#99 Naveen Verma — From Princeton Professor to Venture-Backed CEO, Fundraising Without a Network, and Leading Firmly and Empathetically
Description
Naveen Verma is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton and the co-founder and CEO of EnCharge AI, a startup building radically energy-efficient computers for artificial intelligence. In this episode, Naveen shares how his academic research into in-memory computing evolved over six years into a venture-backed company that’s rethinking the physical limits of AI computers.
Naveen explains why traditional computing models can’t keep up with the energy demands of AI, how in-memory architectures unlock new efficiency, and what it means to transition from professor to startup CEO. He also opens up about how failure shaped his leadership style, why co-founder alignment is more important than titles, and what academia taught him about being an empathetic manager.
Whether you’re in deep tech, academia, or just curious how foundational innovation becomes a company, this episode offers a grounded and honest look at what it takes to build from the lab up.
Where to find Naveen:
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to turn academic research into a real-world company
- How to find and align with the right co-founders
- What good conflict looks like in early-stage teams
- How to fundraise as a professor-turned-founder
- Why being self-aware matters more than fitting a role
- How to build culture through actions, not statements
- What it means to lead with empathy in high-stakes environments
Timestamps:
(00:00 ) Why Naveen almost quit engineering
(03:50 ) From PhD to professor to founder
(07:04 ) What EnCharge actually builds
(10:56 ) The six-year journey to a spinout
(13:20 ) Why incubation matters in deep tech
(15:53 ) Inspiration, practicality, and real-world impact
(17:28 ) Choosing the right co-founders
(20:33 ) Why Naveen became CEO
(23:00 ) Conflict as a strength
(24:21 ) Vision, perspective, and pushing back
(25:49 ) Advice on co-founder relationships
(27:59 ) Fundraising lessons from a first-time founder
(34:19 ) Growing to 70+ people
(35:51 ) Hiring for culture and long-term vision
(37:01 ) Talking about culture without naming it
(38:16 ) Letting go and empowering the team
(41:41 ) Hiring non-technical leaders
(43:17 ) What Naveen found easy and hard as a manager
(45:56 ) How he learned to give difficult feedback
(48:56 ) Managing stress through abstraction and presence
(51:23 ) Academic mentors who shaped his thinking
(53:08 ) Leadership as enabling others
(55:08 ) Impostor syndrome and comfort with failure
(58:00 ) Early rejections and how he bounced back
(01:01:00 ) What everyone should know about AI
(01:02:43 ) What Naveen wishes he knew earlier
(01:04:27 ) Final advice to founders: normalize failure
Connect with Alisa!
Follow Alisa Cohn on
- Instagram: @alisacohn
- Twitter: @alisacohn
- Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/
- Website: http://www.alisacohn.com
Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better)
Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon