E170 | From MySpace to Healthcare AI: Aber Whitcomb, CEO of Salt AI

In this episode of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, host Michael Stamatinos sits down with Aber Whitcomb, CEO of Salt AI and co-founder of MySpace, for an in-depth conversation on building at massive scale, navigating pressure, and applying real AI engineering to healthcare and life sciences.

Aber Whitcomb has been at the center of multiple technology inflection points. From helping architect MySpace during its explosive, nonlinear growth to now leading Salt AI as an enterprise-grade AI operating system, his perspective is thoughtful, calm, and grounded in experience earned the hard way.

This episode explores what it truly feels like to build when there is no playbook. The conversation moves from behind-the-scenes stories of early internet infrastructure and data-center failures, to modern challenges around enterprise AI, proprietary data, security, and trust inside healthcare and pharma.

Rather than focusing on hype, this discussion centers on substance: product velocity, leadership under pressure, and where AI can genuinely create lift for organizations operating in highly regulated environments.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• Aber Whitcomb’s early journey into computing and systems thinking
• Lessons from scaling MySpace before modern cloud infrastructure existed
• What pressure looks like when uptime determines survival
• Why healthcare and life sciences drew Aber into the industry
• Enterprise AI, proprietary data, and security inside pharma
• Product velocity vs. trust in regulated environments
• What should — and should not — be automated in healthcare
• AI skepticism, scientific rigor, and drug discovery
• Building teams of true 10x engineers
• Defining success beyond investor decks and valuations

📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE

If this conversation moved you, challenged your thinking, or sparked an idea, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe for more episodes with healthcare leaders who are not just thinking differently, they’re building differently.

About the Show

The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation.

The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light.

🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn:   / michaelstamo  
🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare.

Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn:
  / 7056196