Keynote Session                                                                                                                                                                                  Samyuktha | Staff Writer   

Abhinav Arora, the CMO of Avalon Scenes, hosted the Keynote session. He provided insights on leveraging SAAS(Software as a Service) tools for building and nurturing communities. It was an entrepreneurial workshop where he explained terms like TAM(Total Addressable Market) and SAM(Serviceable Available Market). He showed everyone how to use this knowledge to determine the potential of a startup and allocate resources accordingly.

The event’s key takeaways were the importance of market analysis and how it allows one to uncover market opportunities, know what customers think of their products, and improve communication and messaging platforms with customers and segmentation.

Youth Panel Discussion                                                                                                                                                                          Aditya Karigar | Staff Writer   

Formi is a one-of-a-kind social platform that enables people to have great experiences personalised to their tastes. Their SaaS platform is built with your everyday operational needs in mind. Event organisers can arrange, manage and deliver the best events using their cutting-edge tech and wide-ranging capabilities. Using their intuitive dashboard, you can easily do everything from finding targeted affiliates, boosting ticket sales, maintaining a database of attendees and tracking affiliate performance.

BugBase is an Indian platform that enables companies to set up bug bounty programs that can be reached out to by ethical hackers and cybersecurity enthusiasts from all over the country. Bug bounty programs are a way to crowdsource identifying potential website threats, thus safeguarding the web for future users. The company provides a clean and straightforward user experience to engage more cybersecurity fanatics. Despite being a giant in the tech world, several Indian companies, private and government-run, are still not secure and frequently experience security breaches. BugBase also allows organisations to host Capture The Flag (CTFs) events for cybersecurity novices to practice, learn and grow into professionals. 

The event began with the guests introducing themselves and sharing their journey from college to founding their company. We were lucky to have co-founder Sitaraman S and Rishabh Gupta at the event. Dhruva Goyal, an enthusiastic hacker, spoke of how he and a friend formed their group in Manipal and worked on several other projects. Both agreed that leadership qualities, decision-making skills, time management and keeping up morale are essential qualities every founder needs. They shared their experiences on their journey up the ladder to success. Both shared one sentiment: ‘Don’t let the success get to your head’. It was a great panel, with a good mix of advice and amusing anecdotes.

Senior Panel Discussion                                                                                                                                                                          Samyuktha | Staff Writer  

While the youth panel allowed the audience to communicate with a relatable group of like-minded people, this discussion provides insight into what a young entrepreneur can expect in the long term and take advice from people who have followed the same path they wish.

This panel consisted of experienced entrepreneurs ready to discuss their experiences. Mr Anuj Bhatra, a co-founder at Andromeida, spoke about the importance of conducting in-depth research in one’s respective field. Mr Deepak Pareek, a co-founder at Iceberg Creations, focused on content creation, an area he is passionate about. Mrs Smitha Rao, a co-founder at Uthunga, brought forth her experience when scaling her business from three to over eight hundred employees while keeping their needs in mind. Mr Leenesh Singh, a co-founder at 1000 Startups India, believes that having the correct mindset is non-negotiable in order to succeed. Our final panellist was Mr Manish Dsouza, a partner at Eagle Wings Venture.

This panel provided the students with several role models to look up to and learn from in their ventures. It was a successful discussion involving the amalgamation and sharing of knowledge.

Pitch Tank                                                                                                                                                                                                          Samyuktha | Staff Writer  

Pitch Tank acted as a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs where we saw MAHE’s top eleven startups pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and investors and was superbly organised. The panel of judges consisted of five dynamic people; Jayshree Leenesh (Angel Investor), Leenesh Singh(Co-Founder of 10000 Startups India), Anuj Batra(Co-Founder at Andromeida), Manish Dsouza (Partner at Eaglewings Venture) and Khushbu Mehta (Junior Associate at Letsventure).

Pitch Tank showcased a diverse range of startups and their innovations. The event was an excellent opportunity for budding startups to advertise their product to potential investors and make connections. Around two hundred people attended, with the selected presenting their ideas to the panel.

Caze Maze                                                                                                                                                                                                    Sanskriti | Staff Writer  

Providing a platform for showcasing people’s problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities is not new. In recent years several game shows have started a critical-thinking game. Organised on the platform “Unstop”, this event allows engineering college students and business administration to solve complex problems.

Due to the impressive turnout, with over a hundred teams registered for the event, there were two rounds organised in the event. Both rounds included the preparation of a presentation. The first round consisted of preparing four slides on some of the startups regarding issues faced in any domain of operation, marketing, finance, operations, or a combination of the above. This was an eliminative round. 

The shortlisting was based on the proposition’s viability, creativity, and value. The second round was the event’s final round, and the participants had to prepare a presentation of eight slides. The winners of this event were Team Orange, Team Ocean, and Team Hustlers.

Moneyball                                                                                                                                                                                                  Sanskriti | Staff Writer  

Moneyball was an event organised for MIT students inclined toward pitching. The event aimed to improve and test the participants’ debating and pitching skills. The participants learned a lot about pitching after watching others present. 

The event had three rounds, the ideation of which was done beforehand. The first round was a quiz round, and the participants were given ten minutes to answer twenty startup-related questions. The second round was a pitching round, where the teams were allotted products or services to pitch for seven minutes, followed by cross-questioning by the participants and the judges. The third and final round required teams to pitch and debate why their brand was better than their competitors, followed by a debate round. The key highlights of the event were the teams’ dedication, which could be seen just by looking at the presentations they made. The teams debating were energetic and did not miss any opportunity to cross-question the other teams to win.

In conclusion, Moneyball effectively enhanced the debating and pitching skills of the students of MIT. The teams’ dedication and energy during the debate rounds made the event a success.

Fallout                                                                                                                                                                                                      Saranga | Staff Writer  

Fallout, a panel discussion event, encouraged budding entrepreneurs and students to showcase their skills. The event featured a competitive market where participants had to convince a judge, who also acted as a consumer, to adopt their product. This helped improve their sales skills and their ability to research various topics, work in teams, and tackle challenges that big companies face.

The event began with participants presenting their position papers on a given topic which was relevant to their company. The judges evaluated the presentations based on how well they knew their portfolio and how they presented themselves. In the second round, the qualified teams were given a curveball where they had to present an offer to the judges based on a situation given to them. The host explained the rules to the contestants, and the judges created a healthy competitive environment among the committee. Team Honda, Team Tata, and Team MG were declared winners out of the forty participants. The event went smoothly, with participants showcasing their entrepreneurship skills in a competitive environment. The impact of the panel discussion on stakeholders was highlighted, and it is expected that future events will be even more successful.

Money Quest                                                                                                                                                                                                  Saranga | Staff Writer  

Money Quest was a one-of-a-kind event that encouraged strategic thinking, teamwork, time management, and resource management, exclusively targeting MIT’s first years.  Participants were provided with a file before the start of each round that contained clues, prices and rents of properties, and a map. A treasure hunt was conducted for twenty minutes, after which all the teams reassembled at the starting point and placed bids on the properties that they found as clues. This went on for three rounds, and in the end, the team with the highest asset value was declared the winner. When the auction for the first clue, which turned out to be Om Xerox, started, there was incredible suspense as to who could crack the difficulty of this clue.

The teams known as Daredevils, LAXMI CHITFUND and Kasukabe Defence Force were ultimately declared winners. The event was successful, with participants showcasing their skills in this competitive environment.

Innovation Mela                                                                                                                                                                                      Samyuktha| Staff Writer  

The flagship event was lined up on the final day of MES, The Innovation Mela. The event aimed to foster collaboration and a more inclusive startup ecosystem that contributes to innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth. The event had a great turnout, with over three thousand people showing up and over ninety startups. Various interests were accommodated, with the entrepreneurs covering many industries, such as technology, healthcare, education, and e-commerce.

Image Credits: The Photography Club Manipal