Great College Life · Business Development Fellowship
Your batchmates are
chasing a dream job at 22.
You're on the path to CEO by 40.
DT Fellows work 5-9pm, Mon-Sat, alongside their degree. Your first work experience shapes your career. Most internships give you tasks. Here, you solve problems, understand business context, and make your own decisions.
“Everyone at some point in life should work at DT.”
Feliza Dadachenji, Maths Asst Professor | DT Fellow, 2020
We don't look for the best candidate. We look for the most curious.
Business Development Fellowship · 1 rounds · 48 hours · No interviews until you've seen how we work.
The real fork in your career
Employee mindset,
or management mindset?
An MD or CEO with 1,000 employees is carrying 1,000 families. Kids in school. Kids in college — kids like you were, not long ago. Every call they make about the business eventually reaches a dinner table somewhere. You are about to choose which side of that table you sit on: the one waiting for the decision, or the one making it.
Employee mindset
- You do the work that lands on your desk.
- You are measured on your own output.
- Your decisions mostly affect you.
Management mindset
- You decide which work gets done at all.
- You are measured on what 1,000 people produce.
- Your decisions land on 1,000 dinner tables.
But management is not a title
It is a worldview you have to build. A different way of seeing the business — and it asks real things of you.
Read a P&L — and know what moves it
Where the money is made, where it quietly leaks, and the one lever that actually changes the number.
Understand how organisations really work
A thousand-person company runs on incentives and systems, not on the lines of an org chart.
Design systems that scale
You can never speak to all 1,000 people. Your system has to carry the right approach to every one of them.
Where you come in
The third layer of leadership.
These are small companies. Traditional teams. People who have run the same way for decades. And they are betting on DT Fellows as a third layer of leadership — working beside their CXOs to bring AI transformation into a place that has never seen it. You will not be an employee waiting for instructions. You will be the one designing the system the other thousand run on. That is the mindset we are selecting for.
Why DT
Two kinds of youngsters.
India produces one. DT hires the other.
Type A · Employee Mindset
Impress. Fit into existing systems. Follow instructions. India's placement system is built to produce and hire Type A.
Type B · Intrapreneur Mindset
Creative. Innovative. Make decisions. Own outcomes. Passion-driven problem solvers.
What is DeepThought, really?
The founders who build ₹50Cr, ₹100Cr, ₹500Cr companies already think scientifically about their product. But that thinking stays stuck in one person. Product rigor next to execution sloppiness.
DeepThought closes that gap. We install Scientific Thinking into how companies operate daily. Not advice. Not workshops. A system where daily work IS hypothesis-test-learn.
15 years. Started in 2011 with Sciensation. Built PDGMS. The vehicle changed four times. The mission never did.
What Fellows Do
Decision-making power in their 20s.
Most people reach decision-making roles by their 40s. DT Fellows work alongside CEOs and Directors of ₹100-500Cr companies, driving organisational transformation and AI, while still in college.
Sravan Kumar
Chief of Staff
Pharma company, ₹200Cr+
Works directly with the MD (NASA scientist founder). Brought in AI that cut purchase-to-dispatch from 3 days to 1. Runs decisions that change how the factory floor operates.
Joined as: BBA student
Shagun Mishra
AI Programs Lead
India’s largest probiotic manufacturer
Led a 20-member team. Shipped 58 software modules as a fresher in 2023.before AI tools existed. Now leads AI Programs at a company present in 60+ countries.
Joined as: BTech student
Jayaraj
Engagement Lead
Multiple DT client companies
Works with company Directors on growth strategy and execution. Drives organisational transformation across manufacturing and services companies.
Joined as: BTech student
The Architects
Tarun Ayitam
15 years of designing the scientific method. Alumnus of IISER Pune (Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science) and TEDx speaker. Tarun encoded 32+ company implementations into PDGMS AI Platform to lower CAC and drive employee ownership.
HERITAGE
Who's been in this room
This programme has been running in different forms since 2011. Fifty participants from six countries have been through it. These are the people whose work and questions shaped what the programme is today.
Raghu Seelamsetty
Founder, Escape Velocity
2017
Nastaran Bisheban
CTO, KFC Canada
2021
Dave Snowden
Founder & CSO, Cognitive Edge
2021
Dr. Michael Lissack
President, American Society for Cybernetics
2021
Abhinav Gupta
AVP Innovation, Broadridge
2023
Humberto Schwab
Founder, Socratic Design Academy
2020
Dr. Matti Itkonen
Cultural Philosopher, University of Jyväskylä
2021
Kashyap Kompella
Hyderabad Chair, StartupGrind
2017
Jayesh Ranjan
IAS Officer, Govt of Telangana
2017
Dr. David Willows
Director of Advancement, University of Brussels
2021Designations are as on the date when the participant attended the dialogue.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
The work in action.
Roundtable
Hack Your MVP
Live session with practitioners and founders.
Socratic Dialogue
Darwin Day
Jury-style debate on scientific and business questions.
The Grid
25 cells. Every company.
Every company runs on 25 cells. Five vertical layers from Direction (V5) down to Employee (V1). Five horizontal functions from Offers (H1) through to Orders (H5). When something goes wrong in a business, it lives in one of these cells. The grid tells you where to look.
| H1 Offers | H2 Capability | H3 Capacity | H4 Experience | H5 Orders | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V5 Direction | V5×H1 The board decides what to offer the market. Which segments to enter, which bets to place, which products to build or kill. | V5×H2 The board sets the capability agenda. What skills, R&D investments, and knowledge does the company need? | V5×H3 The board decides the scale at which the company operates. Production philosophy, plant investments, make-or-buy. | V5×H4 The board defines what the customer experience should feel like. The promise the company makes. | V5×H5 The board sets revenue targets. How much, from whom, by when. The number the entire grid works backward from. |
| V4 Strategy | V4×H1 Strategy translates direction into market moves. Pricing, positioning, competitive response. | V4×H2 Strategy designs the capability roadmap. Which technologies, processes, and people to develop. | V4×H3 Strategy plans infrastructure and production. Build vs buy, capacity planning, supply chain design. | V4×H4 Strategy designs the service and fulfillment model. Channels, support tiers, satisfaction benchmarks. | V4×H5 Strategy designs the sales architecture. Account targeting, pipeline design, deal structures. |
| V3 Plan | V3×H1 The program manager plans the go-to-market. Launch timelines, campaign specs, channel priorities. | V3×H2 The program manager runs R&D and training programs. Investigate, hypothesise, experiment, standardise. | V3×H3 The program manager plans production schedules and delivery timelines. Work breakdown, resource allocation, bottleneck removal. | V3×H4 The program manager plans the fulfillment process. Delivery workflows, quality checkpoints, escalation paths. | V3×H5 The program manager plans the sales pipeline. Territory assignments, deal stages, forecast cadence. |
| V2 Supervisor | V2×H1 The supervisor manages the team doing market research, customer interviews, competitive analysis. | V2×H2 The supervisor manages engineers, trainers, R&D teams. Root cause analysis, process experiments, quality checks. | V2×H3 The supervisor manages the floor. Production, logistics, throughput, daily delivery targets. | V2×H4 The supervisor manages customer-facing teams. Support, service, complaint resolution. | V2×H5 The supervisor manages sales reps. Daily call targets, proposal reviews, deal coaching. |
| V1 Employee | V1×H1 The employee does the research, talks to customers, drafts the offer documents. | V1×H2 The employee builds, prototyping, testing, learning, documenting. | V1×H3 The employee does the work. Manufacturing, shipping, coding, delivering. | V1×H4 The employee serves the customer. Handles complaints, ensures satisfaction, closes the loop. | V1×H5 The salesman sells. Calls, proposals, negotiations, closes. Cash enters the system. |
Case Files
A 3-day purchase to dispatch cycle. Every department did their job, but the handoffs were unowned.
The company mapped the actual flow and redesigned the protocol between departments, setup Microsoft CoPilot AI automations.
“3 days became 1 day, recovering 200+ days of capacity per year”
The Proof
DeepThought helped us in deploying and managing high performance elastic teams. DT runs continuous improvement, which means Project2 is better than Project1 and Project3 is better than Project2
Pharma & Biotech Transformation
Selection Process
4 rounds. Each one teaches you something.
DT doesn't look for experience or qualifications. We look for a mindset. We look for a candidate with a “fire in the belly.”
Role-Specific Assignment
For You
You understand the role through a simulation
For Us
We understand your skillset
48 hours
Video Reflection & Mindmap
For You
You understand DeepThought and PDGMS AI Platform
For Us
We understand if you connect with our vision
48 hours (with R3)
Career Roadmap Reflection
For You
You understand how this aligns with your career
For Us
We understand your mindset
48 hours (with R2)
Virtual Tour
For You
You experience the work culture first-hand
For Us
We understand if you can endure the rigor
6 days (after shortlisting)
This process is rigorous and most applicants are rejected. Proceed only if challenges fuel you.
Your Journey
1 round. 48 hours. Step by step.
The clock starts when you send the consent message on Internshala.
This is not three separate tasks. It is one story. You are a BD person at DeepThought. You have a company dossier. You pick up the phone. What happens next depends on you.
All parts due within 48 hours. Submit on Internshala chat.
Before you begin
Three shortcuts. None of them worked.
Three candidates went through this same process. Got shortlisted. Did the virtual tour. Sat across from a real CEO. Each one took a shortcut.
All three had potential.
None made it through.
“What I've seen is all of you are talking about things without understanding what they mean. And that is dangerous.”
The depth you build here is what carries you through that conversation.
That part is up to you.
You are a BD person at DeepThought. You are not selling a product. You are opening a conversation about Scientific Execution. Today, the company is Ananta BioSciences. You have the dossier. You have the Two-Track frame. Now pick up the phone.
Part A
50%The Cold Call
You are cold-calling Dr. Vikram Rao, the founder of Ananta BioSciences, a ₹150 Cr pharma R&D company in Hyderabad. He just picked up. You need to get him interested in a 30-minute call with Tarun, DeepThought's founder. Below is everything you need to prepare.
Record a 60-90 second voice note of this cold call. Not a script reading. An actual phone conversation where you pitch Scientific Execution to Dr. Vikram Rao. Below, we have given you his company dossier, a language guide, and a sample call flow. Go through all four steps. Study the man, study his company, plan what you will say, then hit record.
Understand the situation before you say anything
His running business (Track 1) works. ₹150 Cr revenue, 25% growth, DSIR-recognized R&D lab, 4 patents in two years. He is not struggling. He is growing. The pitch is not 'you have a problem.' The pitch is 'your new initiatives deserve the same rigour as your R&D.'
His new initiatives (Track 2) are stuck. US FDA market entry has been 'in progress' for 14 months. A batch-to-continuous process conversion was approved 9 months ago but has not started. He hired a GM at ₹45L to drive these. The GM got pulled into daily client fire-fighting within 3 months.
He tried a consultant. Got a 60-page strategy report. Nobody implemented it. His words: 'The plan was fine. Nobody ran it.' That is the exact gap Scientific Execution fills. Not better strategy. Better implementation.
Where to submit: Submit your Part A response in the Internshala chat.
Good news: he is still on the line. That means the Two-Track frame landed. Bad news: he is not saying yes. He is testing you. Every objection is a door. Your job is to open it, not slam through it.
Part B
30%The Pushback
Vikram did not hang up. But he is not convinced either. He pushes back with 4 different objections. Handle each one.
Record 4 separate voice notes, one per objection. Before you respond, click into each objection and understand what the MD is really saying. The surface words and the real meaning are almost never the same thing. Your job is to respond to what he means, not what he said.
The MD says
“Just send me an email. I will look at it.”
Guidelines
- Before you open your mouth, ask yourself: what is he actually worried about? The words are just the packaging.
- Acknowledge first. If you skip straight to your counterpoint, he feels unheard and digs in harder.
- You do not need to win. You need him to say 'okay, tell me more' or 'fine, let us set up a call.' That is victory.
- You are opening a door, not closing a deal. The lighter your touch, the further you get.
Listening for
- Did you hear what he said, or did you just wait for your turn to talk?
- Does your response address the real concern or just the surface words?
- Did you move the conversation forward, or did it stall?
- Does your energy hold, or do you sound rattled the moment he pushes?
Where to submit: Submit your Part B response in the Internshala chat.
Different company. Different founder. Different industry. No sample flow this time. No language guide. Just you and a dossier. This is what the job actually looks like on a Tuesday afternoon.
Part C
20%Pre-Call Prep Note
You are calling Meera Krishnamurthy, founder of NovaCrop AgriTech, in 10 minutes. Write your call plan.
Write a 5-7 line prep note. The rough notes you would scribble before dialing. We want to see if you can extract the right angle from a dossier and apply the Two-Track frame on your own.
Study the company, the language, and the call structure
Where to submit: Submit your Part C response in the Internshala chat.
Commitment
What we ask. What we invest.
Proceed only if you can prioritise the Fellowship and dedicate the required time.
Schedule
5 PM – 9 PM
Monday through Saturday
Duration
6 months
Structured fellowship
Stipend
₹12,000/month
₹8,000 basic + ₹4,000 L&D
L&D Investment
₹5,000/month
DT invests in your growth
Internet
High-speed required
Stable for video calls
Mode
Remote (Zoom)
Video-on collaboration
Rules of Engagement
AI policy. Per round.
Round 1.Assignment
Use AI tools freely. Set guardrails against hallucination.
Round 1.Hand-drawn Sketch
Shows YOUR thought process. Hand-drawn only.
Round 2.Mindmap
Hand-drawn on paper. AI usage = elimination.
Round 3.ChatGPT Bot
The ChatGPT bot IS the tool. Use it as designed.
Round 3.Internshala Message
Your own words. No Grammarly, no LLMs.
All Communication with DT
We want YOUR thinking, not a language model's.
Consent to Proceed
Before starting, you'll reply on Internshala with:
“I understand that:
- The selection process is long, rigorous, and most applicants are not selected.
- I may be rejected even after significant effort.
- I will remain professional in all communication.
- I will not use LLM/AI tools in the chat thread.
- I will complete Round 1 within 48 hours and R1+R2+R3 within 96 hours.”
FAQs
Common questions. Clear answers.
Open Roles
Pick your path into the great college life.
Each role has a unique Round 1 assignment. The fellowship experience (rounds, mentorship, the work) is the same.
Great College Life
Other internships give you a certificate.
This one gives you a seat at the table.
Sravan went from BBA to Chief of Staff. Shagun shipped 58 modules as a fresher. They weren't trained for it. They did the work, alongside founders, on real problems, with real stakes.
“Everyone at some point in life should work at DT.”
Feliza Dadachenji, Maths Asst Professor | DT Fellow, 2020
We don't look for the best candidate.
We look for the most curious one.
Challenges should fuel you, not frustrate you.