Bella Del Podcast

Conor McGinn is the co-founder and CEO of Akara, an AI company building foundational infrastructure to improve efficiency inside hospital operating rooms. Conor holds a PhD in robotics and artificial intelligence, with research focused on translating advanced sensing and robotics from the lab into real-world, high-stakes environments like healthcare.

Akara, named one of TIME’s Best Innovations of 2025, leverages its AI platform to capture surgical event data in real time using privacy-preserving thermal sensors, enabling hospitals to coordinate staff and robots while automating scheduling and reporting. In this conversation, I spoke with Conor about how to decide which problems are worth solving in healthcare, why infrastructure matters more than surface-level optimization, and what needs to exist before technologies like robotics can work reliably inside hospitals. Enjoy!

Hear from Elan Halpern and Kiki Couchman, two Stanford grads turned founders of Sourmilk, the probiotic yogurt brand rethinking the microbiome. They explain how they are building in public, testing traction, and thinking about what’s next in the consumer startup space. 

To learn more about Sourmilk, follow them on their socials: @getsourmilk.