New-age MBA That Launches Your Startup Or Helps You Find A Job At One

India Today published a survey revealing that one in two Indian graduates are unemployable. Skill development came up as one of the biggest reasons behind this concerning statistic.

Indian learning has long remained limited to theories, written examinations, and lots of cramming.

In an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia, Sarvesh Tusnial says, “There is, for sure, a skill gap. But the bigger problem is we, unfortunately, don’t have an education ecosystem that promotes entrepreneurship. MBAs are either too expensive and take a very corporate-ish approach to jobs or simply don’t provide them.”

To help students, especially freshers, graduates, and MBA-pass-outs who want to break into the startup ecosystem, either by building their own businesses or securing impactful roles at budding startups, Sarvesh Tusnial teamed up with Siddharth Dangi and Vansh Chiripal to build LaunchPilot.

LaunchPilot is a Singapore-based, new-age business school with a laser-sharp focus on empowering students to become future entrepreneurial leaders. It is affordable, flexible, and gives people the chance to build a global network.

All of this comes at just 1/10th the cost of a traditional MBA program.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Hailing from Kolkata, Sarvesh Tusnial went to the prestigious Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for his undergraduate degree in Mechatronics and Robotics. Post that, he entered the corporate world of fintech consulting.

He says, “When I was working in my corporate job, I would almost every day meet people who wanted to either switch jobs or were looking for something more exciting. Some even wanted to build their own businesses but had no clue where to start or what to do.”

Recognizing this gap in the market and the need for a solution that came at the intersection of entrepreneurship and education, Sarvesh sowed the idea of LauchPilot.

His college friends from NTU, Siddharth and Vansh, resonated with the idea and joined in as co-founders.

The young entrepreneurs spent a lot of time thinking about why this gap exists at all. And the reason turned out to be simple—conventional college education, at best, prepares people for corporate jobs. However, when it comes to landing roles in a fast-growing startup that needs people who can adapt to ever-evolving responsibilities and make key-level decisions, it falls short. 

Sarvesh sums it up concisely, “Most colleges do not focus on real skills and practical knowledge. And that’s exactly what you need for building a startup or working in one. LaunchPilot came in to address this very need”

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Sometime later, Shivam (an IIT alumnus with experience in building and selling a startup) and Hasit, who has substantial connections at MIT, also joined the founding team.

ROADBLOCKS

With a mission to redefine modern education, the founders started with an approach that combined practitioner education with university education.

Sarvesh explains, “Initially, we were reaching out to universities and offering them a pool of experts in the business world. We were convincing the authorities to allow them to take certain classes instead of the professors. But with time, we realized we should have our own MBA program where we’re in full control of the faculty, the curriculum, and the principles of delivering knowledge that converts into something tangible.”

In the beginning, the founders also struggled with finding credibility in the market and establishing LaunchPilot as something that really did what it said.

“We let the results do the talking. Today, our cohorts have students who are coming out and starting their startups and even securing funding through VCs,” he adds.

LAUNCHPILOT: AN MBA BUT BETTER

Simply put, LaunchPilot offers a startup-focused MBA program that helps individuals tap into the Artificial Intelligence and Startup Revolution on a global level. 

It is a 12-month program that includes 48+ live lectures, 18+ project mentoring sessions, and 2000+ contact hours with leading startup founders, industry leaders, and business people who've made a mark.

When students enroll for a LaunchPilot MBA, their journey entails the following:

In the first 36 weeks of the program, individuals get exposed to 6 online learning modules that come with a module-based hands-on project. This can either be done for an individual’s own business or at a partner startup.

During the first 36 weeks, students also get a chance to participate in 4 global immersions that expose them to the international startup community. Students can travel to countries like San Francisco, Boston, and Singapore, and get access to LaunchPilot’s network spread over institutions like MIT and NUS. 

The program has a hybrid approach, with 80% of the learning happening through online mediums. LaunchPilot also offers 12 in-person talent hub sessions.

During the last 12 weeks, individuals build their own businesses with LaunchPilot’s support or get into jobs at startups. This is the tangible culmination of everything one has learned over the past weeks in different modules.

Sarvesh tells Startup Pedia, “Our learning modules are delivered by top startup founders and industry leaders from places like AWS, Google, and Microsoft.”

“From design thinking and MVP fundamentals to traction, marketing, sales, and investment—we cover everything in detail but minus the boring book-ish bit. Instead, these modules become the building blocks on which future startups can stand,” he adds.

Throughout the MBA program, students get the opportunity to not just build but also showcase their skills to startup founders and business people.

This does two things:

1. Students get a network they can rely on in the future.

2. Startups get exposed to a wide pool that is literally being prepared to build, handle, and work at startups. This converts into job opportunities for LaunchPilot's students.

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CERTIFICATE AND FEE STRUCTURE 

LaunchPilot is accredited by the American Management University. When students graduate, they receive a university-level MBA degree. They also receive an IBM certification.

Two outcomes are promised to students:

1. Become a startup founder

2. Land a role in a live startup and drive impact

The fee structure is kept affordable so it can fulfill the gap expensive MBAs have left in the market. 

For an Indian student, the fees will be anywhere between Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs. LaunchPilot offers multiple scholarship options with special privileges to female students and students from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. 

According to Sarvesh, “We want this to reach more people, so we’ve kept it accessible. We strongly believe this will benefit students, freshers, and anyone who is ambitious and curious about the startup world.”

WAY AHEAD

LaunchPilot has closed a pre-seed round with Virtus Global Investments, based in Dubai, to provide funding for its next phase of growth and development

The program has seen more than 125 students participate in cohorts in Singapore and Boston. 

From the first cohort itself, about 8 to 10 students are now building their own startups with LaunchPilot’s tech, marketing and venture capital support.

The program is now expanding to India, with its cohort scheduled to be live on 13th January 2025.

Sarvesh Tusnial signs off by saying, “There’s a lot of room in Indian education to become more hands-on and startup-oriented in nature. We are aligned with the Government’s Startup India initiative and want to provide people with an ecosystem that wants to see them become future founders.”

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