The Ledger
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Sami Inkinen claims Novo Nordisk treats diabetes symptoms rather than root causes
“For context, I think what we are trying to do, which is really addressing obesity and high-Q diabetes by actually making people healthy, unlike wonderful companies like Novo Notice that are selling drugs to treat the symptoms of diabetes and obesity.”
Inkinen: Type 2 diabetes can actually be cured
“I actually have to admit that after Truly IPO, I thought I'd be just advising and investing in other entrepreneurs, but completely accidentally around 2012, 13, through personal health problems that I had, I discovered that this Quite horrible and irreversible…”
Inkinen: Founders Learn Far More From Success Than From Failure
“I do think that you learn much more from a successful venture for a number of reasons. First of all, I think successful ventures usually last longer. So you simply have more time and more experiences to learn from. Versus a, often a faster failed attempt.”
Inkinen: Obesity and diabetes epidemics stem from bad science, not willpower
“The massive obesity and type two diabetes epidemic has actually nothing to do with lack of willpower or that all these obese and diabetic people can only blame themselves for their condition.”
Sami Inkinen argues that free will and willpower are complete illusions
“In fact, I'm absolutely convinced the willpower doesn't exist. Free will doesn't exist. We have sort of a separate entity that makes, makes decisions that is not tied into the deterministic world. I'm very convinced that that is an illusion and it's a very, ve…”
Inkinen: Deeply Empathizing With Team Problems Destroys CEO Focus
“I think it's dangerous if you start empathizing too much with the problems that your team is trying to solve, because that will just hijack your thinking, and it's just going to create stress.”
Inkinen: Raised venture capital should be treated as a mortgage
“The mental model that I use, and I communicate to my team, every time we raise money, I say, I think about this cash that we raised as a mortgage that needs to be paid back.”
Inkinen: Working while sleep-deprived creates no more CEO value than packing peanuts
“But that kind of grinding through stuff, tired and half sleep, that's basically a 10 dollars an hour job. It's like packing peanuts. That's not how you create value as a CEO.”
Inkinen: EIR roles at VC firms stifle crazy, contrarian startup ideas
“My viewpoint is that, first of all, in a, in any VC, venture capitalist environment, you're surrounded by extremely thoughtful and extremely smart people who can poke holes into any idea that's not completely logical. And you know, these smart, thoughtful, lik…”
Sami Inkinen argues 100 percent vulnerability in leadership is a disaster
“Being a hundred percent vulnerable in a hundred percent situations. I think that's a recipe for disaster. Like that's absolutely a recipe for disaster.”
Sami Inkinen advises founders against starting companies with their spouses
“So I, my recommendation to everyone is it's very high beta. I would probably advise against because then you have too many eggs in the same basket. And if things go sideways, you can destroy your most important personal relationship in a process. So the cost o…”
Inkinen: Having nannies raise children is not optimal for founders
“I think we both feel that. You know, having nannies raise your kids is not optimal.”
Inkinen: Building Companies Is Shallow Compared to Raising a Family
“All those stuff. You know, fine and good if you enjoy the process of creating those, but it is so shallow. Having children is the greatest thing.”
Inkinen: Founder-Driven Startups Only Fail When Founders Give Up
“Startups and companies, founder driven startups, companies only fail when founders stop trying. Startups only fail when founders stop trying. And I think that's a hundred percent true. But obviously, there is a point when stubbornness goes too far, and you're …”
Sami Inkinen says growth founders must bet the company every few years
“Calculated risks and taking risks as a growth company founder is absolutely critical to succeed. Almost like every couple of years, you need to bet the company on something to keep kind of winning and succeeding.”
Inkinen: Top founders purposely select and leverage the bundled VC offering
“It's false, and here's why. The best founders recognize that this bundle, what VCs often deliver, is a bundle of three things. Capital, advice, and for better or worse, onboard governance. Capital, advice, governance, often is a bundle and you can't unbundle i…”
Sami Inkinen warns removing a VC is harder than replacing a co-founder
“Cause you really, it's easier to get rid of your co-founder than your VC and on, on the board.”
Inkinen: Sleep-deprived 18-hour workdays at Trulia caused memory loss and illness
“And I can share a personal experience in the early, truly a years. I often work until one AM. I woke up at five AM and kept going like that, maybe six, sometimes seven days a week. And then on top of which I was doing a fair amount of physical training. And so…”
Sami Inkinen suffered a panic attack two weeks after Trulia's IPO
“Two weeks after that, something wasn't working in our apartment. The silliest and the stupidest thing. And then suddenly I feel this sort of panic attack. I should be happy. I'm not.”
Inkinen: Physical body training enables sustained intellectual focus
“And then the second reason is, honestly, it is very addictive and just fundamentally makes me feel both in my body and in my mind very good. And it allows me to be way more focused when I just have to sit down and only use my brain. So definitely It's part of …”
Inkinen: Wealth offers temporary dopamine, not lasting happiness
“Money's gonna give some eternal joy and happiness and Then I got it, and 25 dollars, 25,000 dollars at Best Buy, and I realized that it was just like any dopamine, it's like a espresso, and it's, that is not gonna give you an eternal joy and satisfaction.”
Inkinen: I have cried countless times in front of my team as CEO
“Like I have cried countless times in front of my team as a CEO.”
Sami Inkinen warns founders without non-work identities crumble during company crises
“And so, if you don't have other identities, the moments when things really hit the wall, you are very likely to crumble and crack.”
Inkinen: Pulling all-nighters is unsustainable for long-term founders
“To be able to be a founder, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, like, there's no way that's gonna work, you know, with all-nighters.”
Inkinen: Money, time, and shelf space are always fully consumed
“Money, time, and shelf space have at least one property in common, and that is, it doesn't matter how much you have, you end up using all of it, Or it just takes absolutely extraordinary discipline to fight against this urge to use it all.”
Inkinen: Virta's diabetes reversal approach will become mainstream consensus within 5 years
“For Berta, in five years, I think the rest of the world will finally go from, no way, guys, that's impossible, you guys are crazy, to more something like, wait a second, that's totally obvious, that's how you cure diabetes, that's the future of healthcare, why…”
Inkinen: I have an obsessive personality requiring constant self-observation
“A hundred percent. And I often tell my wife, I'm like, I'm so happy. I'm happily married. I, and I'm so glad I haven't I've gone down the path of very dangerous addictions actually ever in my life, but in almost anything I do, if one is good, I'll go for five,…”
Sami Inkinen and his wife rowed 2,700 miles across the Pacific unsupported
“In, in summer, 2014 from Monterey, California, we hopped into a rowboat, 20 foot, roughly rowboat, unsupported rode across the Pacific Ocean, 2700 nautical miles to Hawaii. 45 days, three hours with your spouse.”
Inkinen sold six figures of Trulia secondary stock before IPO
“I and we sold a little bit secondary in kind of six figures with my company Trulia before it went public. Maybe that was, let's just say, 2010, 2009, 2008 or something like that. So we saw six figures in US dollars of secondary.”
Sami Inkinen says sudden wealth while single would have fueled addictions
“Because if I was single, living in New York, suddenly a lot of money, suddenly a lot of time, and I'm feeling kind of rudderless and anxious, that would definitely would have been an optimal moment to go down the wrong path, wrong addictions.”