GOA CHAPTER Starts 20 Nov 2026
Pitch to investors from India Quotient and Capria Ventures
AI credits for top teams
$5,000 credits 
₹25,000 credits Led by founders who have raised over $2.4 Billion
Your 3 days in Goa
Investors you'll meet at the kick‑off
Tap ▶ to hear from Madhukar before you meet him.
Madhukar SinhaIndia Quotient
Namita DalmiaEnzia Ventures
Aditya SinghAll In CapitalFounder's Card + 3 books
A metal card and three founder classics
3days
In Goa from 20 Nov
In their words
The Leap Journey
Phase 01 · Goa · 3 Days
Three days to pressure-test problems, meet potential co-founders, learn how investors think, and commit to what you'll build.
What happens
Your stay in Goa
Where you'll stay
Gauravaddo, Calangute, North Goa
Your base for the three days in Goa, close to Calangute Beach.
View on Google Maps
Phase 02 · Online · 6 Weeks
Six weeks to ship, talk to users, find traction, make money and turn the evidence into a pitch.
Week 02
Cut scope aggressively, utilize modern AI-native building tools, and aim to get something usable online.
Week 03
Speak to 20 real users, test your assumptions and change at least one thing you believed.
Week 04
Choose a channel, get your first users and start building a repeatable path to acquisition.
Week 05
Set a price, put checkout live and make the first real ask for payment.
Week 06
Understand retention, conversion and user behaviour. Decide what to persist with, iterate or pivot.
Week 07
Turn six weeks of product, users, traction and numbers into a business case and pitch.
Directly from founders
Founders take masterclasses against problems they understand first-hand.
How Leap works
Sessions are led by experienced founders and operators. The format varies weekly - learn, build, test decisions, or get unstuck.
Tactical sessions on product, users, pricing, and fundraising taught by experienced founders.
Build the MVP, set up acquisition, connect payments, and sharpen the pitch.
Founders share successes, failures, mistakes, and lessons learned.
Small groups of 10-15 founders at a stage similar as you and tackling similar issues. Test decisions, assess progress, and clear the way forward.
Tailored reviews on your product, funnel, traction, or readiness - specific to your company.
The Gate
For Bangalore Pitch, all applicants go through a verification against the below benchmarks. All usage, transactions, and economic activities undergo thorough checks to ensure authenticity.
| Benchmark | For consumer startups | For B2B startups | For already running a business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Live MVP | Live MVP | Your own benchmarks, set with you in week 1 against your category and stage |
| Usage | 1,000 users | 5 companies using it | |
| Revenue | 50 paying customers | 1 paid pilot | |
| Economics | Validated unit economics | Validated unit economics |
For consumer startups
For B2B startups
For already running a business
Your own benchmarks, set with you in week 1 against your category and stage
Phase 03 · Bangalore · 2 Days
A day of rehearsal, teardown and pressure-testing. Then one night in front of real investors.
Day 1 · The story
Pitch it as it stands. Get filmed. Tear it apart. Rebuild the opening, narrative and one-pager.
Day 1 · The pressure test
Rehearse under pressure, defend your numbers, sharpen the ask and fix what breaks.
Day 2 · The stage
Ninety seconds. One slide. Your product, traction, numbers and exactly what you're raising.
Demo Day
Meet some of the investors expected at Leap.
Madhukar Sinha
Founding Partner
India Quotient
Will Poole
Co-founder & Partner
Capria Ventures
Rhea Sthalekar
Vice President
Capria Ventures
Surya Mantha
Managing Partner
Capria Ventures
Anand Lunia
Partner
India Quotient
Abhirup Sarkar
Partner, Investments
Prana Ventures
Badri Pillapakkam
General Partner
Prana Ventures
Namita Dalmia
Co-founder & Partner
Enzia Ventures
Aditya Singh
Co-founder
All In Capital
Plus leading angel investors of India
Admission process
01 · Apply
Pay ₹999 and share what you want to build or solve.
02 · Get selected
We look for intent, ambition, and whether Leap is the right environment for you.
03 · Speak with us
If selected, talk to the Leap team about the programme and next steps.
04 · Confirm your place
Secure your place in the cohort by paying the registration fee.
05 · Join Leap
Pay the remaining programme fee and join your assigned Leap cohort.
Starts 20th Nov 2026. Every application is reviewed personally.
The Fee
Same program. The more of you, the less each of you pays.
0%Equity
0%Revenue share
You keep 100% of your company. Masai takes no stake. Your fee covers the programme costs below.
Solo Founder
₹1,50,000 + GST
One founder, the full programme
Founding Pair Save ₹29,500 each
₹2,50,000 + GST
₹1,25,000 + GST each
Where your fee goes
Tap a slice to see what's inside.
Included
Not included
Refund as per Refund & Withdrawal Policy
In the spotlight
What the press is saying about India's build-first founders' cohort.
Masai School Launches LEAP Founders’ Cohort: A Build-First Journey for India’s Next Startup Leaders
Read the story ↗
LEAP Founders Cohort: Your Startup Dream Just Got Real!
Read the story ↗
Masai School’s ‘LEAP Founders’ Cohort’ Ignites India’s Next Startup Revolution: No Equity, Pure Innovation!
Read the story ↗
Also covered by
Follow along
Founders’ nights, pitch rooms and the road to Goa, straight from our feeds.
Now is the time to build it.
Starts 20th Nov 2026. Every application is reviewed personally.
FAQ’s
Founders' Cohort begins offline with 3 days in Goa. It then runs online for six weeks as teams build their products and acquire customers. It concludes offline with 2 days in Bangalore.
Leap is designed in a way that founders can participate in the program without affecting their workdays. Goa (3 Days) & Bangalore (2 Days) leg of the program are offline and will need full days but all other sessions run on weekends.
That is what the programme needs from your calendar. The company gets built outside these hours.
Goa is phase one: three days with 100 founders like you in one room, running problem discovery, investor masterclasses and co-founder matching.
The Leap Journey section on this page breaks the three days down.
Six weeks online, building the product and finding your first customers, with founder and practitioner sessions on weekends.
The Leap Journey section on this page sets out what each week covers.
Leap is designed in a way that founders can participate in the program without affecting their work days. Online Phase sessions run on weekends, requiring 6-8 weekly hours.
That is what the programme needs from your calendar. The company gets built outside these hours.
There is no age limit to build a company. Age is not a criteria for acceptance in the program.
However, if you are a minor or are over 40, we will get in touch with you to plan logistics if you're selected.
No. This is entirely up to you.
Not always. Though, we'd definitely want you to put down problems and areas you're interested in.
You could always find people interested in similar areas in the program.
All founders do. :)
Though Goa is designed to force you to pick one idea and commit to it for the duration of the program.
That is absolutely fine.
If you don't find traction or find that the initial assumptions were incorrect, you always have the space to pivot or iterate. The benchmarks for the categories, however, remain the same as published in Goa.
To be eligible to participate in the Bangalore leg of the program, you'd still be expected to meet the benchmarks.
Domain expertise, stage of the business, your & your team's background and experience is what gets you considered in the program.
If you're at an idea stage, your 'why this idea' gets evaluated more than provable metrics.
Yes, and a lot of people do. Week one in Goa is built around it - you pitch your idea to the room, hear everyone else's, and leave with a co-founder or with the decision to keep going on your own.
Both routes are supported for the full program, and the fee has a Solo Founder option.
Yes, absolutely. If you have already found your co-founder, we encourage you to apply together with them. You'll need to pay the application fee and complete the application. The second co-founder will need to afterwards sign up and pay their application fee.
If you or your co-founder knows how to code, that’s useful but not necessary. Either you’ll find a co-founder in the program or with AI native tools, you should be able to build an MVP yourself.
No. Founders' Cohort covers the build journey, not your tool stack. Paid AI tools, APIs, software subscriptions, hosting and other venture-specific tools you choose to use are at your own cost.
Yes.
No. The program brings structure, guidance, feedback and relevant expertise. The actual execution stays with you and your team.
Mentors are assigned to a group of 10-15 founders each. These groups are designed with founders at similar stages and problem statements.
The Gate is the eligibility criteria for you to qualify for the final leg in Bangalore.
The criteria is published and shared with you on Day 1 in Goa. The Gate benchmarks are set out in the Leap Journey section on this page.
Product, usage, revenue and unit economics — with different benchmarks for consumer startups, B2B startups, and founders already running a business.
The Gate benchmarks are set out in the Leap Journey section on this page.
No. However, every team that meets the Gate criteria participate in the Bangalore leg.
You continue to be a part of the community as you build your startup. However, you do not participate in the Bangalore part of the program.
Yes.
Yes, in the last leg in Bengaluru, participants are run through pitch coaches and mock investor panels for pitch practice.
The final day event happens in a ballroom set up. Qualifying teams, as per the bar get to pitch their startup to investors in a 90 seconds pitch format. The pitch session is followed by dinner.
No.
Leap puts you in a room with India Quotient, Capria and Prana and makes sure you are ready for it, but a pitch is not an offer.
Teams that clear the benchmarks published on day one in Goa pitch on the final day. The investment decision is the fund's alone.
Yes. Accommodation during the in-person program dates in Goa and, for qualifying teams, Bangalore is included. Stay will be on twin or triple sharing, subject to the final venue configuration.
No, accommodation is on a sharing basis. This is intentional. Leap is designed around building alongside other founders, spending time together and forming relationships that can continue long after the cohort ends.
Yes. Food is included during the in-person portions of the programme in Goa and Bangalore.
Veg or non-veg? We’ve got you, subject to the venue’s predefined menu. Custom orders, room service and additional meals outside the standard menu are not included.
No. You’ll need to arrange and pay for your own travel to Goa & Bangalore, including the commute to the venue in Goa and Bangalore.
No.
Yes. Participants must submit a Medical Fitness Certificate from a Registered Medical Practitioner within the communicated timeline before the residential phase.
An existing condition does not automatically prevent participation. Please discuss the program format with your doctor and disclose relevant support requirements in advance so reasonable arrangements can be assessed.
No. The ₹999 application fee is non-refundable.
No. Masai does not take equity or a revenue share in your venture.
During the programme your idea might be seen by the people you work alongside: your cohort, your pod mentor, the practitioners who teach, and the programme team.
Signing a non-disclosure agreement is a condition of joining the cohort, and every participant signs one before the programme begins. Mentors, practitioners and visiting founders are bound by confidentiality terms in their engagement with Masai.
An NDA sets the obligation, but it cannot police a room. As in any founder environment, use your own judgement about what you share, and when.
Refunds follow the Refund & Withdrawal Policy, linked from the fee section on this page.
