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The Startup: CaroRhythm
The Founder: Nisha Maheshwari (Tandon '25)
Participated In: Tech Venture Program, Startup Accelerator Program, Female Founders Fellowship, Startup Coaching
In the dynamic landscape of medical technology, PhD candidate Nisha Maheshwari is making an immediate an impact as the co-founder of CaroRhythm. The startup is revolutionizing stroke care through a non-invasive medical device that provides point-of-care carotid artery monitoring and stimulation, improving the quality of life of stroke survivors.
In February, Nisha and CaroRhythm completed their six-month journey in the NYU Tech Venture Accelerator (TVA), a rigorous program for NYU deeptech ventures on the path to research commercialization. The Accelerator saw seven teams make significant strides in bringing their groundbreaking innovations to market through specialized workshops, 1:1 mentorship, and up to $50,000 in grant funding provided by NYU’s Office of the Provost.
Academic Background and The Origins of CaroRhythm
Before embarking on their doctoral journey, Nisha earned a master's in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University. After arriving at NYU, they co-founded CaroRhythm in collaboration with Lokesh Sharma (Tandon ‘24). The company's flagship product, CaroSense, is a non-invasive, wearable device that continuously monitors blood flow to the brain. Complemented by the CaroRhythm Dynamic Monitoring Service, this technology alerts both patients and physicians to high stroke risks before physiological symptoms manifest. This proactive approach empowers physicians with critical data for treatment planning and grants patients real-time insights into their vascular health.
Accolades and Recognition
CaroRhythm's innovative approach has garnered significant recognition. In April 2024, the team triumphed over more than 90 other startups to win the $75,000 Grand Prize and Audience Choice Award in the Healthcare & Biomedical Venture Competition at the 2023-2024 NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge.
Further solidifying their entrepreneurial journey, Nisha was accepted into the Fall 2024 cohort of the NYU Female Founders Fellowship. The Fellowship provides resources and mentorship to founders within the NYU community who are committed to advancing gender equity in entrepreneurship.
Nisha also participated in the NYU Female Founders Forum on Feb. 21 as a distinguished speaker on the Founders Panel, discussing scaling strategies, founder challenges, and being an early-stage entrepreneur while still in college.
Q: When did you first become interested in entrepreneurship?
NM: During my undergraduate journey doing research with different professors, I often felt frustrated that my research was confined to their specific labs and weren’t affecting the lives of patients. At the time, I knew I wanted to work on research that had direct translational impact, but I still hadn’t considered the possibility of being the one to take those ideas to market. It wasn’t until midway through my PhD program, when we were approached by a clinical collaborator at NYU Langone with a pressing real-world problem, that I realized that I wanted to be the one to facilitate the translation of my research and ensure that it stayed accessible, affordable, and equitable throughout the whole journey.
Q: What inspired you to co-found CaroRhythm, and how did your academic and research experiences at Tandon influence this decision?
NM: My co-founder and I were able to make the decision to co-found CaroRhythm with the encouragement and support of our advisors. Our clinical collaborator was interested in commercialization of the research and making sure it got into the hands of clinicians from the moment he first approached us and our Principal Investigator has experience spinning off research into startups from the previous institutions he worked at. Their enthusiasm, our ability to directly recognize the impact our research could have, and the whole team’s desire to make an impact are the key factors that inspired the start of CaroRhythm.
Q: How did you initially find NYU’s entrepreneurial community?
NM: My co-founder, then a master’s student, was sponsored by the NYU Tandon Future Labs to help with the research that led to CaroRhythm. We were encouraged to apply to the Technology Acceleration and Commercialization grant (TAC) by Future Labs, and after winning the grant we realized that others could also see the commercial potential of our research. This led to our decision to apply to the Berkley Center’s NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge, and that was when we really got to meet the core of the community at NYU Stern and the Entrepreneurial Institute.
Q: Where did you meet your co-founder, and how did your partnership come about?
NM: I was working as a PhD candidate in the Clinical Biophotonics Lab, and my co-founder applied to work in the lab as a master’s student. My PI brought him to the lab to assist with the research conducted by myself and the other PhD students. I took him on as a junior researcher to mentor, and when I began the research that inspired CaroRhythm, it felt like he would be a good fit to assist with that research. As we delved further into the entrepreneurial world, it was clear that we had a strong partnership with him as the business lead and me as the technical lead, as we were able to compensate for knowledge gaps that the other co-founder had. It helped that we had a strong friendship outside of the lab and enjoyed spending time together as well!
Q: As a PhD student and startup founder, how do you balance the demands of academia and entrepreneurship?
NM: I try to stay as organized as possible by writing down everything that needs to get done in the immediate future, starting with an overview of the month and then getting down to the tasks for each day. Having a planner with both a daily “to do” list and a big picture view of what I need to work on allows me to prioritize the order in which I tackle certain tasks. There are times when I have a lot of work related to the company (applying for grants, pitch competitions, etc.) and/or my research (writing my dissertation, running a study, etc.), and in those cases I often work longer hours or try to maximize my efficiency during the work day. I do try to have boundaries though, and this helps make sure I don’t burn out while balancing all of my responsibilities. Spending time with my partner and dog also helps energize me and get me ready to face each day!
Q: What challenges have you faced in integrating CaroSense into clinical settings, and how have you addressed them?
NM: One of the challenges that we were unprepared for in the early stages of the company was that physician interest doesn’t translate to clinical adoption. We learned over time that, while it is important to have clinicians who are excited about the technology and want to work with you, they are ultimately not the ones who make purchasing decisions at larger healthcare systems. This led to our current challenge in identifying economic buyers at different healthcare institutions, learning what value propositions they care about, and determining whether they differ or align with the value propositions for clinicians. We have been working with our mentors from TVA and the extended network we developed through NYU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to speak to the people who have purchasing power at our target institutions.
Q: How did your experience in the Tech Venture Accelerator transform the way you’re approaching your venture?
NM: We actually pivoted from our initial product idea as a result of the guidance from our TVA mentors and coaches. The best advice we got from our mentors was how to identify our riskiest business assumptions and ensure that we were adequately interrogating them before moving on to technical development. This led to a change in our core technology and functionality. During the TVA workshops, we realized that we needed to refine our go to market strategy and reframe our value propositions to ensure they fit with the needs of our economic buyers. Our approach to commercialization changed dramatically as a result, and we realized that there were some questions we had to answer before moving forward.
Q: Favorite memory from your time in TVA?
NM: The last day of TVA was probably my favorite. We got great feedback from all of the TVA mentors on our final presentation, were able to form a clear goal for moving forward, and learn from the feedback given to the other teams as well. We also had the opportunity to get lunch with all the cohort, coaches, and mentors, which gave me a chance to really get to know everyone on a personal level and bond further with the rest of our cohort. I feel much closer to the coaches, mentors, and others in the cohort, and consider many of them to be good friends!
Q: CaroRhythm won both the Grand Prize and Audience Choice Award in the Healthcare & Biomedical Venture Competition at the 2023-2024 NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge. What did this recognition mean for you and your team?
NM: I think this recognition allowed us to start planning more seriously for the prospect of commercialization and gave us the confidence we needed to apply to TVA and incorporate the company. It also helped put us on the radar of the NYU entrepreneurial community, and facilitated networking and connections that we otherwise may not have had access to. On a personal level, it became clear that other people were also interested and excited in my research, and I gained a confidence boost both in my status as an entrepreneur and as a researcher. This has helped me feel more comfortable going into networking and pitch events, and has led me to be a better mentor and peer to others in the community.
Q: What are the next milestones for CaroRhythm in terms of product development and market expansion?
NM: In terms of product development, CaroRhythm is working to improve the form factor of CaroSense to maximize comfortability and performance. We are in the process of speaking with stroke survivors to ensure that comfort stays a priority, and plan to run some experimental tests with different design options to optimize the device. Our next steps to break into the market are to work with partner healthcare institutions we’ve identified to run preliminary studies on the efficacy of CaroSense in monitoring cerebral blood perfusion in stroke survivors, and to build up our healthcare network for future studies.
Q: What 3 words would you use to describe your founder journey?
NM: Challenging, exhilarating, and rewarding
Q: What’s the biggest piece of advice that you’d give to student founders aiming to translate their research into impactful startups?
NM: I would tell other student founders to prioritize customer discovery in the early stages of startup. Talk to as many potential customers or end users as you can, and always be open to having your ideas challenged or invalidated. Holding on to an idea for too long out of a personal attachment to it can slow your entire startup trajectory, and won’t help you touch the lives of your customers. I learned that anything I believed to be true was an assumption colored either by my own experience or feedback from individual clinicians/peers. Validating (and in some cases, invalidating) these assumptions with hundreds of physicians helped us refine our company's go to market strategy, business model, and product without wasting time on technical development that didn’t meet the needs of the customer.
Q: Favorite NYU spot to spend time?
NM: Washington Square Park! I like to go there on the weekends to hang out and get in some sunlight when the weather is nice. I also love the hustle and bustle of the park, getting to see different performances, people showing off different skateboarding tricks, and the artwork. There are also always lots of dogs to admire.
Q: Which successful entrepreneur would you like to get lunch with, and which NYC restaurant would you take them to?
NM: I would want to get lunch with Mary Lou Jepsen (Chairman and Founder of Openwater) and would probably go to Red Bamboo or New Wonjo.
To learn more about CaroRhythm, follow them on LinkedIn!
