2 min readNew DelhiJul 24, 2026 03:46 PM IST
The IIT Madras‘ Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI (WSAI) has announced a one-week, in-person short course aimed at helping students, researchers, aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage startups turn artificial intelligence ideas into market-ready ventures.
Titled ‘Building a Successful AI Startup’, the programme will be held between August 10 and 14 at the IIT Madras campus. Applications are open until July 27, with selected participants to be shortlisted through an evaluation process.
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The course is designed to provide hands-on exposure to the complete startup journey, from identifying market opportunities and building a minimum viable product (MVP) to validating business models, preparing for fundraising and pitching to investors. The programme will conclude with a Pitch Day, where participants will present their startup ideas before a panel of investors. The winning team will receive Rs 4 lakh to support the development of its AI startup.
The programme will be led by Lakshmi Shankar, general partner at Together Fund and former vice president of Google Search. He has also held leadership roles at Twitter, IBM and EY, and is a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Participants will attend classroom sessions, practical workshops and discussions based on real-world AI startup case studies. The curriculum covers customer discovery, market validation, product-market fit, user acquisition, revenue strategy, fundraising, term sheet negotiations and scaling AI ventures.
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The programme is open to final-year BTech, MTech and PhD students, faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, engineers, product managers, aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage AI startups working on AI-driven solutions.
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Course fees have been set at Rs 5,000 for IIT Madras students—refundable upon successful completion of the programme—and Rs 5,000 for other students and startups. The fee is Rs 15,000 for postdoctoral researchers and faculty members and Rs 25,000 for industry participants.
The programme will be conducted in person at NAC 2, IIT Madras, from 1 pm to 7 pm each day. Selected candidates will receive confirmation by email after the evaluation process.