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Fighting the battle with thorough research: Team Dreamers | First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019
Fighting the battle with thorough research: Team Dreamers | First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019
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ABG, as an organisation, needs no introduction. It’s a dream for most management graduates to work in an organisation like ABG. Getting crowned as the First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019 startled the three of us.
Our strategy was to focus on the problem statement clearly, to acquire 10 million customers, digitally, within a year. This 10 million was the number we focused on and designed our product accordingly. There are only a few transactions that have that kind of frequency. We listed them out and then tried to identify the white spaces in those transactions. Once we identified the ideal transaction to disrupt, we designed our product specifications.
The competition design was something we were thoroughly impressed with. It started with a 3-day simulation game which shortlisted selected people. After this, each round had the same case but different depths of solutions were required. Starting from 1 slide solution to 5 and finally, a 7-slide solution, helped our team deep dive into their proposal and plug out the possible loopholes. This also helped us understand how an idea is developed.
A total of 10 teams made it to the finale. Before the competition, our seniors had said that ISB will prove to be a tough competitor. In our event also, 3 teams qualified for the finale. Thus, we were a bit afraid of the teams from ISB. But the best idea, according to us, came from the team from IIM Calcutta. Their idea was absolutely brilliant. The only thing they lacked was expertise in their distribution strategy.
You need to understand all stakeholders before designing a product and find its realistic use case. It is important to get on the ground, talk to people there and understand whether or not your proposal is already in the market. Is there a roadblock to its execution? Are you assuming irrelevant things? Is it financially feasible for the business? A lot of teams missed these points. Luckily, we had good guidance and thus were able to cover most of these points in our solutions. We were complimented for our in-depth research and study.
Working with new individuals is always exciting and fun. Our 3 member team, Dreamers, is a group of individuals coming from diverse backgrounds, having varied skill sets. We are a group of fun-loving people who enjoy what we do. We got to know each other better, what our strengths were and how we could complement each other to achieve better results. In case of conflicts, we made sure that an open line of communication was maintained and we worked together to see how the issue could be best addressed. In the end, it is crucial that everyone is on the same page to move forward. This transformed the entire process into a much more constructive learning experience.
The differentiating factor in our team was the diverse knowledge all of us brought to the table. This allowed us to cover multiple facets of the problem effectively, helping us reach the top and win the title of the First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019. Dinesh was proficient in marketing and created the marketing roadmap of the product. Tushar played a crucial role in the product ideation and his diligent research helped us make a robust product. I contributed to the financials of the project. The driven attitude of all of us kept us focussed on the targets and we motivated each other to push ourselves and complete the project.
The judgement panel consisted of judges who were industry stalwarts from different domains. We were the 4th in line to present our solutions and we were pretty nervous before the start. 3 teams had presented before us but weren't getting good compliments from the judges. When we presented our solution, all the judges complimented on the flow and depth of the solutions we presented. They were impressed by the simplicity of the idea and work done on ground. We were the first team to get good compliments from all the judges as well as the other teams. This moment was particularly overwhelming for us.
In all, the journey of the entire competition, from the beginning to the end in addition to picking the trophy up of the First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019, was an enriching experience.
Our strategy was to focus on the problem statement clearly, to acquire 10 million customers, digitally, within a year. This 10 million was the number we focused on and designed our product accordingly. There are only a few transactions that have that kind of frequency. We listed them out and then tried to identify the white spaces in those transactions. Once we identified the ideal transaction to disrupt, we designed our product specifications.
The intricacies of the competition
The competition design was something we were thoroughly impressed with. It started with a 3-day simulation game which shortlisted selected people. After this, each round had the same case but different depths of solutions were required. Starting from 1 slide solution to 5 and finally, a 7-slide solution, helped our team deep dive into their proposal and plug out the possible loopholes. This also helped us understand how an idea is developed.
A total of 10 teams made it to the finale. Before the competition, our seniors had said that ISB will prove to be a tough competitor. In our event also, 3 teams qualified for the finale. Thus, we were a bit afraid of the teams from ISB. But the best idea, according to us, came from the team from IIM Calcutta. Their idea was absolutely brilliant. The only thing they lacked was expertise in their distribution strategy.
The crucial crevices of the case
You need to understand all stakeholders before designing a product and find its realistic use case. It is important to get on the ground, talk to people there and understand whether or not your proposal is already in the market. Is there a roadblock to its execution? Are you assuming irrelevant things? Is it financially feasible for the business? A lot of teams missed these points. Luckily, we had good guidance and thus were able to cover most of these points in our solutions. We were complimented for our in-depth research and study.
The team and how we grew together
Working with new individuals is always exciting and fun. Our 3 member team, Dreamers, is a group of individuals coming from diverse backgrounds, having varied skill sets. We are a group of fun-loving people who enjoy what we do. We got to know each other better, what our strengths were and how we could complement each other to achieve better results. In case of conflicts, we made sure that an open line of communication was maintained and we worked together to see how the issue could be best addressed. In the end, it is crucial that everyone is on the same page to move forward. This transformed the entire process into a much more constructive learning experience.
What made us stand out
The differentiating factor in our team was the diverse knowledge all of us brought to the table. This allowed us to cover multiple facets of the problem effectively, helping us reach the top and win the title of the First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019. Dinesh was proficient in marketing and created the marketing roadmap of the product. Tushar played a crucial role in the product ideation and his diligent research helped us make a robust product. I contributed to the financials of the project. The driven attitude of all of us kept us focussed on the targets and we motivated each other to push ourselves and complete the project.
The judgement panel consisted of judges who were industry stalwarts from different domains. We were the 4th in line to present our solutions and we were pretty nervous before the start. 3 teams had presented before us but weren't getting good compliments from the judges. When we presented our solution, all the judges complimented on the flow and depth of the solutions we presented. They were impressed by the simplicity of the idea and work done on ground. We were the first team to get good compliments from all the judges as well as the other teams. This moment was particularly overwhelming for us.
In all, the journey of the entire competition, from the beginning to the end in addition to picking the trophy up of the First Runners-Up of ABG Stratos 2019, was an enriching experience.
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