About Author
I was that scared immigrant kid who thought if I just achieved enough, earned enough, built enough, I’d finally be safe. Finally be enough.That kid became a successful ENT surgeon with great income and respect. But my kids called me a “machine” because I was never really present. Excellent at medicine, terrible at self care and being present for my family.
That broke me open. I started finding ways to generate passive income. After losing capital investing with others, I realized that I needed to take charge of my investments.
Vasu Kakarlapudi, MD
About Author
Journey of Growth and Transformation
I started with single-family real estate, encountered landlord nightmares, forcing me toward seeking efficient investments. So I did my “residency” in real estate devouring books, countless mentor hours, plus a MBA from the University of Louisville. This wasn’t about another degree; it was about understanding financial analysis, strategic planning, leadership principles that I desperately needed, to understand efficient investments.
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The Surgical Investor
Putting It All Together
Starting in 2005, I methodically invested my own money in a surgical hospital, medical offices, retail, multifamily. Then something remarkable happened: as investment income replaced financial pressure, medicine transformed from an obligation to a calling. I could spend extra time being a dad, present for family and anxious patients, pursue hobbies, rediscovering why I became a surgeon.
When family, friends and colleagues saw these results, they wanted in. By 2017, personal investing became a mission and Apta (Sanskrit for “trust”) was founded with a vision of building a community of 1,000 holistically fulfilled surgeons who have each other’s backs. Today, through Apta, we invest our own capital in every opportunity we offer. Because when your company name means “trust,” you prove it with your own capital.
Whether you’re a surgeon seeking to practice by choice rather than necessity, or any professional pursuing true financial freedom, you’re invited to join our community where you never invest alone.Through proven real estate investments, we create this same transformation that I experienced and eager to offer the same to my peers.
Timeline
Milestones That Moved the Needle
Standing on Mount Rainier’s summit at 49, I wasn’t conquering a mountain – I was reclaiming myself. For years, I’d been “the machine.” My kids barely knew me beyond the exhausted figure who came home after dark.The truth? I desperately needed freedom but was terrified of falling behind. My family needed me, but I used “saving lives” to justify my absence. I should have exercised but chose exhaustion as my excuse.
Every surgeon knows this secret: We hide behind our white coats, terrified that scaling back means we’re failing.We know passive income could free us, but fear keeps us frozen, is the fear of not having enough, of looking vulnerable, of making wrong decisions.
When my real estate income covered our expenses, everything changed. The fear dissolved. I became the surgeon, father, and human I wanted to be, not because I became brave, but because financial security removed what I feared most.
Financial freedom doesn’t mean abandoning medicine. It means practicing with joy, choosing patients over revenue, being present for bedtime stories, taking real vacations, playing music, attending soccer games.
We tell ourselves that exhaustion equals dedication, that burnout proves commitment.But what if the best surgeon isn’t the one who sacrifices everything, but the one who shows up whole, energized, and there by choice?
You trained to heal others, not to become a slave to your practice. Surgeons don’t have to sacrifice their entire being to medicine.