Google to mentor 10,000 startups emerging from non-metros

The Startup School aims to help solve the growing pains of India’s tens of thousands of startups

Google on Wednesday announced the Startup School in India under its startups initiative designed to mentor over 10,000 startups across the Tier 2 and 3 cities.

(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today’s Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.) 

As startups and businesses come up in farther corners of the country, there is a need for programs which can organize this knowledge into a structured curriculum and deliver it across a wide footprint, said Google. 

According to Google, India has around 70,000 startups, but 90% of all startups fail within the first five years of their journey - mostly for the same key reasons - unmanaged cash burn, flawed demand assessment, ineffective feedback loops, or lack of leadership. 

“We have multitudes of fast-growing startups headquartered in centers such as Jaipur, Indore, Gorakhpur and more. In fact, these account for nearly 50% of all recognised startups in India today,” Google mentioned. 

The 9-week programme, delivered virtually, will feature chats between Google leaders and collaborators from across the startup ecosystem spanning fintech, D2C, B2B and B2C e-commerce, language, social media and networking, job searching, and many more sectors. 

The curriculum will feature instructional modules on subjects like shaping an effective product strategy, deep dives on product user value, roadmapping & PRD development, building apps for Next Billion Users in markets like India, driving user acquisition, and others.