Illya BakurovCo-Founder and Founding Engineer · Oct 2023 to Sep 2026
A consumer product lab in Santa Monica, backed by Floodgate and Rainfall, in search of products so good that people tell their friends about them. Eleven products in under three years. Some found users, some failed fast, and each one changed what we built next.
Stella Foster was the one that found its audience: an assistant you reach by calling or texting any phone, including a flip phone. Outside Agent is the platform we had to build underneath it, and it outlived the lab.
I was the primary hands-on full-stack engineer across the client applications, backend services, data, integrations, reliability, and cloud delivery. The product evolved from a Node.js and Firestore application into a TypeScript, PostgreSQL, and Temporal platform operating across voice, SMS, web, mobile, email, and Slack.
Still live: Outside AgentStella FosterForm NumberLab archive
Built React and TypeScript customer experiences and an operations console for conversations, tool calls, execution state, traces, failures, and human handoffs. Built Swift and SwiftUI clients for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, plus a React Native messaging client for iOS and Android with CallKit and an Apple Watch extension.
Built Stella's Node.js and Express backend on Google Cloud and Firestore, then migrated it to TypeScript. Built Outside Agent using tRPC, Zod, event-sourced PostgreSQL, Drizzle, pgvector, and MCP tooling for web, SMS, voice, and email.
Built identity, preference, and working-memory tiers in Firestore, including AI-estimated lifetimes for temporary facts and conflict-aware updates. Stored Gemini embeddings and combined vector retrieval with keyword search.
Connected 15+ platforms across communications, payments, commerce, and transportation. Re-platformed production voice from Deepgram and ElevenLabs to OpenAI Realtime and then Gemini Live behind a provider interface supporting interruption and multilingual switching.
Replaced contending jobs with one durable Temporal workflow per conversation. Built a stored-value ledger, migrated it from Firestore transactions to PostgreSQL, and made Stripe and Twilio Pay actions idempotent with spend controls and two-step voice confirmation.
Operated Docker services on Cloud Run and Cloud SQL with Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks, Cloud Scheduler, GitHub Actions, Cloud Deploy, and Terraform. Built 1,620+ evaluation and red-team cases and gated releases with automated tests and Temporal replay.
Press: KTLA on Stella Foster, how a phone call is helping seniors use AI
Newest first. Archived products still have their original sites.
Form NumberAn AI intake specialist with its own phone number.
Outside AgentInfrastructure for reliable phone, SMS, and web agents.
Stella V2Stella rebuilt to serve the needs of the Hasidic Jewish market.Stella V1A phone-and-text AI assistant designed to make AI accessible to seniors.
myDrScoutHelp people find the right doctor for a specific concern.
Modern FDAA clearer, friendlier way to explore and understand FDA data.
Health GCA personal general contractor for navigating healthcare.
TaginHand off the calls and hold times that make healthcare exhausting.
FlockTurn a voice conversation into a researched newsletter.
UntangleA voice-first writing companion for emails, reports, and essays.
MixMatchFace blending, celebrity matching, and playful image transformations.
Iceberg AIAn AI-native messenger for themed chats and shared identity.November 2023 · first experiment
The lab wound down in 2026. My co-founder Jacob Catalano wrote the closing note, a first-person account of what we got wrong about consumer AI and when he thinks the market actually becomes ready.
