About
I teach entrepreneurship the way founders actually live it.
I’m Dr. Milan Patel — an assistant professor, startup mentor, and researcher working where the classroom meets the startup.
My work starts from a simple conviction: entrepreneurship isn’t a subject you memorise — it’s a practice you learn by doing, and by studying closely the people who have already done it. As an assistant professor at GLS University in Ahmedabad, I spend my teaching hours helping students turn raw ideas into real ventures, and my research hours making sense of what actually moves India’s startup ecosystem.
I hold a PhD in Entrepreneurship from Gujarat University, where my doctoral research examined the role of startups in economic growth across Gujarat’s incubation centres. My research has examined the Startup India initiative and DPIIT-recognised startups — how official recognition translates into funding, jobs, and growth. But I never wanted that research to sit unread in a journal. So I translate it into things founders and students can use: case studies, frameworks, talks, and a book.
That book, Built From Scratch, follows seven Indian startups and the lessons hidden inside their journeys — the very stories I bring into the classroom and into mentoring conversations.
At a glance
The short version
- PhD in Entrepreneurship — Gujarat University
- Assistant Professor — GLS University
- GSET-qualified
- Author of Built From Scratch
- 8+ peer-reviewed publications
- WEF Global Shaper
- GCCI Start-up & Innovation Committee
Three things I do
Teach
I help students learn entrepreneurship by example — through live cases, frameworks, and the messy reality of how ventures are really built.
Mentor
I work one to one with founders — from first idea and business model to fundraising strategy and the hard decisions in between.
Research
I study India’s startup ecosystem and translate the evidence into ideas the people building it can act on.
The best entrepreneurship education happens in the space between theory and practice — and my job is to stand in that space alongside my students.
What I’m building here
This site is becoming a home for that work — a place where founders, students, researchers, and institutions can find research-grounded ideas on entrepreneurship, written for the Indian context. The case studies, the book, the talks, and the mentoring all point the same way: making good entrepreneurship knowledge useful, and within reach.