Nikhil Kamath and Kishore Biyani Bet On A New Model To Build India’s Next Founders

India’s startup ecosystem has produced capital, scale, and ambition, but not always enough first-time builders who are ready to navigate uncertainty from day one. That gap is what Nikhil Kamath and Kishore Biyani are aiming to address with the launch of The Foundery, a residential business launchpad designed to turn raw entrepreneurial intent into investable ventures.

Positioned as a co-founder factory, The Foundery compresses the earliest and often messiest phase of startup creation into an intensive 90-day immersive programme. Part school, part accelerator, and part venture studio, the initiative is built around one premise: founders are forged by doing, not by instruction.

“Most of what we call education was built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore. It teaches people to fit in when progress comes from those who don’t. MBAs create managers. We need people who can build, break, fail and rebuild. The Foundery is for them, the ones who’d rather make their own path than follow someone else’s,” said Nikhil Kamath.

From Ideas to Investable Businesses

Unlike traditional incubators, The Foundery embeds participants directly into a live business-building environment. Over three months, selected founders work alongside mentors, operators, and investors to move from idea articulation to validation, execution, and investor readiness.

Participants retain up to 25% equity in the ventures they help build, with seed funding of up to ₹4 crore available for successful businesses. Graduates also continue to receive strategic support beyond the programme, positioning The Foundery as a long-term partner rather than a short-term accelerator.

“This isn’t a classroom or an incubator,” said Kishore Biyani. “It’s a live business-building environment where entrepreneurs learn by creating, testing, failing, and evolving. We’re forging founders through experience, not theory.”

Designed For Builders, Not Pitch Decks

The selection process reflects that philosophy. The Foundery is open to aspiring entrepreneurs, mid-career professionals, and early-stage founders, with emphasis placed on potential over polish. Applicants are evaluated through problem-solving challenges, idea articulation rounds, and interviews that assess creativity, resilience, and founder mindset—not presentation skills alone.

The goal, according to the team, is to identify people who can grow into founders, not just pitch like one.

“We’re looking for people who combine imagination with intent, those who can think differently and act decisively,” said Santosh Desai, who helped conceptualise The Foundery.

A Mentor Network Rooted In Operating Experience

The Foundery’s mentor roster brings together operators, investors, and strategists from across India’s business landscape. Mentors include Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Bahl, Aakash Chaudhry, Mithun Sacheti, Varun Berry, Haresh Chawla, Aditya Sehgal, Garima Deveshwar Bahl, Jacob Mathew, Ireena Vittal, Rama Bijapurkar, and Aakrit Vaish, among others.

They will guide founders across opportunity design, validation, execution, and scaling, bringing practical perspectives shaped by both success and failure.

Each cohort culminates in a Demo Day, where ventures are presented to a curated investor network. Selected startups receive seed capital and access to The Foundery’s broader ecosystem.

Building The Founder, Not Just The Company

Complementing the business curriculum is The School of Life, a reflective track focused on the emotional and human dimensions of entrepreneurship. Sessions explore resilience, curiosity, and purpose—acknowledging that founder sustainability is as critical as business viability.

In a market crowded with accelerators and startup programmes, The Foundery is positioning itself around a sharper thesis: that India’s next wave of entrepreneurs will be shaped less by frameworks and more by lived experience.

As capital becomes more selective and execution more unforgiving, initiatives like this signal a shift in how the ecosystem thinks about founder readiness, not as a credential, but as a craft.