A zeal to excel - Kundan, IIM Bangalore | 3rd D2C Competitive Leader 2020

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Kundan has claimed multiple accolades due to her diligence and overall excellence through her B-School journey. Be it Accenture B-School Challenge 2019, Google Case Challenge 2019, Mahindra War Room Season 12, or Flipkart Wired 2019 Campus Case Challenge 3.0, the count of her remarkable performances in such prestigious competitions is endless. Her road to success was not easy to navigate, but with sincere efforts and passion, she always came out a successful warrior. To acknowledge her glorious journey, Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete)has awarded her as the 3rd D2C Competitive Leader 2020. This is what she has to say on this win:

Everyone was elated! There was an initial element of surprise followed by a stream of congratulations. We had received an intimation that we were a part of the top 30, however, being ranked as the 3rd D2C Competitive Leader 2020 was really unexpected. It is a fitting end to an amazing journey of two years. 

Bringing out the best

These competitions are a good platform to test classroom learning. I wanted my MBA to be more than just academics. Along with the amazing interaction that we had with the industry leaders, another reason to work on these competitions were understanding how different industries work and what are the key driving levers in that particular sector.

Learning is a process not an event

Apart from the cliche about how these competitions are a great platform to understand some of the problems faced by corporates, what stood out for me was the learning curve of these competitions. When we started with our first competition, our ideas were raw and not well researched. As we kept going, our ideas got better, our presentation skills improved. However, the highlight for us was always the Q&A session at the end of our presentations. That shaped our way of thinking and kept pushing us to do better. Being the campus winners for some of these competitions gave us the push to keep trying and to not give up. 

A team is more than the sum of its parts

It was a collective effort. None of this would have been possible without my team. We had the same team across multiple competitions and that really helped when things got difficult. Anytime one of us felt like giving up, the others would push and cheer till the team got back on its feet and delivered a solution. 

A message to young and aspiring

These competitions not only expose you to ways to implement your classroom learnings to real-time corporate problems but also force you to think about the feasibility and implementation of your solution. Do remember to focus on quick wins along with the world's ideas. Prioritize not only the type of case competitions you want to do but also the type of solutions you want to implement. And remember, you can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending!

D2C Competitive Leaders 2020 is a part of Dare2Compete Awards 2020, held every year to celebrate excellence portrayed by stakeholders of the B-School ecosystem.