Founder stories from the world of Data and AI The Growth Playbook: Data & AI AI Meets Aging: How Waterlily Is Helping Families Plan for Long-Term Care - ThinkData Podcast

Episode 30

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Published on:

8th Oct 2025

S3 | E30 | AI for Aging: Inside Waterlily’s Mission to Transform Long-Term Care

Today on the ThinkData Podcast, I’m joined by Lily, Co-Founder of Waterlily, the AI platform helping families plan and prepare for long-term care.

We talk about her journey from NASA to startup life, how she validated early demand for Waterlily, and what it’s really like building a company (and marriage) in parallel with her partner, Evan.

In this episode, I cover

  • What Waterlily is and how the idea first came about
  • How Lily validated demand early and identified signs of product-market fit
  • How she cuts through the AI hype when speaking with investors and partners
  • The story behind formalizing the co-founder dynamic with Evan
  • How do they balance startup life and marriage, and what communication rituals help
  • What Lily had to unlearn as a first-time founder once traction started building
  • Her approach to hiring and what great talent looks like in caretech
  • Why the mission behind long-term care planning matters more than ever
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About the Podcast

ThinkData Podcast
The Growth Playbook: Data & AI
The Growth Playbook brings you inside the minds of the leaders shaping Data and AI. Each episode, we sit down with some of the most interesting voices in the industry, from startup founders to seasoned execs, to hear their stories, lessons learned, and the real strategies behind growing great businesses.

About your host

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Alex Hutchings

I’m the Co-Founder of the Dataworks Group, a specialist talent partner in the world of Data and Artificial Intelligence.

I’ve spent the last 15+ years working at the heart of this space, helping some of the most exciting companies on the planet build world-class Data and AI teams.

Through our roundtables, live events, and right here on the ThinkData Podcast, my goal is simple: to bring you real insights from the fastest-growing talent market in the world.

Whether you’re building, hiring, or just curious about what’s next, you’ll hear straight from the founders and senior leaders shaping the future of work.