Joe Kiani has made a career of making the invisible visible. His pulse oximeter helped prevent thousands of premature babies from going blind each year. His work with the Patient Safety Movement turned conference-room conversations into a global push to reduce medical error deaths. But now, standing at the helm of Willow Laboratories, he’s aiming even earlier on the timeline — before the ICU, before the ER, before the body begins to break down. His latest obsession? Preventing the damage before it starts.
“Willow’s number one priority is to revolutionize diabetes care,” Kiani says. “There are many products that are in our product pipeline that will hopefully fulfill that promise we’re making.”
At the center of that vision is Nutu, a health tech app whose name, derived from the Latin word for “nudge,” encapsulates its philosophy: small shifts, big impact. It’s not a crash diet, a supplement scheme, or a biometric bracelet promising optimization. “I wanted to help predict the future for people and let them make better decisions going forward,” he says. “[Nutu] helps you maybe change a little bit of what you’re doing. And, if not, have you [eat] smaller portions of something you really shouldn’t be eating.”
It’s science-heavy, but not aspirational in the Silicon Valley sense. Behind Nutu’s clean interface is a layered team of nutritionists, endocrinologists, engineers, and food scientists. “We spent years researching,” he adds, and early results from small trials suggest the payoff could be significant — weight loss, lowered A1c levels, better balance.
Balance, after all, is the point. “We just want to nudge people into small, small changes,” Kiani says. “The idea is balance. And with balance, hopefully people can keep up what they’re doing.”
That phrase — keep up what they’re doing — is almost modest, until you understand the scope of what Kiani is doing. It’s not just about meal photos and glucose readings. It’s about rewriting the playbook of healthcare itself.
For decades, the healthcare system has been wired to respond. Kiani wants it to anticipate. “So much of our efforts go to the last two years of our life, which is probably not even fun anymore,” he says. “Why not start early? Why not try to prevent the problem? Like, go back in the time machine and get people to make small changes.”
It’s this kind of long-term lens that’s defined much of his career, from his early innovations in monitoring technology to his unrelenting advocacy around patient safety. But even with past successes, Kiani remains focused on the next solution. “There’s so much we haven’t solved,” he says. Kiani is committed to this well-researched push to help people better understand their habits and gently course-correct.
“What’s unique about [Nutu] is that it’s meant to create small changes that will lead to sustainable, lifelong positive results,” Kiani says. “I’ve seen so many people start on medication, start on fad diets… and people generally don’t stick with those because it’s not their habits.”
Part food log, part predictive tool, part behavior coach, Nutu integrates data from phones and wearables to calculate a daily “Nutu Score.” This score, based on nutrition, activity, and sleep, offers users a snapshot of how their choices are shaping their health trajectory.
“There’s so much we haven’t solved. I look at all the historical problems like people dying in masses until soap was invented. Something simple we take for granted. Inventions are crucial to our future.”
That future, in his view, depends not just on ideas but on execution, control, and tenacity. “Great companies are built by great people,” he says. “And we have some really amazing people.”
Also crucial: never giving up the reins. “Don’t give up control,” he adds. “You may, at the end of the day, be only left with five percent of your company, but you should be able to control your company regardless of what percentage of the company you own financially.”
For Kiani, innovation is as much about culture as it is about code. At Willow, he encourages play as much as performance. “If you’re not looking forward to Mondays, you don’t love what you do, and you shouldn’t be here,” he tells his team. “The to-do list never goes away, but if you really felt like you gave it your best that day, then you can go do your fun.”
His advice to entrepreneurs is similarly grounded. “Stop looking at what everybody else is doing,” he says. “If it’s something you’re passionate about, just do it. Just spend every hour you can, advance, and get it. And you know, you might wake up and say, ‘Wow, look what I’ve built.’”
For now, what Kiani’s building is both intimate and expansive: a tool that speaks to individual habits, but one that could shift billions in healthcare costs and redefine the way we think about personal responsibility and public health. “I hope Nutu really helps people,” he says. “But I felt like I had to try something.”
If he succeeds, that “something” could leave a footprint far larger than he ever imagined.
