building something new.

This recognition is especially meaningful because being founder-friendly is at the heart of what we’re building.
I’m incredibly grateful to the founders who trust us, our LPs, and the growing community of investors, operators, and partners helping shape the Precedent ecosystem.

Thank you to Inc. for this recognition. We’re excited to keep backing the founders who are breaking precedent and building what’s next. by @breakingprecedent

Sometimes, someone else sees your potential before you can see it yourself.

For Festus Ezeli, mentorship played a defining role in his journey from a teenager who had never played basketball to an NBA champion.

There were moments when the path ahead felt impossible, but having people who believed in him gave him the confidence to keep showing up, learning, and pushing forward.
It’s a powerful lesson in the impact of mentorship, and why sometimes you have to borrow someone else’s belief in you until your own catches up.

In this clip from Breaking Precedent, Festus reflects on the people who helped shape his journey and the importance of extending that same belief to others.

Listen to our full conversation with Festus Ezeli. Comment EPISODE and we’ll send the link straight to your inbox.
Thank you @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared for helping us share stories about the people who see possibility in others and help turn it into reality. by @breakingprecedent

What an incredible few days at the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala in Dallas.

There’s something energizing about being surrounded by founders, entrepreneurs, and leaders who are challenging conventions and building what comes next.

I had the pleasure of joining Quaid Walker, co-founder and CEO of Bezel, for a conversation on Rethinking the Customer Experience: How the Best Companies Turn Insights Into Opportunity.

We explored how the most transformative companies recognize shifts in customer behavior, remove friction, build trust, and turn insights into meaningful innovation.

Having built TaskRabbit and now investing in the next generation of founders through @precedent.vc I’m always interested in how entrepreneurs identify opportunities others haven’t yet recognized.

Beyond the conversations on stage, it was wonderful to connect with so many people building ambitious companies and creating lasting impact.

Thank you to the Inc. team for bringing together such an inspiring community and for celebrating the entrepreneurs shaping the future of business. by @breakingprecedent

What separates great athletes from the rest? Often, it’s the work nobody sees.

Festus Ezeli remembers arriving early to practice with the Golden State Warriors, only to find Steph Curry already there, sweating and putting in the work.

It’s a powerful reminder that even at the highest level, greatness isn’t just about talent. It’s about the discipline, consistency, and commitment to getting better every single day.

In our conversation on Breaking Precedent, Festus shares what he learned from playing alongside some of basketball’s greatest athletes and how those lessons continue to shape his life beyond the court.

Listen to the full episode with Festus Ezeli. Comment EPISODE and we’ll send the link straight to your inbox.

Grateful to @taskrabbit @justworks and @awaysquared for supporting conversations about the habits and mindsets behind extraordinary achievement. by @breakingprecedent