IIM Trichy Becomes Ultimate Runner-up For Reliance TUP 8.0

Reliance Industries Limited, one of the largest private sector corporations in India was back again this year with its flagship B-school competition- Reliance TUP 8.0. The Fortune 500 company’s motto ‘Growth is Life’ is embodied in the competition which aims to give B-School students the opportunity to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. We Kundan Pitroda and Deepakshi Sharma too wanted to be a part of this exploration this year. 

And the fact that our team The Dynamic Duo from IIM Tiruchirappalli won the Ultimate Runners-up title for this prestigious competition is a feat we’ll remember forever. It was not easy to compete with some of the most talented teams in the nation, but all the effort we put in was more than worth it. In this article, we will share some insights from our journey through this competition.

Reliance TUP 8.0- Structure

The scale of the event was so grand that winning came second to the experience of being a part of it. The structure of the competition was very good and it consisted of the following rounds:

• Submit your idea
• Campus Round- Beat the odds
• Semi-Finals- Leven up your game
• Grand Finale- The ultimate pitch

The event was very organized and everything from the format, the mentors, and the jury was top-notch. In our opinion, it was the little details they had thought of, that made this experience even more special. 

The Esteemed Jury

The jury panel for the Ultimate Pitch 8.0 consisted of some of the senior-most leaders at Reliance and it was an honor to present our ideas in front of them. The judges were diverse in expertise and kept us on our toes with their insightful questions. They noticed the tiniest of details and thoroughly questioned the research and logic. This taught us to always think of more and put our best effort forward.

Our Reliance TUP 8.0 Strategy

You have to prepare well whenever you are taking part in a competition or event of such caliber. So our primary focus was on understanding the competition well and then formulating a suitable plan of action.

• For this, we connected with the participants of the previous seasons to understand the level of effort that the competition demanded. 
• After all that we could gather from them, we spent weeks brainstorming to come up with a unique idea.
• Once we finalized our idea and developed a hypothesis, we tested it by conducting primary market research. 
• To take things further, we solidified our beliefs in our findings with secondary research. 
• Our pitch evolved over multiple iterations and learnings that we gathered at each stage of the journey.
• We also ran several mocks of our pitch in front of our professors and connected with mentors from the industry to polish our work.

And finally, in the last round, when we were declared the runners-up, it was the best moment for us. Not only did it validate our idea but also motivated us to multiply our efforts four-fold.

What the Competition Taught Us

It is competitions, or rather experiences like this one that shape our personality and help us grow through real-life learning. Reliance TUP 8.0 was full of learnings for us, some of which are:

• We learned that the competition as huge as reliance TUP demands extensive research for you to zero in on the perfect idea which is backed by proper data. 
• We also learned how to interact with a network of people and gather their fair insights. And then use that insight to refine your thought process and ideas.
• Another important learning was the right way to conduct market research. 
• Through our TUP journey, we also got to polish our video editing skills and learned how to work better together as a team.

With this is safe to say that Reliance TUP 8.0 gave us much more than the runner-up title.

Check this out: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

About Teamwork & Disagreements

Our Team Dynamic Duo consisted of just the two of us, and the name we chose perfectly reflects how we work together as a team. One of the best parts about us is we easily adapt to new information and change accordingly. We constantly challenge each other to think harder and better. Also, we had complementary skills that helped us create a wholesome solution. While Kunda was quick to generate ideas and focused on the larger picture, Deepakshi focused on the finer details that made the idea impeccable. 

This is not to say that we did not have any disagreements, in fact, we had a lot of disagreements about the idea and presentation at every stage of the competition. But we were quick to resolve them all. The key to resolving all our conflicts was constant communication and strong planning. Overall, the Reliance TUP 8.0 journey truly was the Ultimate experience that will always remain a part of our growth stories. 

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