Conquest 2017: The Grand Finale
As the whole city of Delhi woke up to a lousy Sunday morning, there was a bunch of people in the center of the city who were far from being low. Months of hard work through the registration process, shortlisting, and mentoring sessions in 3 cities had culminated to the auditorium of the Hyatt Regency, New Delhi, the venue for the Grand Finale of Conquest 2017
As the Conquest team reached the venue and set everything up, the place was already abuzz with dignitaries from the startup world, young founders, aspiring founders, people with decades of experience and people from across the spectrum with aspirations of having a memorable and eventful day. With tiny bits of nervousness and anxiety, the top 10 startups were determined to give their best shot at the coveted prize of Conquest 2017.
The day began with a light breakfast and registration of the jury, participants, mentors, investors etc. Among the dignitaries was the Chief Guest, Dr. Bindu Dey, Secretary, Technology Development Board; Professor Shouvik Bhattacharya, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani; Professor Arya Kumar, Unit Chief, Entrepreneurship Development & Intellectual Property Rights at BITS Pilani and other stalwarts in the entrepreneurial world.
As the registration concluded and people took their seats in the hall, Ayush Wadhwa, the host of the Grand Finale took the stage, all set to begin the proceedings. He began with an interesting analogy of how skydiving perfectly sums the emotions an entrepreneur has to go through while starting up. He then gave a review of how that edition of Conquest had panned over the months. This was followed by the traditional lamp lighting ceremony wherein the Shavak Agrawal, President, CEL and Jay Gada, CEO, Conquest 2017 escorted the dignitaries to the stage to light the lamp.
Prof. Arya Kumar has been the rock over which Conquest has stood up over the years. The passion he has for Conquest and building the ecosystem in general was reflected by his speech which followed the lamp lighting ceremony. He talked about the experiences he has had with Conquest during the initial days and how he had witnessed Conquest grow to its full glory. After a short and crisp talk about the evolution of Conquest over the decade from Prof. Arya, Prof. Shouvik Bhattacharya took the stage. He explained how BITS, Pilani is playing a pivotal role in inculcating entrepreneurial abilities not only in its students but the youth across the nation. As Prof. Shouvik left the stage with a huge ovation, Ayush invited the Chief Guest, Dr. Bindu Dey for her keynote speech among a thunderous applause from the audience. She kept her talk short and explained the importance of entrepreneurship in the development of the nation and explained the policies and steps the government has undertaken to make lives of entrepreneurs easier. This was followed by Rahul Chhabra, COO, Conquest 2017, launching the Conquest Community, a platform to bring together all stakeholders of Conquest over the years.
With the speeches and talks getting over, it was time to get to business- The Pitching Session. Founders with anxious faces yet gleaming eyes came one by one on the stage with well-prepared presentations, pitches and prototypes. Every startup was given 7 minutes for pitching and 3 minutes for the Question-Answers round. The trickiest part of the pitch was the barrage of questions the investors shot at the startups. Most of the startups consistently answered the questions confidently and aptly.
After the pitch of the first 5 startups, it was time for the networking lunch! With mouth-watering delicacies in the midst, the lunch served much greater purpose. It was an opportunity for startups and investors to engage with each other on informal terms. It was also accompanied by the interviews of eminent personalities present by the Conquest team.
The people settled in the hall after the lunch for another fiery round of pitching sessions of the remaining 5 startups. As the first half of the startups, the pitches of the second half were equally impressive as were there Q&A sessions. In an attempt to test the founders properly, the investors and jury were trying to put founders in a state of confusion and bother but most founders navigated their way through the rocks.
At the end of the final pitch of the startups, Ayush came onto the stage to start the most educational and fun part for the audience. He handed over the stage to Mr. Atit Jain, Investor at SAIF Partners, who conducted the Fish-Bowl session for the audience wherein they got an opportunity to interact with the Jury and ask questions regarding entrepreneurship that have troubled them in the past. After a session filled with brainstorming and learning, the crowd broke up for a short break for tea.
The audience came back into the auditorium to witness a couple of intriguing panel discussions where the panelists discussed the nuances of being an entrepreneur and current trends in the industry through their own experience. The first panel was moderated by Mr. Sanjay Nath, Managing Partner at Blume Partners and comprised Nishith Rastogi, Founder, Locus.sh; Barath Shankar, Principal, Accel Partners; Dhruv Mathur, Founder, Little Black Book and Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Partner, Unitus Seed Fund of as panelists. The subject of the panel was ‘Starting up early: Notes and nuance for novice’ in which the panelists had a candid discussion in which intertwined with their experiences over the years; they gave the nuances of starting up early.
After this thought provoking discussion, the panel discussion lined up was ‘Innovating in India: The challenge of starting up in a risk-averse country and how to overcome it’. The discussion comprised of Nilesh Kothari, Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital; Abhiraj Bhal, Founder and CEO, UrbanClap; Vikram Upadhyaya, Chief Mentor & Accelerator Evangelist at GHV Accelerator and Shantanu Mathur, India Head, Knowlarity.
After the discussions that made people rethink their premonitions about entrepreneurship, Rishabh Kaul, co-founder of Belong and a BITSian alumni came onto the stage to deliver his keynote speech.
An insightful phase came to an end and the moment arrived for which the startups had been waiting for the past few months. Months of hard work had culminated to that nail biting moment. Ayush took up the stage to announce the winners and runners-up of Conquest 2017. With a rush of adrenaline in their veins, the founders waited patiently to see who wins the crown this time.
To a loud cheer from the crowd, Ayush announced the Runners-up of Conquest 2017: Incredible Devices. The elated Vikram Goel, founder of Incredible Devices came onto the stage to receive the Runners-Up cheque from Jay Gada and his team. As he left the stage, the anticipation among the crowd increased manifold. Ayush came to picture again as he announced the Winner of Conquest 2017: Recopro. Rathin Shah, Founder of Recopro came onto the stage amidst a roar of applause. As he received the winner’s cheque from Jay Gada, a deep sense of satisfaction dawned on him as he realized months of persistence gave way to that moment.
The day ended with a Vote of Thanks from Jay Gada where he thanked all the stakeholders that had helped Conquest reach the heights it had acquired over the years. As each and every person left the venue with something more in his little bag of experiences than he had entered with, the Grand Finale ensured everyone was a winner at Conquest!
