The Indian Startup Show

Rishi Krishna CEO of Symbionic - On building an assistive tech startup dedicated to building affordable, life-changing prosthetic devices.

41 min

Rishi Krishna, CEO of Symbionic, discusses the company's pivot from a high-tech bionic arm to a modular, user-driven prosthetic system called Kriya Adaptive, designed to address high abandonment rates in prosthetics. He shares lessons from pitching on Shark Tank India and Startup Singam, emphasizing the importance of understanding user needs over pushing technology. The episode highlights challenges in the Indian assistive tech market, including lack of amputee data and distribution hurdles, while celebrating stories like delivering a prosthetic to a bride on her wedding morning.

Summarized by Podsumo

🎧 Listen 🎙️ Ask about this episode

✨ Key Takeaways

1

Symbionic pivoted from a bionic arm to the Kriya Adaptive, a modular prosthetic system with attachments for driving, eating, gym, swimming, and public appearance, reducing user abandonment.
2

Rishi and his team delivered a prosthetic to a woman on her wedding morning, allowing her to celebrate without self-consciousness, highlighting the emotional impact of the product.
3

On Shark Tank India, Symbionic secured a ₹1 crore grant from Adani Foundation for distributing prosthetics to 1,000 amputees, but a ₹40 lakh investment deal fell through.
4

Startup Singam episode led to a ₹2 crore investment from multiple investors, validating the company's direction and user-centric approach.
5

Rishi advises early-stage founders to treat investor pitches as conversations, not interrogations, and to persist through challenges while focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well.

💬 Notable Quotes

"I think investors really want to invest in people who know their stuff, who really understand the market and the product, not just one aspect of it, but like holistically."
"It was not about the hand itself, it was just her wanting to be at her own wedding and not think about what others are going to say. That's how we want to exist in everyone's lives."
"If they feel uncomfortable, it is their problem, not mine. It's something that they have to deal with."