Blog Single

Yesterday, someone asked me: “So, how many startups have we registered?”
This is an easy question to ask. Just like asking “How many marks, runs, projects – so
Startups?” But it’s also a wrong question. Towards the end, we will look at how we
all can participate by asking the right questions – to others and to ourselves too.
Expecting numbers from a budding startup ecosystem like AIIC is like planting mango
trees and asking, “How many mangoes this year?” The answer will always disappoint
us if we forget that trees take years of care before they bear fruit. The right question
is not “How many mangoes?” but “Are we watering the saplings? Are we protecting
them? Are we giving them the right soil to grow?”
Startups are no different. They don’t grow by counting. Startups are a long-term
proposition for the founders. They grow because the environment around them —
teachers, parents, peers — commits to support their growth, even when the results
are still invisible and will continue to be amorphous for a few years.
The vital link on an educational campus – Why Teachers Matter
As teachers, we are the first, direct and most persistent point of contact for
students. When we dismiss or discourage an unconventional idea, we don’t just stop
one startup — we quietly train fifty others to never try.
But when we show curiosity, ask a thoughtful question, or connect a student to
someone who can help, we plant a seed that might grow years later. That small shift
in our own attitude is the real beginning of an incubation culture.
The Real Picture – Why Startups Struggle

1. The Student-founder Mindset
   Most students today still see a job as the natural next step after graduation. For
   many, the idea of starting something of their own only comes up when they fear
   they might not get a job. Very few see entrepreneurship as a choice made of passion
   or purpose. Changing this mindset is our first challenge.
2. The Parental Mindset
   Many parents are lifelong employees themselves. Their lived experience makes
   them believe that a steady job is safe and business is risky.
   When their children say they want to start something on their own, parents often
   react with worry or even resistance — especially if the first ₹25,000 or ₹50,000 of
   funding has to come from home. Students, therefore, struggle not just with the
   market or their technologies, but also their own family’s doubt

3. Idea-to-Product Journey
   Engineering students are often full of excitement for technology, esp if they have
   done something out of the syllabus. But moving from an idea to something a
   customer will pay for — that’s where reality hits.
   Questions like “Who will buy this?”, “Why will they pay?”, and “How much will they
   pay?” often come too late.
   Without that customer understanding, even good ideas end up failing. Learning this
   journey early can save them years of frustration.
4. Finding the Right Partners
   Startups are not solo stories. They need teams that can work together for years.
   But this is also an age when students are still figuring out who they are and what
   they want. Relationships — personal or professional — are uncertain. Many want
   freedom before responsibility. In such an environment, finding dependable partners
   who share long-term goals is not easy.
5. The Environment Around Them
   We become the average of the five people with whom we spend most time. If a
   student founder’s closest five people are employees, the chances of him turning out
   to be a founder are very low. Founders need to be around people who have tried,
   failed, built again — mentors, founders, business owners. That is why exposure to
   ecosystems like MAGIC or TiE Pune or similar networks is vital in creating a sense of
   entrepreneur’s lives and decisions.
   The Path Ahead
   At AIIC, our work naturally unfolds in two directions.

• FIRST: direct engagement with founders.
  This means working closely with students who are trying to build something —
  identifying problem areas, connecting them to mentors and investors, helping
  them understand customers, guiding their projects, and coaching them through
  the practical side of execution.
• SECOND: building the environment
  This is the slower but equally important task of creating the buzz in the larger
  campus — the thought and emotional environment where entrepreneurship
  feels possible, normal, and respected. This involves connecting departments,
  involving teachers, arranging exposure visits, and simply keeping the
  conversation alive. It also means dreaming up tech-development projects and
  offer funded development plans which give students a chance to hone their skills
  while thinking of founding their own startup. It also includes keeping tabs on

government schemes and grants, creating small but meaningful training
interventions, delivering short courses, and ensuring that the right operational
support reaches the right teams at the right time.
Both fronts feed each other. When one student succeeds, the environment gains
confidence. In a positive environment, more students step forward to try.
Hope and Momentum
Worldwide, nearly 95% of startups fail. That means out of every 20 startups we
create, maybe only one will survive.
But even that one success can change the story for the entire region.
Every campus that has produced a real, home-grown success story has seen a ripple
effect — confidence grows, more students dream differently, parents slowly open
up, and teachers begin to take pride in nurturing doers. That single story can reset
the default mindset of a generation.
A Thought for All of Us
Environment creation efforts are not merely about activities like clubs and
hackathons alone. They are about creating a thought environment — an
environment where young people see entrepreneurship not as a backup plan, but as
a bold and dignified path.
And here, every one of us — especially teachers — have a vital role. Each
conversation, each reaction, each bit of encouragement (or discouragement) shapes
how a student sees the world.
So instead of asking “How many startups have been created?” let’s each ask
ourselves, quietly and honestly:

• What am I doing to make this idea grow?
• Am I encouraging, ignoring, or blocking it till my questions get resolved?
  Because in the long run, the real measure of success will not be how many startups
  we have counted, but how many minds we have nurtured.
  Do you wish to participate in MIT’s Incubation effort? Drop in for a coffee anytime!
  
  
  

Atul Kherde
102, Gate 5, MIT CSN West Campus
[email protected]