Some of India’s prominent start-up founders and investors including Suruchi Maitra (Lenskart, UnitedLex, Daksh), T N Hari (Daksh, Virtusa, TaxiForSure, BigBasket), Sanjeev Aggarwal (Daksh, Helion, Fundamentum), Pramath Sinha (ISB, Harappa, Ashoka), Ashish Gupta (Helion, Junglee), and Pavan Vaish (Daksh, UnitedLex, Uber) have come together to set up the Artha School of Entrepreneurship which will look to assist entrepreneurs in scaling their start-up ventures.The school is set up as a Section 8 Company (a not-for-profit organisation).
The first offering by this school is the Artha Scale Programme, designed for founders of early start-ups which have achieved some degree of product-market fit and are poised for scale. The objective of the programme is to make the art and science of scaling accessible to these founders. The defining component of this programme is a set of in-person and intense problem-solving workshops facilitated by experienced practitioners.
The participants will also have access to online content, in multiple formats, relating to all elements of scaling as well as to a set of committed mentors, who are successful founders and startup executives, to help them think through some of their scale challenges.
The first set of workshops already took place in Kochi this year. Workshops have been scheduled in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi and would soon be extended to Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Mumbai, and Chennai, the firm said in a statement. Artha is also partnering with T-Hub in Hyderabad and KSN Global in Kochi. Discussions are also underway to partner with ecosystem enablers in other states.
The key themes for the initial set of workshops include founder growth, organisation and culture, funding and capitalisation, and building a sustainable business. “In the decades to come, India’s quest for prosperity and inclusive development will be addressed at the confluence of technology, entrepreneurial energy, and patient capital. In the process, many large companies would take shape,” said Maitra in a statement.
“India’s quest for equitable growth will never be fulfilled unless founders from all socioeconomic backgrounds realize their full potential. The Artha Scale Programme has been carefully designed to create impact on a bigger canvas,” said T N Hari.