Influential Dinner Conversations in the Health Tech Ecosystem

Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Virgílio (“V”) Bento, Founder and CEO of Sword Health, the $3 billion company focused on improving pain management. They discuss Sword’s new AI care model, the evolution and key decisions behind Sword’s success, customer acquisition, and more.

(0:00) intro

(1:15) Sword’s journey

(9:13) advice on selling to employers

(16:45) getting employees to use the product

(18:41) building Phoenix, an AI care model

(22:50) limitations of Phoenix

(31:17) Sword’s org structure

(33:56) less successful ventures for Sword

(36:23) working with brokers

(39:01) international opportunities

(42:12) over-hyped/under-hyped

(42:37) parts of the U.S. healthcare system that don’t make sense

(44:23) flying across the world for dinner with Vinod Khosla

(46:57) decisions that were instrumental to Sword’s success

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