Epic Life’s Ben Davies and Koto CEO James Greenfield explore why trust, identity and brand may be the most defensible assets in modern health tech.
AI is accelerating and Big Tech is moving deeper into health, so early-stage startups are facing a new reality. Functional capability can be replicated quickly, but trust cannot.
When Epic Life was still an idea rather than a product, founder Ben Davies made an unusual decision. Before finalising the technology stack, he brought in Koto, led by CEO James Greenfield.
Ben and James have worked together across three previous ventures. This time, the context was different, with AI-powered personal health agents, digital health “twins”, and horizontal platforms rapidly expanding into health.
Here, they reflect on why brand is becoming foundational in health tech, shaping clarity, behaviour change and long-term defensibility from day one.
Why did brand come into the conversation so early?
Ben Davies: When Epic Life began taking shape, we intentionally brought Koto in before the product existed. Health is deeply personal, not just functional, so we wanted to build the trust layer of the company from day one.
I was also entering a space where I was more of a consumer than an expert, unlike my previous businesses, and that can be risky. The brand process forces you to interrogate your thinking: what problem are we actually solving? Who is it really for? What’s the core value?
If I’m honest, we’ve fallen into the trap many startups do – becoming enamoured with our own technology. Brand pulls you back to the human side. You remember you’re building something people need to connect with, not just something technically impressive.
James Greenfield: Most startups come to brand late. By that point, they’ve built a product but haven’t fully articulated what makes it compelling or differentiated.
Bringing brand thinking in early forces clarity. It makes you step back and ask: what are we actually building, why does it matter, and how do we explain it so someone else immediately understands it?
There’s a Goldilocks element with a full brand project, because you can actually be too early as well as too late. But it’s never too early to lock down fundamentals like your name, your core idea that will stay with you long term. Those decisions have long half-lives.
AI is moving incredibly quickly. What does that change for health-tech startups?
James Greenfield: AI has compressed timelines. Capabilities that once felt proprietary can now be replicated quickly. Large horizontal platforms can move into new verticals at speed.
The question becomes: where do people spend their time and attention? And what do they trust? If your only differentiation is technical capability, that’s fragile.
Ben Davies: When we started Epic Life, we were building what we called a digital health environment, which is a place where your data and insights could live together. Over time, that evolved into a personalised health agent sitting on top of frontier language models.
Our assumption was that as the underlying models improved, we’d improve too. Our value wasn’t just the intelligence layer, but how we applied it through product experience, data integration and brand ecosystem.
Increasingly capable agent frameworks do create pressure though. Large platforms can enter spaces that once felt protected.
That’s why identity matters. Nobody is going to describe themselves as a “ChatGPT lifer.” But they might one day describe themselves as an “Epic Lifer.” That sense of belonging is much harder to replicate than a feature set.
You’ve both said trust comes before usage. What does that mean in practice?
Ben Davies: Health carries emotion, vulnerability and sometimes shame. Many people feel uncomfortable discussing health concerns with a doctor, a friend or even family. AI companions can create a safe space for those conversations, but only if they feel trustworthy.
Tone matters enormously. The interaction needs to feel measured, calm and informed. Closer to speaking with a professional than chatting with a generic bot.
We also learned this operationally. Initially, we required a structured onboarding process after payment. That was the wrong way around. People need to develop trust before committing. We’re now building a free entry point so users can experience the companion first.
Trust isn’t just messaging. It’s the order of experience.
James Greenfield: In early-stage companies, the product journey is the brand. From the moment someone downloads the app to the first response they receive, everything signals whether this feels safe and credible.
Identity precedes loyalty. If early adopters believe in what you’re building, they’ll forgive inevitable glitches. Without that belief, they won’t stay long enough to see improvements.
What does “brand” actually mean here, beyond logos and visuals?
Ben Davies: For me, positioning drives brand. From the outset, I had a blueprint for Epic Life and a foundation that helps people live their version of an epic life, but brand is more than a name or logo. It’s voice, tone, UX, UI – how the entire ecosystem comes together.
We’ve realised at points that our expression became too “Silicon Valley tech.” It wasn’t human enough. The technology was powerful, but the emotional connection wasn’t always clear.
James Greenfield: That’s actually the opportunity for focused health startups. Large AI platforms are inherently generic – basically powerful boxes you type into – but they’re not designed around a specific human context like preventative health.
Startups can design vertically and create specialised UX, language and experiences that feel tailored. That focus becomes an advantage.
How do smaller health startups compete with Big Tech?
Ben Davies: I think about our architecture in layers:
- The data layer: capturing biological and lifestyle information.
- The intelligence layer: the health companion.
- The behaviour change layer: guiding improvements.
- The adherence layer: building habits and community.
The real differentiation comes in how those layers are expressed through product design and brand experience.
Large platforms can deploy intelligence at scale, but they’re unlikely to build deep, specialised experiences for every vertical. For us, sustained health outcomes are the business, not a feature.
James Greenfield: There’s also belonging. By choosing Epic Life, someone is signalling they care about preventative health. That creates a shared mindset within a community.
Utilities don’t create belonging, but brands can. In health, where behaviour change is hard, community and identity matter as much as capability.
What would you tell founders building in health right now?
Ben Davies: Health is broad, so you need to pick a clear lane. For us, that’s holistic preventative health for individuals and households.
You can’t bolt trust on later. Identity and credibility need to be built from day one.
James Greenfield: Treat brand as real IP, not an afterthought.
AI will continue to evolve at extraordinary speed, but the human experience around that technology, from how it feels to what it represents and who it’s for, is what makes it meaningful.
Technology enables. Brand translates. In health, that translation layer might be the difference between a tool people try and a platform they trust.
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