MEDTECH MAVERICK

Vivek Kopparthi’s outlier story of challenging status quo to solve some of the world’s biggest healthcare problems

If you ask any startup founder what they aim to achieve with their startup, you are likely to receive a reply along the lines of "making the world a better place". This type of answer has become such a cliche that shows like Silicon Valley have made it kind of a running gag. Whether you choose to believe or not the claims of a particular founder, one thing is clear: Startups and social entrepreneurship continue to be closely related.

There are few entrepreneurs who embody this close link better than Medtech maverick Vivek Kopparthi. The social entrepreneur has been revolutionizing newborn care for almost a decade since founding his startup NeoLight. Today, he is widely recognized as a champion of change who brings the perfect amount of vision, courage, boldness, and passion to everything he does.

But what does it take to make it to Forbes' 30 Under 30, found one of the biggest Med-Tech startups, be recognized as one of the most successful social entrepreneurs, and change how we think about newborn care? Well, it certainly was not easy but as with most endeavors that Vivek pursues, achieving it was the only option.

THE PATH TOWARD FINDING PURPOSE

Starting when he was 5 years old, everyday breakfast, lunch and dinner conversations were mostly around solving problems, sales and strategy discussions for his mother's small business that she built from the ground up. He was a part of these discussions as early as he can remember. His father was a highly patriotic government bureaucrat, a first-generation literate, graduate and a migrant who taught him the value of family, devotion and integrity. Vivek’s foundational growing up with this one-two punch of entrepreneurial thinking and empathy gave him robust mental models at a very young age.