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One of the biggest <keyword id="3549180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="B-Plan">B-plan</keyword> competition ‘Bzzwings’ is underway at <keyword id="60501" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIM-Bangalore">IIM Bangalore</keyword> where 10 <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> shortlisted out of hundreds from across the country are presenting their ideas to an esteemed panel comprising big investors and <keyword id="226294" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="NSRCEL">NSRCEL</keyword> – the incubation cell at IIM Bangalore. 
 This competition by <keyword id="3369171" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Colors-Infinity">Colors infinity</keyword> is being presented in association with<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IIM-Bangalore-unveils-Eximius-with-some-of-the-biggest-names-from-the-startup-industry/articleshow/53571472.cms"> Eximius</a> and Vista. The jury members are Radha Kizhnattam - VC from Unitus Seed Fund, Denny Kurien - Founder and CEO, Keiretsu Forum, Saumil Majmudar - Founder and CEO Edusports and Veena Avdanam - Mentor, NSRCEL. 
 
Each team in 'Bzzwings' has 10 minutes of presentation time followed by 5 minutes of Q&amp;A. The presentations are required to have no more than 10 slides which should cover these areas - Summary of the idea, Customer perspectives: Need-gap/Customer-pain areas, Market size, Value proposition / USP, Product / Service details, Revenue model and pricing, Sales and distribution model, Key competition and Financial Recommendations. Interestingly, none of these participants have received any venture capital financing for their business plan yet. 
 
Out of the 10 teams shortlisted in Round 1 last month, 6 will qualify today in Round 2. They will receive mentoring sessions for a month and finally 2 top teams identified by an independent jury will make their way to Round 3. These two teams will get an opportunity for incubation at NSRCEL along with equity funding of up to Rs 40 lakh. 
 
Colors Infinity, which is also a partner for Bzzwings and a SharkTank workshop, will be giving out Rs 2.2 lakh prize money to the top teams. The final results will be announced later in September this year. 
 
Business Insider is covering the event from ground zero. Watch out this space to know who will be the top 6 teams today!

Bzzwings – The Biggest B-Plan Competition this year is
underway at IIM-B, and the Top 2 Startups will get Funding upto Rs 40 lakh

<ul><li><keyword id="186684" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="iit-guwahati" source="Orion">IIT Guwahati</keyword> sets up a technology incubation centre to encourage its students to transform their business ideas into businesses.</li><li>The centre will provide technical support, business mentoring, and a soft loan facility.</li><li>The centre also focuses on the empowerment of women in terms of entrepreneurship; it has partnered with NSRCEL-IIMB for Women Startup Program (WSP).</li></ul>To encourage its student entrepreneurs, the <keyword id="666878" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Institute-of-Technology-Guwahati" source="Orion">Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati</keyword> (IITG) has created a technology incubation centre (TIC), which will provide a place for students to transform innovative ideas into viable business propositions on campus. The centre will also provide technical support, business mentoring, and a soft loan facility (subject to availability). It aims to promote advancement in science and technology, traditional knowledge and biodiversity resources; facilitate a platform for entrepreneurship and incubating research mindset for the development of society; and create an interface among researchers, technocrats, and industries. “IIT Guwahati through the TIC has embarked on encouraging the students, faculty, staff and other entrepreneurs to provide necessary technological guidance and convert their ideas into products and technology that will be useful to the society and make the country Atmanirbhar,” said Prof. T.G. Sitharam, director, IIT Guwahati. These incubated startups will work in different sectors such as robotics, information technology, water, oil sector, biotechnology, machine learning, internet of things, renewable energy, home automation and logistics, among other sectors. The Institute said that its incubation centre is recognised by the Ministry of <keyword id="6464993" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="micro" source="Orion">Micro</keyword>, <keyword id="6372449" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="small" source="Orion">Small</keyword>, <keyword id="4022726" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="and-medium-enterprises" source="Orion">and Medium Enterprises</keyword> (MSME), Government of India. The grant assistance from The <keyword id="694074" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="technology-development-board" source="Orion">Technology Development Board</keyword>, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, has also been approved to support startups, it added. It connects to a pool of experts in terms of faculties, funding agencies such as <keyword id="56072" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="oil-india-limited" source="Orion">Oil India Limited</keyword> (OIL) and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), among others, and other financial institutions like Indian Bank and YES bank. The centre also focuses on the empowerment of women in terms of entrepreneurship; it has partnered with NSRCEL-IIMB for Women Startup Program (WSP). It has also partnered with Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) in building the ecosystem for startups to interact with the Indian Defence establishment. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/fintech-company-moneyplanned-raises-over-2-5-crore-from-inflection-point-ventures-others/articleshow/94298456.cms">Fintech company MoneyPlanned raises over ₹2.5 crore from Inflection Point Ventures, others</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/is-covid-19-finally-over-in-india-this-is-what-who-and-experts-have-to-say/articleshow/94298319.cms">Is Covid-19 finally over in India? This is what WHO and experts have to say</a>

IIT Guwahati starts incubation centre to help its students turn entrepreneurs

At a time when chorus is growing for more <keyword id="74945" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Women-Entrepreneurs">women entrepreneurs</keyword>, <keyword id="6361649" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Goldman-Sachs">Goldman Sachs</keyword> is supporting <keyword id="273011" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="NS-Raghavan-Centre">NS Raghavan Centre</keyword> for Entrepreneurial Learning at <keyword id="60501" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIM-Bangalore">IIM Bangalore</keyword> to launch a women startup programme that will encourage and support women in starting their own busines 
 
The programme is a three-phase model that will offer online and classroom training, as well as business incubation, to support the next generation of women entrepreneurs. IIMB said the programme will be offered at no cost and is open to all aspiring women entrepreneurs. That means women with no previous entrepreneurial background but keen to set up ventures of their own can enroll for the programme. 
 “We have designed this course by combining the latest research on entrepreneurial methods and best practices,” said <keyword id="732972" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Suresh-Bhagavatula">Suresh Bhagavatula</keyword>, chairperson of entrepreneurial ecosystem development at NSRCEL in a statement. The course will teach both entrepreneurial and managerial skills, provide mentoring and networking opportunities, and access to capital to help empower women navigate their early ventures as well as equip them with tools to strategise and grow their businesses. 
 
Notably, India was placed in the ‘bottom three’ among 31 countries when it came to opportunities for women to start entrepreneurial initiatives, according to a 2015 Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard, sponsored by Dell. The US led the list with a score of 71, followed by Canada, Australia, Sweden and the UK. The scorecard of 31 countries ranked India in the 29th position followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh. 
 
Sonjoy Chatterjee, chairman and co-CEO of Goldman Sachs (India) said - "Goldman Sachs is committed to investing in communities and is honoured to support IIMB in their efforts to educate the next generation of women entrepreneurs in India.” 
 
He said the company has long invested in the potential of women entrepreneurs — through its 10,000 Women initiative — to fuel economic growth and help build stronger communities globally.

Here's how Goldman Sachs and IIM-B plan on encouraging women entrepreneurs in India

Some of the biggest names from the startup ecosystem are in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIM Bangalore</a> campus today, either giving speeches in the auditoriums or judging competitions and providing mentorships within closed doors to startups and students from across the country, as the ninth edition of their National Annual <keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship</keyword> Summit ‘Eximius’ kickstarts. 
 
The summit themed ‘The Time Is Now’ has names like P Chidambaram, Kunal Kapoor, Devdutt Patnaik among others associated with it, and this extravagant show has been put up by The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cell in association with the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIMB</a>. 
 One look at the array of events shows that like every year, this year too Eximius USP of holding the event is to get the biggies under one roof and encourage students from across the country with failed start-ups or who aspire to have startups, to be able to meet investors like <keyword id="720079" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="IvyCap-Ventures">IvyCap Ventures</keyword> and Shark Tank during competitions or mentorship sessions. The exchange of ideas will enable these students to be better prepared before they take on the entrepreneurship journey. The competitions will have participants solving a range of problems faced by start-ups and entrepreneurs in marketing, operations, finance, sustainability and fund-raising. Several online and on-the-spot events such as quizzes and simulation games mark the event. 
 
Eximius is featuring at least 150 start-ups and in over 30 events, and Business Insider is in the campus to cover some of the best sessions. Here’s a sneak peek into what is unfolding at the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIM-B</a> campus: 
 
Speaker List: Eximius 2016 will host eminent speakers including P Chidambaram (former Finance Minister of India); Duvvuri Subbarao (former RBI Governor); Dr Jacob Crasta (Prime Minister's SME Council); Dr P Namperumalsamy (Padma Shree Awardee, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care); Dr <keyword id="160324" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Devdutt-Pattanaik">Devdutt Pattanaik</keyword> (bestselling author); Shradha Sharma (Co-founder YourStory); Sujayath Ali (Co-founder CEO Voonik); Kunal Kapoor (actor and co-founder Ketto.Org); Mukesh Singh (co-founder &amp; CEO Zopnow); Piyush Mishra (actor) and Anshu Gupta (founder Goonj). 
 
Flagship events 
Bzzwings: Bzzwings, the business plan contest, encourages individuals to conceptualise, ideate and take the plunge. Winning teams will get incubation at IIMB’s NSRCEL. Prizes worth Rs. 40 lakh will be given away in this contest. 
 
Fast Forward: Fast Forward is targeted at business ideas built around information technology that can impact millions and start a revolution. It offers exclusive mentorship to selected teams. The winners of Fast Forward will get prizes worth Rs. 2.5 lakh. 
 
The Other Incentive: The event is aimed at promoting and supporting social entrepreneurship. This is for ideas where revenues and bottom-line profits are hygiene factors and social impact is the key measure of success. The event is being organised in association with Villgro, a leading social incubator. Social entrepreneurs could win an incubation opportunity of up to Rs. 65 lakh from Villgro and prizes worth Rs. 80,000. 
 
The Game of Clicks: The event bridges the gap between students and start-ups. In this marketing challenge, teams compete in real-time for digital marketing. It gives students the opportunity to collaborate with start-ups to develop their marketing strategies. Each student team works closely with a start-up to develop and implement its digital marketing strategy over a period of three weeks. The winning teams get a chance to win prizes worth Rs. 50,000. 
 
Wipro Earthian Sustainability Quiz: Governments, organisations and leaders across the world are thinking about sustainability. Eximius 2016 will present the Earthian Sustainability Quiz in association with Wipro, based on sustainability and the environment. Prizes worth Rs. 1.1 lakh are to be won. 
 
Bootcamp Kiosk: Early stage start-ups can showcase their business models and company goals at the Startup Bootcamp. The bootcamp will give start-up founders the chance to demonstrate their vision to a captive student community of future business leaders and entrepreneurs. Additionally, start-up founders will get a chance to imbibe key lessons from industry veterans and investors. 
 
Workshops: This year the bootcamp workshops will be conducted by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IBM&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IBM</a>, Greg Maron (co-founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Zoomcar&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Zoomcar</a>) and HeadStart Network, India’s leading community for start-ups. The workshops will cover diverse themes such as innovative business models, leveraging start-up ecosystems, start-up marketing, scaling and building an empowered venture. 
 
<a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/insideiim/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/26020014/IIM-Bangalore.jpg">Image Source</a>

IIM Bangalore unveils 'Eximius' with some of the biggest names from the startup industry

Do you still gather around the coffee machine to talk about what’s brewing at Bigg Boss? How about getting some <keyword id="1939014" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Live-tweets">live tweets</keyword> about what you love or hate on TV – bang on the TV screen? That’s right, no need to fiddle with your smartphone to check out what others are saying. Bangalore-based <keyword id="1938985" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BrizzTV">BrizzTV</keyword> makes sure that you can do that and even more, right from your TV screen and (here’s the topping on the cake) without any <keyword id="6357247" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Internet">Internet</keyword> connection. 
 <keyword id="1938984" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BrizzTV-Media-Lab">BrizzTV Media Lab</keyword> has been around for 3 years now and focuses on bringing all formats of content onto the television screen. Its first product was <keyword id="972173" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="iExam">iExam</keyword>, an interactive test preparation service on TV. Next came <keyword id="1938991" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freemium-Movies-on-pay-TV">Freemium Movies on pay TV</keyword> – a unique concept where viewers can watch the latest <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> movies for free and without a single ad break. But you see it on 75% of the screen space while the remaining 25% screen is used for an L-shaped ad. 
 The latest from the BrizzTV stable is <keyword id="1938987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Twitter-on-TV">Twitter on TV</keyword>, which brings all social conversation around a TV programme bang on to the TV screen in real time. A US study shows that 95% of the public social conversation around TV happens on <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword>. In India, there are around 15 million Twitter users while television viewers throng almost every household. That amply explains why the start-up decided to come up with this new initiative last month. Here is a snapshot that captures BrizzTV’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs BrizzTV: Three co-founders – <keyword id="1938993" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amarendra-Sahu">Amarendra Sahu</keyword>, <keyword id="1938986" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jitendra-Jagadev">Jitendra Jagadev</keyword> and <keyword id="1938995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Krishnan-Varadarajan">Krishnan Varadarajan</keyword> – who call it a <keyword id="1938996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="college-dorm-start-up">college dorm start-up</keyword> because it was incubated at a set-up run by <keyword id="60501" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="IIM-Bangalore">IIM Bangalore</keyword>. An alumnus of NIT Karnataka and IIM-B, Amarendra has specialised in Computer Science and worked with Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper <keyword id="50752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Networks">Networks</keyword>, Cisco and Avendus Advisors for 5 years. Jitendra was Amarendra’s batchmate at NIT-K and worked with Philips and Cisco for a span of 7 years. Krishnan is Amarendra’s friend and holds a BE in Computer Science from <keyword id="6361013" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Madras-University">Madras University</keyword>. Earlier, he had worked with Philips and another start-up called Prysm Inc. 
 
What inspired the venture: The zeal to spread the digital revolution. Both Amarendra and Jitendra come from Orissa. But nothing seems to have changed in that state over the past 10 years in spite of the digital revolution around the globe. “Internet could be empowering but only when it reaches people in a way they can use and benefit from it,” observes Amarendra. “But we saw three main obstacles to mass Internet adoption – affordability, accessibility and ease of use. Hence we thought of provisioning some digital content on TV, so that millions of homes can access it on their existing <keyword id="388204" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="television-sets">television sets</keyword> without spending a single penny and without learning how to use a PC. As long as you know how to operate a <keyword id="722747" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="TV-remote">TV remote</keyword>, you are good to go,” he adds. 
 
What’s the pitch: BrizzTV is a ‘first screen’ company that has pioneered next-generation TV viewing. It puts all relevant social buzz alongside the TV programmes on the same screen – so that you won’t require any other <keyword id="1939016" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Companion-device">companion device</keyword>. 
 
How it works: The digi-media technology firm is catering to the B2C segment upfront and it’s just click-and-go for everyday users. However, the real business lies in exploring the B2B segment. For Twitter on TV, the company only needs to tie up with <keyword id="454021" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="dth-service-providers">DTH service providers</keyword> and it will reach their customers in no time. “We don’t require broadcast partners since the service is user-invoked,” explains Amarendra. 
 
Once the tie-up is in place and BrizzTV installs its system, it works in three steps. The firm curates interesting tweets about TV programmes from the Web (based on majority algorithm). Then these tweets are made broadcast-able in a TV network. On the TV side, it overlays these tweets received via broadcast with the TV programmes on viewer opt-in (you can do that by pressing the green button on your remote). 
 Since tweets are converted to broadcast-able format, <keyword id="756327" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="TV-sets">TV sets</keyword> or set-top boxes need not be connected to the Internet for receiving the tweets. “That’s how we are available on all 8.5 million set-top boxes that <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword> has in India,” clarifies Amarendra. 
 The market size for Twitter on TV will be the entire country, according to the founders. The start-up is also targeting a chunk of the print ad pie in India, estimated at over $4 billion, by bringing display ads directly to TV via digital platforms. In a way, that’s creating a new market – <keyword id="1939000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Digital-ads-on-TV">digital ads on TV</keyword>. The firm has already tied up with <keyword id="279704" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Airtel-DTH">Airtel DTH</keyword> for all its products in a bid to reach millions of homes across India. 
 
Claim to fame: BrizzTV claims to be the first company to bring contextual tweets directly to a broadcast TV network and that too, in real time. It is also the first company to introduce permission advertising/freemium advertising for pay TV. But the founders believe that the real claim to fame lies in throwing open a market that would get bigger every day. “Imagine our reach with Twitter on TV – 8.5 million homes (over 30 million individuals assuming 4 per family) with just one <keyword id="1840316" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="DTH-operator">DTH operator</keyword>. And it’s on six premium channels for at least 2 hours every day. That kind of reach isn’t available even at large destination websites in India. Our reach and time with users are an unparalleled opportunity,” says Amarendra. 
 
Show me the money: Currently, its revenue model is a mix of <keyword id="1939012" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Product-subscription">product subscription</keyword> (for iExam) and advertisement earnings from Twitter on TV and Freemium Movies. BrizzTV is yet to sell ads on Twitter on TV but for Freemium Movies, it has on-boarded some big clients such as ITC, Nestle and Maruti. However, the company has not reached break-even yet and continues to burn cash on R&amp;D and technology development. 
 The start-up raised an undisclosed amount in Series A from <keyword id="226299" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ojas-Venture-Partners">Ojas Venture Partners</keyword> back in 2011. Prior to that, it had raised a debt grant of Rs 25 lakh from <keyword id="1939005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nadathur-S-Raghavan-Center">Nadathur S. Raghavan Center</keyword> for Entrepreneurial Learning or <keyword id="226294" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="NSRCEL">NSRCEL</keyword> (a joint set-up of IIM Bangalore and the <keyword id="6623307" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Department-of-Information-Technology">Department of Information Technology</keyword>) where it was incubated. 
 
Biggest challenge: Striking new partnerships with TV service providers. “Until we are able to do that, <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword> can’t invade every home or occupy the first screen,” feels Amarendra. According to him, BrizzTV’s key competitors will be middleware companies like Cisco, Nagravision and Irdeto. The start-up also anticipates competition from destination websites and smart TV/device players as they try to grab the attention of TV viewers.

Social TV Has Started Buzzing In India As This Start-up
Brings Tweets On-screen

When I entered the <keyword id="60501" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIM-Bangalore">IIM Bangalore</keyword> campus yesterday, right from the entry gates to the registration desk, at every point my mind asked a question where I was supposed to go, there was either a smiling IIM-B staff to escort or signboards to direct me. 
 I was aware that it is one of the biggest <keyword id="3549661" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startup-summit">startup summit</keyword> taking place in the country which is why my Editor flew me down to cover it, but having visited a few events in my journalistic career, I was still expecting arrangements here to be shoddy considering it was a student-led summit. Blame this cynicism for some of my past no-so-good experiences. Once down here, however, I was in for a pleasant surprise. 
 
Walking down the lush green lanes at IIM to the Main Building where <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IIM-Bangalore-unveils-Eximius-with-some-of-the-biggest-names-from-the-startup-industry/articleshow/53571472.cms">'Eximius'</a> was underway, I already knew I was going to not just just a big, but also a well-managed event. Often, when going for such summits, one sails through a comfortable experience but fails to acknowledge the efforts that go behind putting the event together. And so, I decided to uncover ‘Behind the Scenes’ to understand what must have gone behind putting together Eximius – an event that has 150 college partners, over 100 plus corporate partners, 6 stalwarts as keynote speakers (including former Finance Minister <keyword id="43940" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="P-Chidambaram">P Chidambaram</keyword>, Rang De Basanti fame Kunal Kapoor, Actor-Singer-Theatre Director Mr <keyword id="127525" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Piyush-Mishra">Piyush Mishra</keyword> among others). 
 
It’s no child’s play really to host 37 events featuring 150 startups in a mix of sessions - mentorship, on-the-spot events like quiz and simulation games, workshops and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Bzzwings-The-Biggest-B-Plan-Competition-this-year-is-underway-at-IIM-B-and-the-Top-2-Startups-will-get-Funding-upto-Rs-40-lakh/articleshow/53581937.cms">B-plan contests </a>where over a whopping Rs 1 crore is up for grabs! Moreover, some of these sessions have had several rounds before Eximius started, and will have several others after this summit ends. It means continued and doubled efforts for the Organizing Team comprising 33 members - all first and second year Post Graduate Program students. The show they put up is for everyone to see and relish, but the journey to this was a rather difficult one. 
 
During my interaction with the organizers, I learnt that full-fledged work on planning the event began earlier this year, around the same time when several PGP students were underdoing rigorous internships. Kushal Singhal, the Sponsorship Head for Eximius, said, “We were working for the event despite putting 16 hours each day into our internships. We would just go to our rooms to get some sleep.” 
 
Nishank Bidamia, another core team member, said, “Event planning starts 5-6 month in advance and the idea is to conceptualize the event well. We have to make sure the problems statements are conducive enough for participants, the kind of crowd that we get are good for sponsors and several other such things. At the same time, we didn’t want to lose the entrepreneurship focus because our main intention all along was to keep Eximius more entrepreneurship-friendly this year.” 
 
However, real introspection on how to conduct Eximius 2016 had begun last August itself, when the 8th edition took place. 
 
Nishank explained how - "Last year, the first thing we did after Eximius got over was to review the event. We started telling ourselves where we had gone wrong. On the basis of this, we decided to improve on our mistakes in the next edition. So, we first went about solving these problems before planning anything new.” 
 
Once done, the team came up with some new sessions on social entrepreneurship, focusing on technology and digital marketing. Nishank took pride in adding that their hard work helped triple the prize money in competitions this year. No wonder, this team estimated the footfalls to be close to over 5,000 for just a two-day event. 
 
The Organizing team roped in two big incubators– NSRCEL which has a long term association as it works as IIM-B’s incubation cell, and Villgro which came onboard this year and claimed it was ready to provide incubation up to Rs 65 lakh if pitches by social entrepreneurs would compel them to. 
 “There are opportunities of up to Rs 1 crore for people to grab in our event. Besides that we also have IBM and <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword> who will also be viewing entries. There again is a chance of getting VC funding here if startups impress them. We also started a monthly initiative called B-starters last year to promote entrepreneurship within the college. IvyCamp, a part of IvyVentures, was brought on-board so that people who want to be entrepreneurs in college and who aspire to be one in and around the college could get an opportunity to get access to mentors. We are carrying this association with them in Eximius where startups would get a chance to be mentored by the Ivy mentors,” said Nishank. 
 
The most startling fact is that they went contacting companies using social media. Kushal said, “We contacted companies through Linkedin. The IIM tag and the success of the previous Eximius editions helped us a lot in getting companies to sponsor the event.” 
 
Eximius has been growing by 15-20 per cent every year, and there was no reason for the organizing team who started looking for sponsorships in February this year, to believe that they would fail in their endeavour. But again, the journey was not a cakewalk and their sportsmanship reflects as they shared details with Business Insider. 
 
Kaushal Kishore, the Secretary of ENI club at IIM Bangalore, said, “For each sponsor we contacted, we had a list of at least 15-20 companies who rejected our proposal. Almost 35 companies rejected out proposal. Sponsorships side, we got rejections from on the event side as well. So, we must have contacted at least 100 or more personalities for speaker sessions. Some rejected the offer, some agreed but the time of the event did not suit them and so they turned the offer down, till ultimately when we zeroed in on the 10 eminent speakers that we have now.” 
 
Even as it was a nerve-wracking moment for these students, the best part is they all laughed about it while narrating their experience. Just three days before the D-Day as I got chatting with them, they were excited and nervous both. 
 
Kushal said – “We attend classes till 6 pm, then assemble for the event work. We stay up till 6 am in the morning. Even if we there’s time to sleep, we can’t.” 
 
But almost all of them pitched in to tell me what fun time they had attending classes, carrying out internships and doing submissions while working crazily for Eximius by staying up late, chatting and having meetings in the dead of the night alongside some music. 
 
Kaushal said, “A team of 33 have been handling this event and after passing out from college, we don’t think we will ever get a chance in life when such a dedicated team would ever come together again to drive an event or a project.” 
 
For someone who came here to cover the event, I see a larger thing that goes their credit - As innovative business models are being unearthed at the IIM-B campus throughout the day today, the team has been able to connect the student community and early-stage startups to the industry (mentors, investors and full-grown startups) inside their campus which can help ideas get transformed into empowered ventures. When we say India needs a startup ecosystem, this is what it means, except that it has to be done on a much larger scale, but with the same passion, dedication, willingness, commitment and goal. 
 
…..At least we know, India is going into the right hands. Kudos, TEAM EXIMIUS!

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Bzzwings – The Biggest B-Plan Competition this year is underway at IIM-B, and the Top 2 Startups will get Funding upto Rs 40 lakh

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IIT Guwahati starts incubation centre to help its students turn entrepreneurs

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Here's how Goldman Sachs and IIM-B plan on encouraging women entrepreneurs in India

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IIM Bangalore unveils 'Eximius' with some of the biggest names from the startup industry

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Social TV Has Started Buzzing In India As This Start-up Brings Tweets On-screen

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Meet the Core Team of EXIMIUS, The Hottest Student-led Entrepreneurship Summit going on in India right now

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