E021 - From Medicine to a Successful Venture Capital Investor with Dr. Sunny Kumar

Sunny Kumar is a Partner at GSR Ventures, where he focuses on investments in early-stage companies applying artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to the healthcare sector. He is a physician as well as a published medical researcher with a focus on applying informatics and artificial intelligence to translational medicine in the fields of neurosurgery and gene therapy.

He is a serial entrepreneur and most recently founded a company to reduce readmissions for high-risk patients with chronic diseases using voice-enabled natural language processing technology. Sunny received a BS in Molecular Biology from Yale University, an MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

During this episode, you will learn about;
[00:00] Episode intro and a quick bio of the guest; Sunny Kumar
[01:47] How Sunny began in medicine and venture capital investing
[09:40] At what point in life did Sunny have a pivotal moment from clinical to technical
[12:40] How he overcame the fear of the unknown from a stable job to entrepreneurship
[16:14] How you can protect yourself from moral injury and burnout crisis in medicine
[17:14] How he found a job that matched what he wanted to do from being a doctor
[24:40] ROIs for deals that are invested by venture capital
[27:20] What Sunny looks for in a founder that gives him the confidence to invest
[29:20] Sunny’s advice to new CEOs as the business begins to scale up
[35:07] Benchmarks you can use to guide the conversation in startup investing
[39:05] Sunny’s advice on how you can take your business idea to the next step
[46:25] What he wishes to have spent more time and resources on
[47:32] Ending show and call to action
Notable Quotes
● Medical doctors sometimes find it hard to get used to the entrepreneurship life of
learning through failures. They are always trained to be right and never fail. [23:53]
● Before investing in venture capital, understand that companies are different and
independent. You must learn to cope and grow with the company at every step. [28:05]
● A successful company is based on strong management and a great team. [29:40]
● There are many services set aside for early startup companies. They are highly offered
in a subsidized manner. [39:17]
Connect With Sunny Kumar
Website: https://gsrventuresglobal.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnykumar1/

Thank you for listening to FROM MD To Entrepreneur Podcast
Tune in every Wednesday, 5 AM PST.

Follow Us on our socials

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/frommdpodcast/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/from-md-to-entrepreneur/
• Website - https://www.frommd.com/episodes/