What is the one thing that you wish someone told you before you became a founder?

Trust your instincts, even when taking in feedback.

As a first-time founder, I've sometimes trusted outside advice more than my own vision and judgement in the name of having a growth mindset. This has turned out to be the wrong choice each time.

Discerning good advice, especially the source and motives of the giver, is critical for every founder to master.

Building a startup and that too in a regulated market is hard. What has been your toughest challenge and how are you overcoming it?

Learning to move past rejection quickly.

Especially when health tech has often faced more skepticism than enthusiasm from many healthcare stakeholders.

Sitting with that discomfort and experiencing uncertainty as a gift for growth has become part of my evolution. I'm getting better at shaking off and reframing setbacks as feedback, finding there's often another opportunity around the corner.

Once I started talking to my true audience, that enthusiasm from stakeholders began to come easily.

Can you share your story about a significant mistake you made when you were first starting and the lessons you learned from it?

I took for granted the reality that people who thrive in corporate or even later stage startups may not be right for an early stage startup. This led to misaligned expectations that delayed progress.

It has been an important lesson, to align not just on mission and vision, but also values, work ethic, and risk tolerance.

It seems obvious now, but when I was starting out, it wasn't something I fully understood.