Business & Entrepreneurship | Founder’s Playbook

About the course

The term “unicorn” is used to describe startups with a valuation of over $1 Bn. Today, there are more than 100 Indian startups that are referred to as unicorns. But the question is, how did they get there? Zomato started as Foodiebay – an online directory of restaurant menus that the founder created to make ordering food easier for his colleagues at his workplace in Delhi. Zepto started as Kiranakart – an online platform that could deliver groceries within 10 minutes from nearby Kirana stores in Mumbai during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meesho started as Fashnear – an on-demand fashion delivery service that could deliver clothes and accessories from local shops in Bangalore. So let us reframe the question: how does a startup start?

The exciting world of entrepreneurship opens the door to such startup stories, journeys, pivots, business models and much more. Entrepreneurs are not limited to start-ups; they are essential in corporations, governments, NGOs and also in academia. Besides their skills and knowledge, all successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common – an entrepreneurial mindset. It’s not only the most important ingredient for running successful ventures, but is also an important skill to navigate our ambiguous world and master one’s own professional journey.

Founder’s Playbook is a live experiential course designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs move from raw ideas to investable, market-ready concepts. The course enables you to seek answers to some key entrepreneurial questions – How to solve a problem around you? How to come up with ideas? How to test the viability of the idea? How to find a product-market fit? How does the funding game work? How to launch a venture from scratch? You will learn and experience what it means to – think like founders, understand customers deeply, build viable business models, and communicate ideas with clarity and impact. The course will imbibe the critical skills of entrepreneurship in you, which transcend companies, industries, global locations, etc. You will participate in hands-on experiences for solving real-world problems, validating ideas, and developing products or services that could shape the future.

The course will culminate with a capstone project, where you will work on your business idea and make it pitch-ready. The project will synthesise all the course concepts, from ideation to building customer personas to business models and prototyping, and help you find the product market fit for your own business idea, with the goal of creating a startup that can be taken to market. You will present your startup idea to a panel as a mock investor pitch.

What’s more? Top students will also achieve an extended opportunity to get formal mentorship to take their business ideas and projects to the next level.

“One of my biggest learnings was that successful entrepreneurship is not just about having a big idea — it’s about solving real problems for real people. I learned how to identify pain points, test assumptions through minimum viable products, and adapt based on user feedback. I now understand the importance of validating ideas before execution and the value of staying lean and adaptable. Whether I start my venture now or later, I feel more confident in my ability to approach entrepreneurship strategically and sustainably. This course has sparked a genuine interest in startup culture.”

– Advika, Grade 11, Delhi Public School

Eligibility

• High school students from India and across the world are eligible to apply.
• Students should be entering or in grades 9-12 as of the programme commencement date.
• Students from all boards can enroll.
• Students should be comfortable with written & spoken English, which will be the medium of instruction for the courses.
• Students should have consistent access to the Internet and a computer that aligns with the recommended minimum specifications.
• Students should have a good and consistent academic record.

Who is this course for?

This course is for high schoolers who aspire to thrive as entrepreneurs, equipped with the knowledge and skills to build successful ventures in diverse career paths. This course is designed for high school students and aims to spark an early interest in entrepreneurship and in developing an entrepreneurial mindset, across any future stream or career choice.

Prerequisite: High proficiency in written & spoken English

What do I take away?

By the end of the programme, you will:

1. Grasp the ABCs of entrepreneurship principles, from industry jargons to business model tools.
2. Learn about the steps to follow at any point when building an entrepreneurial venture.
3. Develop an entrepreneurial mindset to deal with complex and ambiguous situations.
4. Practice entrepreneurial action with projects for crafting value propositions, finding product-market fit and building business models.
5. Hone your practical problem-solving superpowers, tackling real-world customer needs, challenges and wants.
6. Pitch your venture idea, storytelling the journey and injecting the ‘X-Factors
7. Equip yourself with skills adaptable to diverse career paths, gearing up for the dynamic demands of the professional world.

Programme Details

 

Week	Saturday – Faculty Interaction	Sunday – Practice with Mentor
Week 1	Thinking Like An Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is a mindset – a way of thinking, doing and being. Entrepreneurs’ Approach to Life How Entrepreneurs Think About Business? Where do Entrepreneurs get their Ideas from? Peer Collaboration Activity: Share a problem you would love to solve. Why is it worth solving?	Problem > Idea > Solution Understanding a Problem: Asking the Right Questions Breaking Down a Problem Reframing the Problem   Finding Solutions: Ideation Tools Evaluation Framework
Week 2	Understanding Hearts & Minds When investors ask, “Who will buy this?”, they really want to know, “Why will they buy this?” Customer/User Personas Customer Desires, Needs, Preferences Value Proposition Product and Positioning How to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? Peer Collaboration Activity: Concept Writing	Defining Value Proposition Build customer personas, practice feature mapping and create value propositions for your business idea. Customer pain points Value proposition canvas Proposition Statements Prototyping products/services
Week 3	Putting The Idea To Work Know what to say when investors ask, “How will this make money?” The Business Model Estimating Market Size Costs, Revenue, Profits Growth Projection	The Business Model Map the business model, research costs and make projections about potential revenue for your business idea Business Model Canvas Costing & pricing Pro-forma Income Statement Funding plan
Week 4	Pitching Your Idea Tell the story of the impact of the product/service Investor Pitch Strategy Customer Pitch Strategy Making Your Pitch Memorable, Meaningful & Motivating	Telling the Story Present an elevator pitch and get feedback on what worked and what could be developed The problem & the idea The market & the proof of concept The Numbers & the Ask
	Counselling:  Get a chance to ask questions to the faculty and the mentor, and get their answers and perspective.  You are encouraged to ask questions to the faculty around the following aspects: What are some related fields that can be explored based on this course topic? What are the future trends in the related fields? How can the course learning help the student enhance their college applications?	Mentoring: You are encouraged to ask questions to the mentor around the following aspects: What are some sub-topics to learn/practice beyond the course? What is the scope of the course topic if the student wants to pursue/study it further? What are some personal projects that can be taken up outside of the course based on the knowledge gained in the course?

Capstone Project

As a capstone project, you will get to work on your business idea and take it to the launch stage of a startup. This project will synthesise all the course concepts for your own business idea – ideation, building customer personas, mapping business models, prototyping, finding product market fit, making financial projections and pitching, with the goal of creating a startup that can be taken to market. The capstone project will culminate in a mock investor pitch, where you will present your startup idea to a panel.

Faculty

Prakash Dharmarajan has over 30 years of experience in Marketing and Advertising, as Business Head, CMO, Strategy Head, and currently as an Independent Consultant and Advisor.

After studying Economics at Presidency College, Kolkata, he received a PDGM from IIM Ahmedabad. He is also a certified CEO Coach from the Coaching Foundation of India.

He has held leadership positions at Vayana Network, Ogilvy, Publicis, Leo Group, and McCann-Erickson. As an independent strategist, he has advised corporates as well as SMEs. He has helped companies define brands, evolve strategic marketing and communication plans, develop powerful content, and structure their marketing teams. As a CEO coach, he has worked with executives on their professional growth as leaders.

He is a Teacher and Trainer, having taught courses and conducted workshops for the past 20 years, at business schools and corporates. This includes ‘CorporateTheatre’, a theatre-based methodology to connect professionals to their own immense potential as leaders and team players. He has designed ‘Top Dog’, a simulation-based workshop which helps students and early career professionals absorb the Fundamentals of Marketing. Prakash is a theatre actor and a keen observer of culture.

Grading, assessments, certification and much more

Grading, Assessments & Certification

All Ashoka Horizons courses offer a certificate on satisfactory completion of the programme. 

• Weekly project progress – 30%
• Final project & pitch – 50%
• In-class participation and attendance – 20%

Class participation will be assessed based on your active engagement in live sessions, contributions to discussion forums, and involvement in Teaching Fellow-led activities. 

Achieve More…with Horizons

• Successful Course Completion Certificate
• Letters of Academic Achievement to the top 3 students based on exceptional performance 
• Potential opportunity to project mentorship with faculty.*

*For select students, subject to the discretion of the faculty

IT Requirements

This course is administered through an online platform. Students are expected to have a foundational understanding of computer usage, including but not limited to sending emails and conducting Internet searches. Consistent access to the Internet and a computer that aligns with the recommended minimum specifications are also required for participation in the course.

Have a question about the Ashoka Horizons Achievers Programme? Write to us on horizons@ashoka.edu.in