Entrepreneurship Summit

The Syndicate Bank Entrepreneurship Research and Training Centre at IIT Kanpur organized E – Summit in association with the student E-cell. E-summit is an annual event organized with the objective of bringing together the entrepreneurial passions on a common platform. It acts as a networking base for corporates, working professionals, upcoming entrepreneurs and students across the IIT Kanpur community.

E-Summit 2013 was organized from 16^th to 18^th August, 2013 and the theme of the event was ‘Prism of Opportunities’. The Summit was the confluence of ideas facilitated by various competitions, workshops, talks and a panel discussion –

• Competitions -
The following competitions were organized keeping in view the intention of providing an opportunity to the students to exhibit their talent and entrepreneurial ideas –
• ‘Mind your business’ – This was a simulation of the real start-up arena with students divided as entrepreneurs and investors. About 100 students participated in the game.
• ‘So-Cha’ abbreviated for Social Change, was a social entrepreneurship challenge aimed at eradication of social evils by innovative solutions. 21 teams registered for the event, out of which 12 were shortlisted for final presentation. The judging panel included Prof. Deepak Gupta and Prof. Madhav Ranganathan, both professors at IIT Kanpur.
• ‘Pitch your product’, was aimed at presenting a business plan for the technical projects and assessing its commercial viability. 18 teams registered, from which 12 were shortlisted to present their b- plan before the judges. The judging panel included Prof. Amitabha Mukherjee and Prof. Jayanta Chaterjee, professors at IIT Kanpur.
• ‘E-Sell’, a marketing competition, was aimed at devising a new marketing strategy and tagline for the given product. 27 teams registered, from which 17 were shortlisted for final presentation. Mr. Mushir A Siddqui was the judge for the competition.
• Workshops –
To broaden the understanding of diverse aspects of entrepreneurship from idea generation to idea commercialization, workshops were also made part of the E-summit -
• Workshop on ‘Idea Generation and Opportunity Evaluation’ – It was a two-day workshop conducted by Dr. Deepak Roy, Head, Centre of Excellence at SCMHHRD, Pune. There is no shortage of excellent business ideas; but the fact remains that the large majority of start-up companies fail. Why is that? And how can one avoid the common mistakes that many entrepreneurs make?
  This workshop was a step by step exercise for young minds on how to launch ideas at an opportune time and then how to subsequently unfold the ideas into business prospects. The critical success factors that need to be in place were also let known through lectures, demonstrations and some hands-on assignments.
  22 students attended the workshop.


• ‘Innovation Workshop for Aspiring Entrepreneurs’ – This was a 3-hour long workshop by Focus Adventure, India. The participants were familiarized with different tools and methodologies to help enhance their innovative mindset. Participants were showed concepts and practices of entrepreneurial thought and entrepreneurship, promoting an immersive and realistic experience. As part of this initiative, the participants were able to take on the roles of company founders, create a vision and execute a plan for their company – as they would in an entrepreneurial endeavor. It also focused on various models of idea presentation. 30 students attended the workshop.
• Talks:
As a motivational trigger for students, talks by young achievers from different backgrounds and experiences were organized. The speakers were –
• Bestselling author Preeti Shenoy.
• Ambarish Gupta, founder and CEO of Knowlarity and alumnus of IIT Kanpur, 2000 batch.
• Harishankaran Karunanidhi, co founder of Hacker Rank and Interview Street.
• Piyush Agarwal, founder and CEO of Aurus Network and alumnus of IIT Kanpur, 2008 batch.
• Prashant Raj, Managing Partner and Director of The Viral Fever.
The talks were followed by a networking dinner, where the winners of various competitions got a chance to interact with the guests.


• Panel Discussion
For further benefit of the budding entrepreneurial community, a panel discussion was also organised on the theme 'Funding Scenario in India and Future Opportunities'. The distinguished panelists were -
• Navin Honagudi of Investment Team, KAE Capital.
• Ashu Agarwal, Head of North India Operations, Indian Angel Network.
• Anil Joshi, Head of Operations at Mumbai Angels.
The discussion was moderated by Mr Prashant Raj, Managing Partner and Director of The Viral Fever.

E-Summit 2013 was organized from 22nd to 24th August, 2014. The Summit was the confluence of ideas comprising of inspiring talks by eminent personalities, enriching workshops and thought provoking competitions –

Speakers:

Ashutosh : He is the former Indian TV journalist-turned spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party. He has been the Managing Editor of IBN7 of TV18 group. Through his talk, he provided insight into what leadership is all about and what could be the possible ups and downs in a leader’s journey.

Advitiya Sharma : A graduate from IIT Bombay, Advitiya co-founded Housing.com along with 11 other friends to solve the problem of house renting in India through technology. Advitiya talked about the journey of his venture and detailed finely about choosing the right co-founders and tips for resolving co-founder conflicts for the betterment of business.

Akshay Saxena : The co-founder and current President of Avanti Fellows, he was awarded the Draper Richards Kaplan Fellowship and Echoing Green Fellowship in 2012. He has served on the founding team of HeartFlow- a medical diagnostics company. Akshay discussed about how an NGO differs from a social entrepreneur and how the education system has been revolutionized to benefit the underprivileged.

Aakif Merchant: Aakif graduated from The George Washington University with a B.A in Economics and Political Science, during which he interned at Fontheim International, and World Affairs Councils of America.

Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan: Distinguished Professor and former Director of The National Centre for Biological Sciences, he is Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, India, since 28 January 2013. He shared his thoughts on the biotechnical entrepreneurial landscape in the country and the prospective areas which are expected to have a boom in the coming years.

Anand Kumar: He is best known for his Super 30 programme which he started in Bihar in 2002 to coach economically backward students for IIT-JEE. By 2014, 308 of the 360 had made it to IITs and the Discovery Channel showcased his work in a documentary. His journey is a manifestation of a business model to serve the largest number of user-base with a limited capital and in a very sophisticated manner.

Workshops:

Let’s Venture: The association trained participants to get acquainted with the complexities of raising funds for businesses.

Ideas Generation: The workshop taught the participants to refine their thought process and convert their baby idea into a fully grown start-up.

NEN Workshop: With examples of real-life case studies of successes such as PayPal and Fab, the session gave a comprehensive sense of the business tools used by high potential start-ups to the participants.

Competitions:

Mind Your Business: This game gave exposure to the real scenario of a start-up, with investors and start-ups negotiating with each other and maximising their profits.

Pitch-Your-Product: Provided the participants an opportunity to transform their innovations, summer projects or any other such research works into actual entrepreneurial ideas.

SoCha : This competition was about presenting an idea which could bring about a social change.

Decrypt : This case study competition was about solving problems that were critical to answer for an entrepreneur at some stage and carried a potential to mould the future of the business.

Hackathon: SBERTC, E-Cell & Google Developer’s Group, IIT Kanpur hosted Hackathon, wherein teams had to work on a product idea that solved a problem and rendered a social message.

All the above competitions offered prizes for the winners.