While reading a lot about anemia, it occurred to me in the shower one afternoon: what if we could fortify water instead of food?

The logic was compelling. Water is universally available, easily fortified, and a better vehicle for water-soluble iron which absorbs better than iron from food compounds. Most importantly, it reaches the socioeconomically underprivileged population who need it most. In India, fortification of staples had been difficult due to funding constraints, decentralized markets, ops-heavy work, and lack of government and industry buy-in. Water could change that.

With funding from the Centre for Effective Altruism, we built a prototype: an add-on for RO filters that would meter out tiny, calibrated portions of iron fortificant into passing water.

All I had to figure out was how to make iron salt colorless, tasteless, odorless, and cheap. That's what I thought on day 1. Oh kid, you did NOT know what you were getting into.

The technical challenge was deceptively simple: dispense microscopic amounts of powder into flowing water. In practice, it was brutally hard.

Before WatOR, I was working with Fortify Health in 2019. During their market research across different states, I collected water samples in small test tubes from everywhere we visited. I wanted to analyze the existing mineral content and see if our iron salt would interact badly with what was already there.

We conducted pilot studies with local NGOs and labs in Mumbai, Thane, and Vikhroli, including slum areas. We were refining the prototype, building evidence, and preparing for scale. We had planned a grand randomized controlled trial to compare food versus water fortification efficacy. It would have been groundbreaking data. We were almost ready.

We won awards from India's most prestigious business and technology institutions. Best social enterprise award at ISB Hyderabad, biodesign innovation hackathon at IIT Bombay, Action for India. We were recognized by the Government of India and signed an MoU with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to deploy our product in 6,000 villages across north India.

For a long time, I felt like I had failed. But looking back now, here's what I know:

• Team matters, especially your cofounder: Make sure your cofounder is willing to join full time. Make sure you're aligned not just on vision but on commitment level. This matters more than the idea itself.
• Look for advice outside your immediate circle: Your friends and mentors love you and will be supportive, but they won't always give you the hard truths you need to hear. Find people with different biases.
• You're going to become mentally strong Running a startup means running into different kinds of people: investors who ghost you, partners who overpromise, critics who underestimate you. It builds resilience you didn't know you had.
• Invest in your health: Don't let sleepless nights and cold processed meals ruin your health. I learned this the hard way. Your startup needs you to be functional, not burnt out.
• Never stop learning: People assume you're the expert in your field, especially as the founder. But you'll face tough questions you don't actually know the answers to. Try to be honest. You can fake confidence (everyone loves that), but remember: those answers are just your best guess/opinion at the time, not gospel truth. Stay humble and keep learning.
• Manage your energy and draw boundaries: Not every fire needs your immediate attention. Not every opportunity is worth pursuing. Knowing when to say no is as important as knowing when to say yes.

WatOR didn't fail because the idea was bad or because we weren't capable. It failed because of timing, circumstances, and yes, decisions I made that I would make differently now. But it also succeeded in ways I'm only beginning to appreciate: we proved water fortification was technically feasible, we built partnerships with NGOs and communities, we collected data that didn't exist before, and we pushed the conversation about anemia solutions in India forward.

More than half of India still suffer from anemia. That problem hasn't gone away. Maybe someone reading this will pick up where we left off. Maybe the idea will find its moment.

As for me, I'm no longer ashamed of discontinuing WatOR. It was one of the biggest achievements of my life, even if it didn't end the way I hoped. I'm proud of what we built, proud of what we tried, and grateful for everything it taught me.