Work From the Dock: Investor Insight, Robotics in Healthcare & Founder Pitches
📅 Wednesday | 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
📍 Venture Dock — 555 University Ave, Palo Alto
About the Event
Join us for another edition of Work From the Dock (WFTD)-Venture Dock’s weekly founder gathering where builders, investors, and operators come together to connect, learn, and share insights.
This week’s session focuses on how investors evaluate early-stage startups and what signals actually create conviction.
We’ll hear perspectives from Murali Chirala, Managing Partner at FalconX Venture, followed by live founder pitches and feedback.
We’ll also hear from Prasad Upadrasta from Intuitive Surgical, who will share insights from decades of building advanced technologies across robotics, surgical systems, and healthcare innovation.
If you're building in AI, healthtech, robotics, fintech, or deeptech, this is a room you’ll want to be in.
🎤 Investor Perspective
Murali Chirala
Managing Partner & Co-Founder-FalconX Venture
Investor • Advisor • Product & Fintech Leader
Murali brings deep experience across product, fintech, cloud, security, and infrastructure, with a career spent evaluating and advising founders at the earliest and most critical stages of their journey.
He was the founding architect of India’s Aadhaar financial inclusion and payments platform, one of the largest fintech systems ever deployed globally.
Through FalconX Venture, Murali works closely with startups across payments, fraud, compliance, security, and enterprise infrastructure.
During this session, Murali will share insights on:
• How investors form conviction at the early stage
• The difference between traction and looking investable
• Founder signals that strengthen (or quietly weaken) investor confidence
• How to communicate progress, focus, and vision with clarity
• What investors evaluate before they ever ask for a pitch deck
🎤 Industry Insight
Robotics in Healthcare
Prasad Upadrasta
Managing Principal — Intuitive Surgical
Prasad Upadrasta brings decades of experience developing advanced technologies across robotics, medical devices, and surgical systems.
At Intuitive Surgical, the company behind the groundbreaking da Vinci robotic surgery platform, he works at the forefront of innovation transforming how surgery is performed worldwide.
His career spans leadership roles at companies including Intel, Hansen Medical, Bosch Healthcare, and Triple Ring Technologies, where he worked on robotics platforms, surgical simulation, and advanced medical technologies.
In this session, Prasad will share insights on:
• How robotics is transforming healthcare
• Lessons from building complex medical technologies
• Opportunities for startups building in deeptech and healthtech
• The future of robotic-assisted medicine
🚀 Founder Pitches
To close the session, we’ll host live founder pitches from attendees in the room.
This is an opportunity for founders to briefly present their startup and receive feedback from investors and the Venture Dock community.
If you’re interested in pitching:
• Arrive early to the event
• Connect with Monica on site during check-in
• Our team will upload your pitch deck to the screens
We estimate that up to 5 founders will have the opportunity to pitch, depending on time.
Spots will be organized on a first-come basis, so arriving early is recommended.
🗓 Session Flow
10:00 – 11:00 AM
🥐 Breakfast & Founder Networking
11:00 – 11:45 AM
🎤 Robotics in Healthcare
Conversation with Prasad Upadrasta
11:45 – 12:30 PM
💡 Investor Insight
Conversation with Murali Chirala
12:30 – 1:00 PM
🚀 Founder Pitches + Community Feedback
Why Attend
• Learn how investors actually evaluate early-stage startups
• Hear insights from a leader in robotic healthcare innovation
• Pitch your startup and receive live feedback
• Connect with founders building across Silicon Valley
• Experience the Venture Dock founder ecosystem
Work From the Dock is Venture Dock’s weekly founder gathering where ideas are shared, connections are built, and real conversations happen.
☕ Come work, connect, and build with us.