- Situation
- Pune Startup Fest is judged on what investors commit, not on footfall.
- Complication
- You need startups worth showing before you need an audience, and there was no template for running it at this scale.
- Question
- How do you raise investor commitments rather than attendance?
- Answer
- Build the screening funnel before the guest list. 85 startups were onboarded and vetted with TiE Pune, and 20 reached investors. Commitments rose 54%, from ₹8 crore to ₹12.3 crore.
What I did
Built the funnel first. I drafted a startup acquisition and screening funnel and partnered with TiE Pune to vet candidates. We onboarded 85 startups, 42% above the target of 60, and 20 of them reached the investor showcase.
Most of the value sat in deciding who should not be in the room
- 100+Startup applications received
- 85Startups onboarded 42% above the target of 60
- 20Vetted with TiE Pune for the investor showcase
Source: Pune Startup Fest, COEP E-Cell, 2025–26
Made it repeatable. I built a 4,500-record CRM, judge scoring frameworks and written procedures. They have been adopted as the standard operating model for future college fests.
Ran the team. I led a 30-member sub-team across events, startup outreach and networking, and delivered 24 events (18 on the day, 6 before the fest) for more than 5,000 targeted participants. There was no prior template at this scale, so role boundaries and weekly check-ins came first. Where someone fell short, I covered the gap myself.
The result
Investor commitments rose from ₹8 crore to ₹12.3 crore, 54% year on year, and every one of the 24 events was delivered.
Investor commitments rose 54% year on year
Hover, tap or tab to a bar for its value.
Source: Pune Startup Fest, COEP E-Cell — funding commitments tracked against the previous edition
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