Best Place To BuildSwostik Sourav Dash | How NeoMotion's CEO is Building "Freedom" for Everyone | Ep. 2 | IIT Madras
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 4:19
NeoMotion’s mission: making everyday mobility simple and independent
Swostik explains NeoMotion’s purpose: reducing the planning, dependence, and friction wheelchair users face just to step out of home. He frames NeoMotion’s offering as a ‘personal mobility vehicle’—a customized wheelchair plus a bike-like battery-powered add-on for outdoor travel.
- •Mobility as freedom: reducing dependence and planning overhead
- •Customized wheelchair + attachable add-on that converts it into a road-going vehicle
- •Use cases: commuting to work/college, errands, social outings
- •Reframing from ‘wheelchair company’ to ‘personal mobility device’
- 4:19 – 7:32
From school science exhibitions to IIT Madras: the builder mindset takes shape
Swostik traces his early interest in building through Kendriya Vidyalaya science exhibitions and the excitement of making things with limited resources. Arriving at IIT Madras for Mechanical/Product Design feels like a ‘dream come true’ because it unlocks people, tools, and an ecosystem for hands-on creation.
- •Early exposure to making through KV science/social science exhibitions
- •Choosing IIT Madras Mechanical influenced by counselling guidance
- •IIT as a resource-rich environment vs. ‘scrap-based’ school builds
- •Adjusting to Chennai and campus life; culture and language learning curve
- 7:32 – 8:36
A detour into food, marketing, and category awareness (Odia food analogy)
A light but revealing tangent on Odia cuisine becomes a conversation about marketing and visibility. The exchange foreshadows a core NeoMotion challenge: even great products or categories can stay unseen without distribution and narrative.
- •Odia food variety vs. lack of restaurant presence
- •How strong marketing shapes public familiarity (Punjabi/Udupi/Bengali examples)
- •Visibility and category awareness as a recurring theme
- •Humorous ‘fund Odia restaurants’ pact
- 8:36 – 8:55
Shark Tank as a national-scale awareness engine for assistive tech
Swostik describes Shark Tank as pivotal for awareness and credibility in a category many people think they already understand. Because NeoMotion is effectively creating/expanding a category, the show helps educate the public and validates the brand for buyers and CSR sponsors.
- •Shark Tank creates awareness for a misunderstood category
- •India’s wheelchair innovation baseline is extremely low compared to developed markets
- •Brand validation and credibility in sales conversations
- •Post-episode spike in inquiries and evaluation interest
- 8:55 – 14:49
Why one-size-fits-all wheelchairs fail: customization as healthcare and ergonomics
The conversation gets technical and user-centered: standard wheelchairs are treated like commodities, but they’re used 8–10 hours a day and must fit like shoes or glasses. Poor fit causes discomfort, bad propulsion ergonomics, and long-term secondary health complications.
- •Wheelchair fit should be like shoe size—highly individual
- •One-size-fits-all leads to discomfort and secondary complications
- •Ergonomics of self-propulsion (shoulder posture, fatigue, injury)
- •Consumer buying criteria today are shallow (looks/fabric/price), requiring education
- 14:49 – 19:49
For-profit vs nonprofit in ‘social’ categories: sustainability and user accountability
Swostik argues NeoMotion must be for-profit to build efficiency, longevity, and true user accountability. He explains how sponsor-driven models can drift with donor priorities, while for-profit models keep the builder directly answerable to the end user and enable reinvestment into R&D and market creation.
- •NeoMotion’s work is social in impact, but structured as for-profit
- •For-profit forces efficiency and long-term sustainability
- •Nonprofit/sponsor-driven models can decouple buyer from end user needs
- •Profit as reinvestment into R&D, market creation, and product improvement
- 19:49 – 22:46
Origin story: IIT thesis project, Prof. Sujatha, and the ‘first field impact’ moment
Swostik shares how assistive tech entered his life through his Master’s thesis under Prof. Sujatha Srinivasan. Building a swimming pool lift and seeing real users benefit becomes a turning point—showing how ‘small’ mechanical devices can create outsized human impact.
- •Assistive tech exposure via Master’s thesis and build-first professors
- •Swimming pool lift project: design + build + field trials
- •Emotional impact of users thanking him; engineering meets human outcomes
- •Reflections on ‘engineering = building’ vs. the recent ‘engineering = coding’ stereotype
- 22:46 – 24:15
Industry stint at ITC and the pull back toward user-facing product entrepreneurship
After graduating, Swostik joins ITC in a factory setting, building plants and learning industrial execution. But he misses direct user connection and is inspired by alumni entrepreneurs and vendors running strong manufacturing businesses—pushing him toward building his own venture.
- •Work at ITC: factory environment and large-scale building
- •Feeling the absence of direct end-user feedback
- •Inspiration from IIT batchmates starting companies (e.g., HyperVerge)
- •Admiration for well-run manufacturing setups; desire to build a product business
- 24:15 – 26:11
Research return: standing wheelchair work, nationwide field learning, and mobility-to-income insight
Swostik returns to IIT Madras as a research scholar with Prof. Sujatha, developing a standing wheelchair and conducting extensive fieldwork. Traveling to ~40 locations and meeting ~200 wheelchair users reveals the deeper issue: many are stuck at home, and mobility is tied directly to economic independence.
- •2015–2016: standing wheelchair development and field trials
- •40+ locations and ~200 user interactions to understand real constraints
- •Key insight: mobility enables jobs, education, and economic agency
- •Observed gaps: poor fit, kids in oversized chairs, lack of awareness despite willingness to pay
- 26:11 – 28:10
Product roadmap: from custom seating to standing chairs and daily-living aids
NeoMotion’s roadmap is driven by thousands of inbound needs and unmet-use-case mapping. Swostik outlines product lines including customized seating with controls, the NeoStand standing wheelchair, and solutions for activities of daily living like toileting and bathing.
- •Build-to-order customization as a foundational capability
- •30,000+ inquiries used to identify unmet market gaps
- •NeoStand: social and workplace benefits of eye-to-eye standing
- •Future focus on daily-living independence (bathroom, showering, safety)
- 28:10 – 31:45
CFI (Centre for Innovation): early recruitment, hands-on culture, and why it matters
Swostik recounts getting pulled into CFI on day three and spending years building late into the night. He explains why CFI is transformative: concentrated resources, peer energy, and an environment that turns ideas into physical reality—an ‘upgraded science project’ at scale.
- •Day-3 entry into CFI through a project need (coding → building)
- •Want to Fly/Aero Club and a culture of rapid prototyping
- •‘Time flies’ environment: frequent 2 AM workdays
- •CFI as a confidence builder and a foundation for hardware entrepreneurship
- 31:45 – 34:28
Leading CFI: knowledge transfer, project acceleration, and real-world admin training
As student head, Swostik’s role shifts from building parts to building people and systems—exposing juniors to possibilities and shortening their learning curves. He highlights the hidden value of administrative work (fundraising, approvals, payments) as practical preparation for entrepreneurship.
- •Student-head role centers on exposure, mentoring, and knowledge sharing
- •Helping juniors avoid past mistakes and speed up builds
- •Administrative tasks as entrepreneurship training (dean’s office, fundraising, payments)
- •Community continuity: seniors teach, leaders pass it on
- 34:28 – 45:49
NeoMotion’s founding team and the R2D2 lab pipeline from research to startup
Swostik introduces his co-founders and Prof. Sujatha’s long commitment to assistive tech, including founding the R2D2 Center (Rehabilitation Research and Device Development). He explains how CFI feeds talent into R2D2, and how NeoMotion and IIT Madras collaborate via joint development and shared patents to carry lab work to real users.
- •Co-founders Ashish and Siddharth: CFI roots and complementary paths
- •Prof. Sujatha’s trajectory and founding of R2D2 Center
- •R2D2 as a build-heavy lab and a natural continuation for CFI students
- •Joint development and joint patent ownership between IITM and NeoMotion
- •IITM’s evolving mindset: not stopping at prototypes—pushing to commercialization
- 45:49 – 1:05:07
Scaling hardware from India: manufacturing perception, global expansion, and bootstrap strategy
Swostik addresses the challenge of being seen as a low-end manufacturer internationally and argues it’s changing through first-principles design and quality (citing examples like Ather). He then details NeoMotion’s transition from engineer to entrepreneur via ‘unlearning,’ the mentorship/funding support at IITM, and a deliberate choice to bootstrap with grants and debt over VC timelines—while outlining growth goals and export readiness.
- •Global perception issues for Indian hardware; lack of historic precedents
- •First-principles design (not reverse engineering) as differentiation
- •Early US/Europe trials suggest strong product-market fit abroad
- •Entrepreneur shift requires unlearning; late realization of sales/marketing as disciplines
- •IITM incubation support: mentors, seed/grants, networks
- •Bootstrapping rationale: long market-education cycle; sustainability over VC speed
- •Near-term goals: operational efficiency, sales/marketing engine, 1 lakh users, export clearances
