Surbhi Sarna Entrepreneur, advocate for innovation in healthcare, founder of nVision Medical

Surbhi Sarna is the author of the highly anticipated Without a Doubt: How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable, set to be published in March of 2023. The book shares Sarna’s own entrepreneurial story, of a young, brown woman without a medical degree, Ivy league contacts, or Silicon Valley street cred, who would lead a team to develop a life-saving medical device, sell her business for $275 million, and become a partner at Y Combinator, one of the most successful venture firms in the world.

When she was 13, doctors discovered that Sarna had a complex ovarian cyst, one they would have to monitor to see if it would develop into ovarian cancer. This health scare, and the fact that the doctors lacked a reliable diagnostic tool to test for cancerous cells, inspired Sarna to reimagine women’s healthcare. At 24, she started a medical start-up to detect early ovarian cancer called nVision Medical. Without an MBA or any venture capitalist connections, she helped develop a life-saving medical device. Nine years later, after the catheter-based device obtained FDA clearance, she sold her business to Boston Science for $275 million.

In Without a Doubt, Sarna gives us an inside look at her entrepreneurial journey and shows how she proved her naysayers and doubters wrong using the very qualities that had made her feel different her whole life. Instead, she leveraged these qualities to help her surpass the expectations of others and achieve her dream. In her book, she shares the practical skills and tools that are needed to face setbacks, not let impossible standards get in the way, lead empathetically, empower others to think differently, and how to convince the right people to help you accomplish your goal.

In addition to being a partner at Y Combinator, Sarna also sits on nonprofit and for-profit company boards, has been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, and Entrepreneur magazine, and has received many awards, including being named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list and the Inc. Female Founder 100 list. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two children.