The Indian IT industry has its share of young entrepreneurs spread throughout the country. It also has a handful of open coffee meets and barcamps but there was always a dearth of guidance for starting up, especially for young hackers who would probably associate operation cost with some sort of medical expenses.

iAccelerator, a startup summer school by IIM A is one such initiative that is built on the lines of Paul Graham’s yCombinator. The idea is simple, young aspiring hackers get enough time to build their products and then are helped, to turn their products into viable business venture, by the in house management talent of IIM A. Ujj’s previous post on iAccelerator.

In this interview Ujj talks to Aditi, the Senior Associate at the Center for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship IIM A.

Ujj: Hey aDeSe (thats Aditi’s twitter id :)), nice to have you on mutiny. First thing, how was the whole thing conceptualized? I understand its inspired by the Ycombinator model but I am sure you people had to change a lot of stuff.

Aditi: The iAccelerator was conceptualised between CIIE, Kuruvindum, Microsoft and NASSCOM.
Identifying innovations in the Web and Mobile domain and creating an ecosystem to support them, brought about the need to conceptualise the program. YCombinator was an inspiration because they have managed to float quite a few successful companies out of their short duration incubation program and India needed this at the earliest.

Ujj: From the results page, I see that 5 teams that have made it into the final. Tell us a little bit about the evaluation criteria and people involved and now what all is expected out of these young hackers?

Aditi: We analyzed the applications on our end first, to shortlist the best ones. From 75 odd applications, around 20 were selected for the second round. We then did a telephonic interview to see how motivated they were to form a company and take the idea forward. We also checked for their technical capabilities and the team’s bonding. People from all walks of life, were part of the Judging Panel.

Ujj: The description of the office space these guys are going to get is simply rocking and I really wished I could be there, so hows it working out now? They have begun the work. Hows the enthusiasm level ?

Aditi: The Program starts from tomorrow, 19th of May. Officially, they will start using the office space from the 26th. So will definitely give you an input on this sometime next week.

Ujj: It seems that the participants will receive help from IIM students in creating a business plan for their products. How exactly will that happen?

Aditi: We are going to introduce the participants to the IIMA Students and will let them team up amongst themselves. This process will start from the next month.

Ujj: I am sure you cannot talk much about the products these guys are developing but anything in particular that excites you?

Aditi: The five products that we have chosen are all great. I don’t think we are hyper-excited about anyone in particular. We are excited about the teams and ideas and the passion to create a good product.

Ujj: Any plans of scaling up, as in taking more teams. Do you have a metric in mind for evaluating the success of this years’ camp that might help in improving it for next year?

Aditi: Its just a start - a modest one even by our standards. We invite more corporates n investors to join the bandwagon in our attempt to create quality products out of India. The success of the program will be dependent on how many successful companies we are able to create from the program. In addition, we are also trying to learn from the first experience.

Ujj: and finally, no girl in that list. Any thoughts on that

Aditi: Hmmm. My thoughts on this question ?? Well, this is the only interesting question on the list.

Ujj: hmm so you didn’t answer it. Aditi, thanks a lot for talking to us.

Aditi: Thanks.

Stay tuned for more interviews on mutiny.