Bajaj Finserv Atom winners from TAPMI Manipal will help you realise your VC dreams!

Conducted in late August 2019, Bajaj Finserv Atom Season 2 was unlike any other corporate competition. Consisting of multiple facets, Atom 2019 provided a platform to B-School students to showcase their distinctive ideas in order to predict the direction of the financial products and services for an era of open banking and come up with relevant solutions for the citizens of the future. 

To help the upcoming batch of B-School students better comprehend the realm of corporate competitions and make them familiar with what awaits them, Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete)launched an all-new initiative - Winning Mantras, an endeavour to ignite the spirit of competitiveness. We interacted with winning teams of the top corporate competitions from the previous year. In this episode of Winning Mantras, we are in conversation with Disha Kundra and Raunak Dhirawat from TAPMI Manipal, the National Winners of Bajaj Finserv Atom Season 2. Read further and watch the video to know more about the coveted competition and unveil their secret to winning.  

Structure of Bajaj Finserv Atom

Bajaj Finserv Atom runs in two segments - the first part requires students to create teams and come up with unique ideas and solutions for the problem given. In the second segment, students act as investors and participate individually. Students can choose one of these segments to participate in.

This is where Disha and Raunak stepped in. In the shoes of an investor, they had to invest a particular sum of money in various ideas, keeping the different aspects of investing in mind.

Divided into four rounds, Bajaj Finserv Atom Season 2 comprised the following:

• Campus Round

• Regional Round

• National Round

• Grand Finale

Once every round came to an end, the worth of the winning idea got doubled. That goes to say that if a particular investor invested in idea A and it won Round 1, the worth of that idea doubled, thereby, increasing the market value of the investor. Initially, every idea had a share price worth Rs. 10 and every investor is handed 1000 points. The share price of every idea fluctuates once the market (in the competition) opens. 

In the campus round, investors are allowed to invest only in ideas of their college. Whereas in the regional round, investors can invest in ideas from other colleges as well. 

What Bajaj Finserv Atom is all about?

Where Raunak’s investment journey began four years back when he first invested 1000 rupees and earned an interest of Rs. 50, Disha has always been a risk-averse person, who chose to stay away from the stock market until she joined a B-School, where she gradually picked up the knowledge of trading.  

“There is no other competition where students themselves analyze before going to the jury”, said Disha.

The competition that lasted about 40 days required all investors to keep an eye on their every day share prices as well as their competitors to understand how the market is fluctuating. What makes Bajaj Finserv Atom different is the gamified version of all the components. A competition that requires a thorough understanding of the key domains of Finance, Operations and Marketing, Bajaj Finserv Atom provides an unparalleled platform to better understand the behaviour of the stock market. 

“For smart participation as an investor, analyze the practicality of the different ideas presented by students. The more implementable it sounds, the better will be your investment”, said Raunak. 

Important aspects of Bajaj Finserv Atom

In regard to the competition, Disha mentioned a few key aspects that must be taken care of when participating in Bajaj Finserv Atom.

For Participants in the first segment - 

Participants who came up with revolutionary ideas must keep the following aspects in mind:

• Look at the scope, practicality, scalability and feasibility of your idea and solution. It shouldn’t come across as entirely hypothetical. 

• Consider the regulations of the country your idea is supposed to be implemented in. It should adhere to the resources as well as the rules of the country in order for it to be implemented.

• Create a team that has members from different specializations like that of Finance, Operations, Marketing, etc.

For participating as Investors - 

• It is essential to look at the demand of the idea you are investing in. So, for instance, you are investing in idea A, you must check the number of views it gets by other investors and whether or not they are willing to put their money in idea’s A bucket. 

• Also, because the amount of money owned by each investor is limited, it is crucial to analyze all the ideas and choose the ones you’d want to invest in. The competition does not allow you to invest all your money in one idea. 

• You have to maximize your share, for which you must decide how to divide your money and invest in different ideas. In simpler words, it means that if you are investing in two ideas, you need to decide if you’d like to invest in both the ideas equally (50 per cent in each) or invest more in one and less in the other (70 - 30 or 40 - 60), etc. 

• Understand whether or not a particular idea is easily comprehensible. If it is complex, it most likely will not work well in the market.

Adding to Disha’s points, Raunak mentioned that the strategy is to keep a number of parameters in mind while doing a thorough, in-depth analysis of each idea to predict how their shares will vary in the future. The more parameters you consider, the better will be your prediction and the closer you will be to winning the competition. 

He also said that participants must look at long term benefits instead of making money in the short term. Raunak invested in the winning team in all four rounds and got his money doubled in each. 

Learnings garnered in the competition 

Top investors who had the maximum net worth were called for the national finals where they were to make their one last investment from the 9 big ideas that reached the grand finale. 

One of the most memorable moments that Raunak mentions was the time he got the opportunity to meet the CFO of Bajaj Finserv, a day after the national finals were held. A one-on-one interaction to know more about him and his insights was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him. He also notes that Bajaj Finserv is a competition that runs on three aspects - Planning, Strategy and Consistency, where consistency was the key. 

Importance of Corporate Competitions in a B-Schooler’s life

B-School competitions give you a platform to work in teams and learn from each other. Discussions on case studies and the like, enable peer-to-peer learning along with practical applications of the subjects learnt in class. Disha adds that B-School students should participate in corporate competitions from the first year itself because the journey counts. “It is not only about the CV points, but about the feeling of winning that matters”, said she. 

On similar lines, Raunak mentions that corporate competitions add a lot to your pool of learnings and help you talk about a lot of things during placement interviews. In addition, he says that the learning garnered through these competitions is unparalleled as they provide holistic learning in all domains - be it finance, marketing or operations.  

One advice to upcoming B-School students

Disha’s advice to young guns is to join their B-School with an open mind such that they are able to participate actively in college activities. Students shouldn’t shy away from corporate competitions or find excuses for not participating in them. It is also vital to create a good team in the very first year with whom they can participate in competitions, as this is what increases their probability of winning. 

Raunak adds to Disha’s point by saying that students should walk out of their comfort zones and explore new fields - be it with cultural activities, corporate competitions or working in committees; because this is what business is all about. “Meet people, learn new things and enjoy the journey”, suggests Raunak.   

To know more about the competition, watch the video above.