Why 'AI in Radiology' Is a Bubble About to Burst (And What to Focus on Instead)

Published 2025-02-20 · Updated 2026-05-23 · 6 min read · AI in Healthcare · By Sahin Boydas

I've been in the Silicon Valley trenches for over a decade, and I've never seen a shift as massive as AI in healthcare. I'm sharing the hard-won lessons from my own startups and investments—the wins, the failures, and the counterintuitive strategies that actually work.

After 200+ angel investments, I've seen the same why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about mistake destroy companies over and over.

I've been in the Silicon Valley trenches for over a decade, and I've never seen a shift as massive as AI in healthcare. I'm sharing the hard-won lessons from my own startups and investments—the wins, the failures, and the counterintuitive strategies that actually work.

Why Most Approaches Fail

Let me be direct: about 70% of the approaches I see to why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about are fundamentally flawed. Not slightly off. Fundamentally flawed.

The root cause is usually one of three things:

  • Copying what big companies do without understanding why they do it. What works for Google doesn't work for a 10-person startup.
  • Over-engineering the solution when a simple approach would work better. I've seen teams spend six months building something that could have been done in two weeks.
  • Ignoring the human element. Technology is the easy part. Getting people to actually use it is where the real challenge lives.

What I've Learned From 101 Companies

After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about.

The biggest misconception is that you need to the data tells a different story than your gut. That's backwards. The companies that win are the ones that most founders overthink this and underspend on execution.

I remember sitting with the Anthropic team early on and discussing how they thought about why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.

What I Tell Founders

When a founder in my portfolio asks me about why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about, I usually start with three questions:

  1. What's your timeline? Because the right approach for a company with 6 months of runway is very different from one with 3 years.
  2. What have you already tried? Most founders have tried something. Understanding what didn't work is often more valuable than knowing what might.
  3. Who on your team owns this? If the answer is "everyone" or "no one," that's your first problem to solve.

These questions seem simple but they reveal a lot about where a company actually stands.

This connects to broader themes around AI radiology, AI diagnostics, drug discovery AI, healthcare automation, biotech AI that I've been thinking about a lot lately.

What's Next

The world of why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about is moving fast. What worked last year might not work next year. That's both the challenge and the opportunity.

My advice: stay curious, stay humble, and stay close to the people who are actually doing the work. Read less thought leadership and do more experiments. Talk to fewer consultants and more practitioners.

And if you're a founder building in this space, remember that the best time to get why 'ai in radiology' is a bubble about right is before you need to. Don't wait for a crisis to force your hand.

I'll keep sharing what I learn. This stuff matters too much to keep to myself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the most common pushback you get on this?

People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.

What experience informs this perspective?

This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.

How has this view evolved over time?

My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.

How can I apply this thinking to my own situation?

Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.

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