A Complete Guide on Maarg Portal by Startup India

A one-step mentorship platform that focuses on providing mentorship for startups for various sectors, functions, stages, geographies and backgrounds is the MAARG Portal by Startup India. Startups can get personalised advice on various growth strategies, they can also seek clarity and even get practical advice by connecting to academicians, seasoned investors, industry experts and successful founders. In this blog, we will discuss in detail the MAARG portal by Startup India.

Objectives

The main aims of the MAARG portal by Startup India are listed below:

1. To ensure that startups get guidance and support throughout their lifecycle.
2. To ensure the establishment of a formalised and structured platform which helps in matchmaking between various startups and mentors.
3. To establish a mechanism that is outcome-oriented and allows to track the progress of the startup-mentor engagements.

Benefits

The benefits of the MAARG portal by Startup India are listed below:

1.  With the help of this single platform, the startup can get access to mentorship, assistance, advisory, resilience and growth portal.
2. This portal aso enables startups to send numerous mentorship requests to various mentors simultaneously.

Key Functions

The main functions of the MAARG portal by Startup India are listed below:

1. It has an AI engine that helps in matching relevant mentors and startups.
2. Tracks the engagements between the mentor and the startup.
3. Enables communication via the portal and video calls as well.
4. It has an easy to use mobile-friendly interface.
5. Gives recognition and benefits of the contribution of mentors.
6. It also allows ecosystem enablers to host custom programs.
7. Also provides the mechanism for feedback, query and grievance.

Eligible startups

All the startups that have been recognised by the DPIIT, in all the stages and sectors of the lifecycle of the startup, are qualified to get mentorship on the MAARG portal by Startup India round the year.

The recognition by the DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) is performed under the Startup India Scheme. It helps in availing the benefits from the Government of India.

Benefits of Mentorship

A startup can easily grow its business and sustain the fundamentals and connections that are lifelong by registering on the MAARG portal by Startup India.

1. Helps to access targeted guidance and personal advice from experts to set up and scale the business.
2. Get beneficial mentor experience and gain from the expertise and networks of the mentor
3. Helps in understanding the gaps and challenges that you face in your line of business and provides solutions and ideas.
4. Helps in availing specific programs and master classes as per the unique needs of the startup.

Process of finding a Mentor

Register on the portal: Once the startup has registered itself on the MAARG portal by Startup India and published its profile, the portal will matchmake startups and mentors with the help of AI on the basis of the sector, stage and the functional skillet.

Find a Match: A startup can either send a connection request to the desired mentor and once the request gets accepted, the mentorship will start. Numerous mentors can be assigned to a single startup at the same time or vice versa. If a mentor has not responded to the request of the startup within 15 days, then the request will be taken down and some new mentor will be assigned to the startup.

Request to connect: Send a connection request to the matchmaker mentor through the MAARG portal by Startup India or select mentors by yourself.

Set your goals: Get adequate guidance from the mentors and set meetings and goals with mentors at your own pace.

Manage Mentorship: Manage your mentorship and keep a track of your mentorship journey by adequately submitting the reports and feedback.

The time period of a mentorship is generally mutual between  the mentor and the startup for a specified time period. Also, there is no mentorship fee and the mentorships that are offered on the portal are fully pro-bono.

Mode of Mentorship

Both the virtual and physical meetings are supported and allowed by the MAARG portal by Startup India for mentorship interactions and this can be decided by both the mentor and the startup mutually. The virtual meetings can be automatically scheduled and tracked by the MAARG portal by Startup India. And for physical meetings, the startup can schedule them via the MAARG portal by Startup India and the details of the meeting have to be entered manually once the interaction is done.

Cohort-Based Program

A cohort program can also be joined by a startup to meet special needs. CBP or Cohort Based Programs are hosted on the MAARG portal by Startup India by collaborating with the startup ecosystem partners. These partners include: incubators, accelerators, industry associations, academia and numerous startup networks. These all can host mentorship that is cohort-based for a limited duration on the MAARG portal by Startup India.

Conclusion

In this blog, we discussed in detail the MAARG portal by Startup India, its objectives, benefits and main functions. We also discussed the eligible startups for registering on the  MAARG portal by Startup India and the benefits of availing a membership and the process to find a mentor on the MAARG portal by Startup India. We also came across the mode of mentorship program on the MAARG portal by Startup India and the cohort-based programs a.k.a. CBP.