In a first for TiE, the pre-summit bootcamp moves beyond chapter-level programming to bring founders from across the region into one shared learning track on business models, AI, fundraising and market scaling
Hyderabad, Sept 24: Ahead of the TiE Women Asia Summit 2026, TiE Hyderabad hosted an Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) bootcamp bringing together 29 women-led startups from across Asia for two days of intensive, hands-on learning. While TiE chapters have run bootcamps before, this marks the first time the format has been extended across the region, placing founders from different countries and markets into the same room to learn, question and build alongside each other.
The bootcamp is part of a larger three-day summit, hosted by TiE Hyderabad from September 24–26, built around four pillars – Learn, Connect, Compete and Explore. designed to help women entrepreneurs across Asia build meaningful connections with investors, mentors and fellow founders, while creating pathways for cross-border collaboration and market access.
Learning Designed for Where Founders Actually Get Stuck
The bootcamp’s curriculum was structured around the questions founders most commonly face as they scale sharpening their business model, using AI meaningfully rather than superficially, preparing for investor conversations, and expanding into new markets across Asia. Sessions were led by experienced entrepreneurs, mentors and ecosystem leaders and covered:
·Business Model & Product-Market Fit
·AI for Entrepreneurs
·Scaling Across Asian Markets
·Investor Readiness & Fundraising
Rather than one-way lectures, sessions were designed to be interactive, giving founders room to apply frameworks to their own businesses and get direct feedback. An AMA session with TiE Charter Members gave founders informal, direct access to experienced entrepreneurs who have navigated similar scaling challenges, a chance to ask the questions that don’t usually make it into a panel discussion.
Equally valuable were the informal moments built into the schedule shared meals, a campus walks, and unstructured networking time which gave founders space to exchange notes with peers facing similar challenges in different markets. For many participants, these peer conversations extended the value of the formal sessions, surfacing practical, market-specific insights that founders could carry back to their own businesses.
The bootcamp was hosted at Woxsen University, a business school in Telangana, which served as knowledge partner for the program.
Following the bootcamp, delegates moved on to the next leg of the summit — an evening Gala Dinner followed by the summit’s third and final day, which features the TiE Women Asia Global Semi-Finals Pitch Competition
“The TiE Women Asia Summit is about far more than a single event, it’s a complete journey for women founders, from sharpening the fundamentals of their business to standing on stage and pitching in front of investors from across the region. We wanted to build something that doesn’t just celebrate women entrepreneurs for a day but genuinely strengthens their businesses for the long run.” – Murali Kakarla – President TiE Hyderabad
“ Seeing 29 women founders from across Asia come together, learning from each other and pushing each other forward, is exactly the energy this ecosystem needs. It’s proof of the talent that exists when we create the right platform for it. But my hope is that we won’t need a separate platform forever — that women and men founders receive the same access, support and recognition as a default. Programs like this are how we get there. ” – Sakthi Chevuturi, Core Committee Member, TiE Women Hyderabad