Startup Ecosystem in LPU
Recently, LPU got NAAC A++ credits and LPU is indeed one of the best private universities in India. Any university is recognized by its students, it was placement milestones and today it is a balance of both - Big packages crackers and Entrepreneurs who create jobs.
As LPU states "Badlenge kal ko, we are the vertos". Tomorrow will be in the hands of product builders and creators. Only 2 people make most of the money in the world: "Who builds the product or who owns the product".
In COVID times, even the entrepreneurship cell was active and was initiating online events to support entrepreneurship. I joined E-Cell of LPU in the first year of my degree itself. I will be talking about the evolution of entrepreneurship and startups in LPU in the past 3-4 years.
In 2021, we organized multiple events online including interaction sessions with alumni and founders from our university. We don't have billions of dollars worth of human beings who started their venture.
We are not a founder's manufacturing machine like IIT Delhi, they are way ahead of us in entrepreneurship and that is a fact.
I had a respectable network in corporate and startups so the team made me corporate relations head. I wanted to do my own startup but prepare for it, so in the battleground, I would be the one with less bleeding and more learning.
Fast forward to 2022, we had a great relationship with international companies/countries, and great events lined up with limited grants up to 10k.
The positives were:
The negatives were:
It was a loop, we didn't have any investment-ready startups so we didn't have external support that much we strive to make entrepreneurship normal but how can they scale without any quality mentor?
I raised funds in 2022 when I was 19. Our startup was not based in my university, it was based in Delhi. We were 6 founding members and made a funding-ready startup possible. I explored 100s of investors' profiles and made connections with many to get exposure as well as I also had an aim to start a mental health startup, so I needed honest people to review the product and I couldn't find more honest people than investors.
I made a decision to make a startup ecosystem at my university, where E-Cell was working aggressively to resolve negatives as they were also aware of it.
The first step came in November 2022, when I was planning out B Plan for my new startup that I had researched for more than a year - hugg.co.in
I know that I need a mentor to scale my business by making a strong B Plan and I have the best one, Chandan sir. At that time, sir and I were not directly in contact that much, I needed him to be my mentor, so what is the best way I could do?
I started with a step, but I found a need - our university had a slow process to start a thing up. If I want to make a drone, it will be possible only if I visit the Innovation Studio / Aerospace department and get a team with faculty with a respectful long timeline. If I want a product to launch, it is hard to get everything documented first which will take time. So, to get it sorted out, I sent a proposal to EDC India - Chandan sir entity.
The proposal included everything startups needed and the majority of the coverage they had with their college partners. I wanted to draft an MOU with them and make a university partner via a contract that will support PE funding.
To be specific, Grants worth 25 Lakhs + 3 Lakhs INR were provided after 8-12 months of corporation and application, but to scale more, startups needed more funds as PE, so we can get quality startups as well as startups scaling at the speed of light.
In November, EDC India and LPU were in talks to sign an MOU, which resulted in a planned visit of Chandan sir to LPU.
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LPU and EDC India signed an MOU, which made PE investment possible. That was the first step towards significant growth for startups in LPU.
At the same span, I launched my startup on 1st Jan 2023. We need light and I also wanted entrepreneurship to grow. So I merged these 2 ideas and planned Pitch Fest, where investors will be invited and student-led startups will be presenting their product for funding. We made it possible by late Jan - Feb, hugg.co.in got lights in the startup industry as we called great investors and startups to pitch.
This event was a success and many entrepreneurs supported this.
At the same time span, E-Cell also made some great progress on MOUs, the first MOU ever signed was with EDC India and next, they lined up by witnessing the growth. E-Cell worked aggressively in expanding awareness about entrepreneurship with EDC India and a startup even got 25 lakhs funds via PE within 6 months of implementation of MOU followups.
The mentor access was still missing with the idea of a product launch - launchpad.
For mentorship - EDC India, For funds - EDC India, For scaling - EDC India. But entrepreneurs have to build the products of their own, so how to help new entrepreneurs who want to do something but don't have access to early resources?
I launched vertopreneur.com to help startup founders at a very early stage so they can get even their journey - Zero to 0.5.
In just 3 days of launch, we got 3 projects for student entrepreneurs and made their project launch ready.
We launched a student organization to make entrepreneurship get in roots - helpStartups. This organization helps students to get involved closely with current startups and hiring can be easily accessible with exposure to a startup environment for students. We are not far away from Tier 1 colleges which are government bodies, we will be giving entrepreneurs that will make disruptions.
That's the new edition of In The Ishank's Mind, will catch you next week.
This series contains podcasts with great investors, I hope you will like it:
An aspiring Academician ? Neuropsychology and Brain Research Enthusiast?? ? Understanding the Impact Of Trauma On Brain Structure And Chronic Illnesses ? Writer/Poet
1 年Insightful as always, Ishank.