Sami Inkinen
Co-Founder & CEO, Virta Health. On 1 show, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
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Sami Inkinen is the co-founder and CEO of Virta Health, a health-tech company focused on clinically reversing type 2 diabetes. Previously, he co-founded real estate platform Trulia, serving as president and COO through its IPO, and is an age-group triathlon world champion.
1shows
2appearances
31statements
2resolved
1supported
0contradicted
50%fully supported
3said about them ↓ Everything Sami Inkinen said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
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.”
The other half of the tape: Sami Inkinen's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 1 episode across the shows. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 2Pete Flint 1
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 3
2018 3 mentions in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Sami's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Co-Founder & CEO, Virta Health | 2 | 31 | 50% 1/2 | full record on 20VC → |