Edugild mentors are founders, operators, investors and faculty who have built things and are willing to sit with a 20-year-old at 9pm on a Tuesday. Every team gets an operator-mentor plus a domain specialist.
Operator-mentors
People who have built companies, led product teams, or scaled go-to-market.
Assistant Professor, MAEER's MIT ACSC
Faculty mentor with expertise spanning business strategy, HR, and marketing. Has guided student ventures from idea to early traction within the MIT ecosystem.
Associate Professor, MAEER's MIT ACSC
Two decades in academia and applied AI. Specialises in social impact ventures and data-driven innovation — brings both the research rigour and the human lens.
Assistant Professor, MIT ACSC
Works at the intersection of HR, cybersecurity, and AI. Mentors student founders on team building, responsible tech, and early organisational design.
Fashion Designer & Faculty, Avantika University
Brings creative industry experience to a campus known for design thinking. Mentors founders at the intersection of aesthetics, craft, and commercial viability.
Faculty, Avantika University
Data science and business analytics practitioner. Helps founders move from gut instinct to evidence, customer data, market signals, and what the numbers are actually saying.
Pro Vice Chancellor, Avantika University
Senior academic leader with a background in computer engineering. Brings institutional weight and technical depth to founders navigating product and scale decisions.
Operator-mentors
People who have built companies, led product teams, or scaled go-to-market.
Founder & Entrepreneur, AKIO International. Co-founder of HayGold Coffee.
Built a brand from the ground up across retail and D2C. Brings deep expertise in marketing, branding, and founder-market positioning.
Founder & CEO, Advitya Ventures
Founder turned investor. Brings hands-on experience across business strategy, early-stage fundraising, and go-to-market, now backs the next generation through Advitya Ventures.
IIC Convenor & Associate Professor, Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering
Led innovation and IP initiatives at the institutional level. Guides founders through IP filing, legal frameworks, and turning research into a defensible startup.
Associate Professor, Ashokrao Mane Group of Institutions
Deep domain expertise in CAD/CAM, robotics, and manufacturing. The go-to mentor for hardware and deep-tech founders who need to build something physical.
Innovation Head, DY Patil International University
Bridges technology and user experience. Helps founders think about product design, operations, and what it actually takes to ship something people want to use.
Head - Management, Startup & Incubation, KES Pratibha Institute
Two decades building incubation infrastructure. Covers the full founder stack, strategy, finance, legal, IP, and what happens after the first cheque lands.
Partner, Syvon Technology
Operator and strategist. Brings a founder's pragmatism to technology decisions, business model design, and early-stage financial planning.
CEO, Syvon Technology
Runs a technology company and mentors from the frontlines of execution. Covers strategy, finance, and IP with a bias for what actually works in the market.
Founder, Desi Colab
Product designer and entrepreneur who has built from zero. Mentors on the craft of making things, from physical prototypes to brand identity to founder mindset.
Assistant Professor, Smt. RDG College for Women
Researcher and educator with deep grounding in AI, data science, and machine learning. Helps founders think rigorously about technology choices and product architecture.
Self Employed
Seasoned professional in BFSI and finance. Brings cross-sector industry experience to guide early-stage founders on business fundamentals and financial strategy.
Associate Professor & Founder, WaveNXD Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | KIT's College of Engineering, Kolhapur
Academic turned entrepreneur. Deep expertise in Electronics, Automation, Embedded Systems, and VLSI. Bridges the gap between research and real-world product development.
Freelance Embedded Designer | Electronics Engineering, Walchand College of Engineering (Retd.)
Decades of hands-on experience in Embedded System Design. Go-to mentor for hardware and deep-tech founders building at the chip and firmware level.
Chief Manager | STEM Education
Specialist in EdTech, STEM curriculum development, Robotics, and Lesson Planning. Guides founders building in education and science communication with structured pedagogical depth.
Territory Manager | Bridgestone India — Sales & Marketing
Brings sharp expertise in Sales & Marketing and Production & Operations Management. Helps founders think through go-to-market strategy and operational scale.
Associate Professor & Co-founder, WaveNXD Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | Electronics and Telecommunication
Academic-practitioner bridging engineering research and entrepreneurship. Supports founders in electronics and telecom with both technical depth and startup co-building experience.
Freelance Consultant - Manufacturing Excellence
Expert in Manufacturing Excellence for MSMEs, Quality Management, Lean Management, Cost Optimization, and Organisation Building. The go-to mentor for founders building anything in the physical manufacturing space.
Assistant Professor | Red Hat Academy & MIT, Aurangabad
Expert in Manufacturing Excellence for MSMEs, Quality Management, Lean Management, Cost Optimization, and Organisation Building. The go-to mentor for founders building anything in the physical manufacturing space.
Join the network
We are always looking for senior operators, founders and investors to join the Edugild mentor network.
Students
Every accepted Edugild team gets matched. Apply with your idea.
Apply to Edugild