The Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI (WSAI) at IIT Madras has announced a one-week in-person programme. The programme is aimed at helping students, researchers and aspiring entrepreneurs transform artificial intelligence (AI) ideas into successful startups.
Titled ‘Building a Successful AI Startup’, the course will be held from August 10 to 14 at the IIT Madras campus. Applications are open until July 27. Interested candidates can apply at https://forms.gle/D355g1noMz539mQx5.
WHAT THE PROGRAMME WILL COVER
The programme is designed to provide participants with practical, hands-on exposure to every stage of building an AI startup – from identifying a market opportunity and developing a minimum viable product (MVP) to refining a business model, preparing for fundraising and pitching to investors.
The course will be led by Lakshmi Shankar, General Partner at Together Fund and former Vice President of Google Search. He has also held leadership roles at Twitter, IBM and EY, and is a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The immersive programme will combine classroom sessions, practical exercises and discussions based on real-world AI startup journeys. Participants will explore customer discovery, market validation, product-market fit, user acquisition, revenue strategy, fundraising, term sheet negotiations and strategies for scaling AI ventures.
RS 4 LAKH PRIZE FOR BEST STARTUP PITCH
The programme will conclude with a Pitch Day, where participants will present their startup ideas before a panel of investors. The winning team will receive Rs 4 lakh to support the development of its AI startup venture.
The course is open to final-year BTech, MTech and PhD students, faculty members, researchers, engineers, product managers, aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage AI startups looking to build and commercialise AI-driven solutions.
Selected participants will receive confirmation via email after the evaluation process. Interested candidates can apply by July 27, while further details about the programme are available on the WSAI website.
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