#57 Harshil Ahuja: Building Novarus at 16 to Tackle Clean Air, Water, and Global Sustainability Challenges

Harshil Ahuja is not your typical college student. At just 16 years old, he founded Novarus Technologies, a startup with an ambitious mission: to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges by ensuring universal access to clean air, clean water, renewable energy, and sustainable agriculture. Now at 19, while studying Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, Harshil is scaling Novarus into a global force for health tech and sustainability.

In this episode of the PreVetted Podcast, Harshil shares the personal spark that inspired his journey—seeing his mother in India forced to wear an N95 mask just to step outside due to dangerous air pollution. That early moment ignited his belief that no one should need expensive gear or scarce resources simply to breathe or drink clean water.

We explore Novarus’s mission to design affordable, high-standard solutions for basic necessities. From N99 air filtration masks and advanced water filters to modular renewable energy systems and experimental piezoelectric flooring that generates power from footsteps, Harshil and his team are reimagining how communities can thrive. He also reveals how Novarus is innovating in desalination technology, creating scalable systems that dramatically lower the cost of turning seawater into safe drinking water—potentially shifting the future of water infrastructure.

Harshil discusses the real-world impact of Novarus projects, particularly in rural communities in the Philippines, India, Haiti, and Africa, where access to clean water and energy can transform education, economic opportunity, and quality of life. He describes the emotional experience of watching children drink clean water from Novarus filtration systems for the first time—a powerful reminder of why he started this journey.

We also dive into:

• The challenges of building a hardware-focused startup—manufacturing, supply chain, and scaling beyond prototypes.

• Lessons Harshil learned from winning the Enterprise Leadership Conference, including the power of networking and pitching.

• The balance between dreaming big as an entrepreneur and executing practically, along with insights from books like The E-Myth and Made to Stick.

• His philosophy on nonprofit vs. for-profit models in mission-driven work, and why sustainability requires independence from constant fundraising.

• His advice for young entrepreneurs: master the problem before chasing the solution, embrace objectivity, and avoid overthinking—just take action.

Harshil’s long-term vision for Novarus is bold: to move beyond consumer products and into infrastructure-scale solutions that eliminate the need for stopgap measures like filters and purifiers altogether. His goal is a future where access to clean water, air, and energy is universal and sustainable.

About Harshil Ahuja

- http://www.novarustech.com

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshil-ahuja-085167249/

About Federico Ramallo ✨👨‍💻🌎

🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers

- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/

- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io

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🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡

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00:00 Introduction to Harsil Ahuja and Novarus Technologies

04:06 The Mission of Novarus: Clean Air and Water

08:34 Expanding Horizons: Renewable Energy and Agriculture

12:08 Real-Life Impact: Transforming Communities

19:47 The Nonprofit vs. For-Profit Debate

28:03 Navigating Entrepreneurial Challenges

31:48 The Journey of Survival and Scaling

35:42 Recognition and Learning from Competitions

41:41 Future Aspirations and Innovations

53:13 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs