About the Guest
Aditya Rajagopal is the co-founder and CEO of Esperto Medical, a Caltech spinout developing wearable technology for continuous blood pressure monitoring. Previously, he co-founded ChromaCode, a molecular diagnostics company, and was a researcher at Google[x], where he worked on novel medical imaging methods. Aditya also serves as part-time faculty at Caltech and USC, and holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Caltech.
Interview Summary
After previously co-founding ChromaCode, a molecular diagnostics company that has generated nearly $100 million in cumulative revenue, Aditya and his team are pursuing a problem that has challenged clinicians and researchers for decades: how to continuously measure blood pressure without placing a catheter directly into an artery.
Continuous blood pressure monitoring is already standard practice across operating rooms and intensive care units, where invasive arterial catheters remain the standard of care. Esperto’s first product is a wearable hospital device designed to replace that procedure, targeting what Aditya estimates is a roughly $20 billion recurring annual market.
Beyond the hospital, the company is developing a smartwatch strap that aims to bring hospital-grade blood pressure monitoring to consumer health. At the core of the platform is what Aditya describes as the world's highest-speed ultrasound camera, capturing images 3,000 times per second. He believes the ability to directly visualize blood flow could eventually enable entirely new cardiovascular measurements beyond blood pressure alone.
Esperto completed an oversubscribed Series A financing in 2025 and is preparing for its pivotal study as it advances toward commercialization.
Top Takeaways
Great science doesn't necessarily make for great companies. Market timing is just as important as scientific innovation. Building around a clinical need with established utility allows founders to focus on delivering a best-in-class solution to an existing pain point rather than waiting for the market to catch up. When clinicians already recognize the problem, the opportunity becomes designing the best solution within an existing market.
Commercializing a device requires solving three adoption challenges. The first is fitting within the existing clinical paradigm without creating workflow friction or human capital cost by eliminating jobs the current system depends on. The second is aligning the interests of providers and payers. The third is generating the regulatory evidence needed to demonstrate safety and efficacy. A superior technology can still struggle if any one of these remains unsolved.
Platform technologies demand disciplined sequencing. Some problems can be improved incrementally without ever reaching the true solution, making it critical to determine whether the underlying problem is actually tractable. This insight shapes how capital and time should be deployed. Once that foundation exists, succeeding in one well-defined use case makes expansion into adjacent applications much easier than trying to enter multiple markets at once.
Raise capital from a position of strength. The ability to choose investors comes from raising with an adequate runway, surrounding the company with trusted angels and advisors, and maintaining the discipline to say no. Venture decisions are shaped by factors beyond the merits of the business, including timing, fund strategy, partner interests, existing investments, LP expectations, and the performance of the fund itself. Recognizing these dynamics helps founders separate investor constraints from company quality.
Sponsors
FastWave Medical: Named MD+DI's Company of the Year, FastWave is one of the hottest medtech startups in the cardiovascular space. See how you can invest here.
Fundraising Cohort: Planning to raise capital for your startup? This live, 4-week workshop, led by Scott Nelson, is designed to help founders and CEOs tell a sharper story, get investor meetings that matter, and close real capital. Join the waitlist here.
