Law, Policy & the Public Trust: Prashanthi Raman on Building at the Frontier

Regulation and policy is often seen as a barrier to innovation, but it doesn’t have to be. In this episode of First Builders, hosts Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui sit down with Prashanthi Raman, former head of government affairs at both Cruise and Lyft, after starting her career as an attorney in healthcare policy. Prashanthi has worked at the intersection of policy and tech for over a decade, and started her career as an attorney focused in healthcare policy. She spent time working at the office of the governor of Illinois to help shape policies to ensure compliance with the ACA and Medicaid Expansion programs, before moving into the tech ecosystem. At Lyft, she spearheaded nationwide policies to enhance ridesharing regulations, and helped shape a new category that did not yet have strong regulatory frameworks in place. Prashanthi then moved to Cruise, an autonomous vehicle company, to again help shape a new category for regulatory compliance - autonomous driving and vehicles. In this conversation, Prashanthi shares:How her time at Lyft and Cruise - category defining companies - reshaped her view of government affairs Why AI will still need human relationships to drive regulatory frameworks Why government affairs is a catalyst, not just a cost center,  for tech companies How she stays calm and thrives in high chaos environments How her leadership style was shaped by working in policy early on Why humanized storytelling and putting people first is the guiding force for her career in government affairs This is a candid conversation on how tech companies should embrace rather than shy away from government affairs and regulatory compliance, and how focusing on humanized storytelling continues to be a core competency for early First Builders. FOLLOW PRASHANTHI RAMANLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashanthi-raman/FOLLOW THE COUNCIL & FIRST BUILDERSNewsletterYouTube: @firstbuilderspodInstagram: @thecouncilcapitalTwitter/X: @first_builders_TikTok: @firstbuilderspodLinkedIn: The Council