How Rejections Shaped My Startup Mindset Before Winning at NIT Patna
From Rejections to a National-Level Win: What IDE Bootcamp at NIT Patna Taught Me About Startups, Execution, and Persistence By Aman Kumar Happy Sometimes a win looks like a trophy. But in reality, a real win is often much bigger than that. For me, the biggest outcome of IDE Bootcamp 2026 at NIT Patna was not only that our team NexaForce won at the national level with SAHAYAK, a WhatsApp-based digital health companion. The bigger outcome was the mindset shift that happened across those five days. This is my honest story. Not polished. Not fake. Not written to look perfect. Just real. --- The beginning was not smooth I started working seriously on my startup journey in 2025. Like many student founders, I began with energy, ideas, and ambition. But I also made some mistakes. I depended too much on AI for everything. I kept thinking tools would solve clarity problems that only real thinking, real feedback, and real execution could solve. Then the rejections started...