IndoNext Sandbox backs businesses in Bengal that are already built and already selling. Investment, a workspace, and four mentors — a Chartered Accountant, a Legal Counsel, a Tech Advisor and a Business Owner.
STARTNation-building technology. Transformative innovation. Finance. Consumer and its enablers. Gaming and sports. The category matters far less than the four things below — and the first of them is not a judgement call.
We discuss the investment amount directly with shortlisted founders rather than publishing a fixed figure, because the right amount depends on what the business actually needs. Everything below applies to every company we select.
What the programme does not provide: a guaranteed outcome, a salary, or anyone to do the work for you. The company remains yours to build.
Three steps between the shortlist and the first release of funds. Nothing else happens in between.
You are told you are through, and we send you the brief for Pitch Day so you have time to prepare properly.
If selected, you'll be invited to present your business at Pitch Day. Ten minutes to present and twenty answering questions, in person to the investors. The rest of the day is spent with the other founders and the mentors. Travel costs are covered if you are coming from outside the city.
Due diligence is standard, and we tell you upfront what we will need. Once it is complete, terms are agreed, documentation is finalised and the first release of funds is made. Your desk is ready and the programme begins.
Six questions, a deck if you have one, and a two-minute video recorded on your phone. There is no fee and no introduction required.
Two mentors assess your submission independently against the published criteria, then compare notes. Every applicant receives a decision and a reason.
Applications that progress receive five short questions arising from the submission. There is nothing to prepare — we are assessing how clearly you think.
A single mentor, not a formal board. The discussion covers how you would deploy the investment, the risks you see, and what you would do if the application were unsuccessful.
The full shortlist attends together. Each founder presents for ten minutes and answers questions for twenty, in front of the investors.
Once due diligence is complete, terms are agreed, documentation is finalised and the first release of funds is made. Your desk is ready and the programme begins.
Answer these honestly. Nothing is recorded or submitted. It is here so you can judge whether the programme is a reasonable fit before you spend time on the application.
We publish the criteria because founders should not have to guess what an investor is assessing. Every application is scored out of 100, split evenly between the two.
A strong score on one side with a weak score on the other is a decline, not an average. Move the sliders to see how the mentors would read different applications.
Are you the right person to be building this?
Is this a real business, or only a good idea?
Nothing disqualifying, but nothing that stands out either. The video is where an application at this level is most likely to change their view.
The money is the easy part. What most founders actually lack is somebody experienced to ask.
A business in its first year does not have one problem. It has four, and they tend to arrive in a different discipline every month — the numbers one month, the paperwork the next, then hiring, then customers.
Most programmes hand you a single generalist mentor. We have built a bench instead — four core disciplines always in the room, and a wider group of operators, investors and specialists we bring in as the business needs them.
The four below are in every cohort. Beyond them we bring in whoever the business actually needs. Sessions are structured and scheduled properly — they are mentors rather than staff, and we would rather be straight about that than have you expect people on call.
Each mentor is available to the cohort through the programme, in scheduled sessions and on the specific problems their discipline covers. Where a mentor believes a business is a strong fit, they may also choose to invest in it themselves. That is their decision alone, it is never part of the programme's offer, and no founder should apply expecting it.
This is an investment on standard commercial terms, not a grant and not a corporate social responsibility exercise. We take equity, which means we only do well if you do.
Bengal is the first chapter. More places to follow. If this one works, the companies in cohort one are the reason anyone will take the next chapter seriously.
Your numbers, your margins, your funding plan. Bring the accounts before you show them to anyone else, and know what an investor will ask before they ask it.
Contracts, structure, shareholder agreements, IP and the terms you are about to sign. Unglamorous, and quietly responsible for sinking more businesses here than weak ideas are.
Product, engineering hires and systems. What to build first, what to buy, and what breaks at ten people and again at fifty.
Years of running a real business. Distribution, pricing, customers and the day-to-day. The part where you have to actually sell the thing to somebody, repeatedly.
Nothing further is required. Clear and specific answers are more useful to us than long ones. Allow roughly 25 minutes. The form cannot be saved partway, so please read through before starting.
Before asking anyone to apply, we spent six weeks across Bengal asking people what they would build. New films go up through the week, plus The Business Plan — a real, worked-out plan for a business nobody has built yet, taken apart by all four mentors.
Everyone had an answer. Almost nobody had a second one.
Businesses here you have never heard of, selling in four countries.
Who they are and what each of them covers.
A real plan, taken apart by all four. Monthly.
