Meet the entrepreneurs who took their ventures to new heights via Lufthansa Runway to Success

Friday August 18, 2017 , 4 min Read

This article is brought to you by Lufthansa.

Rashi Sanon Narang described herself as being ‘over the moon’ at winning Season 4 of Lufthansa Runway to Success. Mandeep Manocha, winner of Season 3, called it ‘a dream come true’. Other participants and finalists have been equally enthusiastic when they talk about how it opened doors for them, brought them the mentoring and networks they needed, and added value to their businesses, thus serving as a real runway to success.

[Applications for Season 5 of Lufthansa Runway to Success are now open! Apply before 31 August 2017]

For the past four years, Lufthansa Runway to Success has had a single mission – to help Indian startups and SMEs make their ventures soar high. It has become one of India’s biggest platforms for entrepreneurs to be discovered, mentored and recognised by some of the most accomplished business leaders and investors in the country.

Over the course of four seasons, this unique, multi-staged programme, organised jointly by Lufthansa, TiE, and India’s premiere business TV channel ET NOW, has seen some of the country’s most pioneering and innovative entrepreneurs go head-to-head in a tight competition that rewards exceptional ideas, execution, and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Winners have walked away with prizes including an opportunity to attend a business programme at prestigious universities such as Stanford and Cambridge, business class tickets on Lufthansa, a chance to be mentored by TiE’s global network of entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals, and the experience of a lifetime.

As Lufthansa Runway to Success taxis into Season 5 [applications close August 31], we look back at how finalists and winners from previous seasons benefitted from being on the show.

The benefits of being on the Runway to Success

Last year’s winner, Rashi Sanon Narang, CEO and Founder of India’s only luxury brand for pets Heads Up for Tails, says that being a part of the programme was an incredible journey that gave her time to reflect on how she was running her business, her leadership style, and what she could do differently to make her business grow. And that is only the tip of the iceberg in what this programme has helped participants achieve.

“Lufthansa Runway to Success enriched me as an entrepreneur and gave me some more fuel for pursuing my entrepreneurial

dream towards even greater heights. I am grateful to Lufthansa for this opportunity to share my own unique business ideologies and vision with the world, and for the mentorship provided by leading business icons,” she says.

Heads Up For Tails, has raised $2 million in a pre-series-A round from a group of high net worth individuals. The funds will be used to further enhance the end-user experience by investing in technology, as well as expanding business in domestic and overseas markets.

Season 3 winner Mandeep Manocha, Co-founder and CEO of Cashify (formerly ReGlobe), a business that aims to transform the way people sell their old gadgets online, by helping sellers get the highest price, says that being on the show was a dream come true and that interacting with industry leaders and mentors ‘re-energised his business’. He says that meeting other entrepreneurs who were in the same boat as him and industry leaders who had ‘been there and done that’ was a great learning experience.

Since appearing on Lufthansa Runway to Success, Mandeep’s venture has gone on to raise funding from Bessemer VenturePartners (BVP) and Blume Ventures and has plans to expand to 30 cities.

The young entrepreneur particularly remembers a piece of advice he was given by GVK Prasad, CEO of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which was that one has to have a very strong look at the bottom line of the business, know one’s finances, and know how much money was going out and coming in as this was key to building a profitable business.

“Lufthansa Runway to Success has been an enriching experience, which will continue to inspire me on the journey of entrepreneurship like never before. To have discussed my business ideas with such proficient minds has given me reason to gear up all the more for exponential growth,” he says.

If you are an entrepreneur, who is looking for the learning experience of a lifetime and opportunity to take your venture to the skies, then we’ve got your ticket.

<<Apply for Season 5 of Lufthansa Runway to Success>> Registrations close on August 31, 2017.