CAC: How did participating in the Congressional App Challenge contribute to your personal journey, career path, and accomplishments so far?

AV: CAC was the first time tech felt real to me: something I could use to solve problems in the world around me, not just an abstract skill. Our app eventually reached over 40,000 users, and that changed everything. It made me realize building software and companies was a real path, not locked behind elite credentials or some secret handshake. It just took care, effort, and a sense of urgency. That feeling stuck with me, and it’s the reason I’m still building today.

CAC: Try to remember back to competing in the CAC – what was your app about and why did you create it?

AV: We built Clubhouse to streamline club attendance and reduce busywork for student clubs. As club leaders ourselves, we hated the 5-minute paper sign-in lines and the hours spent manually tallying attendance afterward. Clubhouse let students check in quickly and gave officers automatic logs they could use for service hour reports, elections, and awards. It was simple, but it saved time, and it made organizing school clubs more fun and less frustrating.

CAC: What are you most proud of in your academic or professional career thus far?

AV: Taking a summer side project and turning it into a real, revenue-generating company. What started as a desire to renege on my college internship to build a project has become a real product that helps real people. Twine now powers hundreds of small businesses: plumbers, pest control, spa, lawyers, CPAs, etc and gives them the tools to compete with national chains. We’ve helped them capture millions in revenue they would’ve otherwise missed.

CAC: Let’s look into the future – where do you hope to be in 2035?

AV: I hope I’m still building things that feel necessary, with people I admire, and having some interesting conversations along the way. The tools will change, AI, medicine, climate tech, maybe all three but the throughline is the same: make something underrated useful and push it as far as you can. I’m especially interested in always-on personal health diagnostics: cheap, invisible, constant feedback loops. Maybe by 2035 we won’t just fix sickness, we’ll predict and prevent it. Maybe I’ll finally have a coffee shop too.

CAC: What excites you most about the future of technology and innovation?

AV: The cycles are compressing. The tools are multiplying. And the cost to build something meaningful has never been lower. One person with a laptop can now meaningfully compete with big legacy companies. The first 10 person billion-dollar company is coming: it’s just a matter of time. That kind of leverage and creativity is thrilling. The future will belong to people who are both technical and opinionated enough to build useful things fast.