The half-million-dollar payout from selling shares of Trulia in 2008 represented a pivotal moment for Sami Inkinen, the co-founder of the real estate search company. It was not the sheer sum that resonated most deeply with him, but rather the immediate clarity it provided: he could finally eliminate the $100,000 in student debt that had lingered since his MBA program at Stanford. For Inkinen, now the CEO of the $2 billion healthcare firm Virta Health, this moment, he recalls, was the only time he truly felt “rich.” Yet, this profound sense of financial liberation, he notes, proved to be remarkably fleeting, dissipating within days.
Inkinen’s journey into entrepreneurship began in Finland with Matchem, a mobile software company he co-founded in 2000. After two and a half years, the company was sold for several million dollars, prompting his move to the United States. He pursued an MBA at Stanford, graduating in 2005 with a significant debt burden. Despite a lucrative six-figure job offer from consulting giant McKinsey, complete with a $10,000 signing bonus, Inkinen chose to forgo the immediate financial stability, opting instead to return to the startup world. This decision underscored a consistent pattern in his career, prioritizing entrepreneurial pursuits over traditional corporate paths even when faced with substantial personal financial obligations.
His next venture, Trulia, grew into a significant player in the real estate market. The company was eventually acquired by Zillow in 2015 for $3.5 billion, a testament to its scale and impact. However, long before that acquisition, the sale of secondary shares allowed Inkinen to address his personal debt. Beyond settling his student loans, he also made what he describes as “a very expensive bicycle purchase” and furnished his small San Francisco apartment. These purchases, while providing comfort and fulfilling immediate needs, did not, in his estimation, contribute to lasting happiness. The initial exhilaration of financial freedom quickly subsided, revealing a deeper perspective on wealth. 
This outlook, Inkinen suggests, is partly rooted in his upbringing in Finland, a country known for its comprehensive social services. With largely free healthcare funded by public taxes and no tuition costs for education from primary school through university, Inkinen experienced a societal framework where basic needs were consistently met. This environment, he explains, fostered an inclination towards non-material happiness and a sense that he always had enough, even with very little. He recounts not buying his first car until he was 37, illustrating a detachment from the pursuit of luxury items. This ingrained perspective meant that even as his companies achieved unicorn status and significant wealth accumulated, his fundamental views on money remained unchanged.
The idea that money does not equate to happiness is a sentiment echoed by other prominent figures in the business world. Barbara Corcoran, the real estate mogul who sold her company for $66 million, has publicly stated that her experiences moving from poverty to wealth confirm the adage. She noted in 2023 that despite her financial success, she is “no happier today than I was when I was dirt poor.” Similarly, Warren Buffett, despite his immense fortune, famously maintains a relatively modest lifestyle, residing in the same Nebraska home he bought in 1958 and driving older cars. Buffett has often argued that beyond a certain point, increased wealth does not improve one’s standard of living or happiness, a view he shared at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in 2014. These perspectives suggest a broader understanding among some successful individuals that while wealth provides comfort and security, its capacity to generate lasting happiness has clear limitations. For Sami Inkinen, the brief joy of clearing his student debt served as a personal confirmation of this enduring truth.
