Bit by bit the community at BITS is sailing the boat of entrepreneurial spirit

BITS focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences.

In 2005, Shubh Malhotra, an aspiring engineer got admitted to the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani’s new campus in Goa. As a member of the second batch of the Goa campus, Malhotra and his batchmates had the responsibility of building the infant campus to the legacy of the popular Pilani campus.

Malhotra said, “The fests, events, and culture at large that Pilani is known for were absent on the new campus. We built the culture from scratch, working hard to bring in ideas, sponsorships, and innovation. And I am thankful to the institute which gave us the freedom to do so, without any interference. We practically built a startup unknowingly.”

Reminiscing about the time he used to sit in his room gaming with his friends, Malhotra added, “People did not support gaming a lot, especially back in 2005 when I was studying at BITS.”

Malhotra then went on to found MPL or Mobile Premier League, a startup valued at over $2 billion, that offers over 70 games across categories such as fantasy, quizzing, esports, and casual games on its Android and iOS apps. In September 2021, MPL made it to the coveted unicorn club after raising $150 million.

Malhotra isn’t the only entrepreneur from BITS to have founded a unicorn. According to data by data analytics firm Tracxn Technologies, BITS Pilani's alumni have founded more than 900 startups, with 13 of them making it to the list of Indian unicorns like Zeta, MPL, Swiggy, BigBasket, and Groww. These companies have raised over $16.29 billion in funding to date from over 1,500 investors.

Over the years, BITS has been inching closer to the IITs or Indian Institutes of Technology, which continue to dominate the country’s startup and unicorn ecosystems. Moneycontrol had reported last week that 73 of India’s 100 unicorns have at least one founder coming from the country’s 23 IITs. BITS has been gradually creating a brand for itself in the world of entrepreneurship, similar to that of the 23 IITs, which investors love.

Also Read: 73 of India’s 100 unicorns have at least one founder from IIT

BITS is a private deemed university in a small town called Pilani in Rajasthan. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. BITS Pilani was formed in 1964 with the support of the Ford Foundation.

Away from the crowd, innovation thrives

BITS has four secluded campuses in India -- Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Students and entrepreneurs Moneycontrol spoke to said that the advantage of being cut off from the clamour of city life makes BITS a melting pot of creative ideas and comprehensive discussions. BITS also has a campus in Dubai.

Apart from having secluded campuses, the infrastructure at BITS also helps students innovate and invent, students said. Phanindra Sama, co-founder and former chief executive officer of RedBus said, “I am awed by the technology BITS has upgraded to over the years. I can be sitting at one of the BITS’ campuses and addressing the students across all its others because of the premium video conferencing technology available. It’s just as good as being physically present there.”

No attendance policy gives students more time to innovate

BITS has a 'no attendance policy' across its campuses. With no mandates on minimum attendance, BITS provides its students with the flexibility to use their time as they see fit.

Harish Uthayakumar, a final year student at BITS Goa, who has founded a startup focused on building an online network of students keen on skill and personality development called Bluelearn said, "I have shot videos for my YouTube channel, attended important meetings, etc. during class hours. With no restriction on minimum attendance, I get my job done during the classes that don't interest me much."

Uthayakumar is not the only one to use the no attendance policy to his advantage. MPL’s Malhotra also said that he and his friends used to skip classes to sit in the lab and work on small projects for the college, such as making an online voting system to replace the physical ballot system for the student body elections.

Malhotra said, “The no attendance policy gives students the freedom of choice with a sense of accountability towards their time. This responsible approach later reciprocated to our startup journey.”

Mohit Bhandari and Gaurav Sangle, founders of Algokart.in, used to write codes for their startup at night and thus missed a few morning classes to get some rest.

Algokart.in later made it to Silicon Valley’s premier startup accelerator Y Combinator and in January 2021, the company was rebranded with a new name, Stratzy. As of November last year, Stratzy has served more than 10,000 retail investors with easy-to-implement stock trading strategies.

A test of merit to join the BITSian community

With more time on hand, students at BITS have been able to start their entrepreneurial journeys along with being consistent with academics. The consistency in academic records can be attributed to the competition among students who have all earned admissions to the college based on merit.

In fact, a few students even opt for the 'early graduation' programme that BITS offers, which allows them to complete their degrees in 3.5 years instead of four. Since the eligibility criteria for earning the final degree is reaching a specified number of credits, if one succeeds in collecting them early, they can opt for early graduation. This provides them a buffer period of the last six months to explore numerous career options or build something on their own before the rest of the batch graduates.

Further, the buffer period can also last up to two years with the help of the 'deferred placement policy,' which works as a safety net for aspiring entrepreneurs. After graduation, students can use the next two years to build their startups. If they fail or change their minds, they can come back and attend the recruitment programme with the ongoing batch and get placed in a good company.

CEL - the startup builder

The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Leadership or CEL, established by BITS, works towards fostering an innovative thought process and the entrepreneurial energy within students. CEL primarily focuses on providing an environment conducive to promoting the students' entrepreneurial spirit and related skills.

With the motto 'Think Big', CEL hosts projects like ‘Summer in a Startup’, and Rural Entrepreneurship Division, among others.

As the name suggests, 'Summer in a Startup' is an internship programme where students work at startups and learn the tricks of the trade. These may not necessarily be related to the subject they are pursuing at the college.

Rural Entrepreneurship Division or RED, meanwhile, is an initiative to ideate self-sustaining ventures with rural entrepreneurs to generate income and employment. From helping the women of an adjoining village to scale up their papad business to facilitating the local vendors in adopting the digital payment system, RED has taken up several such projects and successfully completed them.

Another programme run by CEL which holds priority for the team is Conquest. Conquest, India's first student-run startup accelerator, is a flagship initiative of CEL. It is a four-to-five-month-long, pan-India accelerator programme that caters to pre-seed and seed-stage startups.

Utkarsh Choudhary, a third-year student at BITS, is the current CEO of Conquest. He said, "Conquest started in 2003. It was just a week-long competition back then, at a lecture theatre at BITS Pilani. Over 17 editions, it slowly evolved into a full-fledged accelerator."

The project was then taken to Delhi to bring entries from the national level. Later, Conquest pivoted into a launchpad bringing in investors and mentors to help startups tackle challenges and raise funding. In 2018, after moving to Bengaluru, the project transformed into an elongated accelerator model. He added, "What we were doing over a weekend was expanded to three-four months to ensure that the startups can derive the most value from our network and connections."

In addition to these active programmes, CEL also runs Desert Hack, a 54-hour long hackathon. Participants brainstorm and develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) by the end of the programme, with mentorship from eminent people within the startup ecosystem. Choudhary said, "Desert Hack is a scaled-down version of Conquest. It is specially designed for the students at BITS who are at an early stage of developing their products or are still exploring their entrepreneurial skills."

BITS - an institute for students, run by students

Like CEL, everything in the institution is run and managed by students with minimum to no interference from the faculty. RedBus’ Sama said, “The culture of independence at BITS provides a training ground to students before they go out to work on their own startups. As the president of the photography club at BITS, I used to handle funds in lakhs, without any interference from the professors of the college. It was like running a business and it taught me a lot.”

Similarly, the students are also given the freedom to choose their class schedule according to the timings that suit them. This kind of autonomy provided to the students at BITS can be owed to its holistic curriculum.

Western framework with Indian innovation

BITS, which was founded under The Ford Foundation, helped it to redesign its curriculum in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As a result, several initiatives and policies at BITS are influenced by the Western education system.

Drawing from MIT's curriculum, the institute facilitates students in customising their courses with electives apart from the mandatory subjects. Anirudh Singla, alumni of the college and the Co-founder of Pepper Content, said, "Electives were an amazing concept. Apart from my course, I did a Finance minor. Being an engineer with that sort of knowledge about finance is pretty helpful in the long run, especially as an entrepreneur." Students can also take electives that are not entirely academic but beneficial to their careers, such as public speaking, creative writing, and theatre.

BITS also provides its students with industry experience and a platform to network with professionals, with the help of a long-term internship programme called the 'Practice School.'

Due to the ongoing pandemic, these internships have shifted online. While virtual work cushioned the impact of the exposure students gained from the Practice School, many saw it as a blessing in disguise.

Conquest’s Choudhary said, "Online internships spared us the hassle of relocating and commuting. This gave us time to gain exposure to more than just the companies assigned for the Practice School, which are generally domain-specific to our course. We could also take on internships in our own fields of interest, either by securing them ourselves or through programmes like CEL's summer in a startup." During online internships, they could do what BITSians like best, multitask and work on their personal projects in their free time.

With the community at the helm, the entrepreneurial boat stays afloat.

BITS Pilani's vast campus and innovative policies have long been talked about. However, what stands strongest as the supporter of the entrepreneurial spirit is the sense of community in everyone, even remotely related to the institute.

For years, the inter-batch relationship at BITS has stayed positive and safe. This can, partly, be owed to BITS' policy against ragging, which helps make the seniors more approachable to the juniors. Uthayakumar said, "We have seen some of the best startups growing from scratch in the hostel rooms. I would often go and sit in a senior's room and just observe their work, how they solved problems, how they communicated with clients and potential investors, and so on. This has helped me to work on my startups."

BITSAA has got your back

The students at BITS have a general desire of giving back to the institution. Largely credited as an active member of the BITS family, RedBus’ Sama has mentored and invested in more than 50 startups by BITS students. On being asked what drives him to help BITS students even after years of graduating, he said, “It’s like two Indians running into each other in the US, you just have a lot in common and hence, a lot to talk about. You just bond!”

Uthayakumar shares the feeling and also believes that this sense of community at BITS is a significant reason behind the entrepreneurial success its products are experiencing. He added, "BITS also has one of the strongest alumni networks. It's wonderful how once every few years, alumni from all over the world fly in, especially to attend the BITSAA Global Meet or BGM."

BITSAA or BITS Alumni Association hosts these two-three day long meets, including panel discussions and other events where the alumni can interact, socialise, and reminisce. While the BGMs are helpful for young entrepreneurs, generally, the current students, including student startup founders, are not invited to them. However, BITS has another initiative called the 'BITS Spark' that offers a solution.

BITS Spark, which started in 2011, is an exclusive network of more than 200 BITSian angel investors and select non-BITSian partners. It is targeted at funding high potential seed-stage startups at annual investment rounds. Interestingly, the first and most important criteria for getting funded at Spark is having "at least one BITSian co-founder." The network has backed more than 25 BITSian companies, creating value worth above $900 million.

With more such unique initiatives, a sense of belongingness among the alumni to its alma mater, and a flexible and rich curriculum, the institution has successfully created a self-sustaining ecosystem giving birth to bright, young entrepreneurs.

In doing so, BITS has built a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, paving the way for future growth. India hopefully sees more such institutions joining 'the startup movement' and thus helping the country, which is currently the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, to become more diverse.