Business Model Canvas and Pitch Deck for Startups: How PIERC at Parul University Teaches Student Founders to Turn Ideas Into Fundable Businesses

At PIERC Cohort at Parul University, Hutesh Baviskar (Senior Manager – Incubation, PIERC) taught the Business Model Canvas – boxes that map your entire business on one page. Prashant Khanna taught the Value Proposition Canvas. And Ajay Barot taught pitch deck construction through real case studies and rejected grant proposals. Here is the complete framework.

Prashant Khanna started with the most fundamental question: why should anyone choose you? He taught the Value Proposition Canvas – a one-page tool with two sides. The circle represents your customer: their jobs (what they are trying to do), their pains (frustrations and obstacles), and their gains (desired outcomes). The square represents your product: your products and services, your pain relievers (how you reduce customer pains), and your gain creators (how you create desired outcomes).

The arrows between the square and circle are the most important part – they represent fit. Your pain relievers must directly match customer pains. Your gain creators must directly match customer gains. If they match, you have something real. If they do not, you are building something for yourself, not your customer. Prashant Khanna made every founder fill this canvas honestly – and some discovered that their gain creators did not actually match what their customers needed.

Hutesh Baviskar used Uber as a teaching tool – asking the cohort to think about it not as a user but as a founder. He then walked through the boxes:

• Key Partners – the people and organisations outside your startup you need to work with (suppliers, technology providers, government bodies).
• Key Activities – the most important things your startup must do every day to function.
• Key Resources – the assets your business cannot run without (technology, team, data, funding, infrastructure).
• Value Proposition – the heart of everything. The unique value your startup delivers to the customer. Every other box exists to support this one. If your value proposition is weak, nothing else saves you.
• Customer Relationships – how you connect with and keep customers (personal service, automated communication, loyalty programmes).
• Channels – how your startup reaches customers and delivers the product (app, website, direct sales, partnerships, social media).
• Customer Segments – who your customer is. Not everyone. A specific group with a specific need.
• Cost Structure – everything it costs to run the business (team, technology, marketing, operations).
• Revenue Streams – how money comes in (subscriptions, one-time payments, commissions, advertising, licensing).

Hutesh Baviskar made an important structural observation: one side of the canvas is about the business (what you do, need, work with), the other is about the customer (who they are, how you reach them). The Value Proposition connects both. When both sides align through that centre box, you have a working business. Step into the world of innovation and business leadership with an MBA in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Startup Acceleration Program of Parul University!

Ajay Barot joined online and delivered what participants called the most practical session of the programme. He showed real pitch decks side by side – weak versus strong – and analysed real rejected grant proposals. The rejection reasons were almost always the same: vague problem statements, unproven market sizing, weak differentiation, and budgets with no logical justification.

The PIERC pitch deck template walks teams through every required slide: startup name and logo (cover), problem statement and opportunity, proposed solution, differentiation from existing solutions, competitor analysis, Business Model Canvas, timeline and milestones, market analysis with TAM-SAM-SOM, go-to-market strategy, team and achievements, and a detailed budget plan.

Ajay Barot was very specific about what funding can and cannot be used for:

• raw materials, prototype development, testing, field trials, and certifications are approved;
• salaries, marketing, travel, office setup, personal devices, and promotional activities are not.

Every purchase must be backed by a proper GST bill.

Both Bhavya Patel and Ajay Barot emphasised the same point: do not start with a big global number and take a tiny percentage to make your market sound huge. Any experienced investor sees through this instantly and it destroys your credibility. The right way is always bottom-up: start from the actual number of real people who have the real problem, multiply by what they spend on it, and build upward.

TAM (Total Addressable Market) is the biggest possible number. SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) is what your business model can realistically reach. SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) is what you can capture in Year 1 – the number that matters most in the early stage. Take the smarter route to a successful management career with the Integrated BBA-MBA – Parul University.