Our Story

Our founder, Ruoyao, experienced firsthand what many ambitious builders eventually run into: a U.S. immigration system that is slow, confusing, and often unforgiving. Like many international professionals, she didn’t win the H-1B lottery in 2016. Soon after, a mishandled L-1 case by her legal provider forced her to navigate an already complex process with even more uncertainty.

Instead of giving up, she decided to figure it out herself.

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With the right guidance — and many late nights — Ruoyao DIY-ed her way through the system and ultimately secured her O1. But what stayed with her wasn’t just the outcome — it was how broken the journey felt. Again and again, she saw brilliant founders and operators lose time, momentum, and peace of mind to a process that simply wasn’t designed for builders.

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She began helping portfolio founders during her time in venture capital, then continued working with fellow founders while at Stanford Business School.

 

The pattern was unmistakable: the problem wasn’t just legal — it was systemic.

When she met Xiaoli, a Columbia-educated lawyer, they both saw the same opportunity. Immigration for top global talent didn’t just need more lawyers. It needed better infrastructure.

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Together, they built Precursor — to turn a maze of forms and uncertainty into a clear, confident path.

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Today, Precursor helps founders, engineers, and researchers secure O-1 visas and other advanced immigration pathways so they can live and build in the United States.