Startup Lab

Two questions come up in nearly every first conversation we have with a founder: how much money do I actually need, and does this idea fit the market as it is right now. The first is answerable properly. The second is not — not by a form, not by us, and not by anyone charging for a score out of ten.

So this tool answers the version of the second question that is answerable: how ready this is to be funded, and what the person assessing it will push on hardest. Every point it raises comes with what would change it, because an observation you cannot act on is a criticism, and we are not in that business.

1. The idea, and the market it lands in

Eight answers. These decide what an assessor will push on hardest.

How far along are you?What are you actually selling? — This decides the shape of the cost, not just the size — inventory and tooling behave nothing like headcount.Who pays you?What evidence do you have that people want this? — The most load-bearing answer in the form. Answer it as it is, not as you would like it to be.Who else solves this problem today?What makes this hard to copy? — "Nothing yet" is a normal answer early on and is treated as one.Do you know what one customer costs and what they are worth?How are you working on this?

2. What it costs to run

Your numbers, not ours — we publish no salary or sector benchmarks, so nothing here is prefilled from one. The figures below are round placeholders to overwrite.

People drawing a salary, founders includedAverage monthly cost per person, fully loaded (₹) — Your number. We publish no salary benchmark and have not applied one — the value shown is a round placeholder to replace.Other monthly costs — rent, cloud, tools, compliance, marketing (₹)Monthly revenue left after the direct cost of delivering it (₹) — Contribution, not revenue. Only the part that survives delivery costs actually offsets burn — which is why we ask for it this way rather than assuming a margin.One-off spend before you start — equipment, tooling, opening stock, deposits (₹)Months of operation this money has to fundNot incorporated yet — add the statutory setup charges (MCA fee, stamp duty, PAN, TAN) from the published government tables

3. What you want from the money

What you are building toward, and what you are willing to give up to get there.

What are you building toward?Are you willing to give up ownership for capital?Are you recognised as a startup by DPIIT (Startup India)? — Several central programmes are gated on this, and it is the entry point to the 80-IAC tax holiday.Which state are you based in (or will you register in)? — State schemes only show when the state matches. It also sets the stamp duty in the setup cost.

₹34.5 L15 months · indicative

An indicative capital plan, not a valuation and not a recommendation. It is arithmetic over the numbers you entered — ₹2,30,000 a month net of contribution, across 15 months, plus one-off spend. We publish no salary or sector benchmarks and have applied none.

Your 12 months plus a 3-month buffer — our planning convention, not a measured figure, on the reasoning that negotiating with an empty account is the weakest position available. Change the runway above if you disagree.

Show the derivation, line by line

Team — 3 people at your stated cost per head: ₹1,80,000 / month — Your figure. We publish no salary benchmark and have not applied one.
Other monthly costs — rent, tools, cloud, compliance, marketing: ₹50,000 / month — Your figure.
Net monthly burn: ₹2,30,000 × 15 months = ₹34,50,000
Total: ₹34,50,000

The read, in two lines

Working in your favour: Full-time, in a field you already know

Where you will be pressed hardest: A waitlist is a signal, not revenue

We have not scored your idea and we are not going to. “Will this work” is not answerable from a form; “how ready is this to be funded, and what will an assessor push on” is, and that is what everything below answers.

What an assessor will ask you

Ordered hardest first, not most flattering first. Every one says what would move it.

Open questionA waitlist is a signal, not revenue

Sign-ups measure how good the pitch is. They do not measure whether the product delivers or whether the price holds. Both are still open.

What would change this: Take money from ten people on that list.

Open questionSoftware with nothing defensible yet

That is a normal answer this early — most software has no moat on day one, and it is not a reason to stop. But it means the answer has to arrive from execution, data or distribution rather than from the code, and you should know which one you are betting on.

What would change this: Pick the one you are actually building toward and say it out loud: switching costs, proprietary data, a channel nobody else has, or simply being faster.

Working in your favourFull-time, in a field you already know

Domain experience is the part of a team assessment nobody can shortcut, and it is weighted heavily in incubator and grant selection where the team is most of the score.

What would change this: Make the experience concrete and specific — what you did, and what it taught you about this problem.

Which kind of money suits you

Fit means the instrument matches your shape — not that you will be awarded anything. Each one says what the money costs you, because none of them are free.

GrantPossible

You are in the right stage band, but grant selection leans on technical novelty or demonstrated demand, and neither is settled in your answers yet.
You are not sure about DPIIT recognition. Worth settling, because several central programmes gate on it.

What it costs you: No repayment and no ownership given up — but real reporting. Money arrives in tranches against milestones and utilisation certificates, which means you fund the work first and claim afterwards. Budget for the gap.

Watch out: Under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme you take either a grant for proof of concept and prototyping, or convertible debt for commercialisation — one route or the other, never both and never stacked. The ceilings differ between them.

SubsidyNot a match

Subsidies offset capital spend on assets. Your plan has little or none, so there is nothing for a subsidy to attach to.

What it costs you: Nothing repaid and nothing diluted, but almost every subsidy is a reimbursement — you buy the asset with your own money and claim afterwards, against documentation. A subsidy does not solve a cash-today problem.

Watch out: Claim windows and documentation requirements are where these are lost. Check what evidence is required before you spend, not after.

DebtNot a match

Debt is repaid out of cash flow, and there is none yet. Borrowing against a pre-revenue plan puts the risk on you personally, usually through a guarantee.

What it costs you: You keep all of your ownership and you repay regardless of how the month went. Most lending to a young company needs collateral or a personal guarantee, so the downside usually lands on the founder personally — read what you are signing.

Watch out: Credit guarantee schemes exist precisely to substitute for collateral you do not have. Ask about them by name before offering security.

EquityPossible

Steady growth with some openness to dilution can suit equity, though it tends to mean a smaller round from investors who are not underwriting a large exit.

What it costs you: The largest cheques and no repayment — in exchange for ownership you do not get back, board and consent rights over decisions that were yours, and a growth obligation, because the money only works for the investor if there is an exit.

Programmes that fit, from our directory

The largest grant or subsidy matched below funds up to ₹1 Cr, against your planned ₹34.5 L — so on ceiling alone, money you never repay could cover this. Ceiling is not eligibility: read the programme's own conditions.

Grant programmes

T-FundGrant

T-Hub · INR 25 lakhs to INR 1 crore (co-investment alongside angels/VCs)

IIITD-IC Seed Funding / Seed Investment ProgramGrant

IIITD Innovation and Incubation Center (IIITD-IC) · Up to INR 50 lakh (higher amounts possible in exceptional cases, subject to Committee decision)

iCreate Pro-Fund GatewayGrant

Gujarat Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence (GFEE) — operating as iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) · TEC Grant: ₹2 L; NIDHI-PRAYAS: ₹10 L; TIDE 2.0: ₹7 L (grant) / ₹4 L (EiR) / ₹40 L (investment); Startup Gujarat: ₹30 L; NIDHI-EIR: ₹10K-30K monthly (12 months)

PIERC Incubation ProgramGrant

Parul Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centre (PIERC), Parul University · Up to Rs 10 Lakhs seed funding through SSIP and government grants

Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs 2.0 (TIDE 2.0)Grant

MeitY · ₹7 Lakhs (EiR/grant support varies by incubator tier)

MV-COMMERCEGrant

Maker Village · Upfront cash of ₹5 lakhs (₹2.5 lakhs for virtual incubation); optional EIR (Entrepreneur-in-Residence) support of ₹30,000/month for first 6 months

Matching is on stage, state and instrument. It is not an eligibility decision — each programme decides that against its own guidelines when you apply. Run the eligibility checker for a scheme-by-scheme read.

An estimate, not a quote. The programme you apply to, and your own advisers produces the figure that actually applies to you — check there before you rely on a number. Startup Lab organises your own answers into the questions a funder will ask. It is not investment advice, it is not a valuation, and it is not a promise of funding — no outcome here is one CapEasy controls. The capital figure is arithmetic over the numbers you entered, not a sector benchmark: we do not publish salary or sector benchmarks and have not applied any. Eligibility for any programme is decided by that programme against its own guidelines at the time you apply.

What this deliberately does not do

It does not score your idea, rank it against other startups, or tell you whether it will succeed — none of those are answerable from a form, and a confident wrong answer here costs a founder far more than a vague right one. It does not value your business. It does not apply sector or salary benchmarks, because we do not publish any: every figure in the capital plan is one you entered, arithmetic we showed you, or a statutory government charge from a published table. It does not decide eligibility for any programme. And it is not investment advice — CapEasy is not a registered investment adviser and nothing here is a personal recommendation to raise, borrow or invest.

How the capital figure is built

Every other tool on this site computes a number from a statute or a published rate table — ROC due dates from the General Clauses Act, MCA late fees from the Annexure table, TDS ratesfrom the Act. “How much capital do I need” has no statute behind it, so it is built differently and the difference is worth understanding before you rely on the number.

The figure is your arithmetic, not our benchmark. Headcount × cost per head, plus other monthly costs, less the revenue that survives the direct cost of delivering it, across the months you want funded, plus one-off spend. We do not publish salary or sector benchmarks and have applied none — the prefilled numbers are round placeholders to overwrite.
Contribution, not revenue. Only the part of revenue that survives delivery costs actually offsets burn. Asking for contribution directly is what avoids us assuming a gross margin we would have no basis for — and it is why the tool can tell you honestly when your operations already fund themselves and a raise is optional.
The buffer is a convention, and it says so.The “Planned” scenario adds three months to the runway you entered. That is a planning convention on the reasoning that funding processes do not move to your calendar, not a measured figure — change the runway and it moves with you.
Only two numbers come from us. Statutory setup charges, taken from the published MCA fee and state Stamp Act tables behind the incorporation fee estimator; and the amount ceilings published in our own funding directory, used to check whether non-dilutive money could carry your plan at all.

Why there is no score

A wrong filing deadline is recoverable — you check, you find the error, you file. A wrong “your idea will not work” is not: the founder who reads it does not come back to audit our reasoning, and we would never learn we were wrong. The asymmetry is the whole argument, and it is why the output here is a set of questions with a way to answer each one, rather than a verdict, a rating or a gauge.

It is also why the read closes into a conversation. If the tool tells you the hardest question you face is that a dominant incumbent could copy you, the useful next step is arguing that out with someone who has seen it go both ways — not a number.

What it does not do

It does not value your business, rank you against other startups, or predict whether you will raise. It does not decide eligibility — each programme does that against its own guidelines when you apply; for a scheme-by-scheme read, use the eligibility checker. And it is not investment advice: CapEasy is not a registered investment adviser, and nothing here is a personal recommendation to raise, borrow or invest.

Common questions

Does Startup Lab tell me whether my idea will work?

No, and it is built not to. Nothing that can be answered from a form can tell you whether a business will succeed, and a confident wrong answer in that direction costs a founder far more than a vague right one — a founder told "this will not work" does not come back to check our reasoning. What it does instead is answer the question that is actually answerable: how ready this is to be funded, and what an assessor will press hardest on. Every observation comes with what would change it.

Where does the capital figure come from? Is it a sector benchmark?

It is not a benchmark, and that is deliberate. The figure is arithmetic over numbers you enter — your headcount, your cost per head, your other monthly costs, your monthly contribution after direct delivery costs, your one-off spend and the runway you want to fund. The derivation is shown line by line so you can check it rather than trust it. CapEasy does not publish salary or sector benchmarks, so none are applied: the only figures the tool contributes itself are statutory government charges taken from published tables, and the amount ceilings published in our own funding directory.

What are the three scenarios, and why does "Planned" add months?

They differ only in how many months of runway the plan funds. "Tight" is exactly the runway you entered. "Planned" adds a three-month buffer, on the reasoning that funding processes do not move to your calendar and negotiating with an empty account is the weakest position available. "Cautious" is 1.5 times your stated runway. The buffer and the multiple are planning conventions, not measured figures, and the tool says so where it shows them — if you disagree, change the runway and every scenario moves with it.

Is this investment advice?

No. CapEasy is not a registered investment adviser and nothing here is a personal recommendation to raise, borrow or invest. The funding-route section describes whether an instrument matches the shape of your business — and what taking that money would cost you — not whether you should take it or whether you would be awarded it. Eligibility for any programme is decided by that programme against its own guidelines at the time you apply.

How are the matching programmes chosen?

From the same directory that powers our funding pages, filtered on three things: the instrument that suits you, whether the programme is open at your stage, and whether it is pan-India or specific to the state you gave. State-specific programmes only appear when the state matches, the same rule the eligibility checker uses. Programmes are not shown under a route the tool has just told you is not a match, and matching is not an eligibility decision.

Why does every funding route say what it costs me?

Because none of them are free, and the cost is usually the part founders discover late. A grant is not repaid but arrives in tranches against milestones and utilisation certificates, so you fund the work and claim afterwards. A subsidy is usually a reimbursement, which means it does not solve a cash-today problem. Debt is repaid whatever kind of month you had, and lending to a young company normally needs collateral or a personal guarantee that lands on the founder personally. Equity is not repaid at all, in exchange for ownership you do not get back and a growth obligation that comes with it.

Do I need to be DPIIT-recognised or incorporated to use it?

No. The tool works from an idea with nothing built, and it has an option for not being incorporated yet — tick it and the statutory setup charges for your state are added to the plan from the published MCA and Stamp Act tables. DPIIT recognition matters because several central programmes gate on it, so answering it changes which programmes match, but not being recognised does not stop you using the tool.