Introduction

As the global economy becomes more ... well ... global, the competition for good jobs
continues to increase. Students across the globe no longer have to simply be more qualified
than the person next to you, they have to be more qualified than countless others all around
the world. Going to a college or university is a critical step, but we can greatly enhance your
classroom learning by gaining real world experience through college student internships.This
culture was missing in India with a mission of minimizing this gap Internshala was born.
With rising need among the students and the growing industry the portal has placed hundreds
in their dream internship.Further, as college student internships are also competitive student
aim to leverage other university resources like campus job search office or alumni
organization to find a valuable position that will get him/her in the door to a career in a field
he/she loves. In this case we will try and understand the growth of this platform along side
the growing competition among these portals as today the dedicated internship portals in
India has risen from 0 to 15 in matter of 5 years and still growing.

(Sources: http://internshala.com/about_us ,
http://www.rowan.edu/studentaffairs/cmc/news/news.cfm?id=12 ,
http://www.twenty19.com/about_us/)

Entrepreneur
Internshala, originally started as a blog, was founded in 2010 by two IIT alumini, Sarvesh
Agrawal, an IIT Madras graduate and Ankur Khator, an IIT Bombay graduate. According to
Sarvesh, Internshala wasn't started as a business venture. He says, " One of my batchmates
from IIT Madras who later on went to do his MBA from London Business School was
looking for a niche internship opportunity in India and struggled to find one and contacted
me. After days of futile search, we realized that there was no online platform that focused
only on internships. So I decided to start a blog that helps students in their internship quest.
And, now taking it to the next level, we converted it into a portal."
Sarvesh comes from a business background, from a Marwari family from Rajasthan, and the
thought of starting something was always on his mind even when he graduated from IITMadras. So he started Internshala in December 2010, as a blog where he used to write
whenever he got some free time from my day job (having worked with the likes of Barclays
Bank, Aviva Life Insurance, and Capital One UK). Within six months, the blog attained
popularity and was getting a lot of interest. This led to he quitting his job and taking the blog
as a full time gig. The members in the founding team of Internshala are all IIT alumni,
including the co-founder Ankur Khator, a Computer Science graduate from IIT
Bombay( whose works as Consultant for the team now).
The founder says Education and Technology excites me a lot as I came from small town of
in Rajasthan, I have been the first hand beneficiary of the dramatic impact these two can have
on an individuals quality of life and I had always wanted to do something in this area.
Internshala was result of a series of brain storming sessions with friends towards the end of
2010 where we listed various needs a student has in his or her academic life from 10th

standard till the time he/she graduates and joins the work force. And we realized that there
wasnt much support system available for internships and decided to create one.

(Sources : http://yourstory.com/2013/10/internshala-internship/ ,
http://internshala.com/about_us
http://www.liveonblogs.com/chit-chat-with-sarvesh-agrawal-founder-of-internshala-webplatform-for-students/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/jobs/Now-internships-are-just-a-clickaway/articleshow/28284024.cms
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/online-internship/article4873868.ece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internshala)

Entrepreneurial journey
India is the second largest country when it comes to the number of engineering graduates who
pass out every year, yet some of the reports says that less than 18% of engineering graduates
are actually employable. Many experts believe that there exists a huge gape when it comes to
the skills and exposure levels of fresh engineering students pass out of colleges. Lack of
awareness and exposure to students about industry is one of the main concerns. In spite of
there being many competitors in this space, right from coaching students to preparing
students for competitive exams, in the field of internships was one space where there was no
major player.
The portal acts as a medium between students and employers helping the latter to connect
with the brightest students in India. Internshala offers internships in various fields like
engineering, MBA, NGO and social work, journalism and media. It also gives a chance to the
students to work with various government organisations and even do international
internships. Internshala also helps students to build up an impressive resume, giving them tips
on internships. To apply, a student just needs to surf around, look for the desired internship
and upload his/her resume after filling up the application form.
When he started he had a worry nothing apart from the short-term financial risk. He says, If
you fail, you anyways have your experience and if at any point, I were to go back to company
I was working with, say 3 years down the line, Im sure they would be happy to take me back
in. But if youre doing a startup, you wouldnt have the heavy income you would have in a
job for the next 2 to 3 years. The far more valuable thing for an entrepreneur is a failed
entrepreneur, rather than a successful entrepreneur. The risk is only in the mind and it is only
limited.
In the intial run Ashish Mishra from IIT Madras and Ankur Khator from IIT Bombay who
took care of technology part and Sarvesh focussed on the marketing and business.
Sources:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/jobs/Now-internships-are-just-a-clickaway/articleshow/28284024.cms
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/online-internship/article4873868.ece

The Enterprise
Internshala today has three offerings : Internship Portal internshala.com , Informative Blogblog.internshala.com and Virtual Training Centrevtc.internshala.com.
The products they offer are all virtual. In this firm the stakeholders are employer and
students.
The products for students are internship opportunity at wonderful start up , SMEs and
Corporate Houses. The informative blog includes Resume writing tips, Internship eperiecnces
and process of finding internships. From the virtual training centres the students can learn
industry ready courses at affordable price from the field of engineering (Web Development
etc) or management (Digital Marketing).
From the employers point of the service they offer a pool of 5 million students and growing.
Today the portal has more than 10,000 companies registered on the portal.
At the present the team comprises of 23 members. 10 full time employees , 11 full time
interns and 2 virtual interns
Sarvesh CEO
The team has been divided in the following departments:
1. Employer Relations and Operations
Shadab- Head
External Internships- Zainul
Employer Acquisition- Vinayak
Internal Internships- Shirish
Internal Internships- Gitesh
2. Marketing and Student Relation
Head- Shekhar
Student Relations- Megha
Digital Marketing- Gaurav
3. Vitual Training Courses
Head- Ankur
Students Acquistion- Milit
Curriculum Head- Murthy
Operations- Nishtha
4. Content ManagementHead- Punsyashlok
Blogging- Chanukya
Designing- Pratyush
Newsletter & Email Campaigns- Shirish

5. Engineering

Head- Vikram
Desktop Sites - Anuj
Mobile Site- Deepak
Application- Aseema
Database Manager- Shivangi
6. Customer Relations
Head- Radhika

Milestones

Have got giants like Myntra, Bata, TOI etc on board

Completed 50,000 matching internships in 2014
Generated a gross revenue of 1 crore in 2014-15.

Sources : http://www.liveonblogs.com/chit-chat-with-sarvesh-agrawal-founder-ofinternshala-web-platform-for-students/
http://internshala.com/about_us
Team Meetings on Skype

Business Model
Clarity of focus, being very clear that we do only internships. They believe that the problem
of internships is large enough. They didnt get into events or scholarships or jobs and this
focus helped us get the niche. They are really passionate about the power of internships and it
really connects with the audience.
Internshala is also the only portal where they only do paid internships. They said they
wouldnt post an internship on Internshala they wouldnt feel excited about myself and get
tempted to apply for it. If its a paid internship, they would publish it, else they wouldnt,
except for the NGOs. So, they were having that clarity of thought, that its not just focused on
internships but focused on quality internships, right from day one.
They have a strong focus and determination to deliver best of the internship opportunities for
students. They are focusing very heavily on reaching out to as many organizations as they can
to educate them about the benefits of having an internship program. They are also
formulating a plan to involve academic institutes to encourage them to include long duration
internships (6 months or more) in the curriculum as the prevailing short duration (2/3 months
summer break) is one of the primary reasons why many companies do not want to hire interns
as they feel that the duration is too short for any productive output from a student.

Value Proposition
1. Paid Internship only
2. 100% verified postings
3. ISPs connect

Market Segment
1. Students
2.Potential Employers
3. Academic Institutions

Value Chain
1.Gets employer on board
2.Offer free services to
Students and Employers
3.
Internship
Matching
Capability

Revenue Model
1.Virtual Training Courses
2.Digital Advertisements
3.Sponsorship for Student
Events

Competitive Strategy
1.Focus on Quality
2.Paid Internships only
3.Big Brands on Board

Growth Strategy
1.Focus on VTC
2.Focus on 1 million
Internship matches
3. Aim to 20,000 companies
by Dec15

Sources: https://www.wikijob.co.uk/wiki/importance-internships
http://www.liveonblogs.com/chit-chat-with-sarvesh-agrawal-founder-of-internshala-webplatform-for-students/
https://www.techinasia.com/indias-startup-internship-ecosystems-mutually-benefit-jobplatform-internshala/

Strategy
The core services (posting of internships, applying to an internship) are free as the focus is
more on building the brand and user base. The focus is on to make student feel that they had a
great experience and ultimately telling everyone how we helped him/her find his/her dream
internship is an Aha! Moment for all of us at Internshala. Similarly when an employer feels
how efficient and effective he found Internshala services to be for hiring interns it feels
good.
The strategy is to look for such more writngs Internshala is simply superb and
awesome .No more words. I have got my first internship through Internshala and I will never
forget this. I am heart fully happy. No more words. Have a Happy day. Be blessed

Thus they keep the following parameters as their major strategy:-

1. Paid Internship

2. Only for Indian Students

3. 100% verified internship
4. Seamless experience for Students and Employers
5. Value Added Courses

Sources: https://www.techinasia.com/indias-startup-internship-ecosystems-mutually-benefitjob-platform-internshala/
BBC documentary covering Internshala
Team Meetings with Employees

Learning
The team a bit of work experience always helps. Working in a corporate environment allows
you to learn the nuances of work place that you dont get to experience in college. The soft
skills and people management experience is another plus which come handy when you are
setting up on your own.But I dont mean to say that it is a must. Example of Mark
Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Google founders are brilliant counter examples.
Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/jobs/Now-internships-are-just-a-clickaway/articleshow/28284024.cms