Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR)
Overview
The Social Alpha Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EiR) Fellowship Programme is a year-long immersive programme that equips passionate ‘entrepreneurs-in-the-making’ with end-to-end capacity building and resources to leverage India’s deep science, innovation, and entrepreneurship environment.
It is anchored in solving chronic and emerging problems, providing technology development support, business planning and venture building assistance, and an in-depth understanding of the social sector. The programme is designed to bring together entrepreneurs and innovators, and foster collaboration amongst some of the top educational, technical, and philanthropic institutions in the world.
Social Alpha promotes innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale sustainable social, economic, and environmental impact.
We recognise the need for a programme aimed at budding entrepreneurs and innovators that:
- is rooted in a practical, hands-on approach to solving societal problems
- is tailored to attract talented and passionate individuals looking to venture into entrepreneurship
- lowers the opportunity cost & entry barrier of starting a social business
- allows latent entrepreneurs to experiment without ‘fear of failure’
- provides innovators and innovations within the Social Alpha ecosystem an opportunity & outlet to market
- is anchored in social enterprise building and immersive development sector experiences
Programme Offerings
01.
Financial Support- A monthly stipend of INR 60,000
- Opportunity to pitch for seed funding up to INR 50 lakh
02.
Strategic & Business Support- Master classes and need-based mentoring on entrepreneurial know-how
- Access to domain experts, mentors, entrepreneurs, and functional specialists
- Checkpoint/ milestone-based progression
03.
Innovation Support- Free access to Social Alpha lab facilities for prototyping and product development
- Easy access to our partner organisations for labs and scientific support
- Mentoring on Design for Manufacturing by Design Alpha
04.
Customised Support- Access to Social Alpha network for bespoke assistance from domain experts including investors, mentors, and industry leaders
Programme Eligibility
- Student innovators from engineering, medicine, sciences, and design disciplines, who are resilient and highly driven.
- Researchers who have completed their PhDs or post-docs in India or abroad, looking forward to commercialising a technology through their own start-up. Prospective fellows should be deeply focused on creating a business that targets the underserved population
- Mid-career professionals, scientists on sabbatical, or serial entrepreneurs who are empathetic, passionate and have an ability to work with, as well as lead others
- Anyone who considers themselves a misfit, has inter-disciplinary background but committed to the dream of building their own successful company and will leverage every opportunity that comes their way
Programme Structure
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Exposure to Social Alpha and the ecosystem
1 -
Prototype Development and Lab Testing
> -
Pilot Planning and Design for Manufacturing
2 -
Field Trials and Certifications
3 -
Business Planning and Pitch
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Developing the entrepreneur’s understanding for turning the technology into a solution to address the identified need
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Helping the entrepreneur overcome critical challenges of lab-to-pilot in the social impact space
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Offering tailor-made support for technology development and team building to accelerate the prototype to MVP journey
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Creating minimum viable product through an iterative process that factors-in feedback from the user community
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Continuous support for developing Go-to-Market strategy, team formation, and basic legal requirements related to IP, finance and statutory requirements
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Cashflow exercises and other financial knowledge support to improve unit economics which attracts future investors
01.
Huddle I:Problem Statements,
Need and Interventions
02.
Huddle II:Product – Market Fit
03.
Huddle III:Prototype to Solution
04.
Huddle IV:Market Readiness
Introduction to Social Alpha and its partner ecosystem. Philosophy of capital, innovation and entrepreneurship for impact. Theory of change - Entrepreneurship as a pathway to create impact.
Huddle 1 - Problem Statements, Need and Interventions
Finding the problem statement, observing sector trends and boiling down to the scope of the intervention planned.
Immersion 1 - Exposure to Grassroots Challenges
A sector-wise immersion exercise along with the Tata Trusts’ on-ground interventions. The E4i candidate will gather contextual understanding of the problem and implementation challenges that exist on the ground. Issues at the Bottom of the Pyramid and various approaches that have been used to address them.
Immersion 2 - Exposure to Start-up Challenges
An enterprise-wise immersion exercise to be done along with the portfolio companies of Social Alpha or partners to understand the daily challenges experienced by entrepreneurs.
Developing an understanding of technology adoption and commercialization, gaining an exposure to innovations at various partner institutions like IITs, IISc, MIT, GOI labs etc.
Instructional Huddle 2 - Product-Market Fit:
Transitioning from an idea to a product/ service/ intervention through understanding product-market fit, competitive landscape and the product lifecycle. Understanding and establishing the product market fit and minimum viable product.
Bootcamp to guide entrepreneurs through all the basic business skills for starting their own enterprise.
Instructional Huddle 3 - Product Development and Prototyping:
Building viable products and gaining hands-on knowledge for the new product development process, and prototype development.
Iterative process for arriving at solutions and test in the market by piloting and conducting field trials, in parallel to GTM readiness.
Instructional Huddle 4 – Go-To-Market Readiness:
Understanding the techniques for sales, marketing and customer service.
Final pitch presentation to be presented to the specially constituted investment committee and potential external investors. Graduation ceremony leading to start-up announcement.
Application
Timelines
