Forward

How it happened

Forward was a tech-enabled primary-care startup from ex-Google and Uber executives that raised about $650M, hit a $1B valuation in 2023, and bet heavily on CarePods — self-service AI kiosks meant to screen patients in malls. The kiosks drew little interest, and in November 2024 the company abruptly shut down. Glassdoor reviews chronicled the pitch-versus-reality gap: mall sales staff described 50-hour weeks coaxing shoppers toward clinics with barely any foot traffic and locations advertised before they truly existed, while scribes and care coordinators spent years as $17-an-hour contractors with no benefits, raises or reachable manager. By staff accounts the end came as a late-night Tuesday email — roughly 200 people locked out without warning, weeks before the holidays.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.