Talk to enough founders in Kashmir and you will notice something interesting. 

Nobody is really angry at the system. 

They are grateful for it, in fact, and they will say so. 

But beneath that gratitude lies a growing frustration, the one that comes from a design that hasn’t kept pace with what entrepreneurs actually need. 

Once you notice it, it becomes hard to unsee.

For a long time, the dream in the valley was simple: get a government job, get the stability that comes with it, and worry about little else. 

That dream is fading. 

A new generation of young people wants to build things instead of waiting for a posting letter. They are full of ideas, and they genuinely want to turn those ideas into real ventures. 

But, of course, not every idea that calls itself a startup actually behaves like one. 

The ease of getting DPIIT registration has made the label almost too easy to claim, and the word “startup” now covers everything from genuinely scalable innovation to what is really just a small business with a pitch deck. 

That’s a conversation worth having on its own, but it’s not the one at hand here.

The real issue is something more structural. 

Having spent time inside incubators and in chats with founders trying to find their footing, one thing keeps standing out: the entire model is stuck at a single stage, and it’s trying to do everything from that one spot.

Here’s how it usually plays out. 

An incubator takes in applications, picks the ones that show promise, and hands them a grant, some lab access, and a mentor. 

Sounds reasonable, except that in practice, the vast majority of these ideas, something close to 95 percent based........

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