About Roanin Podkin

Where I started

I grew up in Vacaville, California. I've played sports my entire life: golf, soccer, cross country, and more. I did Boy Scouts and made the rank of Eagle Scout. My first job was at In-N-Out, for a year in high school. I've always looked for a way to make a few dollars, and I've had small entrepreneurial ventures the whole way through, whether it was selling guppies or bracelets in elementary school. It was always something.

My older brother Colby runs a fish farm in Washington, and he was the first entrepreneur I watched up close. We strategized together through high school and college, and I spent a couple of summers working with him. Being around the fish gave me Finsight, an idea for catching early signs of disease, stress, hunger or low oxygen from how fish behave on video. I still keep tabs on it.

Santa Barbara

I studied economics at UC Santa Barbara, class of 2026, and made lifelong friends who pushed me to be a better person. I also got the chance to study abroad in Madrid, and I used it to see as much of Europe as I could.

At the start of 2024, in my sophomore year, I took a job at La Cumbre Country Club to meet the members and play free golf. The members, successful business owners, became mentors. We golfed together and they talked to me about my career and my life. It's through them that I found Avoca.

Stepping back

The summer before my last year I went to Asia alone for almost two months: Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. I got PADI scuba certified, went on some crazy side quests, met all kinds of people, saw some of the most beautiful nature I've ever seen, dove with whale sharks, and lived on a boat for four days. Mostly, though, it was a chance to step back and ask: do I like who I've become, who do I want to be, and what do I really want? I still do that audit often.

Then AI happened

I came back in the middle of the AI boom and went deep: hours of videos a day, then testing what the models could actually do, building agents, automating the boring work. I started telling people, then doing it for them, and got a business license as an AI consultant. The biggest project was La Cumbre, where I presented to the whole team and then completed a contract. The most useful thing I did was sit down with owners one-on-one and teach them.

My mentors said to get real industry experience. I look for good leaders, and I found them at Avoca, where I joined the sales development team in Santa Barbara in July 2026.

Off the clock

Hikes, new countries, side quests, golf, pickup soccer, the gym, runs. Mostly anything active with people I like.