Rules, Eligibility & IP Policy

1. Who Runs This Challenge

ProveIt, PragatiPath 360's Mock Client Test (formally registered as the Startup Idea Challenge), is organized and operated by Coherent Strategia Advizo (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. By registering, you agree to these rules in addition to the general PragatiPath 360 Terms of Use, Privacy & IP Policy, which continues to apply.

2. Eligibility & Team Rules

The Challenge is open to:

• School students (with guardian consent — see Section 3)
• College and university students, any year or stream
• Working professionals
• Freelancers, founders, and anyone else with a startup idea

There is no nationality or geography restriction, though the Challenge is designed and marketed primarily for participants in India.

2.1 Individual or team entry

You may enter alone or as a team. Teams register under one team lead's name, email and contact details; the team lead is responsible for all communication and is the name that appears on shared certificates/scorecards unless the team explicitly requests otherwise in writing.

2.2 One entry per person

Each individual (identified by email address) may hold only one active entry per monthly cycle, whether entering solo or as part of a team. Registering multiple times with different email addresses to gain an advantage (e.g. multiple free attempts, referral abuse) is a violation of these rules and may result in disqualification of all associated entries.

3. Participants Under 18

School students under the age of 18 may participate with the involvement and consent of a parent, guardian, or supervising teacher/institution. By registering a participant under 18, the registering adult (parent, guardian, or nominating teacher) confirms they have the authority to consent on the minor's behalf to these rules, including the data and IP terms below.

PragatiPath 360 does not knowingly collect additional personal data from minors beyond what is required for registration (name, email, institute, city) and does not publish full names of participants under 18 on public leaderboards or the weekly "Would You Pay For This?" post without separate written guardian consent.

4. Idea Ownership & Intellectual Property

5. AI Scoring Disclaimer

Round 1 (discovery) and Round 2 (pitch) scores are generated by an AI system evaluating your conversation against a defined rubric. AI scoring is a genuine, good-faith assessment tool but is not infallible — it can occasionally misjudge nuance, tone, or context that a human would read differently.

AI scores are used to auto-shortlist promising entries for human review; they are not the final word on winners. See Section 6 — a human judging panel makes the final call on every shortlisted entry.

A typing-authenticity signal (detecting pasted text or implausible typing speed) may be flagged on your transcript for faculty/judge review. This is a behavioral signal only, never an "AI content detector," and is never used to auto-penalize a score — it exists so judges can ask follow-up questions if something looks unusual, not to falsely accuse anyone of misconduct based on writing style or English fluency.

6. Human Judging Process

At the close of each monthly cycle (see the cycle schedule), Round 3 submissions from entrants with an approved Round 2 pitch are ranked by a composite score (25% discovery skill, 25% pitch delivery, 50% idea viability). Once a minimum number of eligible entries exists for a cycle, the shortlist is reviewed by a human judging panel, which has final authority to designate Finalists and Winners, taking the AI-generated scores and full transcripts into account alongside their own judgment.

The judging panel may decline to award a Winner tier in any given cycle if no entry meets the panel's bar for that distinction — reaching the shortlist does not guarantee a Winner or Finalist certificate.

7. Conflict of Interest

Judges and PragatiPath 360 staff involved in scoring or shortlisting must recuse themselves from evaluating any entry submitted by a close relative, current student (in a formal instructor capacity), or business partner. Any participant who becomes aware of a potential conflict of interest in the judging of their own or another's entry should report it to info@pp360ai.com.

8. Plagiarism, Disqualification & Fair Use

Entries must represent the participant's own idea and original thinking. The following may result in disqualification at any stage, including after certificates or prizes have been issued:

• Submitting an idea, pitch deck, or concept note copied substantially from another person, team, or publicly published source without attribution or original contribution
• Impersonating another person, using a fake identity, or registering under someone else's name without consent
• Registering multiple entries per person per cycle to bypass entry limits or referral rules
• Using automated tools (bots, scripts) to interact with the mock client instead of genuine human responses
• Abusive, threatening, or unsafe language directed at the mock client, other participants, or PragatiPath 360 staff
• Attempting to manipulate the AI system through prompt injection or similar techniques to force an undeserved score or approval

PragatiPath 360 will make a reasonable, good-faith effort to notify a participant before disqualifying an entry where practical, but reserves the right to disqualify without prior notice in clear cases of abuse.

9. Transcript & Data Usage

Your full conversation transcripts (Round 1 and Round 2) are stored to support scoring, judging, dispute review, and — only with the anonymization described in Section 4 — occasional public examples. Full transcripts are never shared with third parties, sponsors, or partner colleges without your consent, except where you have opted in (for example, a sponsor-branded challenge category where you explicitly agree your entry may be shared with that sponsor).

Registration data (name, email, phone, institute, city) is handled under the same privacy terms as the rest of the PragatiPath 360 platform — see the Privacy Policy section of the general Terms of Use.

10. Certificate Criteria

Three certificate tiers are issued, each QR-verifiable at the public verification page:

• Certificate of Participation — issued automatically once Round 1 (the discovery conversation) is completed and approved.
• Certificate of Distinction — issued to entries shortlisted by the human judging panel after Round 3.
• Certificate of Achievement — issued to entries designated Winners by the human judging panel.

Certificates reflect participation and standing in the Challenge; they are not a professional credential or degree, and are not equivalent to PragatiPath 360's separate, paid internship-track certifications.

11. Paid Upgrades & Refund Policy

Entry to all three rounds of the Challenge is free. The following are optional paid upgrades: the Idea Diagnostic Report, the Pitch Improvement Sprint, Mentor Review, and the Startup Launchpad upgrade.

11.1 Refunds

Because these upgrades deliver AI-generated content or book a human mentor's time promptly after payment verification, refunds are only available if:

• Payment was verified but the promised deliverable (report, resubmission access, or scheduled mentor session) was not delivered within a reasonable time after multiple follow-up attempts; or
• A duplicate payment was made in error for the same upgrade.

Refund requests should be sent to info@pp360ai.com with your registered email and UPI transaction reference. Approved refunds are processed to the original payment method within 7 business days.

Refunds are not available simply because a participant is unsatisfied with an AI-generated report's content, a mentor's feedback, or a judging outcome — these are subjective assessments, not delivery failures.

12. Prizes & Sponsor Dependency

Every Challenge cycle guarantees a Certificate of Participation (Round 1), a Certificate of Distinction (shortlisted), and a Certificate of Achievement (Winner), plus a discounted path into Startup Launchpad, regardless of sponsorship.

Any additional prizes — cash awards, mentor hours, prototype grants, incubator introductions, or similar — are dependent on sponsor participation for that specific cycle or themed challenge and are not guaranteed unless explicitly published for that cycle at the time of entry. Where a themed or sponsored cycle publishes specific additional prizes, those terms will be stated on that cycle's promotional page.

13. Support & Response Times

Support is available via info@pp360ai.com. PragatiPath 360 targets the following response times as an operational goal, not a contractual guarantee:

See the full Support & FAQ page for how to reach us and what to expect.

14. Changes to These Rules

PragatiPath 360 may update these rules from time to time, for example to reflect a new themed cycle's specific terms or to close a loophole discovered through misuse. Material changes will be reflected in the "Effective date" above. Continued participation after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated rules for that and future cycles; changes are not applied retroactively to disqualify or alter the outcome of a cycle that has already closed.

15. Contact