Ten Reasons to Love Sridhar Iyengar

Dr. Sridhar Iyengar is one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. A scholar, inventor, highly successful entrepreneur, musician and friend. You can find him on the internet but can you believe that he has no Wikipedia entry? That’s how modest he is.

Here is what his newest company says about him:

Sridhar Iyengar CEO & Founder A serial entrepreneur in connected medical devices and wearables, Sridhar is focused on strategy and management at Elemental Machines. Previously, Sridhar was a founder and director of Misfit, makers of elegant wearable products, which was acquired by Fossil in 2015. Prior to Misfit, he founded AgaMatrix, a blood glucose monitoring company that made the world’s first medical device connecting directly to the iPhone. AgaMatrix shipped 15+ FDA-cleared medical products, 2B+ biosensors, 6M+ glucose meters, with partnerships with Apple, Sanofi, and Walgreens. Sridhar holds over 30 US and international patents and received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar. Beyond Elemental Machines, Sridhar has been known to run 13.1 miles on occasion and has sometimes been spotted on stage behind a wall of drums.

No Wikipedia? That’s because Sridhar is a modest person. Competitive? Absolutely. Hard working? You bet. Successful? Highly (unless you call selling Misfit for $260 million dollars a mediocre achievement, or raising oodles of millions for his new company a ‘mundane’ thing).

Srid is a real friend. In a day and age where you can’t trust people, he is entirely trustworthy. I can tell him anything. And do, on occasion.

Sridhar loves wine. And he buys and shares generous amounts.

Sridhar is a very liberal thinker. When we created a new religion that day in Lisbon, he joined immediately. What choice did he have?

Sridhar is a musician-drummer (heavy metal, you have been warned) and a big fan of music in general. You have to love him for that.

Srid is generous with his time. He spent an afternoon with me on the streets of Lisbon analyzing Ourboox and how to drive it forward. What a mensch (or whatever the Indian equivalent).

He also spent an hour with my class at Shenkar College. He told the class that his secret is to take what he is best at (engineering) and find his passion from within that area. He talked about taking a field he excelled at and applying his know-how (‘noise’ cancellation) to another field which appealed unrelated, but is (biochemical sensors).

Sridhar told them that life is to short to work on something that is not exciting.

Sridhar talked about the importance of finding co-founders and partners that you love and understand, and the importance of weekly feedback (“cluelessness”) sessions.

Sridhar is the best roommate ever. He never once complained about my snoring.

Sridhar Iyengar never changed his name to something more pronounceable such as “Sid Eager”. He maintains his heritage. I love him for that too.