Excerpts: For a long time Nitesh Gupta, who resides in India’s startup capital Bengaluru, was in fix as to what to do with the big ancestral house that he owned in one of the hotspots in the city. Though he converted the house into a commercial centre, one of his IIM-B (a renowned business school in India) professors suggested doing something for the thriving startup ecosystem. This led him to convert the house into a co-working space. Thus, Starttopia was born. “The discussion with the professor made me realise that startups struggle to find a place from where they can work. Since they have a shoestring budget, finding an affordable office place is a nightmare. Hence, I decided to open a co-working space, which can seat 500-600 people,” says Gupta, founder, Starttopia.