Watching Nivedha Venkatesh huddle around a laptop alongside Krish Subramaniam, Ashwin Ramasamy, Varun Shoor, and Shruti Kapoor was extremely heartwarming. Their exchanges were funny but enlightening. Nivedha held her own and, in many cases, made these seasoned founders lean forward and listen to her.
At that time, I knew this programme was going to work.
A few years ago, we launched the concept of a SaaSBoomi fellowship. We wanted to work with young, enterprising people who would learn from our volunteer founders, grow our community, and help make India realise its dream of being a product nation. India can be a $7 trillion economy by 2030. If we are to build towards that, we will all have to do our part.
At SaaSBoomi, we are fearless in our experiments. Experimentation is vital to creativity, adaptability, and resilience. More importantly, it encourages lateral thinking. These are critical strengths for a founder, built with practice and exposure. With this idea of scientific rigour, we created the SaaSBoomi fellowship.
This fellowship is designed to help first-time founders understand the intricacies of running a business, building a product, and identifying and selling to customers. However, life exists beyond textbooks and classroom teaching, so our fellowship is designed to help these develop skills to master the practical aspects of entrepreneurship.
But this is all talk. What does a fellowship look like?
A SaaSBoomi fellow will work on initiatives that propel the community forward. Each fellow is paired with volunteer founders who visualise a larger objective while the fellow executes the plan.
Let’s go back to Nivedha and her huddle. At the 2024 Annual, she was critical in designing everything from identifying the overarching theme to curating speakers to creating content and execution. She and her team of founders planned each part of the two-day event in great detail.
How does Nivedha learn about entrepreneurship by being an integral part of the annual? The SaaSBoomi annual isn’t just about organising the event; it’s also about unpacking how the speakers will discuss each thread in the two-day event. Each volunteer does intense research on every subject so that they can not only be the guide for founders but also an expert who can audit the speakers. These carefully curated topics are crucial for the education of early-stage founders, which Nivedha herself would need to be aware of as she starts her own entrepreneurial journey. Nivedha was part of the process where her ideas were challenged, which helped her evolve. The mentors guided her through these challenges, imparting wisdom from their journey.
At this unique juncture of discomfort and self-discovery is when a fellow finds the true meaning of learning. Each interaction is layered with information, direction, and guidance. Fellows learn the lessons of company building without the expensive mistakes young, first-time founders often make. These mentors then become sounding boards in the fellow’s journey after graduation.
Nivedha’s journey as a SaaSBoomi fellow is ending, but her story as an entrepreneur is just beginning. And now we’re looking for her successors to take on her mantle as young learners in our community. Nivedha’s graduation fills us with joy and enthusiasm; we’ll let her discuss her idea and its scale in detail.
Here, I want to speak to Nivedha. Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey; I promise we’ll continue to play an integral role. We are sure you will make an outsized impact.
What about the next Nivedha?
We want to nurture first-time entrepreneurs and expand the gender diversity of our founder community. However, we are open to working with entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, regardless of gender, race, or age. If you’re willing to learn and grow, there’s a spot for you.
Now for the transactional parts of this conversation.
How much do we pay? Ours is NOT a free fellowship; we pay our fellows a monthly stipend. Shortlisted candidates will have this question answered during the first phase of the application.
When do we start? Our applications are open now; December 20 is the last day you can submit your application. Our fellowships will be announced on January 10, and we aim to begin the fellowship on January 26, Republic Day.
On the day we celebrate the writers of our constitution, we wish to start our fellows’ journeys towards writing their destinies.
How do I apply?
If you can be an architect towards building a product nation, start your journey here.
