Revolutionizing Allergy Management with Immuny.ai Co-founders Luna Li & Mackenzie Dennill
18VC Podcast · Episode 1 · April 18, 2026
Guests: Mackenzie Dennill, Luna Li
Source: https://www.18-vc.com/podcast/ep-1-immuny-ai

So I have been dealing with allergies for pretty much my entire life. It got really bad around when I turned 20, 21, and I had a mango allergy. So, it's been over a decade of actual-- So when I had these allergies and I got tested, my allergist looked at the list of my reactions. She's like, "Well, you're allergic to the world." -And I was like- -Two, we want to eventually build something that help people in the future to be not allergic anymore.

Because whenever we have an interview, no matter it's a caretaker or it's a allergy sufferer, -what they tell us about allergy sys- -Stopping. We ultimately want to save lives. Allergies can be life-threatening, and we feel-- If you feel fully driven and excited about what you're doing, and you can spend hours and hours on it and lose track of time, that is the right project. That's what I feel like with this.

I think Immuny isn't just about making money, it's about impacting people's -lives. Okay. -Yeah, you can. -Okay. -Yeah. So good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, our guests, and our audiences. So today we are having the two co-founders of Immuny join us, Mackenzie and Luna. And thank you so much for joining our first ever episode of the 18VC podcast.

And for those who may not familiar with 18VC Podcast, so we are a podcast run by students, and we are featuring student founders, operators, and also investors -who are interested in student startups. -Cool. And, this episode will be co-hosted by me, Philip, and also Lucas. -Hello, everyone. -And so let's start with a little bit recap of how we actually meet each other in the first time.

So all the story actually starts when I was in a class that was the USC Marshall Venture Lab class, where the students in the class are asked to act as a student investor and reach out to our USC-affiliated startups, and we are supporting them with the real money. Right. And, it's just so amazing when I talk to you during the process, and I realize you're just so caring about the problem you're trying to solve. You are so deeply connected to the community that you are helping.

And when we are talking about ideas of bringing up guests for our first episode, I immediately think of you. Right. And yeah, let's maybe just move on to the story of Immuny and your stories. So, how have you actually met each other in the first place and then come up with the -idea of Immuny? -Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having us here.

This is really exciting, even for us too. And we feel honored, actually, that you are interviewing us and our company. So we're really excited to share this with everyone and let them know about it. Luna and I met during a hackathon at USC called Origin Weekend. We had chosen a prompt about health, and so we each had told our journeys, our stories related to health.

And then everyone goes out and connects after hearing each other's stories. So Luna had come up to me after I talked about allergies, and she was like, "This is amazing. I want to connect with you. I think we can make something amazing." And that's kind of how we started off. We both did the hackathon together. We got third place. When we were at the beginning, we were called Don't Sweat It, which we have pivoted so much, but we have been together since, I think it's been seven- -Seven months.

-Seven months, yeah. -Mm-hmm. Almost a year. -Yeah. That's so amazing. So can you talk a little bit more about what's your impression with each other when you were first met at the time? So for me, I remember that I got immediately interested when I heard her talking about her alpha-gal syndrome because it sounded so familiar, because my mom has allergies too.

And I thought, "Oh, she's suffering kind of from the same type of problem." And then I think my very first impression was we got a dinner together right after meeting each other, and we needed to spend so much time just ordering and communicating with the waiter with what can be eaten and what cannot be eaten. And my impression of her is Kenzie is someone who's struggling to enjoy her food. I try to keep it casual. -Yeah.

-My impression with Luna was, especially after meeting each other and seeing her drive on our first brainstorming event that we did where our team came over to my apartment, and we just worked and had the sticky notes on the board. I was just so impressed with everything she had to bring to the table. It was very unique. And even when we met, she just seemed so eager and driven.

And the fact that she even had encouraged us to go to that restaurant to build not just a business, but to build relationships with each other, was so important. And I think that's what made her so important to me and valuable because I was like, "Man, I want to do that." I -wouldn't even have thought that. -Yeah, right. But she's like, "This is what I do to build relationships and businesses." And I'm like, "Yes.

Okay." Yes. Just to follow up on that, I'm just curious. What experiences do you both have with the allergy space that made you sort of aware of the unmet needs and the potential opportunities out there? So I have been dealing with allergies for pretty much my entire life. It got really bad around when I turned 20, 21, and I had a mango allergy. So it's been over a decade of actual intense allergies, like to the point where I've had to go to the ER for anaphylactic shock.

And then when I had my baby, it just became apparent that this is a real problem, even for parents navigating food introduction and allergies for their children. And so I started seeing this for my child, and I was like, "This is really hard to navigate," especially because my anxiety is so high already. I see what it's like to not be able to breathe when you're having a reaction that severe. And even when I go out with Luna, that's how I live my life every single day is questioning every label on products and also questioning what a waiter is inputting or what I'm being given at any restaurant.

So it's real, and I feel like I've had such a long journey, especially with the tick bite I got. It caused me to have alpha-gal syndrome, which means I'm allergic to cow, -any product of cow- -Oh ... or chicken. And that happened seven years ago. So my allergies have only gotten worse. And then having a child, it was even more, because it's not just about -me now, it's about my child.

-Yes. And so, yeah, it was definitely something that opened my eyes to what Immuny could become. To me, my mom started to have very severe seafood allergy a couple of years ago, kind of right before pandemic started. At first, it was just shrimps. She couldn't eat any shrimps. And then we thought, "Oh, that's fine. Just avoid shrimps." Even though sometimes she secretly eats shrimp when we're not noticing, but we're like, "Just avoid it." But then I found it challenging when her seafood allergy kind of evolved over time.

Maybe it's because of cross-reactors a lot of times, and gradually she evolved from not being able to eat shrimps to not being able to eat tuna and other fish, and the majority of seafood. And I thought, "That's not okay. She has to eat seafood." And then that's when I realized that currently people are receiving treatment, and people have the correct medicine in order to deal with it when they have reaction. But eventually, people are avoiding food when they deal with allergies, and that's not okay.

So have you, before you decided you want to build your own product, have you tried any other solutions that exist there and probably you find out it doesn't work well? Or tell us about your experience on that side. -You can go first. -No. Do you mean solutions for allergies or -just anything in general? -Yeah, any method you try to deal with either avoiding food or other apps or medicine kind of thing.

-Yeah, if you want to go first. -Oh, okay. So we definitely need to keep records and track. We've used note apps, and we've had journals, stuff like that, in order to just note down the quantity and the type of food that we have had during dinners outside and at home. And then we would know that what would most likely be the causation if we do encounter any reaction.

And then other than that, we just use Benadryl and EpiPen as our emergency method to deal with reactions. And other than that, we also have tried a lot of awareness-building apps and awareness-building products just to see if increasing awareness and education, if that would help us with dealing with our own problem. But that while we gain a lot of knowledge, but that also doesn't really get to the root of the problem. Yeah.

So when I had these allergies and I got tested, my allergist looked at the list of my reactions. She's like, "Well, you're allergic to the world." And I was like, "What do you do?" And they were like, "Well, you avoid it all." And that was my first method, was just -avoid. -Just avoid. And as time went every year, because it got really serious after that tick bite.

So every year, because it's such a new disease, people just keep getting tested in hopes that it will go away one day. And so each year I got tested, and as I got tested, I got new allergists, specifically, especially here in Los Angeles. And I would always ask them, -"What apps are out there to help me?" -Yeah. "What can I do?" -I can imagine that.

-It was so old school. Like, "Here's a piece of paper. Here's all the cross-reactors," and -it's like, "Good luck." -Yeah. And, "Here's an EpiPen in case you're having a reaction. Good luck. You figure it out on your own." So I took a lot of Benadryl trying to avoid having to take an EpiPen. Or I would just sit outside of the ER, in the parking lot to determine if I should go inside, because dealing with that is insanely difficult.

Finally, about a couple of years ago, I had an allergist who referred an app to me. It was a partnership app, so you couldn't get into it unless your allergist had connected you. It was okay. It was more for skincare products to make sure you're not having that allergic reaction. But there wasn't really anything else out there other than -you could check the pollen today- -Yeah ...

or you could look at the ingredients, or you could check FDA's site to see if there's any recalls because of an allergen contamination. So it was just very hard. I know there's a couple of new apps out. -Yeah. -So especially tracking. Now I'm starting to re-expose myself because my daughter is being exposed. And it seems to be working pretty well for me.

And then I'm still seeking out apps, and that's why I've thought about this -being so important. -Yeah. -Yeah. -Thank you, Mackenzie. Just follow up on that for people who are unfamiliar with this field. What's the point of getting somebody to expose to whatever they are allergic to, and what's the final purpose of that? And what's the -meaning of exposure management?

-Yeah. So, okay, for example, as a child, we have been doing a lot of research, and they've discovered if there's a peanut allergy, if you're introducing peanuts to your newborn early on in life in small doses that increase over time, they're less likely to have severe peanut allergies in the future. And what I had done, because I had started doing allergy injections, which is giving yourself the -allergen- -Oh ... in your arm.

And it started making me think. I'm like, "Wow, this is actually working." I am not having a cat allergy as severe anymore. I became allergic to dogs, and I have two dogs, and I'm like, "I'm not getting rid of my dogs." I love them too much. And so I started doing these allergy injections all the way up till my pregnancy, and then we had to stop because it's just too dangerous with being pregnant.

And I saw how it worked, and then when I stopped, it kind of went away. But during pregnancy, I was like, "You know what? Maybe I should try again." -Yeah. -Try to introduce this just small doses, but to myself. And if I need to have Benadryl, I made sure that was okay. And so it was pretty dang successful. I don't know if the pregnancy itself- -Mm-hmm -...

just changed my body, because I've -heard that happens. -Yeah, it could. -Either you can get new allergies or- -Yep -... your old ones go away. -Yep. But then I had my baby, and I then was like, "Okay, let me see if these -allergens- -Mm-hmm -... came back." Some did. -Okay. Oof. And then I was like, "Ugh. Okay, there goes my dairy. I guess I'm not having that anymore." But then I was like, "Wait, what if I just tried to start introducing -again- -Again ...

slowly?" And I went back to my allergist because I'm done with my pregnancy, and he was like, "Well, we have these drops now that you can put into your mouth." -Oh. -And I was like, "Okay, so this is pretty much if I just do this and eat this, this is way cheaper." But how do you manage that? And how do you keep track of how much did you take last -time? -Mm-hmm.

And it's really hard to remember, especially as a parent, remembering where are we in the journey of introducing this with my child. -Yep. -So yeah. I don't know if that helps -explain that whole exposure journey. -It's splendid. Yeah. It has worked for me and I have ice cream now, which- -That's so interesting -... I can't have a huge amount, but I can have a little bit and still be -satisfied.

-It almost seems to me that it works similar to how a vaccine works, in the sense that it introduces immunity to the human body and basically helps people to develop that sense of immunity to overcome whatever they are allergic to. -Yeah. -That's so interesting. Yeah. So I think the target customers or community that you're trying to serve with your product are those who are facing similar challenges as you do.

Can you describe with us a little bit more, during your, for example, interviews or the pilot testings, what are the customers you are talking to, and what feedbacks do you get? So, we initially started our market research by the program called I-Corps by National Science Foundation. We did 40-plus interviews with just general moderate to severe allergy sufferers, and we learned about how people all suffer from, first of all, the evolution of allergies. Allergies are changing, so they wouldn't know what to do if there's something new that came out of nowhere.

And the second thing would be the lack of clarity, which part of it comes from the evolution of allergy, and another part of it is just lack of knowledge, generally, about allergens and about the precautions to take for that. And then after that, we've learned that it's very important to take actions quick, by which we mean by taking actions before the exacerbation, which is before the symptoms become really bad. So we really aim to focus on the preventiveness side in the future. So then we started to focus on younger children, babies from age currently six month old to 12 month old.

And actually, this weekend, we're just having another round of testing with some parents with babies at that age. And yeah, that's kind of our journey of researching our market. Sounds cool. So, talking back about have you also asked if your, for example, your target audiences or target community, have they tried other products as you do? And do they find anything probably still -challenging there?

-Well, first of all, everybody tracks. We've noticed that the majority of parents, especially that we've talked to, had the habit of writing down the amount of food that their babies have taken and the type of food their baby have taken, not just for immune health in general, but also for other aspects of having a balanced diet and everything. So people have used a lot of methods to track, including some of them even just manually write everything down- -Mm-hmm -... with- -Yep -...

a traditional notebook. But that's kind of inefficient because people might forget their notebook, and also they don't really get any insight other than memorizing everything. Sometimes they even memorize it wrong. And even if they memorize everything right, they can't see the trend or pattern by just manually writing down. But it's still good that we noticed that a lot of people do have the habit of tracking things in order to gain awareness about their body or the body of their child.

And so probably one follow on is that since you are kind of both facing the problems yourself, either your baby, yourself, or your parents, I assume that it's a good sign for me in case of founders because you are solving a problem that you really deeply care and you are so connected to it. And there is another side of it, of creating a product that appeals to the mass audience. That is, if you are, for example, building a product you want or a product your audience or your customers want, is there any conflict or are they aligned? How do you navigate through that if you're just building something attracted or dragged by your own intention to build something you just want, probably not what the customers may want?

And how do you navigate that? I think the most interesting thing is we've pivoted so much, and it's not because of our personal journeys only. As we were starting the hackathon and going to the next competition, yes, my baby was getting older, and I started seeing these things. But then when we were doing the I-Corps interviews, I think that's when it started really shifting in our interviews and what we were hearing from people and what they need.

And we weren't focused on children. We weren't focused on helping with exposure. And we were more thinking like, "Oh, we're a biosensor." And so it has shifted so much, and I don't think it's only personal. I think that helps us have a good idea of what a user could do with what we're bringing and creating. But it really was the interviews we did that helped us pivot, and the guidance we had in all these USC competitions and incubators that we did that helped shift.

Even now, it's been really exciting to hear the feedback from people on the apps or what could change or what could be added, because we want it to be something that people will come back to. And if it's just some personal thing, that's not going to be enough. And so we have been pushing and trying to really broaden our mindset of what that could look like. And I love that we actually have people on our team who don't have allergies.

And I think that's actually important too, because a lot of caregivers don't have allergies. Yeah. So how do they navigate that? Yeah. And she has her mom that has allergies. It's not her that has allergies. And so it's just very amazing that each of us all are in different areas- Yes ... of this business or this- Yeah. Space, yeah ... idea, space. So yeah, it's really interesting, and I think it pivots slightly now, just very tiny pieces.

Yeah. -But it's-- Yeah. Yeah. It's exciting. -To follow up on that, could you maybe share us an example of something or an insight that you gained only after you've done so many user interviews that's also something that you didn't initially recognize? We've noticed that there's a difference between something that people would use and something that people would buy and constantly return to.

Because if we want to have something that people constantly return to and actually gain some use from it, it has to be -really, really useful rather than- -Useful ... have any just slight help to people. That's why we kind of pivoted from initially focusing on the lack of clarity- -Mm -... which is a real problem, but it's not something that solves the allergy.

Two, we want to eventually build something that help people in the future to be not allergic anymore. Because whenever we have an interview, no matter it's a caretaker or it's a allergy sufferer, what they tell us about allergies is that the problem is, "I don't want to be allergic anymore." -Yeah. -That's the problem. And then it sounds challenging, but we do know that this is what people will pay for and this is what people will go back to because it solves the problem to the root.

I like that idea. Instead of some other solutions out there maybe sort of helping people to navigate this, helping people to prevent or to avoid something that may cause the symptoms, you two are-- That Immuny are actually helping them to just not have it, or through exposure and manage to gradually overcome that eventually. I really like -that idea. -Thank you.

Yeah. That's true indeed. And is there a moment you decided that we are just not going to wait for someone else to invent a new product, and we just need to do it by ourselves? -Yeah. -When did that- -Get our hands on this -... that moment happen or how did it come -to be? -That's a good question because after getting third place, after even now making it into the quarterfinals of NVSC -and just making it only there- -Congrats.

Thank you. It was amazing. We did a good job, I feel like. And not getting into other competitions, we decided we're not stopping. We ultimately want to save lives. Allergies can be life-threatening, and we feel like we, as entrepreneurs, believe, and we can create. And sometimes you don't have those resources, so you keep figuring out ways to create that resource, whether it's through doing it yourself or making your own app.

I couldn't find an engineer, so I For our version one, I figured out a way to create it myself, and I knew we didn't have the resources of funding, and I made it happen. And we just seem to find people that really are passionate about this and want to support. And I think if you have that energy that you want to save lives and make a difference, it'll happen some way, somehow. -Yeah.

-That's impressive. -Yeah. -Yeah. That's indeed. And now maybe we can move on to the solution part of this journey. So, can you describe a little bit how actually your product is, and how do a user would interact with your product? So, our product is an integrated system for pediatric allergy management, currently targeting children of younger age, but later might consider expanding in the future.

Well, it starts by the parent inputting raw data into our AI agent by voice and picture of the product they've used and the symptoms they've had in the same period of time. And then our AI agent will track everything and then have a pattern recognized by the history and then make a trend based on that. And then the parents will be able to have a plan of the future food introduction to their children, including our gamification method of having the streak, where they can see where they are at, at the stage of introduction of the nine top allergens. And we will also make some personalized adjustment based on the endurance, based on the different data input from different people.

Yeah. And I want to add to that. We hope then that the AI can help build these patterns and summaries, because a lot of times doctors and allergists aren't seeing the full scope. All these introductions are happening at home. Symptoms are happening at home. But when you go to the allergist or the doctor, you're not -remembering every single scenario.

-Yeah. And we hope that this can be a platform that people can use, that they can share with their doctors. And really, then they see the full picture. Not data overload, but just enough to where a doctor can really dive in further if they need to and help you come up with a game plan if you need a game plan for your child. Could you probably give us an example of the valuable insight that would be extremely helpful to be provided to a care team?

Yeah. Say, for example, you're introducing multiple things to your child. So let's say you're doing apples, but even in the apple, it has citric acid. Say you're taking a picture of the back of that product, and so the app is registering all these ingredients. And over time, you're introducing this to your child and say, 15 minutes down the road, they're having a reaction, and you can't remember what you just introduced.

So it's building this information based off of what you've been introducing to your child and helping you remember and keep track of that. And then it starts having confidence in what it's analyzing and seeing, and then it helps you see, maybe next time be more aware of when you're introducing this to see if this could be potentially -what's irritating your child. -I see. -Yeah.

-I see. Thank you. Yeah. I think cross-reactor is a really big part in terms of the useful insight, because a lot of times people might subjectively attribute these kind of reactions and symptoms- -Oh, just to one allergen -... to one cause rather than others, which is because they haven't kept track and record of the entirety of the things they've eaten or used.

And then with our insight, they would know that, oh, maybe it's not because of peanut. Maybe it's because of -the shampoo I use. -Yeah, I can see it would be really complicated and challenging for people to just keep track manually. Yeah, I think that's the exciting part about the app, because we're trying to -make it easy to use. -Yes. Hands-off. If a parent is holding their child, that's why we want it to be -voice-activated.

-Mm-hmm. Yep. We want it to be something simple. If they don't want to type this all down, you could take a picture, and it could be inputted quickly. Yes, it is tedious to have to write these things down. And so we want to make it the easiest it can be, and that's why it's exciting to really test those things out and get the feedback and seeing if this is working for -you.

-Makes sense. Absolutely. Yeah. So for example, a pilot user or probably yourself, how often are you interacting -with your product and- -Mm-hmm ... what -kind of information do you record in it? -Say, -for example, you're introducing peanut. -Yeah. You're inputting a small, tiny amount, and then next time you're able to add to that, and you're able to see over time, like, "Wow.

Oh my goodness, I can reach to this threshold without having this reaction." -Yeah. -But if I go over that, then I need to -avoid this a little bit. -Mm-hmm. Or not have that much. I think that's the big thing that I've noticed. It's really fun. For our version one, it's fun to see the outputs it creates, like confidence levels, and I know it can be refined in the future.

We're working with an ML expert, a machine learning expert that's helping us make this even stronger. But it's really fun seeing the APIs that are currently there and seeing how it really changes your journey. Okay. So, yeah. As you mentioned, one thing is about do the user want to use it and willing to pay for it is another story. So, have you compared to, I don't know, other existing products out there?

And also maybe how the- ... your target users has originally spent on managing the allergy problem, so that comparing to your solution, you're just way more efficient or kind of cost-effective comparing to them? Do you have any insights to share here? Well, first of all, eventually we aim to be preventive rather than reactive. We noticed that a small number of people have already started to do immunotherapy, kind of like reintroduction of food, so that they can get exposed to food they've eaten.

But that's a very small amount of people, and then this is also kind of treatment rather than something you can do before the symptom exacerbates, because they usually think of that after they've already had been sent to the ER or have something really serious that they know that, "Oh, I have to do this in order to prevent that from happening again." So we try to, in the future, make the food introduction process kind of safety guard for a child so that they don't have to go through that in the future, and to do reactive measures. And another thing is we really aim for it to be integrated, which is like Mackenzie said, we really aim for people to track and interact with our-- We call it Bea. It's our AI agent, which is supposed to be an ally or friend to the parent. We want people to interact with it in a very easy way on a daily basis, so it really captures what's going on in the daily life, not just what's going on in the doctor's office, so that people wouldn't miss anything that could be a small detail in their daily routine.

Yeah. I want to add to that, too. A lot of people avoid, and when we're talking and interviewing parents, they don't know that there's an option out there to do something different than avoid. And so it's been really exciting to share what we're creating, and they're like, "Whoa. Oh my goodness, this is amazing. I had no idea. My child just avoids this,” and this is what we do.

And it's scary putting my child out there in the world if they're dealing with that allergy. And so it's really exciting for people to see there is a future for their child that's -potentially- -Allergy-free? Yeah. Or just being confident in their decisions. They know what they could do. And we are building that community because a lot of times, especially with me and my journey, I'll tell a restaurant that I'm allergic to all this- -Yeah -...

but they think that I'm vegan, or I'm like, "No, no, I can't even have that." So I want us to create this community and Bea to create this character that understands the feelings and the journey that a child and a parent goes through. And I think that can be done through community and through the brand and -through avoiding avoidance. -Yes. Oh, I can see that building a strong community of people facing similar challenges are extremely -good way- -Yeah ...

to build a trust between you and your, for example, customers there. -Yeah. -So can you share with us a little bit how you have been building your community or what do you plan to do that in the future? We're planning a lot of workshops, especially because this is a medical- -Yes -... medical-related field. -Yes -It is important to make it more -scientific- -Mm-hmm ...

with allergists introducing a lot of more- -Yeah -... scientific side of things- -Yeah -... rather than a more casual daily event. So that's part of it we're doing. But on the other hand, we're also starting our social media and starting our Discord community where we will do casual side of things, like sharing the story of Bea to parents so that it can also be a bedtime story for their kids.

There's a little bee, Bea, -who loves honey but- -I like that ... doesn't want to hurt anyone, which is a cool story to share- -Yeah -... with their kids before they go to bed. And we're also trying to share our own story, like jokes about Mackenzie ordering food and stuff like that to make people have a laugh in the middle of their day and just to keep things casual in our online social media.

I see. When we're creating this app, we're keeping in mind community, too, and having an area for people to feel comfortable that they can share what they're going through and try to see what others have for feedback. So it's really exciting to build that and yeah, our Discord, too, is definitely interesting. We're still planning out how that's going to fully take part in everything, but it's been really fun adventuring.

We created our little own podcast, too- -Nice -... to try to like- -Nice -... explain our stories and -we hope to share that with everyone. -Yeah. Awesome. Glad to hear that. Oh, I remember I see the little manga or was it comic you post on your LinkedIn. So -yeah, it's super fun there. -That was Charlotte. She's doing our- -Oh -... marketing and- -Oh -...

I did MSSE program with her, Master's -of Science in Social Entrepreneurship. -Mm-hmm. And I just loved how she wanted to educate people in whatever career that she has. And so I had reached out to her and told her like, "I'm really thinking of having you for our company," and she was super excited and she's just taken Bea, our bee, to a next level.

And it's exciting that people see the manga and they see our little clips and stories of our bee. Interesting. And so maybe we can -move on a little bit about your team. -Yeah. I actually have an interesting question for both of you, Mackenzie and Luna. So it seems like you two are quite different in terms of experiences and life stages, right? Luna, you're still an undergrad student, and Mackenzie, you're already a grad student.

But also there's a commonality I found. Luna, you said you were a stand-up comedian before, and Mackenzie, you're an actress. But other than that, is there a commonality that sort of bonds you two together to help you work effectively in a team setting? One thing is we are all people who like to pull all-nighters- -Ah -... which is something that a lot of people wouldn't stand.

For my other team projects, I had to make sure that I don't get there because people wouldn't want to stay up with me. But she's down to stay up with me. We're both all-nighters. That's -one of the important things. -Yes. And I would also say that our similar experience of acting also helps. -Yes. -It's kind of a personality match. -Mm-hmm. -We enjoy kind of entertainment and stuff, and we can bond over that as a hobby and as a side quest.

-Nice. -Yeah. It's like the entertainment industry is so sporadic and hectic, and so I feel like you really build your character through the craziness of that entertainment life. And I think we just use that and amplify it. We know deadlines. -Mm-hmm. -We complete it no matter what. -Yep. -Even if we're tired, as an actor- -It's tough -... or comedian, you still go on.

You still go up on stage. You still perform, and you deliver. And I think even when -we're pitching or talking here, like- -Yeah -... we are driven- -Yeah ... and we have an exciting goal in mind for the future. Because it is hard to be an entrepreneur. And acting, startups, and comedians, we are entrepreneurs. Those are all that. -Yes. -And you have to be driven because it's tough.

And creating a startup is even more tough. It's really hard because you get so many noes and negatives, and you always have to overcome -each challenge- -Yeah -... and rejection. -Yes. But if you believe in yourself and you believe in your startup, then your future is only going to go up. On top of that , you just mentioned it's very challenging to become a founder.

What's surprisingly hard about being a founder before you were a founder, I guess? I did the MSSE program, and there's so many things that you still learn even out-- So I'm an alum now, but there's still so much you learn even after school. And you realize, like, "How do I get an engineer? How do I do this?" And so we had found our team through, yes, pitches, but also just going to events and networking.

And I have to say, networking is so important for building as a founder. -Yes. -And I only discovered that when I was networking and seeing how that return happened. And really, putting yourself out there in awkward situations is the only way you can grow as a founder. And I think that was a hard thing I had to learn. Mm-hmm. We can stay up all night and work, but refining, perfecting.

Nothing will ever be perfect, but refining it and making it something that makes sense, I think is hard to do. -It is. -And you just have to keep working on that skill. It's like a muscle. Even that can be a muscle. -Yeah. -Yeah, that point resonates with me because I've been hearing founders are-- And there's a compounding effect of being a founder.

So you learn if you want to be a founder one day, it's better to start as early as possible. And through that experience, you just learn your muscle, as you just said. Yeah. And about, as you mentioned, it's been a little bit challenging for finding the team members that maybe to bring them together as a group. And from my knowledge that both of you probably are not from a biomedical or related background, would you find it challenging in handling building up the team or finding someone that have this expertise in, for example, biology kind of related or immunity system related expertise, yeah?

We started at USC, which is good for us. Up till now, our entire team is still USC based, either alumni or current students or some advisors, our professors, but we're all connected to USC. So, this is how we get access to-- We're working with Conlab, where we can use their -resources, their mentors- -Nice ... and also their machines for our development, which is great, because otherwise, -we've visited incubators in Pasadena.

-Mm-hmm. -You have to pay a lot for that. -Oh, wow. But we paid our tuition, so we don't have to pay- -Yeah -... for that, which is great. And then we're still searching analogies to work with us, but we do have a lot of biomedical students and student organizations who are interested in helping us. And sometimes they help us for a while time on a particular development project, and sometimes they give advice to us or help us with small tasks, such as very small tasks of development of our hardware vision.

They did a lot of help in that. And yeah, I think we don't really lack a lot of help as we're in the USC system because the BME program is really strong here. Yeah. And I would say our experience is where we feel like we know a lot throughout this journey- -Yeah -... and that's what we bring. But it's really exciting bringing on people who are specialized in tech and specialized in the app-building or the biomedical field.

So it's exciting because we let them share with us and show their talents, and it's really exciting. So even though we're not professionals in certain areas- -Yeah -... it's fun seeing how they- -Yeah -... what they bring to the table. -Absolutely. -Really. And that is the most exciting thing about creating a startup is seeing it grow through the team.

You're building a professional team right here. Yeah. On that note, are you currently actively actually looking for any talents to join your team? I think, like Luna mentioned, allergists. We've reached out to certain ones for the -workshops- -Mm-hmm ... so we're always looking for allergists. The more allergists, the better. We don't ever want to eliminate their role- -Yes -...

in this, and so we want to bring them on. We want to validate what we're showing and proving, -that they will support it- -Yes ... and that we can help people and parents navigate to those specific allergists. We're also currently working with KTP, which is a consulting fraternity here at USC. It's about five or six people on the team that are building our app's design.

And so once that gets completed this upcoming month- -Mm-hmm -... we're seeking a developer. -Awesome. -So if anyone's out there and you have -amazing skill- -Yeah ... at developing, we'd love to have you on board because we are also just sending out a lot of information out there on LinkedIn. Luna's been reaching out to -several people who are interested.

-Mm-hmm. But honestly, if you are passionate about- -Yeah -... allergies and you want to help us -grow, we can find a space for you. -Absolutely. DM directly. They're all here. Yes. DM us. Or go to our website, immuny.ai. I-M-M-U-N-Y.A-I. Yeah, that's a great -things to shout out. -Yeah. -Yeah. We are looking for talent. -No, I'm glad you asked because it is...

Yeah, I want to because it's often a headache for founders in early-stage -startup to find the talents they want. -Can I say something? Both of us have actually done it. I was so desperate in finding people who want to collab with us. -Right. Yeah. -I reached out on Reddit, and I just shared my story and what's going on and how I found this founders page or forum- -Yeah -...

and I just put my story. I couldn't believe how many people had responded, and I actually had found my -mentor- -Oh -... through that. -Through the Reddit thread? -Yeah. -Wow. And she sent me this book just the other day called "Venture Deals," and she's like, "You need to read this. You need to learn about this." -I read that, yeah. -You read it? Okay.

-Yes. -I'm on chapter one. -Yeah. -But it's amazing. When you put yourself out there and you're vulnerable- Yeah -... that's when you find your team. -It is. -That's when you find the right people- -It is -... and you get this help that you need. -Yes. -Yeah. -That's a touching story. Indeed. And I think as you mentioned, you have been gain significant support from the USC systems, either by finding talents or the resources of case competitions, incubators.

So we would like to ask, how did you find the USC appropriate entrepreneurship ecosystem been helpful to you? And what are the resources that you may recommend other USC founders that can seek out? Check out TIHub by Viterbi and then Lloyd Greif Center by Marshall, because Lloyd Greif Center has a lot of competitions, and the professors are always down to help no matter you are in Marshall or not in Marshall, and even for students outside of school. Just yesterday, Lloyd Greif Center is still -currently hosting the Tech Festival- -Yeah ...

and there are people from UC Irvine that comes over for the competition. They get the same feedback from the judges as USC students. It's really helpful. And then there are also the Viterbi TIHub, where the engineers can get helped if they ever want to turn their engineering project into a product by learning something about the business. Yeah. I would also say reach out to your professors.

Really use their help. They're now our advisors. They help us a lot. And also join the Instagram pages that are here and provided, and join the clubs. My first semester, I joined, I don't even know, like eight clubs. I know it started adding up price-wise, but it was worth doing because you see all these events and you're like, "All right, I resonate with this.

I could go and see what this is all about." And that's how you build your network and your team and your learning. You learn through all those events. Yeah. Now I just want to shift the topic somewhat more into life beyond startup, life beyond founder role. We all know that life is about making one and one another trade-offs. And when you chose to become a founder, you're definitely sacrificing somewhere other aspect of your life, either academically, personally, or socially.

What trade-offs have both of you made just to build, just to become a founder? I think time-wise, I'm still doing stand-up comedy, but I've done a little bit less because of time commitment and because a lot of networking event happen on Friday night that I have to go -to. -Yeah. Sure. So I don't do Friday night performance a lot. And I think extracurriculars too, because I focus on founding a lot.

But I would still say I have a pretty good college life because I still go to extracurricular activity. -Mm-hmm. -Maybe not as a board member of clubs where I input a lot of efforts, but I still go to speaker events, and I have a lot to -talk to because of my startup. -True. Yeah. -There's a lot of topic to- -Yeah -... be discussed- -Yeah ... in certain events.

So I'm still gaining a lot of networks with students around campus, and I'm still having a lot of friends and- Overall, I think it's different. My life definitely has been different, but it's both good. It's good when I didn't have a startup that I had a lot of free time to -hang out. -Yes. And it's also good now that I don't have a lot of free time to hang out.

Yeah. I feel like my trade-off is the biggest thing is sleep. I don't sleep. -Sleep. -We do our calls at 9:00 PM- -That's tough -... when the baby's down. When my baby's sleeping or napping, that's when I'm trying to work on slides or having voice -Zoom calls. -Mm-hmm. And I also am still acting and auditioning, and I just take whatever free time I have- -Wow -...

and I use that. I think it's just -energy management. -Energy management. If you need to recover, you take that time to recover or take a cat nap. You have to do this as a parent, or you're never going to survive. So I just take really, really deep naps for 20 minutes, and then I'm back on, even though I'm not sleeping long. But I think energy management is the most important thing because if you're trying to do something you don't want to do, you're not going to do it great.

So you have to do it when you're really driven and when you are ready to do it. And so that's what I try to do. And even our calls, they shift in time, but we just are flexible with each other. And so the trade-off is always for me has been just you don't sleep as much, which is understandable because I want to be present for my daughter. I want to be there.

-Yes. -I don't want to be on my phone all the -time. -Yes. So how do I make her not see me being on the phone all the time? Well, that means I have to do this when she's asleep. -When she's- -And I can tell you, I've become a pro creator on Canva slides -on my phone. -Wow. -There's no computer most of the time. -Wow. -Or any Excel sheets. It's just computer.

-Impressive. It's just your phone. I think our generation is just getting so good at -doing things on this tiny little device. -Just on phone. Yeah, some tiny screen. And so I say, if you want to do trade-offs, try to really learn how to do everything from your phone, because that can go anywhere -with you. -Interesting. That's so interesting. Yeah.

So I think as you have mentioned, one difficult part about being a founder is that you need to face so many no's. And how have you handled that, and how did you keep yourself going when you were just facing so many rejections? I think as an actor, you are given no's probably 99% of the time. In any audition, you only get one maybe out of the whole year.

And so I've learned, I think that's just something you learn, and you have to trust that the right thing will come at the right time. And if it's not meant to be, then it won't happen. And it's okay. You shouldn't have to force investors, force things. If they feel connected with you, it'll happen. So I always think even competitions-wise, if we didn't get in, it's because something else is better out there for us, or we should be shifting our focus on, I don't know, our -slides or- -Yeah -...

or building our marketing. -Yeah. So I think that's how I navigate no's. I'm very optimistic, though. What about you, Luna? I think the difference between founding something and working for people- -Mm-hmm -... is that when you found something, the pathway is new. You're founding because the thing hasn't been existent, so the pathway is new. That's why when a lot of people have opinions, those are not necessarily true or necessarily false.

It's important for us to listen. We get invaluable feedbacks, and we get invaluable insights from every yes or no, but it's important for us to know what we are trying to achieve and be certain with our belief and our pre-planned direction, and only take advice that would help us with our direction and what we want to achieve. -Yes. -And just ignore the noises- -Yeah -...

and take the opinions that are -important. -Very well said. I'm also curious, do each of you have any kind of role models you look up to to draw inspiration and power from, either in the field for you maybe in acting or in a field of just startup? -Hmm. -Hmm. I would say my father was an entrepreneur, and I loved what he had done with his company. But I also see my mom, who's been really driven, and if things don't work out for her, she always finds a new solution.

And I really love her drive. Even when things aren't great, she stays positive and she stays... She didn't graduate college when she was younger. She actually went back to college when I went to college, -and we actually took a class together. -That's so interesting. And so I think the thing is even though you're different age, I think we all go through a different chapter in our books, but we all have the same destination of having impact in people's lives.

And I see my mom, no matter what, even with whatever happens to her, she keeps going, and she keeps staying positive and trying to give back to the world, and I really wanted to do the same. I think Immuny isn't just about making money. It's about impacting people's lives. And I feel as an actor, we're entertaining, but I want to do more even with that, and I feel like that's what I can do here.

And I feel this drive, and I feel this impact that we're creating, and it's just so exciting that we want to share this with the world. Yeah. Well, I like Elon Musk, like a lot of people do. -Yeah. -Well, I don't necessarily agree with all his opinions, but it started when my dad loves him. -Oh. -I think he agrees with most of his opinions, and he loves Elon Musk, and he's been talking about him to me a lot.

It's almost like some girls talking about K-pop idol- -Yeah -... like in the same way. And then he made -me read a lot of autobiographies- -Elon Musk autobiographies ... and stuff about him. And initially, I found a lot of opinions of his weird. I still do, but I started to be interested in learning about him because I found him funny, like the way he talks about his first principle and then sending people to Mars is very funny.

And I would laugh when I see podcasts and books about him. And then I just gradually learn about how he thinks, and I learn a lot about efficiency, which can be applied no matter you agree with his opinion or not. And then I think he has very interesting creativity, especially about being so obsessed with sending people to Mars. And yeah, I think one day I would want to think of similar things and do -similar things because- -Yeah -...

it seems so fun to do. -Yeah. You should create a stand-up comedy based on the Elon Musk stories. -That's right. Yeah. -That would be very interesting. -That's such a good recommendation. -Yeah. -I'll think about it. -Yeah. So, talking about, for example, other student founders who maybe have their naive ideas around the campus. So, do you have any recommendations or words of wisdom that you want to share with them?

And what is the point you realize that it's not just a student project, it's something that's going to have real impact out there? What's the point that makes-- Is there any kind of point like this or -yeah, what's your opinion on that? -Yeah, I think I've had other ideas, and they're exciting, but I think it's if you feel fully driven and excited about what you're doing, and you can spend hours and hours on it and lose track of time, that is the right project. That's what I feel like with this.

I think also networking is so important. So if you have a startup that is in a specific network and you know you can tap into that network, whether that be the customers, do that. I've definitely leaned toward doing something in the entertainment world, but I'm not always driven to do that. This has been personal for me, which I feel like I can bring my experience in that too.

And then my last thing is don't wait around for people. I've created or invented ideas and two months later, they're out there. -People will think of the same idea. -Yeah. -It happens. -Yeah. So you can't wait around for it, but you also don't want to stress yourself out completely and rush. We have taken so much time pivoting, and I think that's so important to not just pivot, but to make something good quality.

Because if you put something out there that's really poor quality, it's not going to do great. But you have to find that middle area of not perfect, but also not poor quality. Because if you try to be perfect, it's never going to happen. You're never going to have that product. So you learn throughout time, and you find people over time. So that's what-- Yeah, that's the advice I'd give.

I think I have a very simple advice. So first of all, don't call your own ideas -naive- -Mm-hmm ... just because you're a student founder. Sometimes students know something better than people outside of school, like things specifically about school- -Yeah -... or things only they will experience at this stage of life. A lot of people start from their college experience.

Just don't call your ideas naive just because you act naive, which is natural because you're a college student. And then I think other than that, don't get brainwashed by evil and twisted people telling you that you can't achieve things just because you're a student. Just know that those people are evil and twisted just because they don't want you to succeed. That's why.

And then you're not naive, and your idea is not naive. Maybe you're a little naive, but that's natural, and you will easily become -more naive as you develop your idea. -That makes sense. With that in mind, I think the strategies and tactics just come naturally later on. I love it. That deserves a round of applause. -Yeah, of course. -Aw. I think we will-- Having our last question and going back to Immuny a little bit.

So what's your long-term vision about that? What will it look like? I don't know, for example, three years from now, five years from now. We hope to make people's lives easier when it comes to food. We want children to enjoy their life, not have this fear. To be able to hang out with their friends and not worry about what they're eating, and to help ease parents' anxiety.

Ultimately, we want to reduce allergies. We don't want them to be present, but we know that's a process, and we know that's an education. I really hope we build this community and build this understanding so even people who don't have allergies can be empathetic and understand what people who do go through. And we really have some exciting things that we want to share in the future of our -app in regards to restaurants and more.

-Yeah. -We don't want to release everything, but- -Yeah ... and also in hardware. And it all just takes these small steps. So that's why we're starting with this app -first. Yeah. -Don't forget to check out immuny.ai. -Yay. -And follow our podcast- -Yeah -... and follow their websites and yeah, -just follow us on social media. -Yeah, and follow them too.

That wraps up our session. Thank you, Mackenzie. Thank you, Luna. -Thank you. -And don't forget to subscribe to- -Thank you, guys -... 18VC and immuny.ai. Bye. -Thank you. Bye. -Subscribe and follow. Subscribe and follow.