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Visit our “The Application Process” page to learn more about our application process.
Startups participate in a five-month incubator program where they receive:
- Hands-on support from top mentors and experts
- Free co-working space
- Access to the FLAME University network
- Access to workshops and office hours
- The opportunity to win cash prizes at FCEI competitions
No, we do not make investments in any startups. However, we provide access to angel investors and VCs depending on the progress you make during the program.
No. We don’t take any equity from startups participating in the FLAME ORIGINS Program. Neither do we charge any fees.
No – this is not a residential program. However, we do insist that you be primarily based in Pune during the program. This benefits you because you can take advantage of the numerous learning opportunities, networking and coaching that will be provided. The amount of serendipity, unannounced-drop-in mentors, and camaraderie that is developed during the program is staggering. Participating in the incubator program is a major commitment, and we expect you to be around most of the time. However, it’s your company, you call the shots.
We provide working and meeting spaces, as well as a lounge, all equipped with reliable wireless internet access. We’ll help you get everything covered with minimal expense. We just want you to focus on creating a great product and business while you’re here.
We organize closed-door investor interactions for select startups that we believe are ready for investments.
While we don’t reject applications just because they have a single founder, it does make things more difficult. We look for great, balanced teams who have a full range of skills. We strongly advise you to seek co-founders who balance your skillset. For example, if you’re a strong developer, you might consider adding someone with business and/or sales experience. If you’re a great business evangelist with no technical background, it’s very unlikely we’ll accept you into the program; so go find a strong technical cofounder to join you.
Yes. But we would encourage you to get a techie co-founder. Some of the most successful companies have been built by co-founders with a combination of technical and domain expertise. Again, we care most about the size of your ambition and your execution capability.
Absolutely, we’re strong believers that the technically-skilled individuals can make some of the best founders. The team and your mentor will work with you to help you understand customer development, validate your idea and figure out go to market strategy. We’ll help you develop core founder skills every step of the way.
You are still eligible to apply if you have taken a very small amount of investment or been awarded a grant. We deal with these situations on a case-by-case basis.
No. Building a successful company requires full-time commitment from day 1 and is almost impossible to do if you’re simultaneously working on something else.
During the first month of the programme, you will interact with various mentors. Subsequently, you will have about two to three check-ins each month depending on your need and mentors’ availability.
If you are yet to graduate but are thinking about building a company once you leave university we’d still like to hear from you. We have the FLAME ENTREPRENEURSHIP LAB (FEL) that focuses on student entrepreneurship activities where you can participate.
No. Just fill out the online application. That’s all you need to do for us. In fact, we probably don’t want to see your business plan if you have one.
We highly encourage it. We believe there is a great deal of value in being in the co-working space together because the other companies and mentors present a great opportunity for interaction and peer learning.
It’s your company, so you’ll be hard at work on your product. You can choose to work out of the FCEI office if you’d like, or you can work anywhere else that you might prefer. About two or three days a week, we’ll organize informal educational sessions with our mentors. We also expect many of the mentors to drop into FCEI at various times throughout the program.
In general though, you’ll be working on your product each day, just like all of the other founders in the program. We don’t tell you what to do or when, but we create an environment that is conducive to helping your startup every day. And we’ll make sure you have lots of experienced mentors around to help you.
We’re certainly not in the business of stealing ideas, and we treat application data as confidential information. For practical reasons, please don’t ask us to sign an NDA. Our application does not ask for your “secret sauce” and there is no reason you have to disclose this to us if you’re not comfortable doing so. We hope that our reputation speaks for itself on this topic. In fact, if required; we will help you with the filing process for IP and Patents.
Yes, you can get kicked out. Just adhere to the FLAME University Code of Conduct and all should be well.