From Belgaum to Baltimore and beyond, this founder leaned on family to build a biotech juggernaut 

This is How I Got Here, a series where we chart the career journeys of technologists. Want to tell your story? Get in touch.

Like many immigrants arriving in a new country without a network, Andrea Pais is accustomed to having to figure things out. 

Today, she is the cofounder and CEO of Novel Microdevices, a medical diagnostics company based out of Baltimore’s City Garage facility that’s developing a portable, durable testing system to detect various diseases. However, founding a startup was not originally part of her plan. 

She’s secured multiple millions of dollars in funding to develop tech for an industry with heavy regulations and notorious sluggishness. She’s done all this despite having arrived in the US without a single connection. 

Pais also learned how to mix business with family, since her brother Rohan Pais is also her cofounder and the company’s vice president of engineering. Their inherent trust gives them a strong foundation, but their successful dynamic comes from their ability and willingness, to communicate effectively, lean on complementary strengths, draw some boundaries, and hold each other accountable in the way only a sibling can. 

Pais was candid about how her journey has been supported, and shaped, by the warm community she’s built throughout her nearly 20 years in the US.

In this edition of Technical.ly’s How I Got Here, Pais shares her journey from southern India to Baltimore. She offers lessons about the value of community, courage and resilience — and how she still continues to figure it out.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Where are you from? 

I was born in a little town in [the Indian state of] Karnataka called Belgaum. My family then moved to Hyderabad, where I did my first eight years of schooling. From there, we moved to Chennai.

How did you start on your tech journey?

I moved to the US in 2005 for grad school on an F-1 student visa, following a similar path of many Indians coming to the US for education. I was pursuing my master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Cincinnati, focusing on biosensors and doing research on biomicrosystems — lab-on-a-chip technology. 

My first job was as a math tutor helping undergraduates with algebra, calculus and trigonometry. It really helped me with interacting and getting to know people. 

After Cincinnati, I went to the University of Florida for a Ph.D. program, also in electrical engineering. Three years into the program, I realized I wanted to work in industry, so I cut the degree short, got another master’s [also in electrical engineering] and then transitioned to a H-1B work visa. 

I was fortunate to get a job specific to my field of research, and that my employer, SB Microsystems, wanted to sponsor my H-1B. SB Microsystems was basically a contractor. Other companies came to us with their ideas for prototypes and we would build from concept to prototype to manufacturable device.

So what does Novel Microdevices do? How did it start? 

The idea for Novel Microdevices, and our product, didn’t happen until after we started the company. And really, entrepreneurship wasn’t something I expected to do. It evolved through working at SB Microsystems; my brother was also an employee there. Both of us shared this vision for using engineering to make healthcare more accessible. We started Novel as another consulting product development company … to offer our services to other companies for developing products. Then we saw the success of other companies, [through] the intellectual property that we developed for them. That sparked this inspiration to build our own IP, and try to build our own products that can enhance healthcare and make diagnostics more accessible. 

We founded the company in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2017 that we found this true focus on diagnostics. Rohan and I found this need for better, faster, cheaper diagnostics. Some of that had to do with growing up in India and seeing a gap in the market for low-cost, rugged diagnostic platforms that are miniaturized, that don’t rely on wall plug electricity and that can be used in low-resource settings. We believe that miniaturization and automation of diagnostic technologies can have a profound impact on global health. 

What’s it like to cofound a company with your brother? What has that taught you about entrepreneurship and sibling relationships?

Working with my brother has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of this journey. We have a good dynamic, we push and challenge each other, we complement each other’s strengths. It works for us.

Working with a family member could have a positive impact on entrepreneurship because you are working with someone you really trust implicitly. That’s essential when you’re starting a business, and invaluable in entrepreneurship. I am very grateful to have been able to build something meaningful with my brother. 

Siblings aren’t afraid to tell you if you’re wrong, if you’re full of crap. We’ve never had issues like sibling rivalry. But of course, I am the older sibling, so I’m kind of like the boss. 

Having clear distinction between personal life and business is something we’ve had to learn. Working with family makes this a little hard but we’ve been able to maintain some clear boundaries. We came to this through fights that we had — and then realizing that if we want to move forward and work together, there have to be some clear boundaries. This relationship has evolved and become a lot better through communication. He leads product development and engineering, and I lead finding funding, the overall vision, and the technical direction of the project. We don’t interfere in each other’s spaces too much; we have our own areas of expertise that we are proficient in. It’s a very symbiotic relationship. 

Do you see a relationship between the immigrant experience and entrepreneurship? What challenges did you face on this journey, and where did you find support?

The US is basically a country full of immigrants, and they come here because they want to build a better life. The US is known to other countries as the “land of opportunity” and entrepreneurship plays a part in making that happen. 

One of the biggest challenges I face is raising funds. Raising money as a first-time entrepreneur is difficult. And then, adding the immigrant background makes it even harder. The biggest challenges are building credibility with investors and building the network. 

When I came here [to the US], I did not know anyone but was fortunate to find great friends and a support system through the international student associations at my schools. Many American families were also super supportive. But in the beginning of Novel Microdevices, we had a hard time getting VC checks, so we focused on applying to the National Institutes of Health for non-dilutive funding. I learned how to write grants really well. That funding helped us build our early prototypes and get data which gave us credibility. 

Early on, we also cold-called a professor at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Charlotte Gaydos. She invited us to pitch the technology to the Center for Point-of-Care [Technologies Research] for Sexually Transmitted Diseases [now called the Center for Innovative Diagnostics for Infectious Diseases], where she was the director at the time. They were issuing $50,000 awards for startups, and she took a chance on us to build tests for STDs. They gave us our first check, to build something real that was worthy of funding. We then became a “Hopkins-funded company.”

Also, my husband is a physician — he offered advisorship, invested in our company and got other physician investors.

We also got funding from TEDCO through their Builder Fund. That gave us access to experienced advisors. That network really helped us. TEDCO also paid for our first regulatory expert on the team. 

What advice would you give to immigrant entrepreneurs who are earlier in their journeys?

The big piece of advice I would give to immigrant entrepreneurs is that your background is an asset. It’s not a limitation. Coming from a different country and adapting to this new system —  it builds resilience. As an entrepreneur, resilience is key to success. 

Having that courage to take the first step is the hardest, and most essential, part. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Learn along the way, and don’t be afraid of changing or pivoting.

And the third thing is to surround yourself with people who believe in you or can help you. Whether it’s family or advisors, having that good support system is critical. Entrepreneurship is a hard journey but having the right people supporting you will push you forward.

This story, and all of Technical.ly's immigration reporting, is made possible by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund.

The WES Mariam Assefa Fund supports catalytic efforts to create more inclusive economies for immigrants and refugees in the US and Canada. It works closely with organizations and leaders focused on ensuring more equitable access to opportunity and wealth.