In India’s traditional script for success, few milestones are more revered than cracking the IIT entrance exam. It’s more than just a test; it’s a national obsession, a golden ticket to elite careers, social prestige, and lifelong validation.
But in the world of frontier technologies, especially artificial intelligence, that gold standard is being rapidly rewritten.
Today, an unexpected shift is underway in India’s startup ecosystem. A growing number of founders and tech leaders aren’t just indifferent to elite credentials, they’re actively favouring those who’ve walked away from them.
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Dropping out of prestigious institutions like IIT is no longer seen as a failure. It’s emerging as a new badge of honour, a bold signal of agency, self-direction, and the willingness to break from the herd to chase something bigger.
In a worl
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