Pitch your ideas to Vulture's Nest

Here's another reality show, but of a different kind -- this one includes engineering and management students who will vie for funding for their business ideas from real time investors.

The E-Cell (entrepreneurship cell) of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay will shortly come out with a reality show for start-up entrepreneurs who will have to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors in 15 minutes.

The show, called Vulture's Nest, is based on Dragon's Den -- a venture-capitalist television programme that originated in Japan, where entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to secure investment finance from business experts. IIT-B has tied up with a private news channel to telecast the show.

The institute is in talks with investors including Qualcomm, the wireless telecommunications research and development company, and Netpixel, an IT staffing firm founded by US-based venture capitalist Taj Haslani, among others.

The investments could be anywhere between Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) and 50 lakh (Rs 5 million), or maybe even more.

"This is a dynamic version of the conventional investor's pitch which will provide an excellent opportunity for start-ups who do not have access to large venture capitalists and private equity firms to gain capital and visibility," said Pragya Maheshwari, Coordinator, E-Cell.

IIT-B will invite online submissions (in the form of presentations) from December 10 to January 4. Those selected, will pitch their ideas at auditions in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai between January 16 and 17.

Finals will be hosted on February 7 and 8 during E-Summit 2010, which is the networking event held by E-Cell. "The finals will have investors and the public in the audience, which will make the event much more happening as against a routine pitch," added Maheshwari. The final round will have 10 candidates pitching to four investors.

This is not the first time that a business idea is being evaluated and funded on television.

Zee TV had run, some time back, a similar show called Business Baazigar. It was anchored by Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra -- he too set up his business empire from scratch.

It was loosely modeled on Donald Trump's famous reality show called The Apprentice.