Introducing Conquest’19

The Startup Founder is a weird ‘species’. Unlike its close relative, the Human, the Founder chooses to submerge itself in a pile of problems, sacrifices sleep, meals and any semblance of a normal life just to turn an idea into something more.

No safety net. No buffer. Lives of founders aren’t easy and they like it that way, thriving under the pressure and risking it all. They are the ones who break the cycle, the ones who bring about change.

This vision to catalyze change is what drives them (to the brink of insanity at times). Building a student-run launchpad at Conquest, we’re no strangers to insanity, in fact, we welcome it.

What Drives Us

The Startup Founder has always fascinated us. Last year at Conquest, during our summer co-working program, we observed the elusive founder in its natural habitat, toiling away all day long.

The jungle that is the startup ecosystem is rewarding but also equally unforgiving and we don’t want founders to go out there unarmed. So we tried looking at the world through the eyes of founders and figured out the tools that they might need to survive.

Built for Everyone.

Even the most ambitious founders might not know exactly what they need, so this year at Conquest, we’ve built an arsenal that has something for every founder.

Have a pressing problem which needs some expert guidance? Our expert network has got you covered.

Want to put your Startup on the map? Extensive media coverage at the Finale might just do the trick.

Need to improve your pitch? Get on top of your game with our investment workshops.

Want to meet potential investors? You’re at the right place.

This list is by no means exhaustive and we’re always looking to adapt to address the needs of founders. From the ground up, Conquest has been built for everyone: the visionaries, the crazies and all others in between.

Our Game Plan

After successfully transitioning from a Startup Conclave to a Startup Launchpad last year, this year we went back to the drawing board and further optimized our model in consultation with last year’s finalists.

We wanted to leverage the power of the internet to transcend geographical boundaries and time availability and this led to the inception of Online Mentoring Sessions. The 10 most exciting startups from across the country connect with experts from various fields over 6 weeks, giving them plenty of time to iterate based on the mentors’ suggestions.

Following this, the startups are invited for a 10-day Accelerator Program in Bangalore to learn from people who have built great companies themselves and network with some of the biggest investors in the country. The whole time, these startups have access to a great, distraction free place to live and work together. Coworking lies at the core of this program as we firmly believe that multiple founders tackling similar problems together would lead to better solutions faster.

On-Demand Sessions form an integral part of the Conquest experience. Throughout the program, with the help of our strong network of onboard mentors, we ensure that good advice for any urgent need isn’t more than a video call away.

The program concludes with the Grand Finale in Bangalore. The 10 startups, equipped with insights from the program pitch before a room full of seasoned investors and press, with prize money worth 5 lakhs on the line. The finale brings together various stakeholders of the startup ecosystem and engages them in thought provoking conversations, resulting in the inception of new ideas and creative solutions to existing problems.

We do a whole lot more but this is the essence of Conquest; we give startups a nudge in the right direction.

There’s more?!

• Top 50 Mentoring Sessions: Day long mentoring sessions held simultaneously in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai for the top 50 startups. Mentors include CXOs and industry experts from a variety of fields.
• Conquest Community: An initiative to build a strong and meaningful community of various stakeholders of the Indian Startup Ecosystem — startup founders, mentors, investors, developers and media representatives.
• Conquest Academy: A one-stop shop of localized content for Indian startups. Whether you need help in acquiring your first 100 customers or in designing the perfect UI for your app, Conquest Academy ensures that you don’t have to go through tons of foreign resources (most of which are irrelevant to the Indian ecosystem anyway).

Get Involved.

In the end, irrespective of what we plan and do, Conquest will always be the sum of all its stakeholders: startups, mentors, investors, sponsors and media partners.

Interested in adding to that sum?

Registrations for Conquest’19 open on February 25th.

Check out our website for more details.