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Associate Spotlight: Sanjeev Chauhan

Duke Capital Partners Associate Spotlight

Sanjeev Chauhan

From Duke Capital Partners to Y Combinator  |  Co-founder, Synapse Semiconductor  |  Senior Associate, Duke Capital Partners  |  Duke ECE ’26 & MS ’26

Sanjeev Chauhan

“Duke Capital Partners is INVALUABLE. You learn so much more than any business class or economics class could teach you.”

In a recent conversation with Duke Capital Partners, Sanjeev Chauhan, one of the very first undergraduate student associates, reflected on how his time in the Student Associate Program shaped him. He has since co-founded Synapse Semiconductor, earning a spot in Y Combinator’s Summer 2026 batch, one of the most selective startup accelerators in the world and one that hardware companies almost never enter.

It all started in late 2023, when Daniel Luo, Assistant Director at Duke Capital Partners, came across Sanjeev and thought he might be a good fit for the Student Associate Program.

When I look back, I remember meeting Sanjeev in late 2023: passionate, eager to learn, and already connected to Duke’s community of talented founders before most of us knew them. We paired him with Kavin, a PhD student associate. The pair clicked right away, and we were off to the races. When Kavin graduated, he told me Sanjeev was one of the best undergrads he’d ever seen, and that he had no hesitation handing him the role of lead AI Associate. Since then, Sanjeev has become a dependable associate and our in-house expert on the latest in AI.Daniel Luo, Assistant Director

Dave Neal (Venture Partner), and Stephanie Seghers (Program Director) noted that Sanjeev set a new standard for what the team looks for when recruiting undergraduate associates, raising the bar in a way that continues to shape the program today.

This spring, Sanjeev graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology. Alongside Associate Professor Tania Roy, he co-founded Synapse Semiconductor, a startup building a retina on a chip: a device that mimics the human eye to process visual information directly at the sensor, combining sensing and compute into a single layer so that drones, robots, autonomous vehicles, and satellites can understand their environments faster and with far less energy.

Y Combinator accepted less than 0.05% of applicants this cycle. Hardware companies are rarer still.

The Technology

Synapse Semiconductor is building what they call a retina on a chip. Where most AI vision systems today capture everything in a scene and send raw data to separate processors to figure out what matters, the human retina filters and processes information right at the source before anything reaches the brain. Sanjeev and Professor Roy are working to bring that same efficiency into hardware, with devices already built that gather and process data directly at the pixel. Sanjeev says “Physical AI is coming: drones, robotics, space applications. But all of that intelligence needs to run local to the machine, because the latency of communication is too high. To do that, the AI needs to really understand the environment it’s in. We’re building sensors specifically for AI to do that.”

I’ve seen a lot of startups through Duke Capital Partners, and this one really interests me because we’re able to take innovation in semiconductor devices and bring it somewhere you can actually see the application. It’s kind of rare to do the full thing, from innovation to application.Sanjeev Chauhan

Duke Capital Partners: Where It All Came Together
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The Duke Capital Partners team

For Sanjeev, one of the most valuable things about his experience in the Student Associate Program was the vantage point it gave him as a future founder.

There are two sides to the startup ecosystem. The venture capital side and the founder side. I had built things and a company prior to Duke, but I only learned to understand the venture capital side while at Duke Capital Partners. I learned what signals people care about, and how to present yourself. That perspective is really hard to get as an undergrad. Being engaged with Duke Capital Partners made me feel way more confident and prepared as a founder.

Sanjeev joined Duke Capital Partners as one of its very first undergraduate students in the Student Associate Program, arriving with genuine curiosity and little background in venture capital. What followed was an education that no classroom could have replicated.

Duke Capital Partners is great because you can really see a lot of aspects of venture capital. Everything’s there, it’s all tangible. You put the effort in, and you can access all parts, learn about any investment opportunity and see all operations if you really want. I learn best by just doing things, and Duke Capital Partners really lets you do that.

He did not settle into a passive role. He offered valuable insights on investment opportunities, informed the operating team and associates on market trends and updates, and came in with ideas about how to modernize workflows, pushing to bring artificial intelligence and automation into their day-to-day operations. The team gave him the freedom to pursue it.

I was excited about a lot of ideas, trying to change things software-wise, bring AI and automate things where possible. The team was open to learning and implementing new workflows and offered constructive feedback. There’s nothing blocking you from contributing, which is really amazing.

Damon Burrow, Senior Associate at Duke Capital Partners, worked closely with Sanjeev throughout his time on the team and reflects on what he witnessed.

He learned quickly, solved problems with remarkable agency, and over his time with us showed tremendous growth, evolving from a promising newcomer into a trusted subject matter expert. The kind of contributor who raises the level of everyone around him. He capped his time with us by becoming our first associate accepted to Y Combinator, a testament to both his talent and his drive. We know he is going to do great things, and Duke Capital Partners will always be in his corner, ready to support him however we can.Damon Burrow, Senior Associate

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Sanjeev Chauhan at a Duke Capital Partners event
The Road to Y Combinator

A significant part of Duke Capital Partners’ sourcing efforts focuses on evaluating Y Combinator companies, giving Sanjeev years of experience studying those businesses up close: what differentiated the strongest companies, the themes that were emerging, and the characteristics that enabled certain startups to execute with conviction.

Sanjeev first became involved with Professor Roy’s research lab as an undergraduate and continued his work there through his master’s program. When the opportunity to commercialize Professor Roy’s research emerged, he had the experience and context to recognize its potential.

Looking at hundreds of companies through Duke Capital Partners – including many from Y Combinator – helped me see what worked, what didn’t, and ultimately prepared me for YC. Y Combinator compresses a year’s worth of building and learning into three months, which is exactly what we need as we turn academic research into a company. We have to be lean and move fast.

I got so much the encouragement from the DCP team. Talking to them, especially Damon, he said he thought it was a great fit for YC, go for it. And I was like, all right, let’s do it.

Kurt Schmidt, Managing Director of Duke Capital Partners, reflected on Sanjeev’s journey and what it means for the associates who will follow in his footsteps.

Sanjeev has set the gold standard for our undergraduate student associates. Through his sourcing, technical work, and relentless initiative, he’s helped us discover outstanding startups while raising the bar for everyone around him. He’s left a lasting mark on our team, and future associates should look to him as the standard for leadership and excellence. Sanjeev, go put a dent in the universe.Kurt Schmidt, Managing Director

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Sanjeev Chauhan with Kurt Schmidt, Managing Director, Duke Capital Partners
What Sanjeev would tell students interested in joining the DCP Student Associate Program or start their own company

For anyone joining Duke Capital Partners as a student associate and hoping to make the most of it, Sanjeev’s advice is grounded in exactly how he approached it himself.

Don’t be afraid to bring your external experience in. Go read books about the world, about venture capital, and apply what you learn here. Bring your past expertise. The team is always looking to learn and for ways to improve. Don’t hold yourself back, and you’ll go far.

And for anyone in the Duke community sitting on an idea they have not yet committed to:

It takes time to come across a great idea. But once you have it, commit with full conviction. You pretty much have nothing to lose except your time, and you learn constantly by going the full way.

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Duke Capital Partners Associates

Synapse Semiconductor will participate in Y Combinator’s Summer 2026 batch. The company was co-founded by Sanjeev Chauhan (BS ’26, MS ’26) and Tania Roy, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University.