At Apollo House 2026, StartUp Health community member Sami Inkinen, CEO & Founder of Virta Health, joined Steven Krein for a candid fireside chat on reversing metabolic disease, scaling a mission-driven company, and building AI into the DNA of an organization.

From growing up on a farm in Finland to co-founding Trulia and now leading Virta Health, Inkinen shares the personal wake-up call that reshaped his career: discovering he was pre-diabetic despite being a world-class triathlete. That moment sparked a decade-long mission to make Type 2 diabetes reversal the common-sense standard of care.

Virta Health is now treating hundreds of thousands of patients, generating hundreds of millions in revenue, and has reached break-even while growing 75% year over year. Inkinen explains how Virta uses AI both behind the scenes to become an AI-native organization and on the front lines, deploying data-driven, human-supervised agents to support patients 24/7.

He also tackles the thorn in his side: why insulin-first, chronic-progression care remains the default in America when nutrition-based reversal is happening every day at scale.

This conversation explores:
✔️ Why metabolic disease is reversible
✔️ How AI is transforming healthcare companies from the inside out
✔️ What founders must do to be AI-native in 2026
✔️ Why some Virta patients have tattooed the company logo on their bodies
✔️ What’s next in the metabolic health revolution