20VC: Startups Only Fail When Founders Stop Trying, Why the Two Weeks Following Our IPO Were the Worst of my Life & Why Tieing Your Identity to Your Company is the Most Dangerous Thing and How to Avoid It with Sami Inkinen, Co-Founder & CEO @ Virta Health
Feb 28, 2024
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Sami Inkinen, co-founder and CEO of Virta Health, shares his inspiring journey from a humble Finnish farm to Silicon Valley, where he founded Trulia. He discusses the emotional aftermath of Trulia's IPO and the lessons learned from a challenging marriage adventure of rowing across the Pacific with his wife. Sami reflects on his parenting regrets and the dangers of tying personal identity to business success. Throughout, he emphasizes authenticity, resilience, and the importance of maintaining diverse identities amidst entrepreneurial challenges.
Maintain multiple identities as a founder to prevent burnout and risky decision-making.
Shared projects like parenting can strengthen relationships and promote mutual growth.
Prioritize building long-term investor relationships over transactional interactions for successful fundraising.
Develop trusted networks outside of work for emotional resilience and support during tough times.
Respect and fun are essential in relationships, fostering admiration and mutual growth.
Deep dives
Maintaining Multiple Identities for Personal Health and Success
Emphasizing the importance of maintaining multiple identities as a founder, Sami recognizes that tying your identity solely to your company can have negative consequences. By consciously cultivating different identities in areas such as being a parent, athlete, and professional, founders can protect against burnout and risky decision-making, enabling them to take calculated risks and cultivate a more balanced life.
The Significance of Joint Projects in Relationships
Discussing the impact of joint projects in relationships, Sami highlights that shared projects like parenting can bring individuals closer and foster mutual growth and understanding. He emphasizes the value of respect and fun in relationships, underlining the importance of having a partner or spouse whom you admire and with whom you can share enjoyable moments.
Balancing Transactional Approaches in Fundraising
From a fundraising perspective, Sami warns against being too transactional in investor interactions. He advises founders to focus on building long-term relationships rather than solely targeting quick decisions, emphasizing the need for trust and understanding in the investment process.
Importance of Cultivating Trusted Networks for Support
Sami stresses the significance of building trusted networks outside of the professional sphere, highlighting the value of having a close group of individuals with whom you can share vulnerabilities and seek authentic support. He underscores the role of these networks in providing emotional and mental resilience for founders facing challenges.
Valuing Respect and Fun in Relationships
Reflecting on the ranking of key relationship elements like respect, fun, honesty, and sex, Sami emphasizes the importance of respect in fostering mutual admiration and growth within relationships. He also highlights the value of fun as a vital component that can bring joy and lightness to interactions and shared experiences.
Striving for Independence and Authenticity as a Founder
Encouraging founders to challenge the illusion of free will and prioritize authenticity, Sami shares his belief in humbly recognizing deterministic forces at play. He advocates for cultivating independence and authentic decision-making while acknowledging the impact of various factors on human choices.
Maintaining Multiple Identities to Navigate Success and Well-Being
Indicating the importance of diversifying identities to navigate success and personal well-being, Sami discusses how founders can benefit from embracing different roles and responsibilities beyond their professional endeavors. By fostering a holistic self-concept that includes aspects such as family, athletics, and personal growth, founders can enhance their resilience and decision-making capabilities.
Balancing Transactional Relationships in Fundraising
Advising against overly transactional approaches in fundraising, Sami underscores the need for founders to prioritize long-term relationships over immediate decisions. By cultivating trust and mutual understanding with investors, founders can build sustainable partnerships that align with their long-term goals and values.
Addressing Root Causes in Relationship Dynamics
Delving into the dynamics of relationships, Sami explores the significance of respect and fun in fostering strong connections. He highlights how mutual respect and shared enjoyable experiences can underpin healthy relationships, emphasizing the value of authentic connections in personal and professional interactions.
Striving for Genuine Relationships and Authenticity
Encouraging a commitment to genuine relationships and authenticity, Sami encourages individuals to prioritize respect and fun as foundational elements in interactions. By valuing mutual admiration and enjoyable experiences in relationships, individuals can cultivate authentic connections that contribute to emotional well-being and personal growth.
Sami Inkinen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Virta Health, the company reversing type 2 diabetes. Before Virta, Sami was the Co-Founder of Trulia, steering the company to a successful IPO and its eventual sale to Zillow Group. Outside of the boardroom, he launched Fat Chance Row, a daring venture to row 2,750 miles across the Pacific, unsupported with his wife, rowing 18 hours straight per day.
In Today's Episode with Sami Inkinen:
1. From Farm in Finland to IPO Founder: Relationship to Money
How did Sami's humble upbringing on a farm in Finland impact his early mindset and ambition?
How does Sami analyze his relationship to money today? How has it changed over time?
Why was the two weeks following Trulia's IPO the worst two weeks of his life?
2. The Secret to Marriage: Rowing 2,750 Miles Together:
What are some of the biggest lessons on marriage Sami has from spending 45 days rowing the Pacific with only his wife for company?
What was their single biggest argument over the 45 days? What did Sami learn from it?
Sami worked with his wife, what are the biggest pros and cons of working with your spouse? Would Sami recommend it?
What does Sami believe are the core fundamentals that underpin the best marriages?
3. The Secret to Parenting: The Regret of Delegation:
What is Sami's biggest regret when it comes to parenting?
How does Sami think about what it means to be a great father today? How has that changed?
How did Sami's relationship with his wife change when they had kids?
4. Relationship to Identity:
Why does Sami believe tieing your identity to the company, as a founder, is so dangerous?
How does Sami advise on creating multiple personas to prevent this?
Why does Sami believe that all the best founders are addicts to some extent?
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