Startup and Entrepreneurship Final Report
CSE 4th Year - Fall 2025
Student Name: Arnav Kumar
Enrollment Number: 2200290100038
Course Instructor: Prof. Ankur Bhardwaj
Submission Date: November 18, 2025
Contents
1 Startup Idea Pitch: AgriSense 2
1.1 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Proposed Solution: AgriSense Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Target Audience & Value Proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Business Model Canvas (BMC) 4
2.1 Customer Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Value Propositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4 Customer Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.5 Revenue Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.6 Key Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.7 Key Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.8 Key Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.9 Cost Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 Case Study: Zerodha – The Disruption of Indian Broking 6
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3 Zerodha’s Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.4 Business Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.5 Key Lessons for AgriSense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A MOOC Certificate of Completion 8
A.1 Course Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A.2 Certificate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1
Chapter 1
Startup Idea Pitch: AgriSense
1.1 Problem Statement
Agriculture remains the backbone of the Indian economy, yet small and medium farm-
ers still rely heavily on manual inspection to detect crop diseases. This leads to delayed
identification, incorrect diagnosis, and inappropriate use of pesticides. As a result:
• Farmers suffer yield losses of up to 30–40%.
• Money is wasted on ineffective chemicals.
• Infections spread across farmlands due to late detection.
• Farmers lack easy access to agronomists and expert guidance.
Many rural farmers also lack digital literacy and have limited awareness of preven-
tive crop management practices. Hence, an accessible and reliable system is required
to support early intervention.
1.2 Proposed Solution: AgriSense Platform
AgriSense is an AI-powered platform designed to help farmers identify crop diseases
instantly using their smartphone camera. The platform consists of:
1. Mobile App (Primary Product)
• Farmers click a photo of a leaf or plant part.
• A deep learning model classifies diseases such as Blight, Rust, Mildew, Leaf Spot,
and Nutrient Deficiency.
• The app provides:
– Disease name
– Severity level (Low/Medium/High)
– Recommended pesticides
– Natural remedies
– Preventive steps
• Multi-language support: Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil.
2
2. Drone and Satellite-Based Monitoring (Premium Tier)
• Drone scans large fields using hyperspectral imaging.
• AI generates:
– Heat maps of infected zones
– Early stress signals
– Recommended spray patterns
This two-tier system helps both small and large-scale farmers.
1.3 Target Audience & Value Proposition
Target Audience
• Primary: Small and medium farmers with 1–10 acres of land.
• Secondary: Agri-corporates, FPOs, seed companies, and agri-retail distributors.
Value Proposition
• AI Diagnosis in Under 3 Seconds – highly accurate and easy to use.
• Reduce Crop Losses by timely detection.
• Reduce Pesticide Cost with precision guidance.
• Field Monitoring Automation for large farms.
• Affordable Freemium Model suitable for Indian farmers.
3
Chapter 2
Business Model Canvas (BMC)
2.1 Customer Segments
• Small farmers using Android phones.
• Medium/large farmers needing drone monitoring.
• Agri-input retailers for B2B licensing.
• Government agricultural departments for rural deployments.
2.2 Value Propositions
• AI-powered instant disease diagnosis (95% accuracy).
• Local-language treatment instructions.
• Cost savings via optimized pesticide usage.
• Drone-based precision farming for large fields.
• Community support and on-call agronomists.
2.3 Channels
• Mobile App (Play Store).
• Field training camps.
• KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra) partnerships.
• FPO/Farmer group collaborations.
2.4 Customer Relationships
• In-app chatbot for quick guidance.
• Dedicated helpline for premium users.
• Community groups for farmer-to-farmer help.
4
2.5 Revenue Streams
• Freemium subscription (₹49/month).
• Premium plan with unlimited scans + agronomist access.
• B2B drone mapping contracts with corporates.
• Commission from pesticide companies (ethical recommendations only).
2.6 Key Resources
• Large labeled dataset of crop images.
• AI/ML engineers.
• Mobile app development team.
• Cloud servers for hosting models.
2.7 Key Activities
• Training and upgrading deep learning models.
• Field data collection with agronomists.
• App maintenance & user onboarding.
• Drone scanning operations and analysis.
2.8 Key Partners
• Agricultural universities.
• Drone service providers.
• Fertilizer and pesticide companies.
• Government agricultural departments.
2.9 Cost Structure
• Server and cloud computation.
• Employee salaries.
• Marketing and field outreach.
• Drone equipment and maintenance.
5
Chapter 3
Case Study: Zerodha – The
Disruption of Indian Broking
3.1 Introduction
Zerodha is India’s largest stock brokerage firm, founded in 2010 by Nithin and Nikhil
Kamath. The company introduced the discount broking model, which transformed the
Indian investment ecosystem.
3.2 Problem Statement
Before Zerodha:
• Brokers charged high percentage-based fees.
• Trading platforms were slow and outdated.
• Retail investors faced high entry barriers.
• Account opening required physical paperwork.
These challenges created friction for new traders entering the stock market.
3.3 Zerodha’s Solution
Zerodha disrupted the industry using technology-driven solutions:
• Flat ₹20 brokerage for intraday/F&O.
• Zero brokerage for equity delivery.
• Introduced Kite, a modern, fast trading platform.
• Fully digital onboarding (video KYC).
• Transparent pricing with no hidden fees.
6
3.4 Business Model
• High-volume, low-margin strategy.
• Revenue from:
– Derivatives trading fees.
– Margin funding.
– Technology products like Coin, Varsity, Sentinel.
• Automated backend reduces operational costs.
3.5 Key Lessons for AgriSense
• Transparency builds trust – farmers must clearly understand pricing.
• Technology must be simple – like Kite, AgriSense must be intuitive.
• Focus on core problem – Zerodha solved high fees; AgriSense solves crop loss.
• Scalability through automation – AI diagnosis can scale without human labor.
7
Appendix A
MOOC Certificate of Completion
A.1 Course Details
• Course Title: Introduction to Entrepreneurship
• Platform: Startup India / Udemy
• Completion Date: October 30, 2025
A.2 Certificate
8
Figure A.1: Certificate of Completion