Entteri: Using an Unexpected Business Model Paid Off

Entteri is a fitting example of how bold experimentation in product development can lower barriers to adopting new technology in a heavily regulated field like healthcare. Their journey mirrors many of the themes emphasised at Product Development Path Makers Award: rapid learning with customers, courageous business model choices, and keeping human impact at the centre of innovation.

Lowering Barriers with Freemium

When Entteri launched their AI-powered dental X‑ray analysis as a freemium service to roughly half of Finland’s private oral healthcare sector, it was a deliberate bet on learning over short-term revenue. “It was a really big deal for us to get that visibility and external recognition – it tells us that we’ve done something right,” reflects Business Director Topi Koskinen on receiving the Product Development Path Makers Award.

The team recognised early that many dentists had fears and question marks about AI: will it actually help, what risks does it bring, and how will it affect clinical work? “By offering the simplest version for free, we could help our customers work through those fears in practice,” Koskinen explains. This mindset – using business model experiments to reduce uncertainty – is exactly the kind of product development thinking our students explore when they prototype not only products, but also service and revenue models.

Beyond Engineering

A recurring theme in the Entteri story is that product development is more than just building technology. “Product development is not only engineering work – it’s interaction, commercial models and figuring out how to try things out,” Koskinen notes.

In this project, Entteri chose to start testing with real customers as soon as a viable solution existed, even though AI models at the time were still prone to errors and “hallucinations”. Working in dental care, where patient wellbeing is paramount and there is little tolerance for mistakes, this required both courage and careful design of the overall system. 

Daily Iteration Loops

What made this case stand out, even in a company already used to customer collaboration, was the intensity of the iteration. “We were getting feedback on a daily basis – does it work, what doesn’t, and where should we take it next,” Koskinen describes. This tight loop between Entteri, their customers and the partner developing the AI algorithm created a fast, open and straightforward communication triangle.

​For our students, this is a very concrete illustration of agile principles in real life: tight feedback cycles, humble listening, and willingness to go back to the drawing board when needed. As Koskinen sums it up, successful teams “move fast, dare to experiment, take feedback humbly – and are ready to start again if needed”.

Navigating Regulation

Operating at the intersection of software and health means that every step of product development is surrounded by regulatory requirements. Koskinen describes it as working in a “cactus park”: patient safety, personal data, AI and cybersecurity all create different kinds of spikes you must navigate.

During Entteri’s development journey, the regulatory landscape evolved further with updates such as the AI Act and clarified classifications for medical devices. This exemplifies how impactful product development often happens in complex environments where rules shift as you build, and learning to bring the right people into the process early is part of the craft.

Societal Health Impact

Behind the freemium launch is a bigger vision about the future of healthcare. “As populations age and demands on healthcare grow, technology companies like us have to think about how we can genuinely help solve those problems,” says Koskinen. Entteri sees AI and other digital technologies as enablers of societal “leaps” in health outcomes – starting with small, everyday improvements.

In this case, that means speeding up or streamlining dentists’ and hygienists’ daily patient work, and shifting routine tasks to machines so professionals have more time to look patients in the eye and have real conversations. “The health impact is ultimately what we’ve aimed for. This is a small step – it hasn’t changed the world overnight – but it’s a step in the right direction, and that matters,” Koskinen reflects.

Advice for PDPM Applicants

Koskinen also has a message for future Product Development Path Makers applicants. “We often underestimate our own work and see it as self-evident. Our freemium model might sound ordinary – you see it in audiobooks or Spotify – but when you bring it into a completely different environment, customer base, industry and regulatory frame, it suddenly becomes quite innovative,” he says.

His advice is to dare to look at your own work from a helicopter view and notice the uniqueness that outsiders might see more easily. And when it comes to everyday practices, the core remains simple but demanding: fast experimentation, close customer interaction, and making sure every trial teaches you something that makes the next version better.