Physician Builder Spotlight: Rajiv Narula

We’re shining light on MD-entrepreneurs! Each week, we feature an entrepreneurial doctor who’s building a cool product, company, or working on a big idea that you definitely want to know about. This week, meet Rajiv Narula, Founder and CEO of Sevaro (more on the company’s mission below!). You can connect further with Rajiv on LinkedIn.

1. Rajiv, what inspired you to become a physician entrepreneur? On April 24, 2017, I faced the toughest decision of my career: Pursue a two-year Neurointerventional Radiology fellowship or start my own company. After finishing my stroke fellowship, if I went the interventional route, I could play a meaningful role in saving a person’s life and enjoy a gratifying, lucrative career; however, I could only care for one patient at a time. If I built something scalable as an entrepreneur, I could impact thousands, maybe millions, of patients.

I’ve always been a creator and an operator, and I saw glaring inefficiencies in tele-neurology and a lack of focus on quality and technology. Too many neurologists were burnt out and dissatisfied with their jobs. I knew these problems could be fixed if a company was built and led by physicians.

So I decided to take the harder path, bootstrapping Sevaro Health with my own money and going three years without a salary. Since then, I’ve raised $12M in Series A and $39M in Series B funding, carefully selecting investment partners who shared our commitment to quality. I still hold the largest ownership stake in the company. Along the way, I’ve authored a children’s book on stroke, launched a $50,000 education stipend in partnership with Yale School of Medicine, and founded a nonprofit, StatSeva.org, which provides free pediatrics and women’s health care to rural villages in India.

2. Tell us what your company does and what problem you’re trying to solve. Sevaro Health is a physician-led, AI-powered virtual neurology company. Our mission is simple yet urgent: to provide hospitals and patients with access to high-quality, rapid neurological care — anytime, anywhere. Stroke is one of the most time-sensitive conditions in medicine, and delays in diagnosis or treatment can mean the difference between recovery and permanent disability.

We built our proprietary Synapse AI platform to connect an ED physician to a stroke neurologist in under 45 seconds. This speed, combined with our focus on quality metrics, physician training, and hospital partnership, allows us to save lives while reducing burnout among neurologists. We don’t just provide coverage, we help health systems strengthen and grow their neuro programs, improve operational efficiency, and enhance patient outcomes.

3. What’s your advice to anyone who’s thinking about entrepreneurship or a nontraditional career in medicine? Physicians are some of the most resilient, relentless, and gritty people in the world. I’m willing to be challenged on that and have yet to be proven wrong. We’ve faced life-and-death situations, had to call a time of death, endured intense training, and pushed through sleepless nights — things few other people experience in their entire life. In business, the worst that can happen is you lose money. Nobody will lose their life.

That said, entrepreneurship is a different beast and the hardest thing I’ve ever done, more challenging than residency, more exhausting than being a parent. In medicine, we’re used to a clear, linear path: med school, USMLEs, residency, fellowship, board exams, becoming an attending, and then academics or private practice. It’s predictable. Business is the opposite — you have to be comfortable living in uncertainty, which can be tough for academic physicians. You’re constantly navigating ambiguity, keeping your long-term vision intact, and managing people. The hardest part? Managing people, their expectations, and culture.

If you’re a physician considering the leap, be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. EQ and financial literacy are two skills often underdeveloped during medical training yet critical in entrepreneurship — but both can be learned. Expect mental exhaustion and moments of loneliness, but if you truly believe in your mission, the discomfort will be worth it in the long term.

4. How can a physician overcome their biggest fear to start a company? Fear is natural, but clarity beats fear every time. Ask yourself: “If I don’t do this now, will I regret it in 10 years?” For me, the answer was a resounding yes. I knew I could always return to practicing medicine, but I might never get another chance to build something that could transform neurological care at scale. Start by validating your idea — talk to potential customers, test your assumptions, and be open to refining your vision. Don’t wait for perfection; start with the smallest viable version of your idea and improve it as you go. Surround yourself with people who believe in your mission and will challenge your thinking. And most importantly, remember that the first step is never as hard as the steps you’ll take later, but it’s the most important.

5. What’s the #1 lesson you’ve learned since building your company that wasn’t obvious before? You can have the best idea and product, but without the right team and culture, you’ll go nowhere. Culture is like a kitchen sink — once the first dirty dish sits there, everything starts to pile up. Protecting it means making tough decisions quickly, even when they’re uncomfortable, because you owe it to the people who are all-in with you. That also means letting go to let others grow. As physicians, we’re detail-oriented and perfectionists. In business, to grow you have to be okay letting go of certain things and giving others control of your “baby,” giving up the pursuit of perfection. Delegating to others was very difficult for me, but it’s been essential to our success.

6. Name the top resources you found most helpful to get going as an entrepreneur. The best resource is other people’s experience. I learn by dropping my ego and asking people I admire questions and through their experience, learning what to do and not to do. There’s something to learn from everyone around you. For physicians, this is not second nature, because proving we’re always right is our default mode of operation.

Next, I learn by doing — by trying, failing, and iterating quickly. Along the way, I’ve sought guidance from my CEO coach John Hamm and drawn inspiration from thinkers like Naval Ravikant and Robin Sharma. I talk to a lot of people — other founders, hospital leaders, doctors, and nurses — to learn from both their successes and their mistakes. Learning from others’ mistakes is just as important as learning from their wins. For example, through the process of raising capital, I’ve learned what type of investors wouldn’t align with my goals — and at one junction, I avoided a catastrophe where I realized there was risk of the company being taken from me. Those experiences taught me how physicians can navigate unique situations and stay in control to drive the vision of their company. Mindset and resilience are everything. As physicians, we have a safety net: a meaningful career we can return to but we won’t always have the chance to build something bigger than ourselves. That’s why I encourage physicians to take the leap. For me, finding the right investment partners was critical. I chose investors who value quality over speed.

7. How can other physicians support you? Are you open to connection/investment/user feedback, etc.? Absolutely. We are the underdogs in this space, and my goal is to show the industry that a physician-led company can grow successfully — with both quality and financial strength, not one or the other. I’m a strong advocate for physician leadership in healthcare, and I believe more of us should take the lead in shaping systems and solutions. Physicians can support me by introducing Sevaro Health to their hospital leadership, especially if those hospitals value high-quality, rapid neurological care. We’ve built a system that can connect an ED physician to a stroke neurologist in under 45 seconds, and we’re looking to partner with institutions that share our commitment to excellence. Or they can introduce me to an excellent person they’ve worked with who’s looking for a job.

Whether it’s connections, feedback, or advisory work, I welcome it — especially from physicians who want to see a physician-led company grow. And if our mission resonates with you, join us not just in business, but in outreach through our stroke education programs for children (BefastBeAhero.com) or StatSeva.org’s work in rural India.

Connect with Rajiv on LinkedIn and learn more about his company here.