Google announce an initiative, Startup School India, that aims to organise accumulate knowledge into a structure curriculum to enable startups in small cities overcome various challenges.
Google hopes that the programme will help 10,000 startups in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
The nine-week programme, deliver virtually, will have fireside chats between Google leaders and collaborators from across the startup ecosystem, spanning fintech, business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce, language, social media and networking, job search and many other areas.
The curriculum will feature instructional modules on subjects such as shaping an effective product strategy, deep dives on product user value, building apps for next billion users in markets like India, driving user acquisition among many others.
With nearly 70,000 startups, India is the third-largest base for startups in the world.
As more Indian founders lead their companies successfully to IPOs or unicorn status, it has sparked a virtuous cycle wherein their success stories have ignited aspirations among young Indians across the country.
No longer restrict only to larger cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai or Hyderabad, promising startups are mushrooming in centers such as Jaipur, Indore, Gorakhpur and other locations.
In fact, these account for nearly 50% of all recognise startups in India, at present.
90% of all startups fail within the first five years of their journey, mostly for the similar key reasons – unmanage cash burn, flaw demand assessment, ineffective feedback loops or lack of leadership, Google said in a blogpost.
The latest initiative recognises this void, and acknowledges the need for programmes that can organise accumulated knowledge into a structure curriculum and deliver it across a wide footprint.
Google Said :
“Startup School India, a Google for Startups initiative is designed to do precisely that as we align our efforts to support this expansion,”.
Indian entrepreneurs have garner a wealth of institutional knowledge, Google said, noting that a defining tradition of the community has been knowledge sharing, which helps others learn faster, avoid known pitfalls and borrow useful growth hacks.
Google blogpost said :
“Aim at early stage founders with a minimum viable product, the programme provides the flexibility of a virtual curriculum and allows attendees to pick and choose the modules they’d like to tune in for,”.
There will also be opportunities for founders to gain insights from discussions around what makes an effective founder, formalising hiring and other key aspects.
