Draper Founder Program #2: the people

By Karthik Nagapuri · 2026-09-25 · Draper Founder Program #2

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.

Twelve days are really the people in them. This is the directory I wish I had on Day 1: who taught what, on which day, and which chapter has the notes. Public profiles are linked where they were shared with the cohort. If you are a founder reading this, follow the teachers whose lesson you needed most.

Mentors and speakers, day by day

  • Chris · Day 1. Founder Mindset: Climbing Without a Map (Long Odds India / Draper AI): exponential thinking, the customer flywheel, ten cheat codes. Ask about: Thinking bigger and venture versus lifestyle.
  • Kashyap Kamallam · Day 1, Day 3. PSMBT peer pitching clinic on Day 1; investor meet on Day 3. Ask about: Pitch structure and value creation before price.
  • Kiran Babu · Day 1. Written pitch feedback for every founder after the 60-second pitches. Ask about: A line-by-line read of your deck.
  • Vishnu Chundi · Day 2. Define the Real Problem and the Riskiest Assumption: pain × frequency × consequence, past-tense interviews, the pre-mortem. Ask about: Problem validation and customer interviews.
  • Srinivas Kollipara · Day 2, Day 11. Market and "why now" fireside; Demo Day panel. Ask about: Market timing and ecosystem introductions.
  • Rathnakar Samavedam · Day 2, Day 4. Market and "why now" fireside; afternoon mentoring. Ask about: The investor lens: revenue, EBITDA, clarity.
  • G. Sravanth · Day 2. Market and "why now" fireside, with the Adonmo pivot story. Ask about: Pivoting without losing the problem.
  • Sharath Chandra · Day 3. From Idea to Impact: the IMPACT framework, the founder content engine, 70-20-10 (3DM). Ask about: Founder storytelling and content.
  • Mohnish Yerra · Day 3. Investor meet and one-to-ones. Ask about: When angels come in and how to keep a clean cap table.
  • Sricharan Lakkaraju · Day 3. Community workshop (Student Tribe). Ask about: Building community.
  • Praveen Dorna · Day 4. Validation and product-market fit workshop: the lean validation floors. Ask about: Segmenting, assumptions and PMF signals.
  • Indraneel Gupta · Day 4. Fireside: building a consumer brand from zero. Ask about: Consumer brand building.
  • Vignan · Day 5. Profile shared during Day 5's session on selling to government. Ask about: Government as a customer.
  • Nitin · Day 7. US entity setup and the India to US flip (Finstack). Ask about: Delaware, ODI and entity structure.
  • Viveck Verma · Day 8. One-to-one mentoring. Ask about: Product and form factor.
  • Lakshmi Narayan Yeluri · Day 8. Scaling, team and product for every startup. Ask about: Scaling the team.
  • Priya Darisini Sukumar · Day 8. Cap table, finance and compliance for startups (Plough Back). Ask about: Compliance calendar and cap-table hygiene.
  • Ramjee Pallela · Day 8. Pitch session and guidance. Ask about: Pitch rehearsal.
  • Archana Purohit · Day 9. Messaging Masterclass: say it so it sticks (four hurdles, STICK, message architecture). Ask about: Messaging for each audience.
  • P. N. S. Murthy · Day 9. Leadership and values session (Manage Ego; former Head of Values, GMR Group). Ask about: Ego, values and culture.
  • Sunil Potturi · Day 10. Morning session and one-to-ones. Ask about: Go-to-market.
  • Aditya Saha · Day 10. Patents, trademarks and IP. Ask about: What to file first, and when.
  • Patankar · Day 10. Afternoon session.
  • Suryakant · Day 10. Evening session.
  • Aaliyah · Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12. Draper investor night, one-to-ones, Demo Day prep and the closing session. Ask about: Investor readiness and what Draper looks for.

Credibility can be borrowed. Advisors, pilots and the people who vouch for you are part of your founder-market fit.

  • Praveen Dorna

The DraperU India team

The people who ran the house, the schedule and the thousand small things that make a residency work.

  • Sai Krishna Vepuri (SK), Co-founder and CEO
  • Deepika Palreddy, Co-founder and COO
  • Sai Chaitanya Kokku, Programme and mentor coordination
  • Snehaa G, Programme lead, founders' office
  • Udayasree Palavai, Programme lead
  • Shreeja Reddy, Programme team
  • Divya Palreddy, Programme team
  • Shraddha Uplanchiwar, Programme team
  • Sneha, Programme team
  • Dilip, Video

Cohort 2: the startups

Thirteen teams across AI, health, defence, legal, media, hospitality and community commerce. One line each, in their own framing.

  • RingZeroSecurity (Abhijit): AI endpoint detection and response for enterprises.
  • CreatorStudio (Sistla V Abhishek): Media intelligence, memory and orchestration for media teams.
  • Jurix AI (Nikhil): AI-native workflow layer for legal research and case preparation.
  • Aagya (Siddarth Choudhary): Glasses for eye- and brain-driven device interaction.
  • Invyte.ai (Siva Cheekula): Pre-vetted talent marketplace with AI interviews.
  • Arkadhi (Ashmith Atmuri): Applied AI lab building continual-learning models.
  • StayBind (Praneeth Kuraparthi): Property management software for homestays.
  • WearSynapse (Karthik Nagapuri and Dr. Piyush Malik): Wearable clinical AI for doctors.
  • Latitude54 (Krishna): Autonomy and AI for defence.
  • Picapool (Srijan): Hyperlocal coordination and group buying.
  • Ordo (Chetan): Ear-worn edge AI device.
  • WeeZ AI (Nisa): Next-best-action engine for sales teams.
  • Shore Autonomy (Hamza): Autonomous systems for defence.

Cohort contacts

For the cohort: phone numbers and emails shared during the program, behind the cohort password.

Places and hosts

  • Draper University India (Hyderabad): The house: residential cohort home and 5th-floor classroom.
  • Communitie Hyderabad (Sathwik, founder): Community HQ the cohort visited on Day 4.
  • Roast CCX (Hanumanth Rao Naineni, founder; Joakim Prat, chef (Maitre Choux London)): Founder interaction on the final day.
  • T-Hub and T-Works (Hyderabad): Innovation hub and prototyping centre visited on Day 8.

Using this list well

  • Lead with their lesson. When you write to anyone here, name the session and the one idea you used. That is the difference between a cold message and a warm one.
  • Ask small. Day 12's rule: introductions are borrowed social capital, so ask many people for small things rather than a few for big ones.
  • Close the loop. If an idea worked, tell the person who taught it. It is the rarest and most welcome message a mentor gets.

Names, roles and public profiles are as shared with the cohort. Phone numbers and emails are only available to the cohort, behind the password above.