On this episode of the Apex CEO Podcast, I interview Dr. Anita Sengupta—Founder & CEO of Hydroplane, aerospace engineer, commercial pilot, and USC professor—to unpack what it really takes for a high-level technical professional to make the leap into entrepreneurship.
Anita's career spans the kind of world-class environments most people only dream about—NASA, cutting-edge aerospace programs, and academic research. But building a deep-tech startup is a different game. In this conversation, she breaks down the hard shift from "well-resourced institutions" to starting from zero: earning trust without a famous logo, turning technical credibility into business credibility, and building momentum when timelines are long and the stakes are high.
We talk about what she underestimated, what she had to unlearn, and the few early decisions that mattered most in the first year—especially when your product has to work in the real world, not just on paper.
If you're a senior engineer, operator, scientist, or technical leader who's felt the pull toward building your own company, this episode is for you.
And at the end, Anita shares her single biggest insight for making the transition—one principle that cuts through the noise and keeps founders focused on what actually works.
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