• Name: Aamar Khwaja, Founder of ModGarden
• Industry: Urban Agriculture, Health Tech, Food Sustainability
• Focus: Organic indoor farming, smart soil-based farming systems
• Flagship Product: TinyFarm — a compact indoor farming appliance
• Stage: Early-stage commercialization and user experience innovation

✅Aamar shares how personal health challenges led him from Wall Street to launching ModGarden.

✅ He discusses why true innovation requires evolving from passion to healthy obsession—with a constant focus on societal good.

✅ We explore the delicate balance between tech-driven convenience and preserving nature’s simplicity in food systems.

✅ Aamar explains how surrounding yourself with critical, accomplished mentors keeps your mission grounded and sustainable.

✅ He shares insights on how user-centric thinking shapes ModGarden’s development, blending tech with tradition to reach urban consumers.

✅ Aamar reflects on the emotional toll of long startup journeys and why embracing challenges, burnout, and course corrections is essential for survival.

In this episode of The Innovator’s Impact, host Darnell Perkins sits down with Aamar Khwaja, founder of ModGarden, to uncover a powerful story of transformation—from Wall Street finance to urban food innovation.

Driven by personal health struggles and a deeper understanding of mineral deficiencies, Aamar embarked on a mission to bring organic, soil-based indoor farming into everyday homes. He introduces the TinyFarm, a modern appliance that reconnects consumers with nature while fitting seamlessly into today's sleek urban lifestyles.

Aamar shares hard-won lessons about startup leadership: why passion must evolve into healthy obsession, how tech and nature must work hand-in-hand, and why surrounding yourself with honest, critical advisors is key to longevity.

This episode is a blueprint for founders wrestling with purpose, tech adoption, and personal resilience in the face of entrepreneurial uncertainty.

Q: What inspired the creation of ModGarden?

A: A personal health journey revealed how critical mineral-rich food is—and how disconnected modern agriculture had become.

Q: How do you balance technology and nature in your product design?

A: By focusing on user experience: modern appliances must respect natural principles while fitting into clean, tech-driven spaces.

Q: What role does healthy obsession play in startup success?

A: Passion matures into obsession when your venture deeply serves people, the environment, and society at large.

Q: How do you keep yourself grounded as a founder?

A: Surrounding myself with critical, accomplished advisors who challenge me, not worship me.

Q: What’s been the hardest part of the journey so far?

A: Sticking with it during long stretches without funding, solving tough hardware challenges, and managing founder burnout.

00:00 – Intro & Meet Aamar Khwaja

00:24 – From Wall Street to Urban Agriculture

02:51 – The Simple Science Behind Healthy Farming

05:25 – Fixing Disconnection in Modern Food Systems

06:10 – Passion vs. Obsession in Startup Leadership

08:40 – Surrounding Yourself with Honest Mentors

11:04 – Balancing Nature and Technology in Product Design

14:00 – Traversing Tradition and Innovation

16:24 – Lessons from Nature for Tech and Hardware

17:44 – Wisdom from Great Leaders: Learning

Company Stats

Name: Ramesh Gopal

Industry: Deep Tech, Climate Tech, Health Tech

Focus: Carbon capture technology, hardware innovation, and wearable health devices

Stage: Prototype development & early-stage commercialization

Background: PhD in Physics, former Silicon Valley hardware developer

✅ Ramesh shares his transition from physics and semiconductor engineering into climate tech entrepreneurship.

✅ He explains how nature-inspired chemistry is helping him reimagine carbon capture hardware for hard-to-abate sectors.

✅ We explore the mental and emotional challenges of building as a solo founder—and why loving the journey is key.

✅ He discusses his second project: a reliable, wearable blood pressure device to improve health access.

✅ Ramesh opens up about the loneliness of innovation and the slow path to building the right team.

✅ A real talk on persistence, curiosity, and why having a massive vision still doesn’t guarantee immediate support.

In this episode of The Innovator’s Impact, Darnell Perkins sits down with deep tech entrepreneur and physicist Ramesh Gopal to uncover what it really takes to bring bold ideas into the real world—without a corporate team, a flashy pitch deck, or VC fanfare.

Ramesh, a Cal Berkeley PhD and former Silicon Valley hardware engineer, shares how a pandemic-era idea around nature-based carbon capture evolved into a full-time pursuit. With a prototype in hand and a vision to help sectors like cement, steel, and even breweries reduce CO₂ emissions, he walks us through the grit and patience required to move from idea to pilot.

He also introduces a second innovation—a more accurate, wearable blood pressure monitor that could improve life for millions. But more than the tech, this conversation is about the mindset. Ramesh speaks candidly about the solo founder’s journey: the uphill task of team building, the myth of instant support, and the simple truth that without loving the work, persistence is impossible.

Q: What inspired your shift into climate tech?

A: The pandemic gave me space to focus on my long-standing interest in sustainability and carbon capture—and I realized the chemistry was simple but powerful.

Q: What’s been your biggest early-stage challenge?

A: Staying the course without guaranteed support. It’s easy to doubt yourself, but you’ve got to keep at it—even solo.

Q: How important is a support system?

A: It helps—but often, people won’t get your vision. Social media can connect you to like-minded people globally, but internal drive matters most.

Q: Which keeps you going more: passion or impact?

A: Both. Passion is non-negotiable, but knowing your idea can change the world is a huge motivator.

Q: What's your process for turning ideas into reality?

A: Be endlessly curious. Let the dots connect in hindsight. There’s no algorithm for creativity—just learning, observing, and building until something clicks.

00:00 – Intro & Meet Ramesh Gopal

01:00 – From Physics to Carbon Capture

02:00 – Nature-Inspired Chemistry

03:30 – Challenges of the Solo Founder Path

05:00 – Why Passion is the Foundation

06:30 – Support Systems & Social Connection

08:00 – The Realities of Team Building

10:00 – Purpose vs. Passion

13:00 – Innovating in Health Tech: Blood Pressure Wearables

15:00 – Curiosity as a Creative Superpower

18:00 – Connecting the Dots Backward

21:00 – Tech Vision Without a Team

23:00 – The Business + Engineering Equation

24:00 – Final Reflections &...

• Name: Endiatx
• Industry: MedTech, Robotics
• Flagship Product: Pillbot – a swallowable, piloted robot for internal diagnostics
• Stage: Pre-market, clinical development
• Mission: Making advanced medical care radically more accessible through micro-robotics

✅ Torrey breaks down the journey behind Pillbot—a swallowable robot that doctors can pilot inside the human body.

✅ He shares how grief and aerospace roots led to a bold mission: merging high-tech robotics with healthcare innovation.

✅ This is not about quick exits or hype—Torrey reveals why his company only chases “impossible” ideas.

✅ He opens up about facing over 1,000 VC rejections, battling internal doubt, and what it really means to lead through chaos.

✅ A powerful take on inspiration vs. ego, building with grace, and why meaningful tech doesn’t need Silicon Valley's approval.

In this unforgettable episode, Darnell Perkins sits down with Torrey Smith, co-founder of Endiatx, to talk about building robots that literally swim inside your stomach—and the emotional and technical rollercoaster of bringing that sci-fi dream into reality.

Torrey doesn’t sugarcoat the journey. From driving prototypes in bathtubs to swallowing the robot himself during live pitches, he shares what it’s like to chase a vision that most called “impossible.” You’ll hear about the grit behind innovation, what it means to inspire a team with nothing but an idea, and the power of saying no to mediocrity.

This episode isn’t just about tech. It’s about resilience, purpose, and how staying weird might just change the world.

Q: What inspired the idea of Pillbot?

A: “I just couldn’t stop thinking—what if camera pills could move? What if they could actually do something?”

Q: What’s been your biggest challenge as a founder?

A: “Getting out of my own way. I waited 10 years too long because I didn’t think I was good enough.”

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring founders?

A: “You don’t have to be invincible. If your idea inspires even one person—you—it’s worth building.”

Q: What keeps you going after 1,000+ rejections?

A: “We’re not chasing money. We’re chasing the work—and the work is glorious.”

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

00:51 – Meet Torrey Smith & the Pillbot Mission

02:07 – Sci-Fi Dreams Become Tech Reality

04:10 – Aerospace Roots & Medical Reinvention

06:37 – From Idea to Prototype to Startup

10:11 – Mental Health & Founding a Company

11:33 – Overcoming Rejection (1000+ VC No’s)

16:25 – Leadership, Ego, and Staying the Course

20:26 – Radical Accessibility in Healthcare

24:27 – Does Location Matter for Founders?

28:55 – Lessons from Crashing the Sequoia Party

31:27 – On Heroes, Elon, and Power

38:33 – A Vision for Unity Through Innovation

43:56 – Leadership, Inspiration & Building with Grace

50:49 – How to Connect with Endiatx

52:35 – Final Reflections & Sign-Off

• Learn more: https://endiatx.com
• Torrey’s YouTube: Search "Torrey Smith"
• Connect on LinkedIn: Torrey Smith

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