Inside Panjab University – Software Freedom Day 2025: Rahul Gautam on Turning Ideas into Startups

Software Freedom Day 2025 at Panjab University brought together industry practitioners, technologists, and startup professionals for two days of focused conversations around open source, emerging technologies, and real-world product building. Among these, Turning Ideas into Startups stood out for its clarity and honesty, especially for students thinking seriously about entrepreneurship and product careers. The session was led by Rahul Gautam, Product Manager and Business Analyst at VT Netzwelt, and it strongly resonated with students exploring startup and product-led career paths.

Rather than framing startups as success stories built overnight, Rahul focused on what usually happens long before any real traction appears. Ideas are plentiful. Direction is not and most early struggles stem from that missing direction.

Startups Don’t Fail Because of Ideas

Drawing from his experience working closely with startups and enterprises at VT Netzwelt, Rahul spoke about a pattern he sees often. Early-stage ventures rarely struggle because their ideas lack potential. More often, they struggle because the underlying problem has not been understood deeply enough or tested against the people who actually live with it. For most aspiring founders, the real work starts with investigating the problem, not adding more features.

He shared how this thinking developed through his own career journey. Coming from a business and MBA background, Rahul began his professional path in sales. Over time, he realised that his real interest lay not in selling solutions, but in understanding people, how they describe their problems, where expectations break down, and why well-intended solutions sometimes miss the mark. In the session, he encouraged students to listen for mismatches between what users say they want and what they actually do, because that is often where real opportunities begin.

That curiosity eventually led him into business analysis and product management, roles where listening carefully is just as important as planning and execution.

Bridging the Gap Between Customers and Engineers

A key part of the session focused on the disconnect that often exists between customers and engineering teams. Rahul explained that this gap is not unusual and is, in fact, the reason roles like business analysts and product managers exist in the first place.

Startups, he noted, often rush into building without establishing a clear bridge between what users experience and what teams deliver. When that translation layer is missing, even strong technical teams can struggle to build products that resonate.

This perspective resonated strongly with students interested in startups, consulting, and product roles, offering a realistic view of how business and technology intersect in practice.

Learning from Startups That Solved the Right Problem

To ground the discussion, Rahul briefly referenced Blinkit as an example of a business that succeeded by focusing on a specific, well-understood problem. The company did not win by adding complexity, but by recognising everyday user behaviour around urgency and convenience, and building a solution aligned with those insights.

The takeaway was simple but important: startups gain momentum when solutions are shaped around real needs, not assumptions. For students considering startups or product roles, the session boiled down to a simple checklist: listen before you build, translate before you code, and question assumptions before you celebrate features.

Context That Added Weight

Rahul’s session took place alongside discussions on AI, open-source communities, and evolving startup models, giving students exposure to a wide range of industry perspectives.

Against that backdrop, Turning Ideas into Startups offered something particularly valuable, a reminder that strong businesses are built on clarity, not just ambition.

VT Netzwelt’s Role in Startup and Product Thinking

Rahul Gautam’s participation at Software Freedom Day reflects VT Netzwelt’s ongoing engagement with startup ecosystems and academic communities.. As a company that works closely with startups across stages and industries, VT Netzwelt regularly sees what helps teams move forward and what keeps them stuck. Sessions like Turning Ideas into Startups translate those repeated patterns into practical product and business thinking for future founders and professionals.

By contributing sessions like Turning Ideas into Startups, the company reinforces a simple belief: sustainable innovation begins with understanding people and problems, long before solutions take shape, pitch decks are refined, or code is written.