Pre-Incubation Program (Ideation)
A programme by IIM Lucknow Enterprise Incubation Centre
A four-month course taking a business idea from zero to one, open to professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and students.
At a glance
| Best for | Students, professionals and aspiring founders with an idea but no company yet |
|---|---|
| Stage | Idea – Prototype |
| Duration | 4 months |
About Pre-Incubation Program (Ideation)
This is the centre's entry point for people who have an idea rather than a company. It is a structured four-month course described as a journey from divergence to convergence, covering business and financial modelling, design thinking, idea development, sales, marketing and presentation, understanding entrepreneurship and the startup life cycle, and business communication. Sessions are delivered by industry experts and by IIM Lucknow professors and trainers from India and abroad.
The course ends in a Pitch Fest, where selected participants show their ideas and can go on to further pre-incubation and funding support at the centre. The previous cohort mentored more than 230 business ideas.
What you get
- A route from an idea to a startup, and from an idea to MVP-ready and pitch-ready
- A launchpad into the incubation programme for MVP-ready startups
- A stage to present your idea to founders and investors
- A certificate of completion
- Mentorship from industry experts, and incubation support for ideas that earn it
- Training from IIM Lucknow professors
Who can apply: Professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and students. You do not need a registered company.
How to apply: Write to incubator@iiml.ac.in to ask when the next cohort opens; the centre does not keep a standing application link for this one.
Where to apply
Other IIM Lucknow Enterprise Incubation Centre programmes
- Startup 101 Business Incubation ProgramThe centre's main 24-month incubation programme for India-incorporated, DPIIT-recognised technology startups.
- IIML Business Acceleration ProgramSector cohorts for early to growth-stage startups, run with partners like IIT Kanpur's Technopark and NABARD.
- EnterpriseHER — Women Incubation ProgramA 12-month incubation programme for women-led startups, extendable by a further six months.
- Goldman Sachs 10,000 WomenA structured business education programme for women entrepreneurs, delivered in India with IIM Lucknow EIC as one of the partner institutions.
- IIML-Venture FundThe centre's own seed corpus for early-stage startups it already incubates; it invests through compulsorily convertible preference shares.
- NIDHI Seed Support Program (NIDHI-SSP)Seed support from the Department of Science and Technology, disbursed by the centre to startups it has incubated for at least three months.
- Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) at IIML EICThe national seed fund scheme, disbursed by the centre as optionally convertible debt through its own seed management committee.
- IIML Angel NetworkAn investor network of IIM alumni and institutional investors who co-invest in the centre's portfolio startups.
- IIML Startup SchoolThe centre's training arm, running workshops and short courses for founders, investors and corporate venture teams.
- Corporate Venture Capital programmeAn end-to-end service helping public-sector and private companies set up and run corporate venturing and open innovation.