Huddle — Feb 20, 2026
Attendees: Thomas, Michael
Decisions
| Decision | Context |
|---|---|
| Shelve Settlers of Catan AI experiment | Interesting thought experiment but reveals limits of current AI systems. Let the market develop primitives — we'll be fast adopters, not builders of primitives. |
| Zen is not the right partner | Structural issue, not fixable. Delayed responses, unclear direction, word soup, billing feels like nickel and diming. Thomas testing ORU, then sending "what are we doing next" message. May cut losses. |
| Backlog Michelle Wang (Wavemaker) follow-up | She's not at ViVE. Thomas: "We'll talk to her in 2 months and they'll put money in." After Premera data, we'll be where Anterior is now. No urgency. |
| Don't re-follow existing CMO outreach batch | May be wrong audience or wrong message. Rethink targeting before doing more. |
| ViVE strategy: panels + vendor intel | Go to panels, talk to speakers afterward. Also engage tech services vendors who are pitching us — understand their pitch to differentiate better (like we did with Interra). |
Key Context
- ViVE observations: About half of events are AI-related. Most speakers are managers, not builders. Payers barely represented — maybe 1-2 on panels. "Payer provider panel that doesn't have any payers." Many sessions appear sponsored. Differentiated thinkers won't be on panels — they're unknown startups.
- Zen/Ryan technical status: ADT ingestion confirmed working. ORU not yet tested but Thomas fairly certain the schema is flexible enough. Will test today and send results + "what's next" message.
- Product demo: Thomas recorded it. Going into DocSend.
- Post-ViVE concern: Expecting lots of follow-ups from the conference. Need to streamline that process.
- Reya Nagpal: Columbia MBA, Barnard undergrad, healthcare focus. Found Thomas on LinkedIn, bunch of mutuals. Call at 1:15. Could help find talent.
- Sam Kris article: Prolific Substack author on "Roy" — led to discussion about entrepreneurs being ornery vs. weird, young people as better futurists, balance of vision and execution.
Action Items
| Task | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Test ORU ingestion + send Zen "what's next" message | Thomas | Today |
| Message Erica (Seae) — meet Tuesday PM at ViVE | Thomas | Sent during call |
| Product demo → DocSend | Thomas | Done |
| Thank Andrew (Pear) for routing | Thomas | Today |
| Follow up with Rodrigo | Thomas | Today |
| Reya Nagpal call 1:15pm | Thomas | Today |
| Outreach research — rethink targeting, post-ViVE follow-up process | Michael | This afternoon |