Conquest (Start-up Challenge)

Conquest was started in 2004 as a business plan competition organised by a group of BITSians with the mission to help startups raise funds and pitch their ideas in an interactive session with potential investors.[1] Over the years, Conquest's goals and visions have evolved in parallel with the pulse of the startup ecosystem prevalent in India.

Started in 2004 as a business plan competition, Conquest went international in 2006 and since 2007, it started inviting successful entrepreneurs to share their insights. Conquest provided a network-building platform, not only for entrepreneurs all over India, but also for the students of BITS Pilani.

Till 2007, the focus of Conquest was on mentoring new ideas through the startup phase. However, many of the business ideas introduced in the competition failed to launch. Participants in business plan competitions all over India were focusing more on making better presentations and less on their core business models. Changes were introduced in the format to attract good start-up participation and keep non-serious business plans from winning.

The competition format changed during this period. Competitors submitted executive summaries of their ideas, and from these, the competition committee picked the top 100 most promising to forward to the judging panel. The judges winnowed the list to 30 entries who would then move to the next phase of the competition by preparing full business plans over a three-week period. Of these full plans, the judges selected five teams who then received mentoring for a period of six weeks prior to making a final 20 minute sales pitch to the judges, who then selected the winning team.

In 2011, Conquest received a facelift by bringing about a few worthwhile changes in the format. The startups were, for the first time, given the opportunity to choose their mentors, not one, but multiple mentors. Also, in the earlier one-on-one mentoring system, one mentor was connected to only one startup. However, 2011 onwards, each mentor is connected to multiple mentees of his choice, increasing his chances of coming across an impressive startup. This step ensured reiterated interest of the mentor in Conquest. Thus, in Conquest 2011, the mentor chose multiple startup ideas to mentor, at his own discretion. Another change that Conquest 2011 saw was a change in the medium of mentoring sessions. Instead of mere communicating through emails and telephone, the startups got the chance to meet mentors in a face-to-face session. The sessions were held across 4 cities in India - New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad simultaneously on July 22, 2011.

In its 2015 edition, DCB Bank was roped in as the Title sponsor. Close to 1500 startups applied, filling a questionnaire related to them. Conquest 2015 had a more streamlined application process through a tie-up with Applyifi, a newly launched platforms for startups to make online pitch-decks for investors. Based upon the startups’ responses, startups were filtered down to 50 in number. After a 3-month-long mentoring session, 50 startups were brought down to 10.[2] The Grand Finale took place at ITC Sheraton, New Delhi. Swagene,[3] a Chennai based bio-tech startup, took the top honours and Gamezop,[4] a New Delhi-based gaming platform, finished as runners-up. Conquest enjoyed media presence from more than 60 media houses including leading media houses like Deccan Chronicle,[5] CNBC-TV, Times of India,[6] Indian Express,[7] First Post,[4] Economic Times,[8] Business Standard [9] and the likes. Some of the notable mentions, who attended the finale, were Jagat Shah, V.N. Alok, Dev Khare, Rajesh Swahney, Samay Kohli, Neeru Sharma, Sanjay Nath and Satyen Kothari.

Conquest 2016 aims to venture more into tier-II and tier-III cities, believing it to be the epicenter of next startup revolution. With registrations commencing from March 1, Conquest 2016 primarily focuses on accelerating the working of the startups. The summit aims at having interactive sessions with eminent personages and like-minded people for refinement of the startup model.

Conquest 2019 invited applications from startups across the world and has received 650+ applications from startups registered in India, Singapore and other countries. The title sponsor for Conquest 2019 was LTI (Larsen & Toubro Infotech)[10] and Deskera as associate partner. Conquest 2019 had a more streamlined application process through a tie-up with Applyifi and Startup Buddy, who helped with the shortlisting of top 15 startups for the mentorship stage.[11] Each startup went through a 3-month-long mentoring session with various mentors in common sessions. A personal mentor was also assigned to each of the startups based on the need of the startups and selection by mentors. After 3 months' remote mentoring, a list of Top 11 startups was arrived at based on the feedback from mentors and questionnaire filled by startups. The top 11 startups went through further round of face-to-face mentoring and industry connect for a week at Bengaluru. The Grand Finale took place at The Leela Palace on 28 July 2019, Bengaluru. ScoutMyTrip,[12] a Mumbai based travel-tech startup, took the top honours[13] and HRBot,[14] a Gurugram-based AI recruitment platform, finished as runners-up.

• Official website