Best Place To BuildThis Dean left the US to build IITM's entrepreneurial future | Prof Ashwin Mahalingam | BP2B S2E13
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 5:33
From IITM to Stanford to startup: the origin story (and “Ashwin, sir”)
Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam recounts his IIT Madras student days, moving to Stanford for construction management, and getting swept up in Silicon Valley’s startup culture. He shares an early entrepreneurial attempt, how macro events (dot-com bust and 9/11) affected fundraising, and how that journey eventually led him back to academia and IITM.
- •IITM BTech (1994–98): mix of academics, quizzing, sports, campus life
- •Stanford MS in construction management: engineering + finance/contracts/people
- •Startup in the early ‘sharing economy’ for construction equipment rentals
- •Dot-com bust + 9/11 hurt investor confidence; company acquired; he exited
- •Return to Stanford for PhD; one-way ticket back to IITM in 2006
- 5:33 – 8:42
Civil engineering redefined: beyond steel and concrete
He explains how civil engineering’s boundaries have blurred with other disciplines, evolving from “brick-and-mortar” design into complex socio-technical systems. Modern civil engineers must integrate technology, human factors, policy, and finance to deliver real-world infrastructure.
- •Historical framing: civil vs military engineering; focus on physical assets
- •Shift from design-only problems to integrated building systems (MEP, controls)
- •Civil projects require social engineering: community buy-in and stakeholder mgmt
- •Project outcomes depend on incentives, contracts, and cashflows—often not ‘engineering’
- •Civil engineering as an interdisciplinary ‘melting pot’
- 8:42 – 9:51
Why projects miss timelines: incentives, money, and contracts
Drawing from his PhD lens, Ashwin argues that late or over-budget infrastructure is usually driven by process and incentives rather than technical design. Financial pressures trigger cascading delays and disputes, making project management and contracting central civil-engineering concerns.
- •Research question: why infrastructure isn’t delivered on time/budget
- •Engineering know-how exists; breakdown happens during execution
- •Delays cause monetary loss, which drives behavior and further delays
- •Understanding contracts/incentives is essential to delivering projects
- •Civil engineers need management + finance literacy
- 9:51 – 12:07
Civil engineering’s biggest mission now: sustainability and ‘saving the planet’
He positions climate change as a defining challenge for the profession, since construction and built infrastructure contribute heavily to greenhouse gas emissions. Civil engineers now carry responsibility to design and deliver lower-carbon solutions across technology, policy, and society.
- •Global warming and extreme weather elevate the stakes of the built environment
- •Construction’s emissions place responsibility on civil engineering
- •Solutions require technical innovation plus policy and social adoption
- •Work spans engineers, bureaucrats, politicians, and financiers
- •Sustainability expands (not shrinks) the field’s relevance
- 12:07 – 13:08
Scope anxiety vs reality: civil engineering is widening, not shrinking
Addressing a common parent/student concern—“What’s the scope?”—he argues the opposite of the popular perception. Civil engineering is becoming broader and more impactful as human needs, infrastructure complexity, and climate constraints grow.
- •Parents often fear civil is ‘less sexy’ than newer fields like AI
- •Humanity still needs massive physical building and infrastructure upgrades
- •Disparate fields are merging, increasing opportunity for civil engineers
- •Success requires an interdisciplinary mindset, not narrow specialization
- •The ‘traditional’ single-material focus is no longer enough
- 13:08 – 17:46
AI + drones + 3D printing: the new toolkit for civil engineers
Ashwin connects modern AI to practical site execution—using drones, imagery, and automated analysis to track progress and logistics. He extends the idea to automation and 3D-printed construction, where civil intersects with robotics, materials, and embedded systems.
- •AI can process drone imagery to assess schedule/progress remotely
- •Tech enhances civil engineering capability rather than limiting it
- •3D printing construction combines robotics + materials science + civil design
- •Automation is driven by labor shortages and safety/risk constraints
- •Future civil engineers need fluency across CS/EE/ME + domain knowledge
- 17:46 – 19:15
Entrepreneurship at IITM: from ‘unknown word’ to early pockets (CTIDES)
He contrasts the near-absence of entrepreneurship during his student years with the early, nascent ecosystem he saw after returning as faculty. CTIDES (later E-Cell) existed but supported only a handful of students, many of whom lacked commercialization know-how.
- •At IITM in the 1990s, ‘entrepreneurship’ wasn’t part of the vocabulary
- •Returning faculty era: entrepreneurship existed only in small pockets
- •CTIDES was housed in DoMS; later renamed E-Cell for simplicity
- •Early founders were motivated but ‘clueless’ about go-to-market execution
- •Engineering culture over-indexed on building tech vs selling/commercializing
- 19:15 – 21:04
Cultural barriers: why ‘selling’ was frowned upon (and the irate parent call)
The conversation surfaces deep cultural resistance to entrepreneurship—especially sales—within traditional success narratives. Ashwin shares examples of how ‘selling soap’ was looked down upon, and how parents worried entrepreneurship would derail a safe corporate path.
- •Selling seen as ‘infra dig’ vs ‘building’ seen as higher-status work
- •Lack of early-life business exposure compared to US norms (lemonade stand example)
- •IIT intake historically skewed toward corporate career pathways
- •Student objections: high-paying job offers vs uncertain startup outcomes
- •Personal anecdote: parent accused him of ‘ruining’ their child by promoting startups
- 21:04 – 25:17
The IITM entrepreneurship flywheel: CFI, alumni mentors, and role models like Ather
Ashwin describes how entrepreneurship became a ‘social movement’ at IITM once critical mass formed. The Centre for Innovation, alumni funding/mentorship, and visible startup successes created a reinforcing loop that accelerated student participation.
- •Circa 2008: Centre for Innovation (CFI) helps students build hands-on
- •Alumni engagement: mentorship + early funding from successful entrepreneurs
- •Faculty champions (e.g., Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala) and a core team formed
- •Ather’s early iteration journey (multiple pivots before the winning idea)
- •By ~2017–2019, entrepreneurship participation scaled dramatically
- 25:17 – 31:23
The statistics of student startups: 100 teams/year and the ‘funnel’ model
He quantifies today’s campus entrepreneurial activity and argues that 5% aspiring founders is both meaningful and realistic. Importantly, he frames entrepreneurship as downstream of a much larger ‘build’ culture that produces future employees, innovators, and researchers too.
- •~100 aspirational student startup teams per year (~500 founders)
- •5% of the student body aspiring to entrepreneurship is a feasible target
- •CFI’s value: build first; commercialization can follow later
- •The ecosystem needs thousands building, not just hundreds founding companies
- •Outcomes split: founders, startup builders/employees, and researchers/innovators
- 31:23 – 33:39
Is IIT Madras the best place to build? The ‘barrier-free’ advantage
Ashwin makes the case that IITM’s building ecosystem is best-in-class in India due to minimal entry barriers and strong continuity within student teams. Instead of reinventing prototypes every year, students can join mature teams and advance technologies incrementally.
- •He cites broad exposure to Indian academia and still ranks IITM highest for building
- •Anyone can build across domains—no department gatekeeping
- •Teams preserve institutional memory and iterate year-to-year
- •Mature teams let students push tech further than ‘quick prototypes’
- •Build culture extends to UG/masters/PhD students alike
- 33:39 – 40:51
Why the IITM tag matters: a high-trust alumni network with real leverage
The discussion highlights how alumni strength translates into mentorship, career mobility, institutional progress, and even crisis response. Ashwin shares examples of IITM alumni leadership in top organizations and how shared identity creates fast trust and coordination.
- •IITM alumni in leadership across big tech and Indian conglomerates
- •Shared identity enables fast trust for hiring, referrals, and collaboration
- •Alumni guidance influenced key pivots in major startups (e.g., Ather)
- •Network mobilized resources during COVID for urgent social needs
- •Alumni support materially boosts IITM’s national standing and capabilities
- 40:51 – 44:42
Inside ACR/Institutional Advancement: friend-raising, fundraising, and stewardship
Ashwin explains the Alumni and Corporate Relations (ACR) office as a structured institutional-advancement function, run much like a corporate organization. The office builds relationships, raises large-scale support, manages donor stewardship, and operationalizes scholarships and initiatives.
- •Two core functions: friend-raising (engagement) and fundraising (resources)
- •Works with alumni, corporates, and influential stakeholders for collaboration
- •Operates with ‘sales’, marketing/events, stewardship, and operations back-end
- •CFI highlighted as a major alumni-funded success story
- •Office history: ~20 years overall; ~13 years in current dean-led structure
- 44:42 – 48:08
Closing advice to students: mix technical depth with ‘societal’ skills—and build
He closes with guidance for students on how to spend their campus years: combine technical learning with teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and iterative making. Activities like sports, quizzing, and CFI-style building help develop the rounded capabilities needed in a changing world.
- •Avoid being a ‘one-trick pony’; develop both technical and human skills
- •Teams/sports/quizzing cultivate negotiation, communication, and resilience
- •CFI enables end-to-end learning: build, pitch, face rejection, iterate
- •Early positive reinforcement and real user feedback shape builders
- •IITM’s ecosystem is positioned as an ideal environment for this mix
