The Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI (WSAI) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has announced a one-week, in-person course aimed at helping students, researchers and early-stage entrepreneurs transform artificial intelligence (AI) ideas into commercially viable startups. The programme will conclude with a pitch competition, where the winning team will receive Rs 4 lakh to support its AI venture.
Titled 'Building a Successful AI Startup', the programme will be held from August 10 to 14 at the IIT Madras campus. The institute said that applications are open until July 27, with selected participants to be informed after an evaluation process.
According to WSAI, the short course has been designed to provide practical exposure to every stage of building an AI startup, from identifying market opportunities and developing a minimum viable product (MVP) to refining business models, preparing for fundraising and pitching to investors. The programme will combine classroom sessions, hands-on exercises and discussions centred on real-world AI startup journeys.
The institute said that participants will learn about customer discovery, market validation, product-market fit, user acquisition strategies, revenue models, fundraising, term sheet negotiations and scaling AI ventures. The programme will culminate in a Pitch Day, during which participants will present their startup ideas before a panel of investors. The top-performing team will receive Rs 4 lakh to support the development of its AI startup.
The course will be led by Lakshmi Shankar, General Partner at Together Fund and former Vice President of Google Search. He has previously held leadership positions at Twitter, IBM and EY, and is a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
WSAI said that the programme is open to final-year BTech, MTech and PhD students, faculty members, researchers, engineers, product managers, aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage AI startups seeking to commercialise AI-driven solutions. The school added that the initiative is intended to strengthen India's AI entrepreneurship ecosystem by equipping participants with the technical, business and fundraising skills required to build sustainable ventures.
