Best Place To BuildThis Dean left the US to build IITM's entrepreneurial future | Prof Ashwin Mahalingam | BP2B S2E13
CHAPTERS
Meet Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam: IITM ’98 to Stanford to IITM faculty
Amrit welcomes Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam (Civil Engineering professor; Dean, Alumni & Corporate Relations). Ashwin traces his time at IIT Madras, his move to Stanford for construction management, and the mix of academic and extracurricular life that shaped him.
- •Background: IIT Madras Civil Engineering (1994–1998), campus life (quizzing, tennis, lit sec)
- •Stanford Master’s in construction management—engineering + finance + contracting + people
- •Early framing of career as intersection of building, management, and real-world execution
Silicon Valley startup lessons: dot-com ambition, bust, and returning to academia
Ashwin recounts getting “bitten” by the late-90s startup wave at Stanford and co-founding a construction equipment rental marketplace (an early ‘sharing economy’ idea). The dot-com bust and 9/11 shock tighten capital markets, leading to an acquisition and his eventual return to Stanford for a PhD.
- •Startup inspiration from Stanford’s entrepreneurial environment (e.g., Google dorm lore)
- •Construction equipment sharing marketplace concept and why it felt ahead of its time
- •Macro shocks (dot-com bust, 9/11) and inability to raise funding → fire sale/acquisition
- •Advisor pulls him back to fix code → stays for PhD and academic track
Why he left the US for IIT Madras: building research and teaching in India
A visit by IIT Madras leadership paints a vision of meaningful, cutting-edge research at IITM, prompting Ashwin to move back in 2006. He shares early faculty experiences, including the cultural humor of students still using “sir” even when asked not to.
- •IITM leadership outreach in the US motivates return to Chennai (2006)
- •One-way ticket decision and long-term commitment to IITM
- •Early teaching years and campus culture anecdotes (“Ashwin, sir”)
Civil engineering redefined: beyond steel and concrete to systems + society
Ashwin explains how civil engineering’s boundaries have blurred: modern built assets integrate mechanical, electrical, and digital systems. He emphasizes the social and stakeholder dimensions—how community acceptance and human factors can determine project success.
- •Evolution from ‘brick-and-mortar’ focus to multidisciplinary built systems
- •Buildings now include automation, sensing, HVAC control, smart lighting, comms
- •Civil engineering includes ‘social engineering’: stakeholder buy-in (e.g., wastewater plants)
- •Need to understand finance, incentives, contracts, and people—not just design math
Why projects miss time and budget: incentives, cash flows, and contract dynamics
Drawing from his PhD lens, Ashwin argues that infrastructure delays are rarely due to technical design limitations. Instead, cascading financial and contractual incentives drive behaviors that create delays and cost overruns.
- •Project performance failures often stem from execution ecosystem, not engineering know-how
- •Delays → financial losses → secondary effects that compound delays
- •Importance of understanding project finance, contracts, and incentive structures
- •Civil engineering as a blend of technical rigor and organizational/behavioral insight
Civil engineering’s new mission: sustainability and ‘saving the planet’
He connects civil engineering directly to climate change, noting the sector’s role in greenhouse gas emissions. The profession, he argues, must lead solutions via technology, policy, and societal alignment to build greener and safer infrastructure.
- •Civil construction’s contribution to emissions and global warming impacts
- •Responsibility shift: civil engineers must become solution drivers
- •Sustainability requires technical innovation + policy + behavioral change
- •Work spans engineers, bureaucrats, politicians, financiers, and communities
Scope fears vs reality: civil engineering expands by merging with AI and new tech
Responding to common parent/student concerns about ‘scope,’ Ashwin argues civil engineering is widening—not shrinking—because humanity must build more, and must do it better. He illustrates how AI augments field execution, not replaces the discipline.
- •Perception: civil is ‘less sexy’ than AI; reality: demand and complexity are rising
- •Interdisciplinary expectation: modern civil engineers can’t be single-topic specialists
- •AI example: drones capture site images; AI analyzes progress/schedule/material needs
- •Tech as an enhancer of project control, quality, and productivity
Automation and 3D printing: solving labor shortages and site constraints
The conversation shifts to construction automation—3D printing concrete, robotics, and drone-based operations (like painting). Ashwin frames these as civil engineering problems requiring blended expertise across materials, robotics, embedded systems, and traditional structural knowledge.
- •3D printing requires new materials + robotics precision + structural requirements
- •Automation is driven partly by construction labor shortages and safety constraints
- •Drone-based tasks (monitoring, painting) reduce risk and expand feasibility
- •‘New civil engineer’ profile: instrumentation + software + materials + core civil
Entrepreneurship at IITM: from ‘not a word’ to a campus movement
Ashwin describes IITM’s early entrepreneurship ecosystem as tiny and unsupported, with cultural resistance to ‘selling.’ Over time, new infrastructure (CFI), alumni mentorship, and broader Indian startup role models helped entrepreneurship become aspirational and scalable on campus.
- •When Ashwin was a student, entrepreneurship wasn’t on the radar at IITM
- •Early CTIDES/E-Cell era: few founders, low know-how on commercialization
- •Cultural bias: ‘selling’ seen as inferior; limited early business skill-building
- •Entrepreneurship framed as a social movement requiring critical mass and support
E-Cell, alumni backing, and the Ather arc: how the ecosystem matured
He recalls the committee-era push with leaders like Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala and engaged alumni who funded and mentored teams. The story of Tarun Mehta and early experimentation before Ather Energy exemplifies how students iterate from tinkering to breakout ventures.
- •CTIDES renamed to E-Cell; early evangelism faced job-safety objections and parent backlash
- •Alumni provided seed funding and structured mentorship networks
- •Ather example: early tinkering/iterations (e.g., Stirling motor) before product-market clarity
- •Inflection period (2017–2019): rise to ~100 aspiring student startup teams annually
Building culture beyond founders: the funnel from making to startups to research
Ashwin argues the true transformation is widespread ‘building’—hands-on making—beyond just founding startups. He outlines a funnel where many students build, some found companies, others scale engineering within startups, and another segment advances deep research and innovation.
- •Earlier IIT experience: lots of theory, little real building; CFI changes that
- •CFI ethos: reduce barriers; build first, validate later; learn via iteration
- •Funnel model: thousands build → hundreds found → thousands join/scale teams → researchers/patenters push tech
- •Entrepreneurship begins with building; ideas alone aren’t sufficient
Is IIT Madras really the ‘Best Place to Build’? Barrier-free teams + pay-it-forward culture
Ashwin strongly endorses IITM as India’s leading building ecosystem, citing low barriers to entry and continuity of team knowledge across years. The conversation highlights a distinctive pay-it-forward culture among students and alumni that accelerates learning and outcomes.
- •Unique advantage: anyone can join/build across disciplines—minimal gatekeeping
- •Teams compound progress year-on-year instead of reinventing prototypes annually
- •Student culture emphasizes helping juniors outperform seniors
- •Alumni involvement (mentoring, feedback, pivots) is a force-multiplier for startups
The IITM tag and ACR’s role: institutional advancement through friend-raising + fundraising
As Dean of Alumni & Corporate Relations, Ashwin explains how ACR connects IITM with its global alumni and corporate partners to drive impact. The office operates like a corporate function—outreach, stewardship, events/marketing, and execution—supporting initiatives like scholarships and facilities such as CFI.
- •IITM alumni footprint in global leadership (tech, industry) strengthens institute leverage
- •ACR mission: ‘friend-raising’ (engagement) and ‘fundraising’ (resources)
- •Team structure: outreach/sales, donor stewardship, events/marketing, operations for deployment
- •Office evolution: ~20 years old; current dean-led structure ~12–13 years
Closing advice to students: mix technical depth with life skills and build iteratively
Ashwin closes with guidance for aspiring and current students: don’t spend college only on coursework. Combine technical learning with communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and repeated building/pitching cycles—skills often developed through clubs, sports, quizzing, and maker/startup ecosystems.
- •Plan college as a portfolio: technical mastery + broader societal/business skills
- •Extracurriculars (sports, quizzing) build teamwork, negotiation, and confidence
- •CFI/startup pathways teach pitching, rejection, iteration, and resilience
- •Avoid being a ‘one-trick pony’; build capabilities for a changing world
