Listen to my co-founder @ZReitano sharing our story of Ro - and the cultural transformation of the last 4 years.
Great episode by @patrick_oshag
My conversation with Zach Reitano (@ZReitano), co-founder and CEO of Ro
In four years he took Ro from a $250M run rate to over $3B, with about a third fewer people
Zach rarely does long conversations like this, so it was fun to talk about the details of what that took and everything happening in healthcare
Plus, his answer to the closing question is amazing
We discuss:
- the state of the US healthcare system
- refounding Ro
- strong attract, strong repel culture
- the notion of jobs over lives
- the power of celebrities in marketing
- the importance of tailwinds (AI, GLP-1s)
- trying to recreate his dad in software
Enjoy!
TIMESTAMPS
0:34 How Much Should We Spend on Health
4:59 The Patient Is Not the Customer
10:24 Inside Ro's Business
18:28 The Future of GLP-1s
25:46 Jobs Over Lives
30:02 The Turnaround
47:43 Where Healthcare Goes Next
1:00:27 Recreating His Dad in Software
1:06:33 Marketing Into Stigma
1:19:06 Zach's Hottest Take
1:20:58 The Kindest Thing
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In 4 years, we've grown Ro's revenue 10x. Today we passed $3B ARR — with fewer employees than we had in 2021.
Since our refounding, the team has locked in every single day. With maniac levels of focus.
Grateful to fight for patients alongside @ZReitano and the entire @ro team.
We're just getting started. Wait until you see 2027.
🚀
Losing 50 lbs takes 200 lbs off each knee every step and 240,000 lbs every mile. That’s 3 fully loaded 18-wheelers per mile. Find your number with The Ro Knee Relief Calculator, from @roresearchlab: ro.co/research-lab/tools/wei…
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After 9 years we have one of the largest real-world health datasets in the world. Today we decided to put that data to good use – to help advance medicine and our scientific community with real-world evidence and insights. Meet @Roresearchlab, our new AI research unit.
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My better half @ZReitano said it well. @davidtisch and Box Group was our first money into @ro and it was easily one of the best decisions we made.
When I shut down my first startup and returned the money to investors, some of them never spoke to us again. @davidtisch was the opposite. He was a human heat shield with many of those investors, and he backed me personally and professionally right after.
When we started Ro, @BoxGroup was our first call. Tisch and the BG family will always have a special place in my heart. They march to their own drum. They build differently. And after years of being misunderstood, game is finally recognizing game. About time :)
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Last month I asked for a connector wallet. This is the first piece of it. Passwords stay in 1Password. The agent asks. You approve in the app. Pretty dope.
We’ve taken our @1Password partnership a step further.
Your passwords stay in 1Password. When a task needs one, you approve access in the app, and 1Password fills it in.
We're excited to make it easier to get things done while keeping you in control of access to your accounts.
We’re gradually rolling this out to all users. To get started, tell your Instinct to “Connect my 1Password.”
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This mental shift is right. We need to stop asking how humans use AI and starting asking what a company looks like when agents own things end-to-end.
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Y'all remember when Charles Barkley's suit was too big?! Our new @ro commercial explains why. 🤣🤣🤣
Why does Charles Barkley look like a child wearing their father’s suit? Some one get this man a tailor 😭 #MarchMadness
Even more @ro news today - launching Robin, Ro's AI Health Agent today. Robin will be the AI that knows most about your health and does most to help you reach your goals.
My better half @ZReitano shares more in his blog post.
teapawt.net/ZReitano/status/211579…
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Charles Barkley's transformation on Ro has been incredible. Read his story in People and check out our latest campaign with him.
people.com/charles-barkley-l…
Ghosts in the System. Nov 5 at Ro HQ.
Engineers from @ro, @DecagonAI, and @Nayya_Inc on the AI layers actually running high-volume customer ops, and what breaks at scale.
If you’re in NYC, come. RSVP here: meetup.com/tech-ro/events/31…
tech @ro is the best team in healthcare. Not even close.
If you want to build for patients, join us at ro.co/tech
Ok, these are disappearing faster than we can put them up 😅
There have been Megan Fox x Ro Sparks tear-away posters spotted so far in the West Village.
Seen one somewhere else?
I'm not signing up for another agent if it means re-authing 50+ services one by one.
Someone please build a connector wallet. Connect once, then let any agent borrow access.
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After dozens of parenting books and dozens of management books, I've reached the conclusion that they're all saying the same thing...
- Connection before correction.
- Check your ego at the door.
- Praise in public, correct in private.
- Consistency beats grand gestures.
- Rupture is fine. Repair is everything.
- Catch them doing something right.
Now I just have to actually do it. At 6am with a toddler and at 9am with a C-level exec!
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Consumer healthcare companies think they're competing with other healthcare companies. They're not. They're competing with the best experience their patient had this week.
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Been looking for a Zoom math tutor for my kid. Just deleted 'must be human' from the requirements.
Introducing Griffin, the first model to pass the video Turing test.
48% of people who talked to it live thought it was a real human. Previous systems have had a pass rate <3%. It is #1 on NVIDIA's benchmark for full-duplex AI video.
It’s the first Human Interaction Model (HIM).
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The 48% figure and "video Turing test" claim are from Tavus's own study of 54 one-minute calls, not independently verified or using a standard protocol. Griffin-Lite leads NVIDIA's VideoFDB benchmark on their public leaderboard.
cellcog.ai/blog/tavus-gri…
research.nvidia.com/labs/amri/proj…
tech-ish.com/2026/10/02/tav…
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