How to Go Slow to Go Fast with Sami Inkinen of Virta Health
Apr 24, 2024
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Entrepreneur and athlete Sami Inkinen discusses how a personal health scare led him to launch Virta Health, the importance of making decisions with imperfect information in leadership, and why taking a slow approach can actually lead to faster growth in a company. The podcast also explores Virta Health's mission to reverse Type 2 diabetes through personalized nutrition plans and challenges the traditional medication-based treatments for metabolic health issues.
Launching VertoHealth aimed at reversing Type 2 diabetes globally through personalized treatment and behavior changes.
Emphasizing the value of pacing oneself, making decisions in uncertainty, and breaking down complex problems for impactful results.
Deep dives
The Mission of VertoHealth: Reversing Type 2 Diabetes
Sami Inkinen founded VertoHealth with a bold mission to reverse Type 2 diabetes in 100 million people worldwide. Recognizing the global impact of metabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes and obesity affecting over a billion individuals, VertoHealth challenges the traditional approach of managing these conditions with medication. By emphasizing nutrition and leveraging technology and telemedicine, VertoHealth strives to fundamentally reverse Type 2 diabetes and obesity through personalized treatment and behavior changes.
Data-Driven Innovation at VertoHealth: Individualized Nutrition and Digital Care
VertoHealth's approach stands out by providing individualized nutrition plans that eliminate the need for calorie restriction, focusing on satiety and eliminating hunger. Unlike traditional diet programs, VertoHealth emphasizes lifestyle and behavior changes over shakes or bars. Through a fully digital care model, including medical providers and coaches, VertoHealth utilizes daily data collection to tailor treatment plans for each patient, resulting in successful Type 2 diabetes reversal at scale.
Entrepreneurial Drive and Decision-Making: The Path from Trulia to VertoHealth
Sami Inkinen's journey from co-founding Trulia to establishing VertoHealth reflects his resilience and commitment to solving critical health challenges. Drawing from his experience and lessons learned, Sami emphasizes the importance of pacing oneself and focusing on key priorities to drive impact. His background in physics informs his problem-solving approach, emphasizing the value of breaking down complex issues into manageable steps. By making challenging decisions in the absence of perfect information, Sami navigates the healthcare landscape with a data-driven mindset and unwavering dedication to creating lasting value.
Growing up on a farm in Finland and training as a physicist, the path to entrepreneurship might not have been an obvious one for Sami Inkinen. But to date, he has founded two companies: Trulia, the online real estate marketplace that IPOed and eventually sold to Zillow Group in 2015, and Virta Health, the modern healthcare solution on a mission to reverse type 2 diabetes in 100 million people. If that weren’t enough, Sami is an endurance athlete who has completed seven ironmans and set a record for rowing 2,750 miles from California to Hawaii to raise awareness about the dangers of the American diet. Sami shares how a personal health scare motivated him to launch his second company, how leaders must get comfortable making decisions with the absence of perfect information, and why going slow actually allows you to go fast when building a company.
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