The Panel

Meet the Judges

Ventura pitches are evaluated by a panel of founders, investors, and operators from across tech, finance, healthcare, and design.

Stephanie Yan

Senior Associate, Northpond Ventures

Stephanie Yan is a venture capital investor at Northpond Ventures, where she focuses on early- to mid-stage healthcare and life sciences companies. Her expertise spans diagnostics, life science research tools, biomanufacturing, digital health, and pharmaceutical technology. Prior to venture capital, she worked in equity research and healthcare consulting, evaluating emerging technologies, market opportunities, and growth strategies. Her experience identifying promising innovations and assessing their path to commercialization makes her exceptionally well-suited to evaluate ventures with strong potential for impact and long-term success.

Ashmitha Nagraj

Principal Full Stack Engineer, Fidelity Investments

Ashmitha Nagraj is a Principal Full Stack Engineer at Fidelity Investments with extensive experience designing secure, scalable financial technology platforms. Her expertise spans cloud computing, distributed systems, enterprise modernization, and fintech innovation. Having helped build and optimize platforms serving millions of users, she understands the technical and operational foundations required to transform ambitious ideas into reliable products. She brings valuable insight into technology-driven entrepreneurship, innovation, and execution.

Harshit Chellani, PhD

Founder, Stealth Startup

Harshit Chellani is a biomedical engineer, entrepreneur, and investor with expertise in diagnostics, biosensing technologies, and healthcare innovation. A Columbia University-trained engineer, he holds a PhD focused on point-of-care diagnostics and has experience in both life sciences consulting and early-stage venture capital. His background gives him a unique perspective on identifying breakthrough ideas and evaluating their path toward commercialization, particularly in science and healthcare-driven industries.

John Vroom

Co-Founder, Kano Therapeutics

John Vroom is the Co-Founder of Kano Therapeutics, where he leads strategy, finance, business development, and operations. Prior to founding Kano, he advised leading biotechnology, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and medical device companies through consulting roles at Artisan Healthcare Consulting and gained healthcare investment experience with Leaps by Bayer. He earned his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Virginia. His background in entrepreneurship, healthcare strategy, and investing provides valuable insight into evaluating innovative ideas and their potential for real-world impact.

Sunayana Karra

New Product Planning, Crinetics

Sunayana Karra is a strategy and innovation professional with more than 12 years of experience across pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and management consulting. She has worked with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, helping evaluate market opportunities, guide product development, and shape growth strategies. Holding an MBA from Cornell University, she brings expertise in market research, competitive intelligence, and commercialization, helping teams connect innovative ideas with real-world market needs.

Kristen Lee, PhD

Director, Insights & Analytics, Intellia Therapeutics

Kristen Lee is a biotechnology leader specializing in gene therapy commercialization, market intelligence, and strategic forecasting. With a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and a background in life sciences consulting, she combines scientific expertise with business insight to evaluate emerging technologies and market opportunities. Her experience assessing innovation in highly advanced healthcare sectors makes her exceptionally well-suited to identify ideas with both scientific merit and long-term impact.

Steven Shafran

M&A Advisory at PwC

Steven Shafran brings a unique blend of market research, competitive intelligence, mergers and acquisitions consulting, and entrepreneurship. With experience conducting operational due diligence and evaluating business performance across industries, he understands the factors that drive successful ventures. He holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Babson College and combines his consulting experience with a background in molecular biology to evaluate both the business fundamentals and growth potential of early-stage ideas.

Prathusha Prakash

Engineering Manager, TikTok

Prathusha Prakash is an Engineering Manager at TikTok and a technology leader with over a decade of experience scaling high-performing engineering organizations. She specializes in artificial intelligence, system reliability, software modernization, and business transformation through technology. Known for bridging technical innovation with measurable business outcomes, she brings valuable expertise in evaluating emerging technologies, leadership potential, and the practical execution of ambitious ideas.

Adhithya Ramakumar

Sr. Staff Designer, Google

Adhithya Ramakumar is a Senior Staff Interaction Designer and Design Lead at Google, where he leads teams shaping the future of Android developer tools, emerging technologies, and next-generation user experiences. With more than 14 years of experience in product design and innovation, he has helped create platforms used by developers around the world. His expertise in design thinking, user experience, and 0-to-1 product development allows him to identify solutions that are not only technically impressive but also meaningful and impactful for users.

Shanthan Busireddy

Site Reliability Engineer, NVIDIA

Shanthan Busireddy is a Site Reliability Engineer at NVIDIA, where he helps build and maintain the infrastructure powering some of the world's most advanced computing and AI technologies. With prior experience at United Airlines and Walgreens, he has spent nearly a decade developing scalable, reliable technology systems used by millions of people. His expertise in cloud infrastructure, automation, and large-scale platform operations gives him a strong perspective on evaluating innovative ideas, technical feasibility, and the challenges of building solutions that can grow and succeed in real-world environments.

Wasainika Saini

Director, Global Market Insights, Siemens Healthineers

Wasainika Saini is a healthcare strategy professional with more than a decade of experience evaluating technologies, market opportunities, and business growth strategies within the diagnostics and medical technology industries. Her work has spanned strategic consulting, forecasting, market research, and innovation assessment for leading healthcare organizations. She brings a thoughtful perspective on how innovative ideas can address real-world needs while achieving meaningful commercial success.

Shikha Sharma, PhD, MBA

Diagnostics Consultant & Venture Advisor, IQVIA

Shikha Sharma is a scientist-turned-business leader with more than 13 years of experience spanning diagnostics, life sciences, commercialization, and venture ecosystems. Holding both a PhD in Biotechnology and an MBA, she has advised global healthcare organizations on market strategy, product launches, and growth opportunities. Her experience evaluating startups, market opportunities, and commercialization pathways enables her to assess not only innovative ideas, but also their potential to become successful and sustainable ventures.

Abhishek Sharma

Staff Software Engineer, QXO, Inc. (NYSE: QXO)

Abhishek Sharma is a Staff Software Engineer with 15 years of experience building large-scale payment systems, distributed infrastructure, and mission-critical technology platforms. He has led engineering initiatives at QXO, TikTok, Costco, and Wayfair, supporting products used by millions of users worldwide and contributing to two U.S. patents. His experience scaling systems that process billions of dollars and support global operations gives him a unique perspective on evaluating whether innovative ideas can successfully grow from concept to sustainable business ventures.