We, at Gyan Lab, talk a lot about Gyan Lab, education, problems and solutions. What we never talk about is our dedicated hard working team who are always working "hard" behind the scenes (what? really! I am serious...everyone works hard!)Anyways, here are 5 Things You Did Not Know About the Gyan Lab Office:
1) When Gyan Lab turned 1, we asked Rajarshi and Daksh to cut the cake, and when Gyan Lab turned 2, we again had Daksh and Rajarshi cut the cake so that just as we survived the 2nd year, we should also survive the 3rd!
2) Sonali puts in over 50 hours of work per week at Gyan Lab even after having 30 hours of classes per week, which is more than an average salaried person!
3) There has not been a single week when someone or the other has not had Pending Work carried over to the next week!
4) There is no office which is messier than ours in our vicinity! This is because whenever someone cleans up a space, all others mess it up due to the fact that there is a dearth of clean places!
5) Asha Ma’am is the only person in the Office who is addressed with respect (Ma’am) by all team members!
Written by: Priyadeep (PD)
Founder and CEO of ADD-on-GYAN | Entrepreneur | Educator | Creator of Gyan Lab
I always felt the need to explain a lot of people that what is it that we aim to achieve or you have so many competitors, how do you plan to survive? I never wished to answer those questions because I had a firm set of beliefs when we started off with the concept of Gyan Lab. About competition, I believe that competition is good, it makes the world a better place; it makes us organizations work hard to provide the consumer with the most desirable goods at most judicious prices.
But, along with that, I also need to tell each one of you as to why Gyan Lab is such a difference from the convention and how we are on track to play a role in changing how we look at education.
Here are 5 things that Gyan Lab is changing in the education system:
i) Make independent, self-styled and paced learning possible
ii) Change the role of a teacher to that of a facilitator, make knowledge flow either way – from teacher to student and from student to teacher
iii) Make the concept of a ‘Bad Student’ or ‘Poor Student’ go away; giving a possible road of excellence to every child who goes through the Gyan Lab system
iv) Make peer to peer learning a core learning concept where students would help each other in knowledge acquisition without any disturbance
v) Build social values in kids through attempting to understand the present social structure and build a value system based on empathy and compassion
Written by: Priyadeep (PD)
Founder and CEO of ADD-on-GYAN | Entrepreneur | Educator | Creator of Gyan Lab
It is quite an intriguing risk for us to start a program in a field which is considered as ‘bad for kids as Sex Education’, which is about economy, money, taxation, investment, stock market, etc., etc. I call it intriguing because while human behaviour fascinates me, I am even more fascinated by the behaviour of the ‘Indian human’.
I can narrate a couple of short stories to drive the entire idea home. I distinctly remember how I used to read about the Stock Market and find daily prices of the top 30 companies which formed the base of our BSE Sensex while I was a 10 year old 5th grader. I would talk to my dad and, even, advice on what stocks to look into. To this my mother would think that I am a kid and definitely should not be involved with such ‘activities’. Another incident is one where being an 8 year old, I would talk at home about not eating eggs or fish eggs (I have nothing against the food items and they both taste wonderful) because we are killing a business here! My idea was why buy and eat an egg for Rs 1.5 when it can be grown into a full sized chicken and sold for Rs 45 (then the price) within a few months. The cost of growing the chicken would roughly be Rs 20. And a similar story for the fish egg which was even more profitable as every fish egg cluster has 1000+ eggs!
I think it is important for us to let kids start learning about the whole concepts of micro and macro economics bundling it with life skills for them to have a basic idea of life around them as economics form a very important role in our day to day life be it at home or work.
I leave the point of accepting the same to our modern active parents who know that we are earnestly working on this program to prepare their kids for a better and more secure life ahead. The choice is theirs and we, at Gyan Lab, know and respect the same.
Written by: Priyadeep
Founder and CEO of ADD-on-GYAN | Entrepreneur | Educator | Creator of Gyan Lab
Ever since I came back from Austin after participating in the Dell Education Challenge, I have been asked by everyone I met about my experiences there and how did I go through the entire process. So, here is the next blog post dedicated to the same and to tell about the entire experience.
We have been associated with the Dell Social Innovation Challenge (DSIC) family for quite some time now. In fact, we were one of the top semi-finalists and winners of the Scale Phase Award at DSIC 2012 in May this year.
So, when DSIC announced its Fall Spotlight – Dell Education Challenge, we knew we had to participate in the same. The DEC was dedicated to the K-12 segment and any team/start-up that was working in the K-12 segment was invited to participate. We, being absolutely focused on the K-12 segment in India, were a good fit for the challenge and knew it was a good opportunity to showcase our work on a major international platform.
So, the 1st round involved applying on the DSIC website based on which 21 semi-finalists were chosen from across the globe, from mere ideas to fully functional projects. After this stage, every team was assigned a mentor to work with for a few days and finally make a 9 page Road Map to Success document based on the guidelines provided by the DEC.
So, after the submission of the Roadmap to Success, 4 teams were finally selected to be flown to Austin where the finals were to be held at Dell Worldwide Headquarters. That’s right, the same building where Michael Dell’s office is! It was exciting and fascinating.
The other finalists were from other parts of the world. Next Step Leaders team (represented by Shaun and Jen) was the one from Austin itself, e-Learning in Gaza was a diverse team with the representing members in the finals, Doga, being from Japan and Forward Tutoring Team were a nice bunch of friends from Dallas who were all based in various universities in USA.
I was quick to figure out that the VISA Process might be deterrent and applied for my VISA even before the final 4 teams were announced. That was a very close call. After fixing my visa biometric submission on 3rd December and interview on the 4th, a very nice American lady at the VISA Interview ensured that I got a quick one and my VISA attached passport was returned to me on 5th! Can you believe that?
I was all geared up for my trip on 8th night. Every Indian whom I met on the way was generous enough to wish me luck – right from the Airport Ground Staff to the Customs Officer.
It was an amazing 31 hour journey via Zurich (which by the way is a very beautiful city) and Washington. Arrival in Austin was smooth and the ride from airport to the hotel was hogged by one thought – ‘Finally, America!’
Unfortunately, I could not sleep during that night, or any other night for that matter. No, it was not performance pressure but it was the near-12-hour time gap which meant that it was afternoon in USA when it was actually my time to sleep and incidentally it was the busiest period during my trip to Austin with presentations, interviews and all other important activities being lined up in the afternoons.
So, the very next morning I met up with Bailey who was our DEC Contact throughout the trip. I also met Doga, David and JJ at our Hotel Hyatt lobby from where we went to the RGK Centre for Philosophy and Community Centre where we met the 4th team – Jen and Shaun. The morning was spent in doing video interviews with Christian who is the Marketing Director of DSIC. These videos will be released soon as I remember Christian mention the same. I am very eager to see the same!
After a quick lunch, we moved to the Dell Headquarters at Round Rock in Austin Metropolitan Area. You are right; this is the same building where Michael Dell’s office is. We moved to one of the Closed Door meeting spaces in the building where the final pitches were delivered one by one by the 4 finalists including myself. It was amazing and I was in my flow while presenting Gyan Lab as well as answering the questions asked by the Judging Panel.
This marked the end of the presentations after which everyone was free. We had dinner at an amazing Argentine restaurant named Buenos Aires.
The next day we had a Dell Chatter Interview with Michele, Paige and Amy. We were also paid a visit by Catherine who is the Vice-President of Dell’s Marketing. We also did interviews for the Flip-Cam and ate Vegetable and Bacon Tacos which were amazing! Yeah, Austin is really famous for its street food especially in the Mexican category with burritos, tacos, nachos, fajitas, quesadillas, etc being extremely popular.
During the afternoon we had a mock interview drills and lessons on how to present ourselves for various forms of interviews. Following this, the evening was time to chill with free food stalls, free drinks and concert shows by local stars such as Velejo and Bob Schneider followed by a rock concert featuring amazing stars like Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Dave Navarro and others.
The next day was the one when the results were to be announced as well as the prime attraction of Dell World – Keynote Speech by President Bill Clinton was to be delivered. The morning was spent listening to the amazing keynote. The way Clinton spoke solidified my belief that he is the best orator alive.
The afternoon was the time when the results were announced and as you know we had a sweet time there finishing in second place while competing with teams across the world gave a solid feeling of satisfaction. This was followed by celebration with wine at Max’s Fine Wine.
I spent the next day roaming around downtown Austin and shopping for my family and friends. I also attended the closing keynote at Dell World by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Yes, I know you guessed it right – they are the authors of Freakonomics!!!
Next morning, I quietly bid goodbye to a sleeping Austin to catch my flight to Newark where I spent 8 hours before boarding my connecting flight back to Mumbai.
All in all, it was a fascinating experience and my 1st American trip was as good as it gets!
And today, I finally complete this really long blog-post.
For me, writing this part was extremely difficult. I have just so many incidents to tell about which helped me shape myself towards my ultimate goal – Gyan Lab. But, I had a careful analysis of the ones which affected me the most towards my decision and here goes the list.
Since, I was not really studying very well in 11th and 12th (baring a few exceptions such as Probability, PnC, Organic Chemistry, Fluids and… that’s it!), I was really worried before the competitive exams. I had to be – I had to get admission somewhere good. And God did not actually listen to me, so the best option available for me was Manipal. Paying fees of Rs 4.7 Lacs, I just never wanted to come here. It was too expensive – but with time, I realized this was the best place I could be and God did actually listen to me.
College was awesome during my 1st semester here. I wandered all over the place and I was overwhelmed with the lifestyle. After this period, I decided to start making some direction and progress as to how I plan to move ahead towards my career goals.
But wait, I had no career goals. I just wanted to have an independent course of action and do things that please me.
So, during my 1st vacation, I ended up visiting over 15 plants and facilities dealing with iron ore processing, rice mills, component manufacturing, etc. I was fascinated by the massive machines but during this process I learnt that this kind of business was boring. Nothing very innovative to do – and I just made sure I never got into such a business.
After the 1st year got over, I started getting serious about doing things. I was good at singing, a bit of dancing, poetry writing, etc but so were a zillion other people (lack of niche). So taking this factor and considering that I was in an engineering college, I stumbled upon the idea of writing technical papers.
I participated in a competition in my 3rd semester but could not prepare a proper presentation to the last moment even though the idea was worthy and messed up the whole presentation. That was a big lesson.
During the same time, I joined Akshay Urja Club of MIT (Renewable Energy Club) and was thrilled to learn more about the cleantech sector. 4th semester got our first laurel as me in a team of 5 friends were able to win the IEEE Ideation Challenge with our idea on sea water purification.
 People call it wasting time, I call it cultural assimilation! Oh, I forgot to mention about my academics. Pardon me; all was not rosy on this side of the story. I started off as a 7 pointer, fell to 6 in 3rd semester, went back to 7 in 4th, got down to 6 and then 5 and then again 6 in the remaining 3 semesters of regular college. Studies in college were outright boring as well. I was good at workshops, labs, graphics and management subject (I could have even started my car repairing garage!) but everything else was just not in sync with me. I realized that I was good only in topics where we were learning practically – an eye opener for sure. I knew there were a lot of kids like me who could not memorize huge formulae for long. Sometime had to be done about this. I also got a couple of backlogs, an Ordi (summer classes due to attendance shortage) and DISCO was the only thing missing in the picture (Not dancing, but a meeting with the Institute Disciplinary Committee).
Coming back to the rosy side, I shifted my attention from technical papers to business plans, won a couple of competitions with my Rice Husk Burning Idea to generate electricity (I saw a lot of those wasted during my rice mill visit) and with my new Public Toilet Design.
And then my big break was selection in the finals of IIT Kgp B-Plan Contest. When I told my HOD about this, he got pissed off and told me that I was poor in my studies, had poor attendance and should leave such activities to the ‘Academically Superior’ kids! In fact if it were not for my awesome parents, I would have missed it. They convinced the HOD and I was allowed only to win an award there for my revolutionary toilet design (I had read 700+ technical papers and over 100 journals in various topics including plastics and polymers to get there). It was a life changing event. I started believing in myself.
During the same time, I became the President of the Renewable Energy Club which was then known for its lack of funds, membership and female presence (that too in Manipal), decided to do something big and start the first renewable energy fest in Manipal – Synergia. We pulled it off successfully, got major sponsors such as Texas Instruments, SBI, etc, got over 400 students to participate, took the events to school kids as well and all that with 1/3 of the money that we got as sponsorship. We also got funds, members and female presence in the club.
 This is waht makes me really happy - LIVING A DREAM! I also managed to scrape through a Research Scholar position in Glasgow. Working with British people, living with people from 40 coutries gave me solid perspective and pick up good qualities of so many cultures. It was fascinating!
People started respecting me for my skills in business plan events, I mentored a few people as well (which seemed silly to me) and gave my business plans freely to people only to realize one day that a bunch of guys had presented my idea at a major event in a major college without my permission. Lesson learnt. Period.
And,then came placements. No company wanted me. But the good thing was that the feeling was mutual – I didn’t want them either. It was at that moment when we decided to bring Gyan Lab and ADD-on-GYAN to the world and make a real difference. We won at our college B-Plan event, an award at the University Business Plan event – and knew it in our hearts that this was the precise idea I was waiting for all my life. I knew this company would need all skills I had learnt throughout childhood.
And we became the 1st student start-up company in the history of Manipal University (err, not a great achievement, but it had solid sentimental value, my friends). And we kept winning awards and accolades in Spain, IIT Kanpur, IIM Bangalore, GSEC Washington, NIT Surathkal, Economic Development Forum, and others. We were working with kids, it was the most pleasant experience in the world – making learning fun! Every session I took at Gyan Lab reminded me of how thoroughly lost and bored I was in school. It motivated me, urged me to move further, and I kept doing so till today.
And that’s the story my friends. A quick recap of lessons learnt in this phase of childhood:
1) Value of investment is not a problem as long as Return on Investment is good (Manipal Fees)
2) Identification and working on a niche is important for success
3) Let no one, no one ever tell you that you are useless (least of all your HOD)
4) Academic excellence is in no way the decider of excellence in life, it could be one of the guiding parameters, that’s all!
5) Never give out your secret ingredients to idiots – they will try to copy and beat you
6) To be a good leader, you must prove yourself. Lead by example, people will follow you (Akshay Urja Experience)
7) FOLLOW YOUR DREAM – ITS PRICELESS! Let your thoughts, not society, govern you
8) Excellence takes time to come but if you never try it will never come (ADD-on-GYAN experience – still moving towards excellence – no clue as to when will I find it)
So, that’s all I had to say. I guess this post was a bit too long but these memories are fresh in my head. We won at Dell Social Challenge and ET Power of Ideas at IIM Ahmedabad. Working with 5 schools, 500+ kids, we are happy about the progress in work. We are on course to change many, many lives – and hopefully that time would come soon.
In short, I am living my dream. I am finding solutions to my own problems. I do not know whether I would be successful or not but I would always be proud to say, “Atleast I tried, and tried hard”.
 Even parents listen to me today - a 5 point someone guy. I offer them nothing but the truth |  Power of Ideas - a life changing experience! |
Written by: Priyadeep Sinha (CEO & Co-Founder of ADD-on-GYAN; Creator of Gyan Lab; Good Entrepreneur in Making; Mech Engineer by education only; Creates activity based learning modules for school kids for a living)
I strongly believe that the stats are more than clear on the stand that school kids have about Gyan Lab and we are extremely happy that they chose to rate us so well even at a stage where we are making solid progress daily!
Thank you Gyan Lab kids!
 A very Happy Children’s Day to all the kids and grown-ups who feel they still have ‘the kid’ in them.
Throughout Gyan Lab’s remarkable journey in the past 22 months, we have been blessed with the presence of over 700 kids around us and got the opportunity to directly work with around 450 of them so far. We feel happy that we got permission to play a part in shaping the lives of so many kids and the future knows how many more we will get.
A child is the storehouse of surprise, wonder and I am astonished, more often than not, about their varied abilities. Adults like us have been trained all our life to be horses with binders so that we only look straight into the path we have been trained to walk on. Kids don’t care about such a straight-line. I am fascinated especially by the thought-process of the younger kids who work with us. Seeing them at their tasks, you feel so connected to the Project Zero and the thoughts of Howard Gardner who had stated that a 2 year old child is 100% genius and a 20 year old is 2% genius. It is absolutely true.
This thought is always in our minds at Gyan Lab. We wish to be the facilitators to stop streamlining kids, their thoughts and their goals, and ensure that they get enough space to unleash their creativity.
We had also launched a competition for school kids on the occasion of Independence Day and it came to a conclusion today on the occasion of Children’s Day. The completion was about enabling and empowering kids to find a problem near them, something that was bothering them as individuals, groups or community. We saw participation from 39 schools from the districts of Udupi, Dakshin Kannada (Mangalore), Uttara Kannada, Chikmanglur, Mysore, Hassan and Shimoga and it was very interesting to watch kids actually work as leaders in our society. Finding problems and solving them without any aid from grown-ups. We had to find a winner and reward them, which was a part of the rules but we thoroughly enjoyed conducting this event for kids on a small level and will keep increasing the scale to give opportunity to a growing number of kids.
We also took a Student Survey about Gyan Lab from the kids attending Gyan Lab, collated the data and I will soon write about it – my chest swells up with pride every time I read the Survey. I am a happy 'kid' today!
This is all for now. Today, our office theme is ‘Being a Kid’ and we are working on the psychological factors of being a kid – trying to think and behave like one. So, wish us luck! ;-)
Written by: Priyadeep Sinha (CEO & Co-Founder of ADD-on-GYAN; Creator of Gyan Lab; Entrepreneur in Making; Mech engineer by education only; Makes and builds school experiments for a living)
 There are times when I see India from a perspective of what have we done collectively as a nation in the last 65 years of being an independent nation. I see some progress and a good deal of degradation of human values and culture. If I look into the field of education, I think I am much happier than looking at the whole picture.
Education has grown into a big segment in India. Today, we are conscious about giving our kids quality education. Even in a household that is barely able to feed themselves, if the family head is visionary enough to let his kids have a good life, they are sent to school at all costs.
With such positive news, it warms the heart to an extent where you feel that a couple of decades ahead, we would definitely be a progressive country with a strong workforce.
So, believing that there is a strong demand for quality education in India, let’s talk about the other party involved in the equation. The educators (schools) are extremely crucial when ensuring quality education being imparted to all kids in India. Let’s not even talk about the Govt. schools. India refused to participate in the PISA 2012 test stating that our kids cannot relate to questions that mention ATMs, airbags, etc and hence are unable to understand questions. Talking about the horrendous performance in the PISA+ 2009 Test, the MHRD Representatives had earlier replied that the schools chosen to represent India in the PISA+ in 2009 were mostly Govt. Schools, hence such a dismal performance. The only good outcome of the statement is that atleast the officials accept that Public School System is in shambles but apart from that, this just shows how complacent we are towards good education for all.
A rank of 50 or 60 or 72 (out of 74) does not differentiate the poor quality of education that is imparted in India. It would all mean the same – Education in India is in shambles.
But, let’s face the truth. Even if the best CBSE and International Schools were chosen to represent India is the PISA+ Test, we would have fared equally worse. And there are extremely strong reasons to believe that. The PISA tests students on their ability to use skills imparted through school lessons in real-life situations. With the kind of rote learning system, we have it would be really impossible for India to top the test even with the best schools only involved in the testing procedure.
I had the opportunity to meet a number of Montessori Schools during our regular sales pitches to schools. I wish I could express the kind of arrogance and attitude some of these schools had just because they follow the Montessori System which makes them superior to all other schools. I must admit that they do not know that this system is 105 years old and they have still been unable to bring out improvements (even minor ones) in the system to fine tune it for modern Indian standards! So, what are they boasting about?
A lot of schools charge hefty fees, provide horse riding, swimming, golf, painting, Bharatnatyam, tennis, squash, gymnasium, and other such ‘COOL’ facilities to school students. Why don’t they teach them Vedic Mathematics to ensure that the kids have to never use a calculator ever in their life? Why don’t they help kids make their own science exhibition model rather than involve parents and teachers to ensure the aesthetic value of the science models rather than making it a point help the kids learn something?
We are a farcical bunch of people and with every passing day, we move farther away from reality. Let’s know this for a fact, if we do not change soon, our pride of being an intelligent bunch of people would just be a thing of the past, just as our pride of being a diverse but close nation is in shambles today (the political scenario).
(Please Note - This is the first of a series of blogs I have planned to write on Education Woes in India and their possible solutions.)
Written by: Priyadeep Sinha (CEO & Co-Founder of ADD-on-GYAN; Creator of Gyan Lab; Entrepreneur in Making; Mech engineer by education only; Makes and builds school experiments for a living)
 10 Things Kids must be Taught (and are not taught at all or just in a namesake manner)…
This list was extremely difficult to compile as I came up with 37 areas or topics which must be taught to kids in schools and colleges but are not taught today in India. What I essentially focused is the fact that what must kids learn to become better human beings (firstly) and better workers/managers/employees/employers (secondly).
You may like it or not like it but these cannot be ignored if you want your kids to grow and learn to be the best human beings in life.
Here goes my list:
1) ‘Empathy and Compassion’ is a very sensitive topic and must be taught in schools from a very small age but not just through text-books. Feelings cannot be developed by text books but by letting kids earn these feelings by doing good amount of social work.
2) ‘Manage Money’ is a very crucial topic give the fact that most people lack the ability to manage it. It must be taught to every child in every grade – advancing it bit by bit like algebra, trigonometry, etc.
3) ‘Sex Education’ is a complete farce in India. I do not understand as to why people (teachers) shy away from teaching the same properly and extensively over school years. The present form is too bleak and our responsibility is to teach kids about the same in absolute detail beginning as early as Grade 5 so that they may not know the wrong things – which might get seriously harmful in the long run.
4) ‘Making Mistakes & Learning is Okay’ should be made a positive aspect of learning rather than being a de-motivating factor in a child’s life. A teacher as well as parents are the most powerful weapons in this regard and devote their energy to make a child feel confident and learn the most when they make mistakes so that instead of living with its burden, they learn to embrace and improve over their errors/mistakes.
5) ‘Importance of Team Work’ is another topic not touched upon properly during our education which leaves a number of us becoming social loners – which is not a great thing in the first place. All school and college level activities must be encouraged in groups (sometimes the academically good must be paired with the academically poor as well). This will go a long way in moulding a child of higher responsibilities once he/she grows up.
6) ‘Social Behaviour’ is something that increasing number of kids lack today. They do not know how to behave at a particular place and most of them tend to grow rude (especially in cases where parents are rich or powerful or both) and forget their place in society. This topic must be taken up by faculty members as well at home to ensure kids know how to behave.
7) ‘Career Knowledge’ is another sensitive issue – families in India being patriarchal in nature ensures that more often than not parents, relatives and neighbours decide the fate of a child while the person with the highest stake in the equation (child) is not even involved in the process. They must be taught about all their options in Career Building and be allowed to participate, if not completely take control, in the process.
8) ‘Internet Technology’ is a must for every modern day kid – primarily to help them understand how power this tool is as a knowledge storehouse. But even more important than this (as per my beliefs) is teaching the dos and don’ts and safe Internet practices.
9) ‘Soft Skills for Real Life’ seem to have lost value in the modern day education grind. It is sometimes painful to see exceptional kids lose out on big opportunities just because they lack these and no one ever mentioned the value of this to them (example being one of my acquaintances missing out on admission to IIMs with the most exceptional CAT Score and Academic Track record)
10) ‘Self Appraisal and Evaluation’ is another topic which would be a reality check for most kids and hone them up in a better way – letting them know of their strengths and work on their weaknesses from time to time. All of this done by the kids themselves without anyone else pointing fingers at them.
We, at Gyan Lab, have actively taken up 7 of these topics and are working extremely hard to ensure that these lessons reach kids in the right way and help them, as I had mentioned earlier, become better human being and then, better human resource.
Written by: Priyadeep Sinha (CEO & Co-Founder of ADD-on-GYAN; Creator of Gyan Lab; Entrepreneur in Making; Mech engineer by education only; Makes and builds school experiments for a living)
 Our company began with us winning business plan awards before we even started working on the idea to prototype conversion.
Economic Times Power of Ideas 2010 was a huge, huge success and it made me resolve that we must apply in the 2011 edition and make a mark for our beloved Gyan Lab and ADD-on-GYAN at this coveted platform. Unfortunately, 2011 presented us with no such opportunity, and in hindsight, it feels good that it did not as we were definitely not ready back then.
When the advertisement came out in a big way on Economic Times and Times of India, I got calls from dad, messages from friends and reminders from our incubator to send in our application. While I was sure the program would attract a lot of application, I certainly did not think that the number would be as many as 14000!
Well, we did make it to the 1st cut easily – one among the 504 selected. Following this, I had to rush to Bangalore for a mentoring session and a week later for the Elevator Pitch Presentation where I had a 1st glimpse of some of the applicants who were to become good friends of mine in coming times. The pitch was good – I was confident of selection. And lo! A couple of weeks later, the POI website mentioned us among the 75 selected for the finals at IIM Ahmedabad – a 10 day showdown!
It was a long time away from the company and I was not sure whether I should make this trip but the money attracted me. Once at IIM, it made me feel glorious. I was one of the first 5 teams to reach there actually.
I made the best of friends the very next day and this made the next 9 days extremely fun, entertaining and educating as well.
Since, it will be impossible mention all my activities, I have listed the highlights of my stay there:
· Talk by Sanjeev Bhikchandani (he needs no introduction) on perseverance and patience – he ad it for 7 years before ‘Naukri ‘ changed his life. We were also shown the ‘Hari Sadu’ commercial :P
· Talk by Anand Halve (Chlorophyll) – from the man himself who gave lines such as ‘Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao Ande’ and ‘Hero Honda – Dhak Dhak Go!’ on brand management, recognition and branding fundamental shifts in modern times
· Talk by Prof. Sunil Handa (please search about him if you do not know him!) which made me a 100x better entrepreneur in just 2 hours – his life lessons were a reality check for us, made my stay there totally worthy!
· The fun sessions – in the free time – with the CIIE Managers, MentorEdge Associates, Power of Ideas Volunteers and some participants - these were brief sessions but exclusive to only some participants :P
· 2 Official parties (and yes, Gujarat maybe a dry state – IIM is NOT!) with dance, jokes, mimics {Koschening (questioning)! – some people only would get the joke here} and one small unofficial party that I will remember as the ‘Five Point Someone quality’ incident all my life – in fact I would tell stories about the same to my kids as well :D
· Late night maggi, parantha, chai and crap-talk – at 2 AM or 3 AM or 4 AM and sleeping by 5:30 AM every single day!
· Photoshoot on 19th September – when the Organizers drenched some of the unlucky participants by pouring water over them from the roof – EPIC!
Well finally after 7 days of extensive classroom learning – IIM style with work sessions running from 10 AM – 12:30 PM and fun, it boiled down to the final presentations. There were 2 panels sitting for 3 days to judge all 75 ideas and enterprises.
I was confident of us doing well all along this time and actually made a presentation with less than 100 words – a total of 10 slides prepared in less than 3 hours.
So, that made me quite nervous a few hours before the final presentation which was unlike me. I began my presentation nervously but gained confidence over the presentation – completing it at 8 minutes only! There were no questions asked and a lot of suggestions given. I actually contradicted so many of the suggestions which I eventually realized would dampen my chances of winning anything.
So, when the results were being mailed individually, I was sort of hopeless about getting anything but not only did we get a cash prize, we even got a funding!
So ADD-on-GYAN stood among the top 20 teams from 14000+ applicants – SWEET!
And I would be going to Delhi to receive the same – wish us luck in our endeavour and see us sore higher up in the sky!
Written by: Priyadeep Sinha (CEO & Co-Founder of ADD-on-GYAN; Creator of Gyan Lab; Entrepreneur in Making; Mech engineer by education only; Makes and builds school experiments for a living)
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