# Karthik Nagapuri (Zero) > Karthik Nagapuri, known as Zero, is the Founder and CEO of WearSynapse, a hands-free clinical AI that turns doctor and patient conversations into reviewed clinical notes. Emergent Ventures grantee, TEDx speaker and former Head of Selections and Alumni at Jagriti Yatra, based in Hyderabad, India. ## Key facts - Name: Karthik Nagapuri. Also known as Zero. Sometimes spelled Karthik Nagpuri. - Role: Founder and CEO of WearSynapse (https://wearsynapse.com), tagline "For Better Care." - WearSynapse: helps high-volume OPD doctors leave with a reviewed clinical note. Hands-free pendant capture, a clinical AI draft and a doctor-approved record. The doctor uses it; the hospital pays. Built in India, for India first. - Based in: Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Grew up in a rural farming family in Telangana. - Previously: Head of Selections and Alumni at Jagriti Yatra (Feb 2025 to Jan 2026), selecting 500+ yatris from 80,000+ applications; Incubation Manager Fellow at EdVenture Park (Sep 2024 to Feb 2026); co-founder and CTO of Nexteen (exited); Head of Technology at LooCafé / Ixora Group; founder of EvolveX and HAT Fellows (https://hatfellows.com). - Recognition: Emergent Ventures India grantee (2022, Mercatus Center at George Mason University); Kairos Fellow (2023-24); 25 Under 25 (2023, Stumagz and Telangana State Innovation Cell); Suzuki Innovation Centre Fellow; Draper University Founder Program, Cohort 2 (September 2026); ISB I-Venture Immersive (2026-27). - Speaker: TEDxCMRIT Hyderabad (April 2025), "Building Integrated Communities with Zero Mindset": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTuljx86jPU - Education: B.Tech in Artificial Intelligence, Anurag University. - Belief: technology should democratize opportunity, not concentrate it. The next great company can come from anywhere in Bharat. - Contact: karthiknagpuri@gmail.com - Profiles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthiknagpuri, https://twitter.com/karthiknagpuri, https://instagram.com/karthiknagpuri ## Pages - [Home](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/): profile, mission, work, journey, TEDx and philosophy - [Field notes](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes): long-form notes from founder programs - [Writing](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog): essays ## Field notes - [Draper Founder Program cohort 2 — kickoff and founder expectations](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-founder-program-cohort-2-kickoff): The Hyderabad kickoff for Cohort 2: the Draper ecosystem, founder expectations, and the 12-day program. - [Pitch deck feedback — problem, solution, market, and business model](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/pitch-deck-feedback-psmbt): Draper session notes on investor conviction, founder fit, bottom-up markets and the business behind the pitch. - [Day 1 · Pitch for the second date](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-01-kickoff): Founder first, idea second: the opening day on naming your fears, thinking exponentially without a map, the five ingredients of a pitch, a mentor feedback checklist, and building your pitch… - [Day 2 · Validate the problem before the product](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-02-problem-validation): How to find out what is actually true about your market: Vishnu Chundi on pain × frequency × consequence, past-facing questions and the pre-mortem, then a panel with Srinivas Kollipara, Rathnakar… - [Day 3 · How to make people believe](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-03-storytelling): How to make people believe in something that barely exists yet: Sharath Chandra's full founder storytelling playbook (IMPACT, three audiences, a five-part content engine, 70-20-10), Mohnish Yerra's… - [Day 4 · Clear every floor before you build](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-04-lean-startup): Praveen Dorna's lean-validation method for any founder: clear every floor (you, customer, problem, because, pitch, product), sell the promise before the product and read PMF as repeatability, then… - [Day 5 · Distribution is the moat](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-05-advisors): Peer demos, a civil servant on selling to government, a health-AI advisor on why products are no longer moats, and an investor who said the real question is not "where can I fail?" but "what can I… - [Day 6 · Designing for a busy expert's eyes](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-06-working-session): A late-night co-founder working session turned into a playbook for designing a first product and demo for a busy professional: separate buyer from user, build for their own practice, send signals… - [Day 7 · People, plumbing and pilots that tell the truth](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-07-hospital-demo): A long Sunday of founder lessons: hiring without money or brand, making the first yes cheap, surviving a vanished investor, setting up a US entity the right way on day one, and designing pilots that… - [Day 8 · Real behaviour, clean paperwork, the market that pays](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-08-legal-day): Four rooms, one lesson: design for how people actually behave. Vivek Verma on building around real daily routines, what an innovation ecosystem gives a hardware founder, Priya Darisini Sukumar on… - [Day 9 · Make your message stick, then say it in a minute](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-09-survival-day): A founder's guide to messaging from Day 9: Archana Purohit's full "Say it so it sticks" masterclass (four hurdles, STICK, one core for many audiences, investors, hires, institutions, websites), then… - [Day 10 · Sharpen the pitch, protect what you own](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-10-ip-and-rehearsal): The day before Demo Day as a founder's playbook: partners over direct sales in slow B2B, Aaliyah's rules for ordering a four-minute pitch, the case for a memorised script, and Aditya Saha's workshop… - [Day 11 · How to survive a Demo Day](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-11-demo-day): A founder's guide to Demo Day and investor Q&A, built from a live panel: last-hour rules from the wings, the questions investors really asked, what each one was testing, how to answer under… - [Day 12 · Getting the most from an accelerator](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-day-12-close): The program's closing session as a founder's guide: what accelerators actually measure, why you are the cake and everything else is icing, how to ask for introductions without burning social… - [Draper Founder Program #2: a founder's field guide](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-founder-program-2-archive): Twelve days at Draper University India, Hyderabad, written up as a field guide for founders and future founders: how to validate a problem, pitch, sell, stay clean on paperwork, and get the most… - [Draper Founder Program #2: the people](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/notes/draper-2-people): Who taught, who ran the house and who built alongside us in Cohort 2: every mentor and speaker by day, with what they taught and where to read more. ## Writing - [Jagriti Yatra 2026: The Complete Insider Guide to India's 8,000 km Entrepreneurship Train Journey](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/jagriti-yatra-2026-complete-insider-guide): The definitive guide to Jagriti Yatra 2026 by Karthik Nagapuri, former Manager of Selections & Alumni Relations. Covers the application process, selection criteria, fees, scholarships, the 8,000 km… - [Seed Fundraising Secrets: Lessons from a YC Founder Who Raised $2.5M in Two Weeks](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/yc-seed-fundraising-secrets): Notes from Lalit Kundu's session at Network School - [From $4,000 Website to $27 Million a Month: Chen Chow on Building, Scaling, and Surviving the Startup Rollercoaster](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/chen-chow-story): Lessons from a founder who scraped a website, got funded by Sequoia in 11 days, and learned that speed beats size every time. - [What's Left for Humans? A Roundtable on Purpose in the Age of AI](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/whats-left-for-humans-a-roundtable-on-purpose-in-the-age-of-ai): When AI surpasses humans at nearly everything, we explored what remains: The uncomfortable truth? - [The 64-Square Grid That Shaped Shohei Ohtani](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/joey-harada-workshop): how to build your own harada Chart - [Flow State: The Science of Being Zero](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/flow-state-the-science-of-being-zero): When you enter flow, your mind quiets the inner narrator. Neuroscience meets ancient philosophy. - [Why Middle India Will Birth the Next Unicorn](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/why-middle-india-will-birth-the-next-unicorn): The narrative of Indian startups is being rewritten. Not in Bangalore or Mumbai, but in places like Deoria, Raipur, and Ranchi. - [Why Zero?](https://www.karthiknagpuri.com/blog/why-zero): A personal story of loss, discovery, and finding strength in the void. How a random blog from 2014 became my lifeline during COVID.