Team Sharks in Suits lift the winning title in Bajaj Finserv ATOM season 3 - By Siddharth Kashyap from TAPMI, Manipal

Unlike any other corporate competition, Bajaj Finserv ATOM Season 3 looked like investors who were to be convinced to see the value and eventually get them to invest in the proposed idea. What was required was not only working on solution hunting but to reach all other associated aspects that will take us a step further towards achieving success.

Participating teams were given four problem statements to choose one out of it. After spending considerable time over given problem statements, we chose one which we realized to be the need of the hour for Bajaj Finserv.

The team had a strong desire to move out of the comfort zone. With immense passion and zeal, we worked for 2.5 months to attain a sustained level of quality and effort in our solution. What helped us most was the idea to speak to various stakeholders at Bajaj Finserv to get some insights that could be incorporated into our solution. At every stage of the competition, we went back to the drawing board to check if we got our core idea right.

The unfolding of ATOM Season 3

Nearing the end, the competition got split into 2 parts - the National Finals and the Grand Finale. Eight teams made it to the National Finals and from that four were selected to go to the Grand Finale. It would be impossible to single out one team as a tough competitor because all the teams were the best and worked incredibly hard for over two months to reach the finals.

But if we were to pick one of our competing teams then it was the team from JBIMS. They did great work and had built a robust solution for the problem statement they had chosen and also put up a great show in the finals.

Challenging the competitive journey

One of the biggest challenges we faced was working virtually. The four of us typically work best when we are in a physical setup, feeding off each other's energies but lacking that time around. Due to this, conflicts were plenty, but at the end of the day, we comprehended that it was important to not lose sight of the bigger picture.

Another challenge was the imagination of a solution that was absolutely grounded and easily implementable, however, the idea was relatively futuristic. Getting that fine balance was extremely crucial. We had to present our solution to various stakeholders at Bajaj Finserv in the two months time period. The feedback received was out of our expectations as it gave us a quality of insights on what Bajaj Finserv was planning for the future and how our solution would fit into those things. But we were asked very pointed questions at every round, often sending us into a wave of uncertainty and self-doubt. Nevertheless, all this helped us to refine our solution and checkmark everything before the finale.

Key takeaway

The biggest takeaway from the competition was finding that beautiful balance between being futuristic and being grounded. We spent more time going over the solution and checking its feasibility than we spent on actually building the solution.

And no doubt there were great experiencing lessons, but the fact that we were able to deliver our best when it mattered the most were extremely gratifying and the culmination of our super-focused work had finally come to an end with an achievement that was unbelievable.

Check out more such winning stories to get inspired, here:

Team Sharks in Suits - TAPMI Manipal

(Batch of 2019-21)

The team Sharks in Suits is made up of Dhruv Bhonagiri, Sayani Mukherjee and Siddharth Kashyap. Dhruv and Sayani are from Pune and come from an Engineering background. Siddharth hails from Bangalore and is very South Indian in the way he goes about things.