• Jasmine Bhatti’s alternative to traditional home health has grown an average of 80% year over year.
• She says the keys to her growth has been using fractional staff and delaying full-time hires.
• Navi Nurses hit $7 million in revenue last year.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jasmine Bhatti, CEO of Navi Nurses. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Since I was in college, I always knew I wanted to make an impact in healthcare at a big level.

At the time, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and needed 24/7 care. I learned through her experience that there were major gaps in the current home health system.

I became a nurse and was reminded of this problem again. So many of my patients would pull at my scrubs and ask if they could pay for me to come home and support them.

That was the seed of Navi Nurses, a premium, nurse-led alternative to the limited home health services offered by insurance companies. People I looked to for business advice told me the next step would be to validate my vision and prove that people would be willing to pay for this, so that’s what I’ve been doing for the past five years: We hit $7 million in revenue last year while building a model that benefits nurses and patients.

I sold my services before I had everything figured out

Early on, I heard the founders of the mattress company Tuft & Needle share how they sold their concept online before they had one mattress made. That really stuck with me. Even though I didn’t have a team yet and was still working full-time at the hospital, I had a clear vision for what I could create. I started pitching myself in local Facebook groups in late 2020. Within a month, I landed my first few clients.

I looked for other spaces where I could meet my target customer, and started volunteering at a community organization that allowed people with home healthcare needs to borrow medical equipment. That was where I met our third client — a woman who needed 24/7 care for three months, which changed everything for me.

That client helped me accelerate my team, going from three nurses who could pick up shifts to a team of 20+ nurses who could work around the clock to support her. The money allowed me to walk away from the hospital and turn this into a full-time endeavor in April of 2021. From there, we’ve grown almost entirely by word of mouth, only starting to run our first Google Ads in January of this year.

Fractional staff has been instrumental, but I needed an in-house team to really push forward

Outside of our contract nurses, my internal staff remained lean for most of our growth — we had only two employees at the end of 2024, and finished 2025 with 17.

Before I could afford to hire people full-time, I relied heavily on fractional support to fill voids in my expertise, and still do for some roles. Even 10 hours a week of their guidance helped me keep pushing things forward. Our part-time chief of staff was especially instrumental because she had built a company before and could anticipate things I couldn’t. Her guidance allowed me to structure the team and manage the hiring process even when she wasn’t the one executing every single task.

That said, when it came to building our custom patient management software, bringing that work in-house turned out to be one of the most important decisions I’ve made. Having a team that stays closely connected to our nurses and patients has been transformative, allowing us to move faster and more quickly adapt to changes that arose.

Outside funding would help us grow faster, but my values are more important

Besides a few grants, my business has been entirely bootstrapped, which I’ve wrestled with at times. If someone gave me $50 million tomorrow, we could reach more people faster — but at what cost?

A study published late last year found that hospitals bought by private equity have higher emergency department mortality rates. Yes, profitability is important, but I’m not willing to do that at the expense of the quality of the nurse or the patient. I never want to partner with someone who doesn’t put the human being first.

Ultimately, I don’t think I would change anything about how we’ve grown. We’ve grown an average of 80% year over year, and it already feels like things are constantly breaking. If we’d grown faster, I don’t think it would have been done as thoughtfully as it was. Right now, we’re working towards expanding beyond Arizona — eventually, I’d love for us to be an international company.

Looking back, I’d tell my younger self to just keep getting back up: Things will not always go the way you had hoped, but they’ll go the way you need them to be.

• Courtroom exhibits show Elon Musk once pitched “Freemind” for OpenAI’s name.
• In emails with Sam Altman, Musk framed the name as a “philosophical counter” to Google’s AI lab.
• Altman wasn’t totally sold and offered up the name “Axon” or “something related to Turing.”

Newly-revealed courtroom exhibits in the blockbuster case between Elon Musk and Sam Altman show how OpenAI nearly ended up with a different name — one intended as a jab at an AI rival.

Musk and Altman, along with others, founded OpenAI in December 2015 as a nonprofit AI research lab.

A November 2015 email exchange between the two shows how Musk pitched calling the firm “Freemind,” framing the name as “partly an intentional philosophical counter” to Google’s DeepMind AI lab.

“Least bad name I have thought of so far is Freemind. Conveys the sense that we are trying to create digital intelligence that will be freely available to all — the opposite of Deepmind’s one-ring-to-rule-them-all approach,” Musk wrote to Altman, trial exhibits submitted by Musk’s legal team show.

Altman wasn’t completely sold, saying the name was “a little too close to Deepmind.”

“I really like the word free here thought—freethink? Freemerge?” Altman’s email read. The OpenAI CEO said his “best idea” for a name so far was “Axon.”

In response, Musk said he liked Axon as an option, “although it does slightly sound like Google Brain or, more generally, that we think digital intelligence consists of brain emulation.”

“Pretty much all names suck in the beginning though,” Musk wrote. “Given several choices, I tend to favor names that convey the mission of the company and hopefully have a positive impact on recruitment.”

Altman told the Tesla and SpaceX CEO in another email that he was “warming up fast” to the idea of Freemind.

“It definitely coveys [sic] the right spirit. Also thinking about names related to Turing somehow,” Altman wrote, referring to famed computer scientist Alan Turing, who devised a test in the 1950s to assess whether a machine could pass as human.

Musk responded, “Something Turing-related that doesn’t sound too ominous might be good. Want to avoid the Turing Test association though, as that sounds too much like we are replacing humans.”

The high-stakes federal civil trial in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman over the company’s transition to a for-profit entity kicked off Monday with opening arguments in an Oakland, California, courtroom.

Musk, the world’s richest person, was called as the first witness on Monday by his attorneys, and he continued his testimony on Tuesday.

While under questioning by his lead trial attorney, Steven Molo, Musk told the nine-person jury about his AI concerns and what led him to cofound OpenAI.

“I thought it was extremely important to have a counterbalance to Google,” Musk testified. “Google did not seem to care about AI safety at that time.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider on Wednesday.

• The US government is releasing new commemorative passports for the country’s 250th anniversary.
• The design includes an image of Trump’s face on the inside cover.
• A State Department spokesperson said there will be a “limited number” of passports available.

If you’re renewing your passport this summer, you might be able to get one with President Donald Trump’s face on it.

The State Department is releasing a commemorative passport for the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence.

The design includes Trump’s face on the inside cover, surrounded by the text of the declaration and the president’s signature in gold.

“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed US Passports to commemorate this historic occasion,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “These passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the US Passport the most secure documents in the world.”

Fox News, which was first to report the news, obtained a mockup of the new passport. The State Department confirmed the image’s authenticity in a statement to Business Insider.

The passports are scheduled to launch around the Fourth of July and will be available to US citizens who apply, if availability remains.

This is just the latest example of Trump adding his likeness to an official government institution or service.

The administration has launched a Trump Gold Card visa, set up Trump Accounts via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, launched a website called TrumpRx for discounted prescription drugs, and announced “Trump-class” battleships.

The trial over OpenAI has begun, kicking off a showdown between Elon Musk and Sam Altman.

Elon Musk took the witness stand Tuesday afternoon after opening arguments. Sam Altman is also in the room, Business Insider’s Katherine Li confirmed.

At the heart of the case is Musk’s accusation that Altman and other execs deceived him into donating $38 million to OpenAI based on promises that it would remain a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the public’s benefit, and not for private gain.

The trial pits two of the most powerful tech titans against each other. Musk is asking for up to $134 billion in damages and for Altman to lose his job, among other potential remedies.

The world’s richest man talks student loans

In his walk down memory lane, Musk told the jury he had “$100,000 dollars in student debt” before being able to profit from his first company, Zip2. The jury likely knows the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX as the world’s richest man with an estimated net worth of around $780 billion, according to Forbes.

Musk tells the jury about his background

After setting the stakes for the trial, Elon Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo asked him about his childhood. The tech mogul grew up in South Africa and spent time in Canada before living in the United States.

“I was a lumberjack, I waited tables, I did some programming, contract programming of computers, and I went to Queen’s University in Canada,” Musk told the jury.

Musk says this case could impact other charities

After taking the witness stand, Elon Musk said laws governing charities are at stake in his legal fight with OpenAI and Sam Altman.

“It will become precedent, and it will give license to losing every charity in America,” Musk told the nine-person jury.

Elon Musk has taken the witness stand

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has taken the witness stand as the first witness in his high-stakes legal battle with OpenAI and Sam Altman. Altman was in the courtroom for the testimony.

Musk sued Altman and other OpenAI executives in 2024, alleging that they intentionally “deceived” him into putting up tens of billions when they cofounded the company together in 2015.

Altman and his allies ” have been unjustly enriched to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars,” Musk’s lawsuit says.

Attacks on Musk’s AI are already starting

The crux of OpenAI’s case is that Elon Musk is trying to take down a rival. Musk is the founder of xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot.

On Tuesday, Microsoft’s lawyer told the jury that Musk was suing because he had “fallen behind” in the AI race. “He launched xAI, and then he sued.”

In an effort to compete, Musk has poured billions into xAI, integrated Grok into X, and leveraged his broader tech empire to scale the platform quickly.

Musk could have called Nadella, Microsoft’s lawyer said

In some ways, Silicon Valley is a small community, and this case exemplifies that. Many of the parties were once friends, colleagues, business partners — or all three.

The lawyer for Microsoft, Russell P. Cohen, made a reference to this in his opening remarks: “Mr. Musk knows how to get in touch with Mr. Nadella,” said Cohen. “Mr.Musk never picked up the phone to say ‘you can’t do this.'”

Microsoft is also a defendant in the case

Elon Musk’s lawsuit alleges OpenAI effectively became part of Microsoft through the tech giant’s investments in the artificial intelligence firm, which began in 2019. Russell P. Cohen, an attorney representing Microsoft, spent his opening arguments trying to rip this logic apart. Microsoft wasn’t going to invest billions of dollars for “charity,” Cohen said.

“OpenAI retained control of its technology and control of the company, and you’re going to hear from Mr. Nadella that this is a win-win,” said Cohen, referring to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “Unlike Mr. Musk, Microsoft never tried to control OpenAI.”

Who’s expected to testify?

Elon Musk is expected to take the witness stand as soon as today. He has been allotted six hours of testimony, Business Insider’s Laura Italiano reported last week.

The witness list in this case is a veritable who’s who of tech, although not everyone on the list will appear in person. Italiano’s story breaks down the key players and their potential roles, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, renowned computer scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Shivon Zilis, a director at Musk’s brain-computer interface venture Neuralink and the mother of several of his children.

Read full story

Musk tried to take control of OpenAI: Altman’s lawyer

Sam Altman’s attorney, William Savitt, told the jury in his opening statements that the evidence will show Elon Musk tried to take control of OpenAI.

Savitt said Musk “demanded control” of the AI firm and used his bankrolling of it to put “a financial gun to the head of other founders.”

Musk alleges he invested tens of millions in seed money to OpenAI over the years, only to be “betrayed” by Altman and other executives.

Inside the courtroom, from the tables to the dog

Here’s what the layout looks like in the Oakland, California, federal courtroom, according to a sketch from Business Insider reporter Katherine Li.

From the perspective of journalists and other members of the audience in the gallery, Elon Musk and his legal team have a big table on the left, and Sam Altman’s and OpenAI’s legal team sit on the right.

The lawyers are sitting on what is known in the legal parlance as “rolly chairs.” The courtroom is filled to the brim, and there’s a dog at the back of the room, near the entrance, keeping everyone safe.

Elon’s donation didn’t come with strings attached: OpenAI lawyer

William Savitt, representing Sam Altman and OpenAI, is spending his opening statement batting away Elon Musk’s claims that his $38 million in charitable donations came with conditions. Musk alleges Altman deceived him by taking the money and then transforming OpenAI into a for-profit enterprise.

“The question is whether OpenAI made specific promises to Musk when he made his donations,” Savitt said. “And the answer to that is no.”

Judge calls out Musk—Altman clash over case posts

Ahead of Tuesday’s opening statements, US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers reportedly called out Elon Musk and Sam Altman, who were both in the courtroom, over their public sparring about the case a day earlier.

The judge begged the billionaire onetime pals to stop the online potshots.

“After they posted very publicly about this case, only then did I respond,” Musk told the judge, according to an X post from journalist Mike Swift.

On Monday, Musk and OpenAI traded barbs on Musk’s X platform about the case, with Musk referring to Altman as “Scam Altman” and OpenAI ripping Musk’s lawsuit as a “baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor.”

OpenAI lawyer: ‘Musk never cared about OpenAI being a nonprofit’

In his own opening statement, William Savitt, representing Sam Altman and OpenAI, says Elon Musk brought the lawsuit because he’s losing the AI race.

“The evidence will show that Musk never cared about OpenAI being a nonprofit, he never cared about open source, he never cared about AI safety,” said Savitt, of the elite Wall Street law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. “The only thing Musk cared about is being on top.”

It’s a packed house

The line to get into witness the epic showdown was so long, it went out the front doors of the Oakland federal courthouse. Business Insider reporter Katherine Li waited in the line earlier Tuesday with lawyers, press, and what appeared to be members of the public, before getting inside just in time for opening arguments.

On Monday, the outside of the courthouse was overflowing with protesters, including a guy dressed in a robot suit with a sign that read: “Altman’s AI enslaver.”

Here’s what’s happened so far

• Elon Musk lawyer Steven Molo kicked off the trial with opening statements attacking Sam Altman.
• “The case isn’t about Elon Musk,” Molo said. “It’s about the defendants that helped Musk found a nonprofit charity OpenAI. And in the process, they have enriched themselves and breached the very principle the organization was founded upon.”
• The trial is now in recess. A lawyer representing OpenAI and Sam Altman will present opening arguments next.
• Elon Musk is expected to take the stand as soon as today.

OpenAI ‘broke every promise,’ Musk’s lawyer tells the jury

OpenAI, founded as a nonprofit AI research lab, “broke every promise” when it became “a for-profit operation for the good of the defendants,” Elon Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, told the jury in his opening remarks.

Last year, OpenAI completed a major restructuring that shifted the company toward a more conventional for-profit structure. It’s now valued at over $800 million and is reportedly working toward an IPO that could take place this year.

Lots of boxes — what’s inside?

Already, this case has led to a treasure trove of private emails and other documents, including text messages showing Musk asking Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to join him in an unsolicited bid for OpenAI’s intellectual property.

Earlier on Tuesday, employees at MoloLamken, a firm representing Elon Musk, were spotted wheeling boxes of documents into the Oakland courthouse.

Nine jurors will decide the case, but OpenAI’s fate will be up to the judge.

Nine jurors will be deciding whether OpenAI is liable in the trial.

If OpenAI is found liable, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will be deciding the remedies in a separate phase. As Business Insider has previously reported, Judge Gonzalez Rogers is considered tough but fair.

Musk has asked her to reverse the transformation of OpenAI’s for-profit arm and disgorge it of “ill-gotten gains.”

Read full story

Elon boosts New Yorker article on Sam Altman

Ahead of the trial’s opening arguments, Elon Musk boosted the visibility of a New Yorker magazine investigation about Sam Altman. The New Yorker story examined claims that Altman had been dishonest in business dealings and in running OpenAI — claims that dovetail with Musk’s lawsuit.

On Musk’s social media network X, formerly Twitter, a post from one of the article’s co-authors Ronan Farrow was labeled as “Boosted” and said, “This organic post was boosted by @elonmusk.”

Read full story

Without Musk, there’s no OpenAI, his lawyer says

In his opening statements, Elon Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, explained how the Tesla CEO provided tens of billions of dollars for “OpenAI to get up and running off the ground.”

“Without Elon Musk, there will be no OpenAI,” Molo told the federal jury.

Musk helped found the ChatGPT maker in 2015, together with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and company president Greg Brockman, who is also a defendant in the case.

Case isn’t about Elon Musk, his lawyer says

The Musk v. Altman civil trial kicked off with opening statements on Tuesday, first led by Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo.

“The case isn’t about Elon Musk,” Molo told the nine-person jury at the top of his remarks as Musk looked on from the courtroom.

During jury selection, some jurors took issue with Musk, with one referring to him as a “world-class jerk” in a pre-trial questionnaire.

“It’s about the defendants that helped Musk found a nonprofit charity OpenAI,” Molo said. “And in the process, they have enriched themselves and breached the very principle the organization was founded upon.”

Elon Musk goes through security

Photogs have already captured Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of Tesla, entering the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, California, where his civil case is underway.

The lawyers will kick off the trial with opening arguments, followed by the witnesses. Musk could be the first witness in his $134 billion case against Sam Altman and OpenAI, which he helped start in 2015.

• OpenAI missed internal revenue and user targets, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The report sent some tech stocks into the red on Tuesday. OpenAI called the article “clickbait.”
• Traders and scientists — including Jim Cramer and Gary Marcus — had different takes on the impact.

There’s a fresh batch of concern around AI’s future — and OpenAI is at the center of it.

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI missed internal revenue targets and fell short of last year’s goal of 1 billion weekly active users, citing people familiar with the figures. It also reported that CFO Sarah Friar had warned other executives that the company needs to grow revenue to keep up with its future computing contracts.

OpenAI called the report “clickbait” in a statement to Business Insider. The company said the business is “firing on all cylinders,” with enterprise demand stronger than ever.

Still, Wall Street’s reaction was immediate: Shares of companies tied to OpenAI — from chipmakers to infrastructure partners — flashed red on Tuesday morning. The Nasdaq composite was down more than 1% in midday trading.

Here’s what some of the industry’s smartest voices are saying.

Dan Ives, Wedbush’s managing director

Wedbush’s Dan Ives — a longtime AI bull — wrote on X that investors are misreading OpenAI’s growth.

“OpenAI has been tracking very high demand on both the consumer and enterprise front,” he wrote on Tuesday. “We strongly disagree with the notion that growth is weakening.”

He called the market’s drop a “way overreaction” — and included a target, gold trophy, and bull emoji for full effect.

Gary Marcus, NYU’s professor emeritus of psychology and neural science

On Tuesday, Gary Marcus, a professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University, said Monday’s report was a flashing warning.

On X, he wrote that OpenAI has missed its “exponential growth” expectations and said the company could “someday be seen as the WeWork of AI,” referring to the failed office-sharing company.

“OpenAI, which squandered its tremendous lead and is now missing its projections, is in trouble,” he said. “There’s no two ways about it.”

Jim Cramer, CNBC’s host of “Mad Money”

Jim Cramer, the former hedge fund manager and the CNBC “Mad Money” host, blasted the Journal’s report as a “hit job” in a series of posts on X.

He said the story misses recent momentum around OpenAI’s agentic coding tool, Codex.

“The bottom line: they are short compute and Codex is on fire,” he wrote, meaning the company lacks enough data center infrastructure and processing power to keep up with user demand.

Cramer also said OpenAI has faced repeated concerns about its growth prospects, including the company’s December worries about AI competition from Google, but has continued to raise investment.

“Remember Code Red?” he said, referring to when the company had gone into emergency mode to fend off competitive threats. “All that has happened is that OpenAI has been able to raise more and more money.”

Joe Mazzola, Charles Schwab’s head of trading and derivatives strategist

Joe Mazzola, head of trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, who analyzes market sentiment, said in a note on April 28 that the OpenAI news is already weighing on AI-linked stocks.

He pointed to declines in Arm Holdings, CoreWeave, Oracle, Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia on Tuesday, and noted that “CoreWeave and Oracle both have large deals with OpenAI.”

That’s raising concerns about whether OpenAI can meet its previous multi-billion-dollar spending commitments, he said.

The uncertainty, he suggested, is starting to ripple into fresh concerns about other AI companies.

“One question is whether the issues are isolated to OpenAI or extend to competing AI developers like Anthropic — the maker of Claude — and Alphabet’s Google Gemini,” he wrote. “Demand is growing faster than the infrastructure needed to support it, frustrating some users.”

Noah Kenney, Digital 520’s founder

Noah Kenney, founder of AI consultancy Digital 520, told Business Insider the stakes go well beyond OpenAI itself.

“When the category leader misses on both users and revenue while underwriting roughly $600 billion in data-center commitments, the issue is not whether AI demand exists,” he wrote. “Those internal forecasts were the basis for contracts. A recalibration at OpenAI flows directly into their order books.”

Kenney said that OpenAI is unlikely to pull back from its massive buildout but needs to show “tighter discipline” in its current spending.

• I gave up sitting in traffic during my commute. Now I get to enjoy staring at the spring blossoms.
• When my family moved to Paris we decided not to bring our cars and rely on public transit instead.
• My teen quickly learned how to navigate the metro and all the walking has made me feel healthier.

I watch the pink-and-white-hued trees drooping under the weight of the cherry blossoms pass by the tram window. It is always a pleasure to watch them in spring. I enjoy watching vignettes of life flash by — people going about their day, while I admire Paris in its changing seasons.

Moving to a historic and leafy suburb of Paris from Pune, India, three years ago has transformed my life. I no longer own or drive a car.

Never in my life did I think this change would be possible or that I would actually enjoy it, but it has changed my life in the best way possible.

In India, driving was necessary but exhausting

Back in India, we had not one but two cars. My husband drove a Honda Civic, while I was happy with my petite Hyundai Santro. Door-to-door driving meant navigating the chaotic, unruly Indian traffic with little physical activity.

Public transport wasn’t always reliable, and connectivity could be an issue. It was a nightmare driving through India’s packed streets, where many other drivers seemed to have no problem breaking traffic rules.

Most evenings on my way home, I would be stuck in snail-paced traffic for hours. Constantly alternating between the clutch and the brake, and the frustration of wasting time in a gridlock was exhausting.

In Paris, I embraced a lifestyle built around public transport

Three years ago, we moved to the City of Light when my husband was relocated by his employer. Here, I discovered a lifestyle setup around the transit system — buses, trams, and the metro — that not only made getting around easier, but unexpectedly improved my health and quality of life.

Because of this, we made the conscious decision not to buy a car, a decision I haven’t regretted to date.

Now, the time I spend traveling to and from the office daily on public transport is my “me time.” My daily commute to work takes around 40 minutes, but during that time I get to enjoy scenic views and also track my steps as I change from a bus to a tram. I take time to crack the Wordle of the day, which my husband and I compete on by comparing the number of attempts.

While navigating buses and trams in Paris’s cold, rainy weather was initially challenging, I have since gotten used to it. There are occasional transport disruptions, but they are rare, and there are fallback options if needed.

During our weekend trips around the city, I actually get to spend time with my family. I’m not focused on navigating traffic, instead, we’re sharing a conversation on the bus or metro, where I can actually focus on the people around me.

This lifestyle has also given us access to some of the most beautiful metro stations in Paris including Arts et Métiers, Pont Neuf, Bir-Hakeim. I still haven’t grown tired of seeing the beautiful architecture, which continues to feel new and exciting to me.

Giving up our cars made our lives healthier

After moving to Paris at 13, our daughter quickly learned to navigate the underground maze of Paris’s metro system. She is far more independent now, switching between buses effortlessly to get to school. While our son, aged 21, complains once in a while and misses the four-wheeler back home, we have grown used to this way of life.

I feel far less stressed than I did driving in India’s traffic. Most days, I reach 8,000 steps by the evening, and the day is not even over yet. Letting go of my car didn’t take anything away from my life — it gave me a better one.