Introduction
Today on Experience-focused Leaders, I’m joined by Sami Inkinen. He is a Co-Founder and CEO of Virta Health, an innovative company that’s helping over 100,000 people reverse type 2 diabetes and obesity through clinically-proven nutrition and digital care. Sami previously co-founded Trulia, scaled it to IPO, and sold it for $3.5B. At Virta, he’s not just transforming chronic care. He’s proving that outcomes and cost savings can go hand in hand.
Questions
Sami, you’ve built two very different companies: Trulia and Virta. What was the moment that convinced you to pivot from real estate to tackling chronic disease?
You once said: “If I could cure diabetes as simply as telling people to avoid sugar and eat low-carbohydrate food, I would have just written a tweet.” What doesn’t fit in that tweet, and how did that shape the foundation of Virta?
You were diagnosed with prediabetes while being a high-performing athlete. How did that change your personal view of health and how we define it?
Virta’s core idea—reversing type 2 diabetes and obesity in 1 billion people—is bold. What’s one piece of data or outcome that convinced even skeptics that your model works?
Virta works with over 500 large employers and health plans. What have you learned about building partnerships at that scale without relying on traditional advertising?
You told Forbes: “We don’t currently spend any money on traditional advertising... We have to scale with transformative results and the word of mouth.” What does that teach you about product-market fit and user trust?
One of your quotes really stuck with me: “For me the success is not how often I do the 99 easy tasks but how often I do the hardest one out of 100 tasks.” What’s a recent example of one of those 1% hard tasks?
You once offered $500 to employees for the best story about a mistake. What inspired that, and what did you learn from the stories they shared?
You’ve invested in other health tech startups. What’s one emerging trend or tool that you think will redefine how we approach chronic care?
You said: “Virta will not fail. Not when you’re on a mission to do something remarkable.” Where does that certainty come from, and how do you reinforce it for your team when things get tough?