Dick Costolo, former Twitter CEO, once said: “Every good deal dies at least three times.” I know that truth firsthand. Sooner or later, most venture-backed companies face the same test: can you adapt without losing sight of the problem you set out to solve?
Today, Corti’s healthcare AI infrastructure supports nearly 100 million patient interactions each year across Europe and the U.S. On the decade-long road to get here, our company, Corti, faced three pivotal “deaths” that tested conviction and sharpened focus. Founders know these moments: aligning teams, testing assumptions, managing expectations after raising capital.
The first was in 2017. Corti was a seed inside Hyvi, a research team chasing what seemed impossible: streaming AI in real time, fast and accurate enough to augment professionals during live conversations. From the beginning, healthcare was the hardest, most meaningful test, where reliability meant life or death.
The challenge grew when the founding team split over the company’s future. After a surreal visit to what felt like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory in Menlo Park and deciding it was wrong to sell to a big-tech player, two founders stepped away while Lars (Maaløe) and I doubled down on healthcare. By 2018, Hyvi had become Corti, focused on clinical-grade, low-latency AI. Many have faced the same trial: take the exit in front of you or commit to a harder path. The first big choice is rarely about technology; it is about conviction.
