The Story Of Sashakt- Entrepreneurship Culture At DMS, IIT Delhi

Being an entrepreneur requires one to embrace ambiguity and be comfortable with being pushed regularly. Especially when it comes to building the business from the scratch, choosing this path requires undying faith, perseverance, and laser focus.  But most creative minds who aspire to be budding entrepreneurs lack the knowledge of transforming their idea into reality. Before starting up, questions like “How do we select cofounders?”, “How do we do market research?”, “How to register a startup?”, “Whether the idea is practical?” and “How to execute it?”  will ponder around in their minds.

Professor Seema Sharma, the HOD of DMS at IIT Delhi, has been a strong proponent of the institute's entrepreneurship culture. She supported the batch of 2020-22 in the inception of Sashakt - the Entrepreneurship Committee (E-Committee) of DMS, IIT Delhi. Sashakt team aims to establish a startup ecosystem by providing mentorship, incubation, and guidance for budding entrepreneurs.

DMS has a history of producing many successful entrepreneurs in 24 years of its existence. All the esteemed alumni who built successful startups are guiding the E-committee in developing a robust entrepreneurial culture at DMS. The founding members of the committee have prior experience of working as core members in startups. They leveraged their knowledge and expertise in the establishment of Sashakt.

After being asked about their motivation behind Sashakt, one of the founding members stated “The committee works on the thought process that hefty capital is not a prerequisite for building a successful startup.  Execution of the idea is what differentiates a startup from its competition” The E-committee provides live projects by fetching companies to help the students gain experience of working in a startup environment. The committee assists the startups with market research and connects them with mentors in their domain and organizes fireside chat (Webinar series) with leaders to eliminate the myths related to startups and motivate them to pursue their ideas.

The E-committee brings a new perspective to the question- “Is it possible to run a startup during the hectic schedule of an MBA program?”. The committee believes that these two years are the best time to make mistakes and learn from them. Even if you fail, the experience will always help in future ventures. The students of DMS will receive guidance from the E-committee mentors, and faculty about implementing their idea. The committee believes there is already a change in the MBA class of 2021 -23, with more and more people wanting to explore the path of becoming an entrepreneur.