Opportunity brief
About the Event:
Think you can run a startup?
- Forget pitching your perfect idea.
- In 24 Months: Keep It Alive, you inherit a company that is already operating — and already in trouble.
- 24 Months: Keep It Alive is a high-pressure startup survival simulation where teams make critical strategic, financial and operational decisions across a simulated 24-month journey. Face competitive pressure, rising costs and unexpected crises—because every decision has consequences, and there is no reset button.
- No startup idea required. No reset button. Every decision has consequences.
Can you keep it alive?
Why Participate:
- Experience a realistic startup decision-making simulation.
- Make strategic decisions with measurable financial consequences.
- Test your understanding of finance, strategy, operations and business models.
- Navigate unexpected crisis situations.
- Compete against high-performing teams in a live on-campus simulation.
- Defend your decisions before a panel through a live boardroom-style Q&A.
The event is designed to move beyond traditional pitch competitions and focus on how well you can make decisions when things go wrong.
Who Can Participate:
- Ideal for students interested in Strategy, Finance, Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Operations, Business Analytics, Product Management and General Management.
- No startup idea is required. The challenge focuses on strategic thinking, financial reasoning, crisis management, growth strategy, competitive analysis, risk assessment and decision justification.
Team Size:
- 2–4 members per team.
What You Will Be Tested On:
Participants should be prepared to demonstrate:
- Strategic decision-making.
- Financial reasoning.
- Unit economics.
- Business model understanding.
- Crisis management.
- Growth strategy.
- Competitive analysis.
- Risk assessment.
- Decision justification.
Competition Structure:
- Round 1: Survival Quiz — Online:
- Platform: Unstop | Duration: 30 minutes | Window: 48 hours
- Test your understanding of business ecosystems, unit economics, caselets, and financial & strategic decision-making.
- Top 8 teams qualify for the on-campus simulation.
Round 2: 24-Month Startup Simulation — On Campus:
Teams inherit the same company dossier and navigate five stages:
- Inherit (Months 0–3): Diagnose the business and build your opening strategy
- Pressure (Months 4–6): Respond to competition, changing customer economics and rising costs.
- Crisis (Months 7–12): Navigate compounding crises and recover.
- Scale / Survive (Months 13–18): Make growth and funding decisions while maintaining financial sustainability.
- Endgame (Months 19–24): Present and defend your final strategy.
The Boardroom:
The surviving teams face a final 5-minute defense + 5-minute hostile Q&A.
Defend what you inherited, the decisions you made, what went wrong, how you recovered, and why your strategy gives the company the best chance of survival.
Rules & Guidelines:
- Each team must consist of 2–4 participants.
- Teams will receive an organiser-provided company rather than pitching their own startup.
- The online qualifying round will be conducted through Unstop.
- Only the qualifying teams will proceed to the on-campus simulation.
- All teams in the simulation will work with the same core company information and decision framework.
- Decisions made during the simulation will directly influence subsequent outcomes.
- Teams must adhere to the time limits specified for each stage.
- The judges' decision will be final and binding.
- Any form of malpractice, unfair assistance or manipulation of the competition process may result in disqualification.