BITS F112: TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
STARTUP CULTURE AT BITS
SUBMITTED TO DR. NILAK DATTA
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of BITSF112: Technical Report
Writing
Section-1 Group-A:
Deepshikha Tewari
2018A1PS0967G
Sparsh Mittal
2020A3PS1762G
Sawant Siddhant Sushil 2021A3PS1047G
Chinmay Sogani
2021A3PS1148G
Jain Chaitanya
2021A3PS1155G
Shanay Sawan Mehta
2021A3PS1322G
Iyer Varun Rajesh
2021A3PS1401G
Gokhale Ishan Ajay
2021A3PS1536G
Abhimanyu Magapu
2021A3PS2516G
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Shalini Upadhyay, the instructor-in-charge of
BITS F112, and Dr. Nilak Datta, the instructor of Section 3 of the same, for
the opportunity to work on this technical report as well as for their invaluable
support and guidance, which helped us in completing the information within
the stipulated time. We would also like to thank Dr. Rajorshi Sen Gupta and
Harish Uthayakumar of BITS Pilani K.K. Birla Goa campus for taking some
time from their busy schedule and giving an interview, without which this
report would never have been completed. We were exposed to much new
information regarding a topic that genuinely interests us through this project,
and we are profoundly grateful for this opportunity.
List of Illustrations
Abstract
The recent explosion of the startup culture has wholly transformed India. India
is no more just an oriental country of the past as the West saw it due to the
initiatives and robustness of the current government.
This research aims to analyze BITS Pilani's contribution to the massive
number of startups seen in the past five years. This research also delves
into the reason BITS can produce so many successful startups and how it
competes with India's top colleges.
Our research findings indicate that BITS' unique atmosphere and campus life
push students to excel in all fields. Further, the research reflects that student
freedom is not always bad. BITS' academic freedom allows students to learn,
explore, and challenge ideas while building and sharing their opinions.
This paper also compares the various methods adopted to promote
entrepreneurship by the three BITS campuses around India. The report also
includes an interview with the co-founder of BlueLearn, an alumnus of the
Goa campus.
By analyzing the data found and compiled, this research also puts forward
plausible recommendations and highlights areas of improvement.
Table Of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ABSTRACT
1. Introduction
2. Various facilities provided to entrepreneurs at BITS
2.1. Incubation facilities across BITS Campuses
2.1.1. PIEDS: Incubator at Pilani Campus
2.1.2. BioNest: Incubator at Goa Campus
2.1.3. TBI: Incubator at Hyderabad Campus
2.2. Centers for Entrepreneurial Development at BITS
2.2.1. A brief on CEL and CIIE at Pilani Campus
2.2.2. A brief on CEL and CIIE at Goa Campus
2.2.3. A brief on E-CELL and CIIE at Hyderabad Campus
3. Significance of the provisions offered for startups at BITS
3.1. Impact of entrepreneurial facilities at Pilani Campus
3.2. Impact of entrepreneurial facilities at Goa Campus
3.3. Impact of entrepreneurial facilities at Hyderabad Campus
4. Analysis of the interviews conducted
4.1. Study of the interview with Dr. Rajorshi Sen Gupta(FIC of CIIE,
BITS Goa)
4.2. Study of the interview with Harish Uthayakumar(Co-founder
of BlueLearn)
5. Recommendations
6. Conclusion
References
Appendix 1: Interview with Dr. Rajorshi Sen Gupta
Appendix 2: Interview with Harish Uthayakumar
1. Introduction:
The startup culture in India has seen a massive boom in the past decade. While
this trend was already present in the western parts of the world, India is now
catching up. Indians have started founding some of the most groundbreaking
startups considering the growing trends in the market. The total number of
recognized startups increased from 726 in 2016-17 to 65,861 this year. Indian
startups raised $42 billion in 2021, and 42 of them entered the unicorn club
last year.
BITS Pilani's contribution to Indian Startups is a glorious one. Despite not
being an "Indian Institute of Technology," BITS Pilani has been able to build
and sustain a brand of its own. BITS has been inching close to the numerous
IITs which dominate our country's startup landscape.
According to tracxn, BITS boasts a whopping 904 companies, including 13
unicorns, founded by alumni of BITS Pilani. These companies collectively
have raised over 16.3B dollars from over 1500 investors. BITS Pilani stands
3rd after IIT Bombay and Delhi in total startups and is termed a "Startup
factory in the desert." BITS has also reached shark tank India, where
Thinkerbell labs successfully secured a deal.
Some of India's most prominent companies -Swiggy, RedBus, Zivame,
SanDisk, Groww, and BigBasket, have been founded by BITS alumni.
BITS Pilani has a Center for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship
(CIIE), an integrated structure for academic and incubation services related to
Entrepreneurship and Innovation. A New Venture Creation(NVC) course is
also offered, the purpose of which is to create entrepreneurs. It provides
students with the proper knowledge and tools to develop an enterprise and take
it to the market.
This study aims to shed light on the nurturing and cultivating startup culture
BITS offers its students.
2. Various facilities provided to entrepreneurs at BITS:
2.1. Incubation facilities across BITS Campuses:
2.1.1. PIEDS: Incubator at Pilani Campus-
The Technology Business Incubator at BITS Pilani, set up in 2004 and
formally inducted into a separate not-for-profit society called Pilani
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (PIEDS) in 2012, has played
an essential role in supporting more than 75 startups since its creation.
As per an estimate, more than 300 startups have been launched by BITS Pilani
students since 2004, which may be attributed to this incubator and the culture
of technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship it created.
PIEDS has funding partners like HDFC Bank, the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology, the Department of Science and Technology,
Government of India.
It has many flagship programs like
PRISM(Promoting Innovations in Individual Startups and MSME)It is an initiative launched by the Department of Science and
Technology, Government of India, established in 1998-99, to
transform an innovator with the novel, new ideas into successful
entrepreneurs by supporting, encouraging, and funding them. This
initiative is for students interested in innovation who have novel ideas
which are also commercially viable. They are then provided a grant for
prototype(“an original model on which something is
patterned”(“Prototype”)) development subject to evaluations to
sanction the project.
(FIGURE 1.1- PRISM LOGO)


I REAP(Rural Entrepreneurship and Agrobusiness Preincubation)It is a mentor-driven and customer-driven agribusiness program by
BITS Pilani that identifies agribusiness startups in their early stages
and helps them access research labs, mentorship, technology credits,
and funding.
Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs(TIDE 2.0)It is a program by BITS Pilani in partnership with the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology to strengthen close to 2000
startups in areas of national concern by using emerging technologies
and promoting 51 incubation centers all over India.
The top seven areas of national concern identified are healthcare,
education, financial inclusion, infrastructure, cleantech, and clean
energy.
(FIGURE 1.2- TIDE 2.0 LOGO)
2.1.2. BioNest: Incubator at Goa Campus-
(FIGURE 2.1- BIRAC BIONEST LOGO)
BioNest is an initiative by the Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and
Entrepreneurship (CIIE) BITS Goa. The main motive of BioNest is to provide
funding and mentorship to start-ups in the areas of Healthcare and
Environmental Engineering. It has also received support from BIRAC, a nonprofit organization under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT),
Government of India. Established in 2018, BioNest aims to provide a platform
for healthcare and education engineering-related start-ups and provide
guidance, space, and facilities to grow their start-up.
2.1.3. TBI: Incubator at Hyderabad Campus-
The main objective of TBI is to provide a low-cost and intensive
sandbox where students can turn their ideas into products or services.
● Services ● Helps start-ups with paperwork in registering and gives
financial advice.
● Provide short courses in Marketing, Finance
management, and IP management.
● Provides consultation services.
● Provides office and lab space equipment.
● Seed-funding and mentorship.
● Prospective entrepreneurs can interact with alumni,
faculty, staff, and other students in a friendly
environment.
● Paxport web services, Idea3D, XBITS, Digipartment, PSPR 3D
tech,
GeneSys Biologistics and others are successful startups that
were helped by TBI.
2.2. Centers for Entrepreneurial Development at BITS:
2.2.1. A brief on CEL and CIIE at Pilani Campus-

The Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship [CIIE]holds the mandate to provide support and mentoring to would-be
entrepreneurs and innovators. It also organizes workshops on different

dimensions of startups held by various leaders and entrepreneurs in this
field, along with workshops on innovation, intellectual property
protection, and awareness.
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL)It aims to promote entrepreneurship among BITS students and caters to
various entrepreneurial students and student and alumni-led startups
through multiple projects.
Some examples of these projects are1. ConquestIt is BITS Pilani’s startup accelerator(“programs that are fixedterm, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and
educational components and culminate in a public pitch event
or demo day.”(“Startup Accelerator”)). It is India’s first
student-run Startup Accelerator in operation since 2003.
Conquest helps out India’s most exciting startups by connecting
them with field experts and investors over three months. The
top 10 startups compete in a grand finale for a cash prize of 50
lakh and various investments.
Conquest also has a BITSian track with direct entry to the
accelerator round for the top BITS startups for the growth of
on-campus startups.
For the 2021 edition, the list of mentors for the top 40 included
Varghese
Matthews(AVP, BYJU’S), Mahesh Vandi Chalil(Head of
Technology, BookMyShow), etc.
(FIGURE 1.3 CONQUEST LOGO)
2. Desert HackIt is a hackathon in which students are challenged to brainstorm
their ideas and create a Minimum Viable Product(MVP) ( “A
version of a product with just enough features to be usable by
early customers who can then provide feedback for
future product development ” (“Minimum value product”))by
the end of the program.
It also involves mentorship to participants, panel discussions by
various successful startups, and workshops to enable students
to build their products.
3. Rural Entrepreneurship DevelopmentIt was started for the primary purpose of creating selfsustainable ventures for underprivileged people around Pilani.
One of the main projects underway is helping the local women
start up a small home industry to make and sell papad. These
are sold to local stores around Pilani and in the messes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_incubator
https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/prototype#:~:text=Definition%20of%20prototype,con
struction%20(such%20as%20an%20airplane)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_accelerator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product
2.2.2. A brief on CEL and CIIE at Goa Campus-

Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) –
CIIE BITS Goa is responsible for providing support to student
and faculty start-ups through incubation, collaboration with
the industry, and protection of the Intellectual Property Rights
of the students and faculty members involved. CIIE also
organizes workshops and seminars where aspiring innovators
and entrepreneurs can gain valuable knowledge and the skills
required to build a successful start-up.
1. New Venture Creation (NVC) –
The NVC is a course on entrepreneurship being offered by
CIIE. This is a course unique to BITS Pilani University, and it
aims to turn students into entrepreneurs rather than just
teaching the various aspects of entrepreneurship to
students. It collaborates with a large number of
entrepreneurs from BITS and other colleges. Thanks to this
collaboration, students receive crucial mentorship and
guidance, which goes a long way in helping their start-up
journey.
In the course, competing teams of students are required to
address the various issues faced during the creation and
running of a start-up. Each team is provided with a mentor
who is an experienced entrepreneur and guides the team
throughout the course and even after the course. At the
end of the course, the top teams are awarded seed
funding to pursue their start-up idea further and
eventually launch it.

Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) –
The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL), BITS Goa,
aims to provide the skills and know-how for building a start-up
for budding entrepreneurs, mainly through mentorship,
teaching, competitions, and summits. CEL allows budding
entrepreneurs to gain knowledge and test that knowledge
through many competitions. Following are some events
organized by CEL to promote the start-up culture in BITS Goa:
1. Coalescence –
Coalescence, the flagship event of CEL BITS Goa, is a 3-day
E-Summit consisting of conferences and discussions where
students interact with professionals in entrepreneurship,
content creation, fundraising, social entrepreneurship,
etc., workshops, and some other events. The first day
mainly involves the inauguration ceremony and a few
seminars, generally by experienced entrepreneurs, wellknown content creators, or celebrities. The second day
involves fireside chats and panel discussions where
students can discuss their thoughts and ideas with their
peers and experienced people in content creation,
entrepreneurship, fundraising, social entrepreneurship,
etc. These discussions help the students gain invaluable
insights which can help them in their start-up journey. The
third and final day involves workshops, fun games, and
other events, where students can put whatever they
learned in the past two days to the test in a fun and
gamified manner.
2. Novatia –
Novatia is a competitive event where aspiring
entrepreneurs can gain personal mentorship and funding
from established start-ups, successful mentors, and
venture capitalists. Of the 500+ start-ups that register for
Novatia, the top 50 are offered mentorship from some of
India’s finest entrepreneurial leaders. These mentors
actively engage with the start-up and guide them through
the hurdles they might face during their journey. Some of
these 50 start-ups are selected for the finale, where they
are given the chance to pitch their idea to a panel of
reputed entrepreneurs and investors. The jury then selects
one winner, who is rewarded through funding for their
start-up.
3. Rural entrepreneurship development The Rural Entrepreneurship Development (RED) program
at BITS Goa is an initiative taken by CEL in collaboration
with Enactus, BITS Goa Chapter. The main motive of RED is
“to promote Economic Empowerment with Business
innovation” [7]. Doing this aims to provide support to social
entrepreneurship and independent social start-ups.
2.2.3. A brief on E-CELL and CIIE at Hyderabad Campus-
i) E-CELL -
(Fig 3.1) E-CELL logo
The Entrepreneurship cell or E-CELL is a center in BITS Pilani, Hyderabad
campus that aims to nurture entrepreneurial skills among the students and
bring together people interested in entrepreneurship. E-CELL organizes
annual events and competitions in their fests to promote entrepreneurial spirit
in the students. Ground reality is the yearly entrepreneurship challenge of ECELL that supports innovative start-ups in and out of their campus. This
challenge allows students to meet other students outside of campus interested
in entrepreneurship. Ground reality also provides Goodies and cash prizes to
winners and an opportunity for the students to pitch their ideas to well-known
venture capitalists and angel investors. Start-ups can even discuss their terms
for funding, and if both parties agree, then, E-CELL will help them sign a
contract for the same.
SUIT-UP is an event in ATMOS(cultural fest of BITS Hyderabad), and it puts
the participants at the beginning of a start-up with the details about the idea.
And then, they have to work around real-life problems to figure out
innovative, creative, and sustainable solutions to make it successful. Hiring
people, marketing, trading, and bidding are some of the concepts used.Other
events by E-CELL in ATMOS focus on marketing, ideation, and selling skills.
The year-round events include Coffee with CEL, Tech to start-up, and
Operation launchpad. Coffee with CEL is a talk show where venture
capitalists, angel investors, start-up founders, high-profile industrialists, and
other influential people can guide the students interested in entrepreneurship.
Tech to start-up works to connect the ongoing technical projects that want to
turn themselves into a start-up with investors. Operation launchpad is an event
where talks and workshops are arranged to teach and inculcate their
enthusiasm for start-ups in students.
E-CELL also collaborates with other centers to organize courses to provide
basic skills required for entrepreneurship. Also, E-CELL Connect is an
initiative by the Entrepreneurship cell, BITS Hyderabad, with the vision to
connect all the entrepreneurship cells in all top tier colleges in India, mainly
IITs, IIMs, and other BITS campuses.
Some On-campus start-ups supported by E-CELL are Trippin unlimited,
Inc42, College Dhanda, Valonia, Gadgetronica, and LTGTR.
ii) Innovation cell ● Provide all kinds of support to those interested in innovation and
promote innovation.
● Making students aware of new avenues.
● Develop skills of students for innovation.
And this would eventually lead to the implementation of ideas and start-ups.
● Sandboxx/Tinkerer’s lab ● Part of the Innovation cell is run independently by students for
students to have access to technology like sensors,
microprocessors, Etc.
iii) The Center for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship[CIIE] ● CIIE Hyderabad has the vision to put the BITS Pilani Hyderabad
campus in India's top three technology and science institutions and the
top 25 in Asia for innovation.
● In August 2013, dedicated to entrepreneurship, a physical structure
was made to offer facilities related to entrepreneurship.
3. Significance of the provisions offered for startups by BITS:
3.1. Impact of entrepreneurial facilities at Pilani Campus-
BITS Pilani is a hotspot for students with an entrepreneurial mindset with
plenty of resources at their disposal provided by an Institute with a long
history of successful startups. The culture at BITS of mostly leaving students
to their own devices fosters independence among students and freedom to
experiment with various ideas to see what works. Pilani is old and relatively
isolated among all the campuses, leading to a robust alumni network and peer
group, which forms an excellent network of mentors, investors, and sometimes
even customers.
For any startup, the most delicate stage is the initial developmental stage
which requires seed capital. The Incubator at BITS Pilani, Pilani Innovation
and Entrepreneurship Development (PIEDS), provides this support and seed
capital to student startups in the early stages of development, giving them a
launchpad for their success. PIEDS also has various backers in both
private(like HDFC Bank) and government sectors(like the Department of
Science and Technology, Government of India) which enable it to provide
better support to startups that give solutions to issues that plague our country
in numerous fields like healthcare. The I REAP program by PIEDS promotes
and supports agrobusiness, which should be a big priority for innovators given
that the primary sector is almost 50% of our workforce. The PRISM initiative
evaluates prototypes made by students and gives them grants to transform
these prototypes into viable products. Thus PIEDS helps student startups over
the first obstacle in their development.
CEL Events like Conquest (an entirely student-run event) enable students to
present their ideas to industry experts who can give them points on improving,
marketing, and selling their products. They compete and learn from various
entrepreneurs from all over India who come to attend and participate in this
event. They get multiple investments and grants from the companies who
attend, not to mention the publicity this event provides. Desert hack gives
students a chance to learn about and develop an essential concept in Minimum
Viable Product, which forms a basis for their startups. Rural entrepreneurship
development teaches students responsibility and gives them a chance to make
sustainable solutions for the development of the underprivileged, an urgent
need for India. All these events build the basic framework for a successful
startup, and the presence of famous and successful entrepreneurs, many of
who are former BITSians themselves, motivates students.
3.2. Impact of entrepreneurial facilities at Goa Campus-
All the factors mentioned earlier make for a perfect breeding ground for startups and entrepreneurship at BITS Pilani Goa Campus. Students are
encouraged to try and test out new ideas and come up with innovative
solutions for problems in the contemporary world. Despite being a relatively
new Campus, BITS Goa has succeeded in building a very robust alumni
network and peer group, which has given BITS Goa an edge due to the vast
network of mentors and investors.
Incubators like BioNest provide funding to start-ups, enabling start-ups to
gather the required resources to grow their business. The incubators also
provide the work environment needed by start-ups to bring together their
founders and employees to work on innovative solutions to problems and
expand their business. Thus, in a sense, these incubators give crucial support
to start-ups when they are at their most delicate and sensitive growth stage.
There’s also the Rural Entrepreneurship Development plan, which encourages
students to work in the field of social entrepreneurship to address the problems
faced by people living in rural areas and those belonging to the economically
backward sections of our society.
Lastly, and most importantly, the centres like CIIE and CEL work to instill an
entrepreneurial mindset in students. Courses like NVC conducted by CIIE,
which are unique to BITS Pilani University, provide students with crucial
knowledge that they will require in the start-up journeys going ahead. Students
are taught to be practical and innovative. They also get the chance to interact
with various well-established entrepreneurs and gain crucial mentorship and
advice through summits like Coalescence and many other seminars organized
by CEL BITS Goa. The panel discussions and fireside chats conducted during
Coalescence are a hotbed for the exchange of ideas among entrepreneurs at
different levels of experience. The workshops organized during Coalescence
and competitive events like Novatia conducted by CEL provide a platform for
new start-ups to test their ideas in a real-world scenario. They also give these
start-ups a chance to present their ideas to venture capitalists, investors, and
industry experts. The founders of these start-ups get to learn what it is like to
run a start-up in a real-world competitive scenario.
All of these factors facilitate the construction of a strong foundation upon
which a successful start-up can be built. Thus, BITS Goa goes a long way in
ensuring that aspiring entrepreneurs are given proper funding, mentorship,
guidance, and ways to test their ideas in a realistic setting, enabling them to
grow their start-ups into flourishing companies.
3.3. Impact of entrepreneurial facilities at Hyderabad Campus-
The centers at BITS Hyderabad related to entrepreneurship organize many
events that help students be aware of new avenues and opportunities for
innovation. Students develop solutions for real-life problems in the SUIT-UP
event that force them to think practically and innovatively. Also, in this event,
participants have to hire people and use their marketing and trading skills to
make their idea successful. This event thus gives them an experience in
marketing and trading that could help them in the future and make it easier for
them to run their start-up. In the Ground reality event, students compete with
others, which teaches them how to strategize in a competitive environment.
Students meet like-minded people, other start-up founders, and investors in
different events and connect with them. Meeting investors and other start-up
founders is otherwise not possible as they are busy, but they make time to
invest in ideas they think have potential during these events. The centers and
alumni network provide valuable advice, resources, and legal help to new and
growing that increase the start-up's chances of success. Talks given by
investors and start-up founders can make students aware of the skills required
and inspire them. The dedication of the students and faculty involved in the
centers to improve the start-up culture and their efforts in that direction are
becoming more effective.
4. Analysis of the interviews conducted:
4.1. Study of the interview with Dr. Rajorshi Sen GuptaFirstly, we would like to thank Dr. Rajorshi Sengupta for allowing us to ask
him a few questions concerning our research on the startup culture at BITS.
He being the Faculty-In-Charge of CIIE, BITS Goa, helped us gain much
growth in our research. Below is our try to put forward the things we
concluded from our conversation with him.
Q1. How do you(Dr. Rajorshi SenGupta) try to support entrepreneurial
development at BITS Goa?
 Sir told us that students come to him if and when a startup faces a problem.
Most of the time, sir tries to solve the situation personally. It is challenging for
a person to build their startup by staying in the hostel room all day. One needs
to meet successful entrepreneurs, learn about their journey, and connect with
people everywhere. Doing this can break a few rules established by BITS, but
it doesn’t seem wrong for the practical purposes mentioned above. To help
students along their startup journey, sir has worked with SWD, the director
and the chief warden to help solve student problems. Sometimes, when a
student needs to go out of the hostel at odd hours for startup related work, sir
tries to intervene and resolve the issue. Apart from this, students also ask sir to
mail the student community about their ongoing projects. Sir then does a
quality check and sends out only the relevant e-mails.
This dedicated work provides much support to the students. Working on a
personal level to support students is challenging. Sometimes a little flexibility
in following rules can allow students to do wonders. BITS Goa students are
fortunate enough that Dr. Rajorshi SenGupta helps them get this flexibility and
constantly keeps working for their development.
Q2. Does CIIE collaborate with the Alumni Network to help the aspiring
entrepreneurs at BITS Goa?
 Our understanding of sir’s answer is that the CIIE and the Alumni Network
come together to decide upon the winners of the Mantra Awards(Mantra
Awards are given to the students of BITS for their excellence in
Entrepreneurial initiative, Innovation and Social Impact). Apart from that, the
CIIE and the Alumni Network have no current collaboration(as of
05/06/2022), but it would be great if there could be one. Both the CIIE and the
Alumni Network are pillars for developing the startup culture at BITS. The
CIIE can support students internally by resolving issues such as coming late to
the hostel due to some startup related work and providing them with a
peaceful environment wherein they don’t have to worry about things other
than their startup. On the other hand, the Alumni Network can help provide
students with some guidance in their way by connecting them to already
successful BITSian entrepreneurs and spreading their startup idea to the world.
Their coming together in any way would undoubtedly lead to something great!
Q3. How can an aspiring entrepreneur manage academics along with
their startup?
 Our conclusion of sir’s answer is that the 0% attendance policy at BITS
allows a student to manage their time. This policy is sometimes misused, but it
can help students if used correctly. He gave Harish’s (the co-founder of
BlueLearn) example and told us that Harish used to attend all his classes and
work on his startup at night. Students at BITS are old enough to know what is
good for them and plan their day accordingly. Twenty-four hours are enough
for everyone. The major problem is that students laze around the entire day
and blame the faculty for the immense course load. Instead of blaming others,
students should focus on increasing their productivity. Time is never short for
someone who is wholly focused on their goals. The no attendance policy at
BITS is unique and gives more time to students at BITS to work on their
startups as compared to those at other colleges such as IIT and NIT. Students
can use this flexibility provided by BITS to build their startup from their
hostel room and manage their academics.
Q4. What are the problems faced while trying to make CIIE function
nicely?
 Sir tells us that currently(as of 05/06/2022), there is only him handling
CIIE. He doesn’t have a team and has to do everything independently. This
fact in itself is pretty surprising. Apart from being the FIC of CIIE, he also has
to teach students, conduct his research and fulfil other institute requirements.
A good team can lead to a proper division of work. A team can generate more
ideas if compared to a single person. Having a team would boost the
productivity of CIIE. This would lead to a lot more entrepreneurial events and
would be an excellent aid for aspiring entrepreneurs at BITS. Even if sir wants
to do many things, it becomes challenging due to limitations in time. He feels
that CEL(Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership), which comes under the
umbrella of CIIE, should come up with ideas, events and developments more
often. It should be a continuous effort rather than an event(called coalescence),
which occurs once a year. If sir gets a team, it would decrease his load and
allow him to think of unique strategies for entrepreneurial development and
aid at BITS Goa.
4.2. Study of the interview with Harish Uthayakumar
Firstly, we would like to thank Harish Uthayakumar for allowing us to ask him
a few questions concerning our research on the startup culture at BITS.He
being the co-founder of BlueLearn(a startup valued at 15 million USD),
helped us gain much growth in our research.Below is our try to put forward
what we concluded from our conversation with him.
Q1. What inspired you to start on your journey with startups
 The most significant advantage of startups is the freedom and
independence of building and ideating anything one desires- be it to solve a
problem or something which the individual finds missing in the modern
world- this is the primary reason many youngsters pursue the idea of startups.
However, this requires good infrastructure, funding, guidance and a group of
like-minded people, all of which can be provided by a reputed institutionBITS proved to be a perfect platform for Harish due to its excellent startup
culture.
Q2. Why did you not go with the usual trend of getting a PPO via a PS or
Thesis?
 Many BITSIANS choose the startup path over PPOs or Finance
opportunities as they want to work and build solutions to their own problems
instead of others'. This is one of the crucial reasons why the BITSIAN startup
culture is considered one of the best in our country compared to many other
technical institutions.
Q3. How did the following in BITS Goa help you with setting up your
startup ventures
a] 0% attendance policy
One of the significant boosters for young ideators is the favourable 0%
attendance policy, common to all the four campuses of BITS. This allows
students to pursue their startup ideas or any other activities in which they
intend to build a career in the future without hampering their academics and
will enable them to pick and learn skills which would be helpful for them in
their professional lives.
b] Peer group
Ans. They say that a person is the average of the four people he hangs out the
most with. Peer group and the kind of people an individual is surrounded by
has a tremendous effect on the person’s mindset, ideas, and ambitions. Thus
being surrounded by a set of like-minded people- meaning people who have a
similar kind of mindset is crucial for the success of any startup. Here in BITS
Goa, we have many successful and talented people we live and hobnob withwho are ever-ready to spread knowledge. This makes learning skills much
simpler.
c] Alumni and their guidance
Ans. "BITS has a culture of giving back", says Harish. This shows how a
strong alumni network can impact the growth of a startup. BITS is known to
have alumni in every corner of the world and in diverse fields who are always
there to help their fellow juniors in career-related matters, academics, and
emotional support. This also contributes to the unique startup culture of BITS
Goa.
Q4. What has the contribution of the various clubs been to your startup
ideas
 How you are involved in the activities and projects of a club majorly
decides how that particular club contributes to your growth. Clubs and
Departments in BITS Goa facilitate personality development, enhance
speaking skills, leadership qualities, facilitate a new vision of thought and
teach individuals how to work as a team to achieve a common goal or a taskwhich has a major significance in case of a corporate environment and
building a startup from scratch. These clubs and departments thus are a
significant reason for the successful startup stories of BITS Goa.
Q5. Possible ways to improve the start-up culture at BITS
 The only thing that could be improved was the incubator facility in BITS. I
feel that BITS should be able to accommodate more startups, as the number of
students wanting to pursue entrepreneurship as a career is rising rapidly.
Q6. Advice for aspirational entrepreneurs
 Quoting Harish- "Just go ahead, build it out, test it out, fail and repeat. No
need to think much- build, test, fail and repeat."
Thus an individual needs to have the rigour to push through failures and be
involved in a constant evaluative and improvement process to be successful in
coming up with a startup. He should not fear the barriers or even failure
because all that will eventually lead to a successful startup - which would not
only make the institute proud but also help the modern man.
5. RecommendationsThere is something that separates students who start businesses and become
entrepreneurs from the students who go on to spend their careers working for
someone else. This separation factor is the startup mindset. The startup
mindset is vital in helping a student support his business success throughout
his career and improving the overall startup culture of the university.
What initiatives can be undertaken to cultivate the startup culture of the
university further?
Courses
Sometimes, taking an all-inclusive course may be daunting to students who do
not even know how to start the journey of turning their idea into a viable
product or service. Individual miniature courses may come to the rescue in
such situations. Courses such as financial analysis for decision making,
introduction to product management, web development, SEO Training, private
equity, venture capital, financial modeling for enterprises, and design should
be open to all students irrespective of a branch. Some of these courses are
usually taken up by students on online platforms, but most give up in between
because of a lack of commitment or busy college schedules. However, if these
courses are a part of a student's semester curriculum, more commitment and
dedication can be expected. Moreover, such individual entrepreneurial courses
will appeal to students with a solid idea and plan to move forward with their
enterprise. It will tickle a typical student's fantasy of having their enterprise,
thus promoting the startup culture at the institute.
Entrepreneurial Disciplinary Projects
An idea can be born or developed further from completing an assignment or a
project for a disciplinary course. Some professors in the university give out
evaluative components that drive students to do extensive research and
develop a solution to a current problem or develop a business plan for an idea
of one's choice. The issues and the answers are generally related to a particular
topic, course, or discipline. For example, coming up with an innovative
solution for the energy crisis could be an excellent project for a class like
thermodynamics. All professors should be highly encouraged to keep a course
component dedicated to such activities. This triggers the entrepreneurial
mindset of a student and can help immensely in cultivating the startup culture.
Interdisciplinary Events
We talked about discipline-related evaluative projects. That is a good initiative
for the professors, but finding the right people can be tricky when bringing an
idea to life. Even though many formal entrepreneurship classes on campus
provide a curriculum and guide one through a project, it is up to the student
and his team to decide if they want to take the project further after the class
finishes. All members' hours, dedication, organization, and accountability are
critical, especially when it is not for a grade.
Students participate in many competitions held outside campus, but bringing
the same type of competitions within the campus will grab more students'
attention. This automatically leads to more participation in these events, and
when they gain enough confidence, we can expect more involvement in offcampus competitions. Hosting more and more events such as business plan
competitions, case competitions, and financial modeling competitions, with
teams comprising students from various disciplines, will bring like-minded
students together.
Moreover, since they all have different fortes, it can lead to a real team of
enterprising young minds who complete each other. BITS Pilani has many
clubs and departments, such as the Center for Entrepreneurship and
Leadership, the Wall Street Club, BITS Goa Consulting Club, Department of
journalism and media, which bring like-minded individuals together. Some of
them organize events like those mentioned above, but it needs to be done at a
more severe and more extensive scale to nourish the startup culture further.
The existing scenario of the startup culture on campus can be improved by one
of two methods. The first is increasing the competitiveness of the selection
criteria leading to funding of only the best-planned startups by students. This
will lead to the increased success rate of stable and growing startups that are in
for the long haul in the coming years.
The second is increasing the accommodation of the incubator to take in the
rapidly growing number of startups in recent years. More funding, office
spaces, customized teaching, and mentorship are areas that can be improved
and should be the main focus of the incubator. Even though it requires more
resources, planning, and labor than the first option, the second option seems
encouraging and non-restrictive.
6. ConclusionAll in all, BITS has all the ingredients needed for students to pursue
entrepreneurship. BITS is now known for its startup culture. New students are
inspired to give it a go because of the vast alumni network and upcoming
startups in the college itself. Various events, incubation centers, and guidance
from faculty members aid them in their journey.
Students have good exposure to the process and demands of a startup and
learn that freedom and discipline go hand in hand at BITS.
The efforts taken by professors like Dr.Rajorshi Sen Gupta and the BITS
administration will continue to inspire students, which will take the startup
culture to greater heights.
References:
Appendix 1: Interview with Dr. Rajorshi Sen Gupta
Appendix 2: Interview with Harish Uthayakumar
Question 1: What inspired you to start your journey with startups?
Answer- " Right from day one, it's been about the independence you get. You
can build anything that you want. That's the cool part of any startup. I think
that having ownership sets up a sense of independence and creativity, and that
is what encouraged me to go ahead and startup.
Also, the people that I was around encouraged me to startup as well; it's just
inspirational to see Bitsians found and build unicorns and really valuable
companies that have an impact on the world, and just looking at these guys
was inspirational, and that was another factor that kicked in."
Question 2 -Why did you not go with the usual trend of getting a PPO via a
thesis of PS?
Answer - "Both financially and in terms of what I really wanted to do, it made
sense for me to startup; I'm not the one to work on someone else's problem.
With that being said, I wouldn't mind working for another exciting startup, but
I would have never worked for a corporate. So my plan was pretty simple: to
start my own thing or work for another exciting startup."
Question 3 -How did the following in BITS goa help you with setting up your
startup ventures1.- 0 percent attendance - "So 0 percent attendance allowed me spend my
time taking meetings pitching writing ideas or even coding or learning
something new, so when you're not interested in a particular class, it gives you
the flexibility to do things that you love, and things that you think can help
you grow."
2 - Peer group - " Yes, BITS has an exciting set of really aspirational peers,
and pretty much everyone is successful in one way or the other, and I think
that s what makes it inspiring, and the diversity is something you can learn a
lot from -so I can look at a footballer, a crypto guy or a web developer can
learn so many things in one go and acquire a diverse set of skill sets."
3- Alumni and their guidance - The alumni are super helpful. I think that
BITS has this culture of giving back, so a lot of successful alumni, including
the founders of pretty successful startups, have helped us along the way - be it
fundraising, be it pitching your idea - be it validating things - be it times I was
lost, and I felt low, they were there for me. I was pleased that I could have a
good set of alumni."
Question 4- What has the contribution of various clubs been to your startup
ideas?
Answer - "So clubs have a very important role to play. I was in two clubs DOSM and CEL, which was the entrepreneurship club. I eventually ended up
becoming the president of CEL. When I was the president, I had to do a lot of
work - I had to deal with a lot of people - I had to organize a team, I had to
organize a bunch of events, make sure that things were going smoothly, I had
to set a vision and basically build everything from zero to one, and that itself
was a massive startup experience. CEL helped me a lot, and that's what turned
me from a shy student to a decent leader- and I wouldn't say I'm the best, but
I'm working towards it, and CEL was a huge stepping stone. DOSM helped
me overcome the fear of talking to people on call - like imagine cold calling a
total stranger and getting them to give you money; it's not easy. DOSM sort of
helped me become bolder. It was a super interesting club, and even the people
over there were really exciting, and it was a pleasure to work with them."
Question 5 -Possible ways to improve the startup culture at BITS.
Answer-Maybe if the hostel rooms had AC, it would be better, and maybe the
incubator facility could be improved a little bit, but apart from that, BITS is
doing a very good job incubating startups. If the professors are understanding,
it will help. If a student doesn't score well, the professor should be a little
understanding if they're focusing on another project or doing something with a
larger vision."
Question 6 - Advice for aspirational entrepreneurs.
Answer - " I would say just go ahead, build it out, test it out, fail and repeat.
There's no other way. Don't think too much - go build, test, fail and repeat."