A platform for dropouts to make their startup dreams come true

A country like India is brimming with untapped potential and ideas that are just waiting to be brought to life. MTV Dropout Pvt. Ltd, a new reality show from the country’s most famous twins, Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman, seeks to unearth such ideas and bring them into the limelight. First aired on 29 July 2017, the show received over 2000 applications, of which 13 people were picked to participate.

Targeted at dropouts who are venturing out on their own, the show is a social experiment that will document the journey of a funded startup being formed on television for the first time in the world.

Last weekend saw the first round of tasks begin with participants struggling to cope with time and resource management. Based on the premise that nobody is born an entrepreneur, yet those who succeed as one have some innate abilities which help them get ahead, the show aims to find youngsters with the best potential and train them.

There is no ready reckoner on ‘how to entrepreneur’, but there are a few things that everyone needs to keep in mind before starting up. This is true, both for the finalists on the show or anyone else wants to bring their ideas to life. The first is to have is the right mindset – an entrepreneur one. To-be entrepreneurs need to understand the risk that they are taking and realise that success may not come immediately. Failure is a part of an entrepreneur’s life, as are patience and perseverance.

Finding a good mentor, an experienced hand who can motivate you to get ahead in the game, is one of the most important steps of starting a company. The show’s panel of masters who will guide the participants through their transition include Sandeep Aggarwal, CEO & Founder of Droom.in, Anisha Singh, CEO & Co-founder Mydala.com, Alok Kejriwal, CEO & Co-founder of Games2Win, and Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman.

Each week, the 13 finalists will face different tasks that will test their skills and capabilities. The tasks involve real life problems that organisations face on a constant basis - all with real brands and businesses. Competition is tough and getting ahead merely on the basis of skills is not everything. The participants also need to sift through ideas, however appealing they may sound, and analyse whether it makes sound business sense. A huge amount of research and preparation goes into starting a company, and just having a great idea is not enough.

Entrepreneurship is not only about being the best at what you do, it’s also about surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and can do a better job. So it makes sense that the chosen finalists come with cross-functional skills sets that include marketing, coding, experience in business, and the like. So when teams are formed, participants get to pitch themselves and decide who they want to form their company with.

The entrepreneurial life sounds great – being your own boss, running your business, making your own rules. But it also includes having to take risks and taking the fall when things go downhill. In a nutshell, MTV Dropout Pvt Ltd. gives youngsters a taste of all this and more, and is the perfect platform for them to experiment, test their conviction and confidence, and learn that to reach their destination and achieve success, they will have to take calculated risks.

YourStory is the Marketing Partner for MTV Dropout Pvt Ltd.

Presented by Droom.in, powered by Micromax and Maruti Suzuki, and grooming partner Gillette, MTV Dropout Pvt. Ltd. airs on MTV on every Saturday at 7 pm, and is available on Voot the very next day.