FUTURISTIC OUTLOOK TO

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Industry Review Guide 2021

PREPARED BY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There has been a steep increase in the number of firms offering product
management roles in the recent past. This is not only maneuvered by an increase
in the number of firms visiting the graduate students, but also by expansion in
their scope to associate product manager roles for undergrads. In spite of this,
there exists a gap in terms of comprehensive preparation material suited for the
Indian audience. Filling this gap was an uphill task, which couldn’t have been
possible without the stakeholders who were a part of the journey at different
points in time.

First and foremost, we would like to thank Mr. Jayant Jain, Ms. Shubhangi Singhal,
and The entire ProdMan Club (2020-21), and the team of collaborators who went
through the rigorous process of ideating, collating, and iterating the content. We
would also like to extend our gratitude to the various members of the club,
student, and alumni community who provided their valuable inputs to the text.
Thanks are also due to the creatives and editorial team for bringing the content
to its present shape. We are also grateful to the ProdX club (2020-21) for their
contribution.

We would also like to thank our warden Prof. Naman Desai and members of the
57th Students’ Affairs Council (SAC) for their support.

Finally, thanks in anticipation to the reader for becoming a part of this effort, and
encouraging the team to strive for improvement.

ProdMan Club
IIM Ahmedabad
 PAGE 01

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
What is Product Management 5
What different companies expect from 10
a Product Manager

PM concepts 14

CONCEPTS
Agile Methodology 15
User Experience Design for Digital 20
Products

Machine Learning & Artificial 24

Intelligence

Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality 32

Big Data 37
Internet of Things 44
Cloud Computing 48

Blockchain 53

Economics of Platforms 58
75
Edge Computing
78
5G

APP CRITIQUES
eCommerce 82
FinTech 86
Health Tech 90
 PAGE 02

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

Ride Hailing Tech 99

Travel Tech 104
EdTech 110
Food Tech 117

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
INTERVIEW CASES
Guesstimates
Guesstimates 1 126
Guesstimates 2 128
Guesstimates 3 130
Guesstimates 4 132
New Product Design
Product design- Do's & Don'ts 133
New Product Design 1 135
New Product Design 2 138
New Product Design 3 141
New Product Design 4 144
New Product Design 5
146
New Product Design 6
149
New Product Design 7 152
New Product Design 8 154
New Product Design 9 157
 PAGE 03

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

Go To Market Strategy
Go To Market Strategy 1 161
Go To Market Strategy 2 163
Go To Market Strategy 3 165
Go To Market Strategy 4 167
Go To Market Strategy 5 169
Go To Market Strategy 6 172
Go To Market Strategy 7 174
Go To Market Strategy 8 177
Go To Market Strategy 9 180

Metrics
Intro to PM Metrics 183
Metrics 1 186
Metrics 2 188
Metrics 3 190
Metrics 4 192
Metrics 5 194
Metrics 6 196
Metrics 7 198
Metrics 8 200
 PAGE 03

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

Pricing
Intro to Pricing 200
Pricing 1 203
Pricing 2 207
Pricing 3 210
Pricing 4 215

MEET THE TEAM 218

Section 1

INTRODUCTION
PAGE 04
WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PAGE 05

WHAT IS PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT

Product Management: It Has

Always Been There

It is rare to spot tech companies

today without a product manager.
Though in the contemporary business
ecosystem, the definition of product
management is by the role of a
Figure 1.1 What, exactly, is a Product
product manager in the software
Manager ?
field. However, if we look at it in
hindsight, traditionally, every It is like when someone asks, “Where
business has been creating products is the Statue of Liberty?” and gets a
since the inception of it, long before reply, “It’s between Manhattan,
the advent of technology, computers, Jersey City, and Governor’s Island.”
and software. The history of business This kind of information is orienting
is full of examples of people who but incomplete. So, what does a
have conceptualized ideas to solve a product manager actually do? Do not
problem. They have built these ideas, worry, no one knows!
tested them, and delivered them to
customers for bringing a significant There are numerous definitions of
change in their lives. A lot of times, Product Management around the
they have failed too. But they world, and the internet is full of
reiterated, they pivoted, keeping a them. The most popular one is
single goal in mind creating perhaps that " A product manager is
the CEO of a product." This makes
something to solve a problem and to
sense in a way because a product
make sure that the solution is built
manager indeed possesses almost the
and shipped in the right way. And
entire responsibility of the product.
this is precisely what a product
But it may not entirely be true in a
manager does in organizations today.
lot of cases.

So, what is Product Management?

The most common explanations look
like this one:
WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PAGE 06

However, what every product Going back to Steve Jobs's quote, he

manager does in common is to "guide indeed went ahead and showed the
a team in discovering, developing, world what they wanted. So does it
and shipping the right product to mean that you are better off by not
users and bridge the gaps among listening to your customers?
different stakeholders of that
product." Absolutely not! You should listen to
your customers to understand the

In contrast to what the name problem, but not when you are
building the solution. Your job is
suggests, a product manager may
essentially to manage the solution,
actually not a manager of anybody. A
your way. The quality of the solution,
PM is a communicator that puts all
regardless of its acceptability, is
the pieces together by getting
what differentiates great product
feedback from all the stakeholders
managers from average product
involved. The PM is also a prioritizer,
managers.
a researcher, a presenter and the
most responsible for the ultimate
Solutions Prioritization and
success of a product.
Decisions
Coming up with multiple
The “Job” of a Product Manager ideas/solutions is just the starting
step. Prioritizing them comes next.
The words "job" and "product" While prioritizing work, PM needs to
immediately make us think of Steve not only look into internal factors
Jobs, one of the most significant but also look into external factors.
product visionaries of all time. In the Prioritization of work will enable the
subsequent sections, we will try to team to work on the most critical
draw some learnings from his works. features first, and these
Once he said, "A lot of times, people features/work will be delivered to
don't know what they want until you the customer as soon as possible.
show it to them." This quote became
legendary as one of the most popular Here customers' needs play an
opinions of a highly opinionated man. essential role.
Let us look at a few. Based on the objective of the
deliverable, a Product Manager can
use the below metrics to prioritize
To listen or not to listen
the work. Based on the impact and
The first, foremost, and perhaps the
feasibility of the work, PM can decide
most essential trait of a Product
which one to pick from the list. There
Manager is to listen to your
are other metrics as well, such as
customers. To solve a customer
based on revenue generation, the
problem, you need to understand the
effort required, etc. to prioritize
customer's needs, both stated and
work and make informed decisions.
unstated. It might sound cliché and
very obvious, but that's indeed the
hardest thing to do, following the
unstated needs. To understand the
customers' unstated needs, you need
to "really listen." When you do not do
that, you end up building solutions to
problems, which no one wants.
WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PAGE 07

have alignment with your company's

vision. PM defines the vision and
craft a strategy to achieve this vision
and translates the strategy into short
term and long term product roadmap.
This product roadmap should be
made known to all the stakeholders
involved in the product as well as to
the executive management team.

Product Ideation: Once the

customer's needs have been
identified, the next step for PM is to
come up with new and innovative
ideas to address the needs. Multiple
Figure 1.2 Impact vs Feasibility Matrix brainstorming sessions with the team
for a PM and iterative revision of ideas lead to
the final selection.
Formal Roles and
Responsibilities of a Product Product Design & Execution: PM

Manager aims to provide a unique customer

experience, so the design of the
product is customer-centric. PM
As already discussed, the roles of
design the product in an innovative,
product managers and their exact
simple, yet easy to understand way
responsibilities change across
using wireframe or other mock-up
different industries and different
tools. Further, PM writes user stories
companies. It also depends on the
and communicate this information to
product type, size of the product, life
the engineering team. The product
stage of the product, and
manager continually supports the
organizational structure of the engineering team throughout the
company. However, the essence of it development and testing process.
remains the same. We will talk about
the general duties of the product Marketing Strategy: PM collaborates
manager. with the marketing team to create a
marketing strategy for the product.
Market Research: As a PM, you need PM shares all the required
to understand the customer's information about the product,
requirements and the latest industry customer's needs, and vision to the
trends. Extensive market research marketing team to create a unique
will help you to get relevant marketing campaign. PM plans the
information that can be used to marketing activities in the roadmap
understand the needs and make of the product. Based on the
decisions. Further, Porter's five product's launch timeline, marketing
forces framework can be used to team starts the campaign and reach
understand the industry’s dynamics. out to target customers.

Vision and Strategy: Product vision Product Launch: Finally, the day of

is simply the crux of the product - launching the products to customers

arrives. PM plans and coordinates
why are we building this product, for
with different stakeholders to launch
whom, and benefit of it. It should
the product.
WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PAGE 08

PM needs to ensure that there is a Excellent Communication Skills:

customer service team to address and Explaining the same thing to the
resolve all customer queries. The CEO, to the marketing team, to the
success of the launch is measured P r o j e ct M a n a g e r , t o t h e d e s i g n t e a m
using specific metrics such as and the development team, calls for
customer usage, customer different sets of vocabulary and
satisfaction, customer retention, and requires the Product Manager to have
other metrics. excellent communication skills
directed at the specific requirements
Traits and challenges of being a of the person.
product manager
No matter how exciting that may
A PM should be capable of creating a sound, like all roles, a PM role comes
vision for his/her product(s). A PM with its own set of challenges. Three
needs to have a structured thinking such situations that a PM can face
capability regarding the vision, and are:
the ability to lead the collaboration 1. M u l t i p l e , never-ending and
between people involved in the different sets of demands and
process, guide the execution and opinions from different teams
courage to take accountability for pulling on the working time of a
the product. Five qualities that make PM disrupting the personal
a great Product Manager are: working plan.
2. T h e temptation to get too
Strategic Thinking: A strategic technical or too business-
mind-set is required to create a oriented, which results in losing
vision and build a roadmap for the the required balance between
product. both.
3. T h e f e e l i n g o f a l a c k o f c o n t r o l
Decisiveness: It is the ability to make that an unruly and unorganized
a decision. It is a desirable skill to team brings along can dismantle
enable drastic prioritization. the composure of a PM.

Empathy for the Customer: It is to Key Performance Indicators

understand the unstated needs of the (KPIs) for a Product Manager
customer, and their willingness to
pay calls for the ability to empathize You can say it loud that your product
with the customer. is successful, or you have exceeded
expectations. But no one is going to
Lead through Influence: In most believe it until you prove it using
cases, no one reports to a Product data. So, the performance of PM can
Manager except for other product be measured using activities
managers. The development team in associated with product success,
general reports to a Project Manager customers, and the overall process of
or a Programme Manager. It is the product design and launch. KPIs help
ability to lead through the influence, the PM to track the progress and
which helps to get the work done and identify risks. The following are
delivered by the team. examples of some of the metrics used
to measure performance.
WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PAGE 09

These KPIs will vary according to References

different product types and business
requirements. 3 Types Of Product Management. Daniel
Demetri - https://medium.com/earnest-
Monthly Revenue – Month-wise
product-management/3-types-of-
revenue generated by the product
product-management-dec4b2d77271
Delivery-On-Time - Delivery of Blog Archive - Page 4 Of 75.
product or new feature on time https://www.luzinehappel.de/?
Product Quality - Number of cat=1&paged=4&lang=en
deviation from standard quality Online Courses - Anytime, Anywhere.
(n.d.). Retrieved from
practices
https://www.udemy.com/course/beco
Customer Counts - Increase in me-a-product-manager-learn-the-skills-
customer over a specified get-a-
duration job/learn/lecture/4764764#overview
Stickiness Ratio - Daily active So What Does a Product Manager Actually
Do? Karthik Raman Follow Product-
user/ daily monthly user
Karthik -
(DAU/DMU) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/so-
Customer Retention - Number of what-does-product-manager-actually-
customers stay with the company do-karthik-raman
over a specified period
Customer Satisfaction Score -
Measures overall satisfaction of
customers with the product or
new features

Product Management Vs Project

Management

Product Managers are responsible for

the success of a product. Here,
success is defined by KPI or metrics.
The method by which they reach
their goal is not defined. It is up to
them or their team. On the other
hand, Project Managers are
responsible for accomplishing a
project, not a goal. A project usually
has a timeline and a budget as
constraints. A Product Manager
needs to have the skill of project
management also, in order to manage
the execution of the product.
WHAT DIFFERENT COMPANIES EXPECT FROM A PRODUCT MANAGER PAGE 10

WHAT DIFFERENT
COMPANIES EXPECT
FROM A PRODUCT
MANAGER

In this chapter let's look at the to build.

different kinds of PM’s there are and
what different companies expect The Designer Product Manager
from their PM’s. PM’s in these roles should strongly
sense the future needs of consumers
According to an article from Deepak and focus on design and aesthetics.
Singh, there are mainly 5 different
types of PM. Some advantages of this role are PMs
empathize well with customers which
The Tech Product Manager helps them build much needed and
These PM’s mainly solve the beautifully designed products.PMs
engineering problems, eventually can understand the difference
they can end up as engineering between stated and unstated goals
managers rather than product design wise. Some challenges that
managers. In this role one should PMs can face are as the design PM
focus on WHY you are building and would not have much idea about
WHAT you are building and leave the coding it might create troubles when
HOW to engineers. working with the engineering team
because they have different styles of
Some advantages of this role are it's working.
easy to gain trust and respect of
engineers and PMs work well with the Instagram, Facebook, Apple and Tesla
engineers. hire for these roles. Some of the
examples for this type are Steve Jobs,
Google and Amazon hire for these Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia.
roles. Some of the examples for this
type are Elon Musk and Marissa What should you focus on:
Mayer. prioritizing things in this role is
really important so developing
What should you focus on: Build good business sense helps. One should get
business sense and user empathy to really good at recognising flows in a
see the big picture and what product product. Prioritisation is the key.
WHAT DIFFERENT COMPANIES EXPECT FROM A PRODUCT MANAGER PAGE 11

The Business Product Manager The Growth Product Manager

These PM’s are well versed with Growth for different organisations
terminologies in business, finance has different meanings. Some may
and operations. They communicate find it hard to generate demand while
really well and understand people some may find it hard to supply when
around them. they have demand, PMs in this
category come up with ideas to solve
Some advantages are they are able to these problems.
think through and paint the bigger
picture and lead teams. Some
PMs in these roles are strong with
challenges can be because the
data and communication. Some
understanding on topics like
advantages of this role are by solving
technology is limited it might create
the problem they make a real impact
trouble when working with engineers,
in the company, clear metrics
makes it hard for PMs to build
identification would help them move
credibility and respect with
in the right direction. Some
engineers. Ken Norton is an example
challenges would be though there are
for this category.
a lot of ideas to solve lack of quick
experiments and right prioritisation
What should you focus on: One
should start by focusing on the will lead to low impact work.
technology. Have an eye for detail Chamath Palihapitiya falls in this
and rigor. category of growth product
managers.
The Data Product Manager
This is one of the emerging roles What should you focus on:
with the advancement of AI, ML. They Prioritization is important. User
mainly focus on personalisation, research and psychology will help
recommendation products etc., They you understand what to build and
make all their decisions based on why.
data, they will gain influence for
sound decisions they make over time. Companies and what they expect

Some advantages are being well Amazon

versed with data and good analytical Amazon is a American multinational
skills will help understand business
technology company founded in 1994.
and product, but relying on data so
They work on a wide variety of
much sometimes is harmful because
products. Amazon expects a PM to be
one loses to see the bigger picture.
excellent planners, have ability to
develop long term plans, good
Netflix, Amazon and Google would
analytical skills and good writing and
love PMs in this category. Sebastian
communication skills. Amazon
Thrun is one of the examples in the
focuses a lot on good customer
category.
service, so empathy and
understanding what customers need
What should you focus on: PMs
should concentrate on WHY, is a must. Amazon has 14 principles

combining WHY with data will work that drive their work and lead them
wonders. Concentrating on design to success, aligning your goals to
aspects along with data will help. them is really important for a PM.
WHAT DIFFERENT COMPANIES EXPECT FROM A PRODUCT MANAGER PAGE 12

In summary this is what Amazon Product thinking

wants Problem-solving
Understanding and utilising Leadership skills
analytics Domain and Tech
Launch preparedness Execution Excellence
Customer centricity
Communicating and collaboration Sprinklr
Sprinklr, founded in 2009, is a
Microsoft Software as a Service company that
Microsoft is a American multinational develops a Customer Experience
technology company founded in 1975. Management (CXM) platform. It
It is best known for its software utilizes artificial intelligence, and
products. Microsoft expects its PM to combines different applications for
be analytically good, and understand social media marketing, social
technology. They are mainly advertising, content management,
interested in the big picture and how collaboration, employee advocacy,
it solves customer problems. They customer care, social media research,
want the PM to be able to think and social media monitoring. Sprinklr
clearly, understand business and PMs are expected to be client
prioritise the important features to focused.
have maximum impact.
Media.net
PayTM Media.Net, founded in 2010, is a
Paytm is an Indian e-commerce leading global advertising technology
payment system and financial company. It got acquired by Beijing
technology company founded in 2010. Miteno Communication Co. in 2016
At PayTM, they mainly focus on for $900M. They connect advertisers
product development strategy. to the websites that want to host the
Product managers are expected to advertisements. They aggregate the
take control of every minute detail ad space supply from different
and be obsessed with technology and websites and offer it to the potential
product innovation.They expect advertisers.
people to be good at communicating
not just with the insider team but Media.net expects PMs to be
external customers as well. analytically sound. Good
understanding of basic algorithms
Flipkart and the ability to build analytical
Flipkart, founded in 2007, is an models is usually tested during the
eCommerce platform that started by interviews. PMs should know how the
selling books before expanding to advertising industry works and where
various other product categories. It exactly Media.net fits in the value
has acquired companies like Myntra, chain.
PhonePe over the years. In 2018, US
retail giant Walmart acquired a major Adobe
stake in Flipkart for $15 billion. Adobe, founded in 1982, is best
known for its media products like
5 competencies that Flipkart looks at Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. They have
in a PM candidate: a wide range of products both in the
B2B and B2C segment. PMs in Adobe
are expected to be highly creative
and have a great story-telling ability.
WHAT DIFFERENT COMPANIES EXPECT FROM A PRODUCT MANAGER PAGE 13

They look for PMs who care deeply References

about the customers, mostly in
creative fields, and work towards https://www.upgrad.com/blog/p
improving their experience. PMs roduct-managers-who-changed-
should understand the fundamentals the-world/
of business, ability to coordinate https://igotanoffer.com/blogs/pr
with multiple functions while
oduct-manager/amazon-product-
working quantitative data.
manager-interview
https://jobs.lever.co/paytm/96f5
Product Managers in general:
dba0-2b7b-4aea-98c6-
should have a good understanding
6e1fb55e6d65
of the industry they are working
https://igotanoffer.com/blogs/pr
in. They should be able to identify
oduct-manager/microsoft-
trends within the industry and use
program-manager-interview
these insights to develop a
roadmap for the product.
act a bridge between various
functions (engineering, design,
marketing, etc) and therefore
communication becomes vital skill
in aligning these teams.
is the voice of the customer. User
Empathy, in terms of
understanding the user, their
needs and pain points, is essential
for PMs to succeed. This helps
PMs better understand the
motivations behind users and
‘why’/’how’ they use the product.
PM CONCEPTS PAGE 14

PM CONCEPTS

USER PERSONAS

For any product to hit it off in the market, it is necessary to achieve product-market fit. A
vital element of achieving this is through understanding who exactly are the users of the
product and what are their characteristics. This is where User Personas help product
managers in understanding more about the product users. User Personas is a profile of a
product’s typical customer. These profiles help PMs understand the key traits, goals,
challenges, responsibilities, and needs of the user. User Personas are usually created after
user research tools like in-depth interviews and FGDs to emphasize better customers needs,
goals, and behavior

A typical user persona includes the following ( but not limited to ):-

Age, education level, geographic location, or demographic status

How exactly do the users currently go about using the product
Motivation and goals for the usage of the product
Challenges, frustration, and pain points of the customer in product usage

Generally, a product targets a wide range of audiences, and hence most of the time, it is
recommended to come up with at least 3-4 user personas. Anything more than that and it might
lead to a lack of clear goal and focus

Here’s an example of a user persona for a music streaming product like “Spotify” or “Ganaa”.
The customer segment chosen here are people who use the product during the workout session

Figure 2.1 User Persona example

PM CONCEPTS PAGE 15

USER STORIES
As a product manager, being customer-centric is one of the vital qualities, and it's necessary
to define product features from the lens of a customer. User stories are the smallest unit of
product development and are written from the perspective of customers. They are primarily
used to explain the product features easily to all stakeholders involved in it. Converting
product features from a software perspective to a customer perspective helps the
stakeholder focus on the end-user, motivating them to deliver the goals sooner.

As [a user persona], I want [to perform this action] so that [I can accomplish this goal]

As a fitness enthusiast, I want to be able to track my diet meticulously so that I can change
my workout schedule based on that

As an office goer, I want to be able to turn on my water heater on the way home so that I can
enjoy a refreshing bath immediately

PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT (PRD)

Communicating the requirements clearly without any loss is one of the critical jobs of any
product manager. Product Requirement Document is an artifact to communicate to all the
stakeholders about the product features. Any product development process includes
stakeholders like engineering, design, marketing, sales, service, etc. Few of these
stakeholders can be internal to the organization and others external. There will be multiple
discussions with different subsets of stakeholders regarding various topics, but PRD is like a
bible that glues all of them together and ensures every individual works towards a common
goal.

PRD is beneficial in both waterfall and agile methodologies of development. PRD doesn't have
any standard format and varies across organizations, but there are few common aspects. The
product manager takes care of creating and making any updates to the PRD in the future.

Figure 2.2 PRD Outline

The basic outline of PRD contains

Scope and Assumptions: This section gives an overview of the document and states the
assumptions clearly so that they are no different interpretations.

Business Objectives and Goals: It states how the product or features fit the overall vision
and what the product accomplishes for different stakeholders.

Use Cases and Features: We can start with use cases and derive features from them or vice
versa. Each feature follows a detailed description, use cases, metrics for the relevant goal,
and any exceptions specific to the feature.
PM CONCEPTS PAGE 16

User Interactions: Generally, after the finalization of PRD, UI/UX work starts with
developing wireframes, designs, and relevant assets where all exceptions and failure cases
are covered in detail. However, it is good to have high-level user interactions at this stage,
which helps communicate better.

System Requirements: It contains details about the external environment required like
operating systems, stacks or external libraries, etc., in the case of software products and
Microprocessor, memory, etc., in the case of physical products.

Apart from the above major aspects, there are hygiene things like document name, version,
release date, and change history. These might seem insignificant but play a major role in
agile development where requirements are bound to change and to ensure every stakeholder
refers to the latest version.

A/B TESTING

A/B testing is a process where two versions of a particular variable (color, size, etc.) are
shown to different users to understand which version leaves a maximum impact and drives
the metrics. It is commonly used by advertising and marketing professionals to understand
which version of the ad or marketing mail resonated with most users. Product Managers
started using it to build better products.

A/B testing starts with splitting the entire user base into two different groups randomly. If
you have different customer segments, then there are chances that a group is dominated by
one segment, leading to wrong insights. In that case, it is advisable to do randomization at
each segment level. Later these two groups receive different versions of the same variable.
In A/B testing, only one variable is changed, keeping the rest of the variables the same.
However, there are advanced versions like Multivariate testing in which multiple variables
are changed. The data from the target groups can be a click on a button, responding to a
campaign, etc. After receiving enough responses from customers,managers analyze the data
and decide which version of the variable should be used.

Today's streaming experience of Netflix is a result of numerous A/B testing. How many titles
should be displayed in a row, what should be the cover image, etc., results from constantly
running experiments. For the same series Money Heist, one day its professor, and the other
day it's Tokyo on the preview.

Generally, large organizations use different software like Google Optimize, Adobe Target,
VWO, etc., to carry out A/B testing. But individuals or small organizations who are not very
particular about specific customer segments started using platforms like Linkedin and
Instagram to decide on the color, the layout of a page, etc.

RICE: A PRIORITIZATION TOOL FOR PRODUCT MANAGERS

RICE(Reach Impact Confidence Effort) is the feature or idea prioritization tool co-developed
by Sean McBride while working as a PM with Intercom. During the development of MVP or
finalization of the ideas, prioritization is required as it helps decide what to work on first.
But the dominating individual, emotional or gut feelings can add biases to the prioritization
process. RICE helps in avoiding these biases to a significant extent. RICE stands for Reach
Impact Confidence Effort, which quantifies the estimated value of features that allows
sorting when deciding on the order.
PM CONCEPTS PAGE 17

The RICE Score is calculated using the below formula.

Detailing of what each letter stands for is as follows.

Reach: Reach estimates how many new or existing users the feature or idea can affect within a
given period. For example, it can be 100 customers per quarter.

Impact: Impact tries to answer by how much the feature will affect the users. However, it isn't
easy to understand the impact of a single feature on a customer's product purchase decision.
Hence, having a clear goal like customer acquisition, engagement, etc., will help to understand
impact better. To standardize, below impact values are used.
3 = massive impact
2 = high impact
1 = medium impact
0.5 = low
0.25 = minimal

Confidence: Confidence tries to offset the biases that went into different scores. It tries to
answer how confident we are about the reach, impact, and effort scores. Below scores are used
as a standard.
100% - High Confidence
80% - Medium Confidence
50% - Low Confidence

E f f o r t: E f f o r t t r i e s t o f a c t o r i n t h e a m o u n t o f t i m e d i f f e r e n t s t a k e h o l d e r s n e e d t o s p e n d o n t h e
development. The unit of measurement is person-months or person-weeks. If five persons
require four weeks each, then the Effort value is 20 person-weeks or 5 person-months.

HOOK MODEL

In today’s world, adding more users to your platform isn’t enough. Companies need to actively
instill habits to increase user engagement with the platform to reap economic benefits.
Some of the most successful products like YouTube, Facebook have thrived by creating a solid
habit-forming product making their users spend countless hours on their platform. Hook
m o d e l b y N i r E y a l i n h i s b o o k "H o o k e d : H o w t o B u i l d H a b i t - F o r m i n g P r o d u c t s" e x p l a i n s i n
detail how such a habit-forming product can be created.

Figure 2.3 Hook Model

PM CONCEPTS PAGE 18

Trigger:- To form a habit-forming product, you need a trigger to remind/create desire among
users. The triggers could be either external or internal. External triggers could be email or app
notifications reminding the users to use the product. Internal triggers could be anything in
your mind which subconsciously makes you relate to the product. Prolonged exposure to these
triggers is the first step in creating habits among users

Action:- Once the trigger has been created, it is vital to maximizing the chances of the
intended action being taken. Behavior designers constantly work on this to motivate users to
follow the intended action. Google famously tested around 41 shades of blue color to identify
which color maximizes the search link click rate.

Variable Reward:- Variable or Unpredictable positive outcomes have a chance of creating

better habit-forming products than predictable outcomes. This is one of the reasons why
people engage a lot with slot machines/loot-box microtransactions due to their unpredictable
nature. Similarly, apps like YouTube, Instagram offer randomized but related contents to hook
you to the product

Investment:- Investment involves two phases, where the first phase involves making the user
go through the loop again. The second phase involves extracting some returns from the users.
These returns could be the user spending money/inviting other people to the
platform/providing data etc

WEIGHTED PRIORITIZATION MODEL

Usually, not all features identified are implemented in a stretch. Organizations are usually
restricted by the time involved in feature development, employee resource, or the cost
element attached to developing a feature. Hence a product manager needs to prioritize and
select the right features out of the product roadmap. The weighted prioritization model
involves choosing a list of metrics that includes but is not limited to Cost, Effort, Revenue
Impact, Customer Satisfaction, Risk, etc. The weights are attached to each criterion, and a
score is computed for each feature. Based on the score, the feature is ranking in descending
order, and top n features are taken for the sprint

Figure 2.4 Weighted Prioritization model example

HEART FRAMEWORK
HEART, by Google, solves the problem of measuring user experience success. It is a scorecard
focussed on five factors. It can be applied to whole products as well as individual features.

Happiness – How do users feel about your product, usually measured via surveys, ratings, and
reviews.

Engagement – How often are people using the product? It can be measured by looking at a key
action (uploading a photo for Instagram) or other metrics like session length or visits per
month.
PM CONCEPTS PAGE 19

Adoption – How many new customers do your product have that complete a certain action?

Retention – What percentage of users are leaving your product – this is called churn. The
opposite of churn is retention.

Task Success – How easy or difficult is it for the user to complete a task in your product? It
can be measured along with efficiency (how long), effectiveness (percentage completed), and
error rate.

However, not all factors are applicable to all products. For example, engagement is usually not
a concern for enterprise apps since usage is dictated by the business. So, to start using the
framework, you need to define the goals of your product. A set of three goals is a good start
and lets you focus on specifics. For a new social networking app, happiness, adoption, and
engagement might be good goals to have. Then you need to define signals within your product
that show that the goal has been met or not. For Netflix, searches in which the user does not
click anything might indicate irrelevant results.

Once signals are identified, you can create normalized metrics (in terms of percentages or
ratios) that measure the success of your goal. For example, under happiness, you may want to
measure NPS (net promoter score) and Appstore ratings over time.

MOSCOW

MoSCoW is a prioritization framework it helps bucket features into four categories – must
have, should have, could have, and will not have. Before applying the framework, key
stakeholders and the product team align on objectives, factors used for prioritization as well
as the items to prioritize.

Must-Have – Non-negotiable and mandatory

Will the product/release work without it?
Is there another way to accomplish the same thing?
Should-Have – Important, but not vital and add significant value
What value is missed out when I don’t ship this?
Can it be a part of a future release?
Could-Have – Nice to have, will have a small impact if left out
Smaller impact than should have if left out
Will-Not-Have – Not a priority for the current time frame
Will not be a part of this release

AARRR
AARRR or pirate metrics is a set of metrics that measure user behavior (or user funnel) that is
especially useful for product-based high-growth businesses. It was created by Dave McClure, a
Silicon Valley investor.

Acquisition – where do your customers come from? (SEO, SEM, Newsletters, Campaigns,
etc.)
Activation – what percentage have a happy first experience? (Signup flow, first action, etc.)
Retention – do customers come back and use your product? (Churn rate)
Referral – do customers like your product enough to tell others? (Campaigns, contests, etc.)
Revenue – can you monetize this behavior? (Subscription, ads, etc.)

Based on the conversion rate at each stage and the revenue model, each user can be assigned a
monetary value.
PM CONCEPTS PAGE 20

Figure 2.5 AARRR example

MVP

M i n
i m u m V i a b l e P r o d u c t i s a p r o d u c t w i t h j u s t e n o u g h f e a t u r e s t o e n t i c e c u s t o m e r s , i s q u i c k

to build, and enables insights. It is a vital part of agile development where MVPs are
constructed quickly and iterated based on user feedback.

MVPs can be done for the following reasons:

Release a product as quickly as possible
Test an idea on real users with a small budget
Test acceptance of new ideas on an existing target market

Features to be included on an MVP are a result of the following

User research
Competitor research
Cost vs Impact trade-off

MVPs do not need to be full-fledged products as well. They can be high or low fidelity.
Fake door MVP is just a signup page for a product that does not exist yet.
Mock-up or 3D prototypes like high fidelity wireframes or mock-ups that can be shown to
customers for their feedback.
Wizard of Oz MVP is when a product looks like a real one but is powered by humans
Piecemeal/Concierge MVP is similar to Wizard of Oz, but the customer is aware that it is
powered manually

Before embarking on an MVP, you need to consider potential risks (reputational, leak of the
idea, etc.), a time window for the MVP, and objectives.
PM CONCEPTS PAGE 21

REFERENCES

h t t p
s : / / p r o d u c t s c h o o l . c o m / b l o g / p r o d u c t - m a n a g e m e n t - 2 / p r o d u c t - m a n a g e m e n t - s k i l l s - a -
b-testing/
https://vwo.com/ab-testing/
https://hbr.org/2017/06/a-refresher-on-ab-testing
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/a-b-test/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/weighted-scoring/
https://clevertap.com/blog/user-personas/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/persona/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/user-story/
https://www.nirandfar.com/how-to-manufacture-desire/
https://roadmunk.com/guides/rice-score-prioritization-framework-product-
management/
https://www.intercom.com/blog/rice-simple-prioritization-for-product-managers/
https://roadmunk.com/guides/product-prioritization-techniques-product-managers/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/rice-scoring-model/
https://medium.com/swlh/rice-scoring-model-for-prioritisation-88d879bfbac0
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/product-requirements-document/
https://www.aha.io/roadmapping/guide/requirements-management/what-is-a-good-
product-requirements-document-template
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/product-management/requirements
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/google-s-heart-framework-for-
measuring-ux
https://clevertap.com/blog/google-heart-framework/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/aarrr-framework/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/moscow-prioritization/
https://www.productplan.com/glossary/minimum-viable-product/
Section 2

TECH CONCEPTS
PAGE 22
AGILE METHODOLOGY PAGE 23

AGILE METHODOLOGY

Waterfall model – Software The waterfall model poses a number

Development Life Cycle of drawbacks, and is not suitable for
projects with unexpected and
frequent revision. Few of the
Waterfall Model is one of the earliest
shortcomings of this model are
Software Development Lifecycle
mentioned below:
approach. It represents the linear
sequential flow of the software
Not adaptable to change
development process. In this model
It lacks adaptability at all the stages
any phase in the development
of development. A design flaw found
process begins only after the
in the testing phase can lead to a big
previous phase is complete and the
fall back to the earlier stages of the
phases do not overlap. This type of
process and can even lead to serious
model is more suited for small and
flaw to the legitimacy of the entire
less complex projects where goals are
system. The rework and delay due to
clear and minimum changes are sequential processes can lead to late
expected during the course of the delivery of the product and can affect
project. Shown below are the phases the competitive edge of the client
that a typical waterfall software over its competitors.
development life cycle follows.
Risk of defects in the end phase
The testing is done at the end of the
process and might result in delays, in
case defects are found. The risk that
a project might fail is concentrated
to the end phase of the cycle.

Absence of Client feedback

mechanism
It does not have a mechanism to
continuously collaborate with the
client and incorporate the feedback
of the client in between the
development phases.
Figure 3.1 Illustration of the waterfall
model
AGILE METHODOLOGY PAGE 24

Agile Agile gives greater importance to

people over process and tools.
Agile is the ability to respond to
change. It is an iterative and time Working software over
boxed approach to software delivery comprehensive documentation
that builds software in increments While required documentation is
from the start to the end of the necessary, in the agile mindset,
project, working software is the prime
importance.
In Agile methodology, the
collaboration between self- Customer collaboration over
organizing cross-functional teams contract negotiation
leads to the evolution of Agile promotes customer
requirements and solutions. Agile collaboration and feedback
development helps a cross-functional throughout the life cycle.
team to deliver valuable work faster.
It also helps in responding quickly to Responding to change over following
the customer needs. It enhances the a plan
quality and predictability of the work Agile works in sprints that are
done. adaptable to change.

Any development process that closely Agile acknowledges the value in the
follows the concepts put in the Agile items on the right but it seeks to
Manifesto is known as Agile value the items on the left more
development. The Agile Manifesto while working on any project.
came into place when a group of
fourteen software enthusiasts came Agile Principles
together to devise a new way of
working. Our highest priority is to satisfy the
customer through early and
Agile Manifesto continuous delivery of valuable
We are uncovering better ways of software.
developing software by doing it and The customer expects fast delivery of
helping others do it. Through this the product, and each delivery should
work we have come to value: add some value for the customer.

Welcome changing requirements,

even late in development. Agile
processes harness change for the
customer’s competitive advantage.
The market and businesses are
continuously changing and it's almost
impossible to predict exact
requirements. Agile embraces the
Figure 3.2 Agile Manifestto changes, even late in the cycle. The
latest product gives a competitive
Individuals and interactions over edge to the customers over its
processes and tools competitors.
Process and tools are time consuming
and less responsive to change so
AGILE METHODOLOGY PAGE 25

Deliver working software frequently, A gi l e p r o c e s s e s p ro m o t e s u s t a i n a b l e

from a couple of weeks to a couple of development. The sponsors,
months, with a preference to the d e v e l o p e r s , a n d us e r s s h o u l d b e a b l e
shorter timescale. to maintain a constant p ac e
It promotes increment delivery of indefinitely.
workable software. Frequent delivery This principle talks about identifying
leads to frequent feedbacks from the the velocity of the team and making
customers and less defects in the everyone work collectively with a
delivered software. constant pace.

Businesspeople and developers must Continuous attention to technical

work together daily throughout the excellence and good design enhances
project. agility.
This agile principle encourages We should avoid creating technical
organizations to increase the daily debts and look for technical
collaboration between the developers excellence and efficient designing of
and the business, increasing the the delivered software.
mutual understanding and respect.
Communication barriers should be Simplicity—the art of maximizing
removed and teams should be the amount of work not done—is
motivated to interact with business essential.
people. This principle helps us identify the
work which is not very important for
Build projects around motivated the end user. Agile says that the work
individuals. Give them the which doesn’t add much value to the
environment and support they need, customers can be postponed or
and trust them to get the job done. avoided.
The motivated developers should be
enabled with correct coaching, The best architectures,
environment, and tools to do their requirements, and designs emerge
work professionally and contribute to from self-organizing teams.
the team. Agile places a lot of importance in
the role of self-organizing teams. It
The most efficient and effective gives power to these teams to make
method of conveying information to decisions and allows management to
and within a development team is trust the teams with the outcomes. It
face-to-face conversation. believes that the self-organizing
This principle promotes that team teams are capable of coming up with
members should have more of face- the best architectures, designs and
to-face communication rather than ideas.
emails, messages and calls.
At regular intervals, the team
Working software is the primary reflects on how to become more
measure of progress. effective, then tunes and adjusts its
Working software at the end of each behavior accordingly.
cycle is the primary measure of Self-organized team tune to itself
progress and if the working software and do the regular retrospective of
is not delivered then no progress is its processes, behaviors to adapt and
considered.
AGILE METHODOLOGY PAGE 26

change according to the changing Timeboxing - is required for all the

realities. Retrospection helps in activities of the Sprints. A sprint may
course correction. last from a week to a month
depending upon the nature of work
Agile Best Practices and the delivery schedules. Daily
Scrum meetings are timeboxed at
Iterations - Agile teams pick the about 15 minutes.
right amount of work to be done
based on the team’s experience, Integration - Continuous integration
productivity and velocity. Work is of code is done incrementally. Every
done in an iterative manner in order increment of code is verified and
to learn from the mistakes done in tested before it is merged with the
the previous iteration. existing code. It also expedites and
simplifies the testing of new user
Customer-oriented approach - Agile stories.
team should collaborate with the
customer and provide all the Test-driven development – All the
information required by them and tasks start with writing programming
also keep them updated about the adaptive tests and unit tests followed
progress of the work. Constant and by writing of the code specific to the
transparent communication should be user stories.
a part of team culture.
Agile Frameworks
Product backlog - Product backlogs
are ordered depending on the Agile is a development methodology
business priorities of the tasks. It and it requires a framework to
includes product features, knowledge implement its principles into a
acquisition, environment setup, bugs project. Agile is implemented through
and other technical work. numerous frameworks, some of the
most frequently used frameworks are
User stories – The work is logically described below:
broken down into smaller chunks or
user stories. A user story typically
contains a description of the problem
from the user's perspective,
acceptance criteria for completion,
and estimation of the time required
to finish it.

Value stream analysis - The

Figure 3.3 Illustration of some popular
methodology talks about defining the
agile frameworks
product based on user stories and
about defining dependencies between
the business and technical
functionality.
AGILE METHODOLOGY PAGE 27

Scrum Framework
It is an agile framework used for
developing and delivering complex
projects. Scrum is lightweight, easy
to understand, but difficult to
master. Scrum is driven by five values
that include Courage, Focus,
Commitment, Respect, and Openness.
Roles of the scrum team includes Figure 3.5 Illustration of the kanban
product owner, the development framework
team, and a scrum master. Pillars of Source - Kanbantool.com
the scrum framework are
transparency, adaptation and XP – Extreme Programming - It is
inspection. one of the most sophisticated agile
frameworks. It is used when the
requirements are f r e q u e n tl y
changing. It c o me s with a set of
engineering practices that should be
followed in order to fully experience
the capabilities of XP.

References

https://agilemanifesto.org/
h t t p : / /s a i h a s o f t . c o m / t e c h n o l o g y
/agile-
methodology#:~:text=In%20Agile
%20Methodology%20the%20requir
ements,responAgile%20Methodolo
gyAgile%20methodology%20is%20
an
https://www.agilealliance.org/agi
le101/12-principles-behind-the-
Figure 3.4 Illustrative summary of the agile-manifesto/
scrum framework https://hygger.io/blog/list-best-
Source - agileconference.org agile-practices/
https://www.professionaldevelop
Kanban ment.ie/what-are-agile-
In the Kanban framework, the tasks frameworks#:~:text=Kanban%20is
are visually represented on a board %20similar%20to%20Scrum,a%20
called the Kanban Board. The board Kanban%20board%20or%20flowch
carries different states such as “to art.
do”, “in progress”, “completed” etc to
depict the status of each task. The
board helps in avoiding bottlenecks
and track the progress of the tasks.
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR DIGITAL PRODUCTS PAGE 28

USER EXPERIENCE
DESIGN FOR DIGITAL
PRODUCTS

Design Thinking Process Empathize

In this stage, one should try to get a
As defined by the Interaction Design better understanding of the problem.
Foundation, User Experience Design This will begin with secondary
is the process of fabricating products research through databases, books,
that provide purposeful and relevant journals, etc to understand the

experiences to users. To achieve this, context and the current state of the
art. At this stage, one can also
designers follow the process of
perform a competitive analysis to
design thinking. Design thinking is a
identify the market gaps. This is
problem-solving methodology
followed by primary research.
through an iterative process, in
Through primary research, one
which designers seek to step into the
should try to gather the information
users’ shoes, to understand their
that can be used to fulfill the gaps
needs, goals, and frustrations,
identified in secondary research.
redefine the problem, and identify
Some of the tools that can be used to
alternative approaches to solve the
perform primary research are as
problem. Figure 4.1 illustrates the
follows:
process of design thinking. The six Ethnography research
stages involved will now be discussed Focus groups
in detail. Diary study
Cultural probe
Surveys, interviews and digital
questionnaires
Interviews of subject matter
experts

Define
After completing the research, one
can use the process of affinity
Figure 4.1 The design thinking process diagramming (also called KJ Method)
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR DIGITAL PRODUCTS PAGE 29

to understand the research data, and Secondary: They are mostly

to capture insights, gaps, and identify satisfied with the primary
pain points. It is a participatory persona’s design, but have specific
process, and the whole product team additional needs that can be
takes part in it. The qualitative data integrated without upsetting the
from the research is broken into product’s ability to serve the
smaller chunks and is written on primary persona.
cards. The team members Supplemental: Their needs are
collaboratively organize the cards completely represented by a
into groups of related information. combination of primary and
The process results in identifying the secondary persona.
opportunities for future studies, Customer: They address the needs
identifying the range of problems, of customers, who can be
and uncovering similarities among different from end-users.
problems from multiple stakeholders. Served: Though they are not users
of the product, they are directly
Then, one moves forward to segment effected by the use of the product.
their users and develop user Negative: They are used to
personas. As defined by Alan Cooper, communicate to stakeholders and
“Personas are archetypal users that product team members that these
represent the needs of larger groups a r e t h e t y pe o f u s e r s t h a t t h e
of users, in terms of their goals and product is not being developed to
personal characteristics.” Personas serve.
communicate the product’s goals and
users’ behavior patterns to the After defining the users, the product
product team. One starts with team moves forward to define a
identifying behavioral variables like problem statement. This helps in
activities, attitudes, skills, aptitudes, defining the purpose of the design
and motivations of research subjects. initiative, for both the personas and
Then, one maps the subjects to these for the business. Following is an
behavioral variables and identifies example of a problem statement.
significant behavior patterns. For
each persona, synthesize relevant “Company X’s customer satisfaction
goals and check for completeness and ratings are low and market share has
redundancy. Lastly, expand the diminished by 10% over the past year
description of attributes and because users don’t have adequate
behaviors for ease in communication tools to perform A, B, and C tasks that
among the product team. would help them meet their goal of G.”

A product team can prepare the

following types of personas:
Primary: Identifies the primary
target user for the design.
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR DIGITAL PRODUCTS PAGE 30

Implement b a s k e t ’ o r ‘ A d d t o ca r t ’ , b u t t h ey
After prototyping and testing, should not be used interchangeably.
d e v e l o p e r s t a k e o v e r t h e p r o t ot y p e
for development. During this stage, it Error prevention
is essential to collaborate with The system’s flow and design should
developers to ensure that the be such that it eliminates error prone
workflow of the developed product is conditions and confirms their inputs
as planned, and that the aesthetics of before they perform the action. Eg:
the developed product matches with checking if the password protocols
that of the prototype prepared are met before the user presses
earlier. A basic knowledge of CSS and register.
Javascript is a plus for this type of
collaboration. Recognition rather than recall
The system should decrease the
Heuristics for User Interface users’ cognitive load by making
Design actions and alternatives available. Eg:
autocomplete in search.
Nielsen and Morich developed 10
general principles for interaction Flexibility and efficiency of use
design which can be used as broad The system should cater to the needs
rules to test the usability of an online of both, novice and experienced
product: users. Eg: use of shortcuts by expert
users.
Visibility of system status
The users should be kept informed Aesthetic and minimalist design
about what is going on using The system should not be cluttered
feedback within appropriate time. Eg: and show only relevant information
loading indicators. upfront. Eg: keeping details hidden
under ‘view more’ hyperlink.
Match between system and the real
world Help users recognize, diagnose, and
The phrases used in the system recover from errors
should be familiar to the user and fit The error messages should be useful.
their mental model. Eg: using They should convey the reason for
appropriate icons as metaphors and why error has occurred and how to
using language which matches the overcome the issue.
real-world conventions.
Help and documentation
User control and freedom The system should provide
If users get into an unwanted documentation in the interface. The
scenario by mistake, they should have documentation section should be
an emergency exit option. Eg: undo easy to search, crisp and focussed on
and redo. the user's tasks.

Consistency and standards

A consistent terminology and
paradigm should be used throughout
the system. Eg: use either ‘Add to
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR DIGITAL PRODUCTS PAGE 31

References

Cooper, A., Reimann, R., & Cronin,

D. (2007). About face 3: the
essentials of interaction design.
INpolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.
What is User Experience (UX)
Design? (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/topics/ux-
design.
Dam, R., & Siang, T. (2019). What is
Design Thinking and Why Is It So
Popular? Retrieved from
https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/article/wha
t-is-design-thinking-and-why-is-
it-so-popular.
Miller, B. H. (2017, September 4).
What is Design Thinking? (And
What Are The 5 Stages Associated
With it?). Retrieved from
https://medium.com/@bhmiller07
12/what-is-design-thinking-and-
what-are-the-5-stages-
associated-with-it-d628152cf220.
What makes a successful product
manager?. (2015, December 10).
Retrieved from
https://franklio.weebly.com/blog
/category/product management.
Affairs, A. S. for P. (2013,
September 6). System Usability
Scale (SUS). Retrieved from
https://www.usability.gov/how-
to-and-tools/methods/system-
usability-scale.html.
Nielsen , J. (n.d.). 10 Heuristics for
User Interface Design: Article by
Jakob Nielsen. Retrieved from
https://www.nngroup.com/articl
es/ten-usability-heuristics/.
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 32

MACHINE LEARNING &

ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE

Introduction t h e ir u s e c a s e s t o b u i l d i n n o v a t i v e
features. For example, Gmail’s auto-
In the past decade, technology and completion feature, Smart Voice
computing have evolved significantly. Assistants, etc.
Machine Learning & Artificial
Intelligence have disrupted almost What is Product Management?
every industry. Traditional
businesses were forced to adapt, A product manager connects business
change their business model, and strategy, design knowledge, and
develop technological expertise. In customer needs to develop a
2019, 7 out of the 10 most valuable relevant, feasible, and valuable
companies, based on market product. They connect three
capitalization were technology firms. different entities: users (and
They have replaced big oil and customers), developers (including
natural gas companies, which designers and engineers) and the
dominated the market for the last 50 business team (sales, marketing).
years. Companies like Facebook, Each team has the following
Alibaba, WhatsApp, Instagram did not functions:
even exist 20 years ago. With an The customer/user is the one who
exponential increase in the data suffers from a problem, solving it
being generated every second, creates value for the firm.
utilizing it properly gives any The development team - designers
company a competitive advantage. and engineers create a product to
Why is it relevant for a product solve customer problems by
manager? A product manager's role is utilizing the best practices so that
defined as ‘The CEO of a product’, it is easier to develop and
and they are expected to improve maintain in the long term.
upon existing products or develop
new products. Hence it is vital to
understand the tools available, and
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 33

B u s i n e s s o rg a n i z a t i o n o n t h e o t h e r Artificial intelligence is a field of

hand is solely focused on computer science developed to
increasing s h a r e ho l d e r s ’ value. give machines the ability to think
The main aim is to generate like humans. It is a broader field
wealth by selling its services and that includes areas like Machine
products by utilizing the firm’s Learning, Deep Learning, Natural
resources. Language Processing, Computer
Vision, Robotics, etc.
There is an inherent conflict between
them; a few examples would be: Definition of Machine Learning
Engineers would want to work on
cutting-edge technologies, "A computer program is said to learn
irrespective of how useful and from experience (E) to some class of
valuable it is for the users or how tasks (T) and performance measure
expensive it is for the business (P), if its performance at tasks in T, as
team. According to the customer, measured by P, improves with
designers wish for an aesthetic experience E."- Tom Mitchell
design even though it is not the
most preferred one. Compared to rule-based systems
Customers want more features at followed earlier, Machine Learning
a cheaper cost, and businesses has the advantage that with more
want to extract profits by data, the system improves itself and
charging a premium. gets rid of underlying biases. For
example, in a bank, to sell a deposit
Hence a product manager is expected product, they decide on potential
to strike a balance between the buyers based on their savings
payoffs and tradeoffs of each party. account balance. Thus, if the balance
is greater than threshold, then send
the advertisement to the buyer. In
the machine learning approach, we
can look at the characteristics of
people who bought the product in the
past and match similar customer
profiles to reduce the cost of
advertisements and improved
conversion rates.

Figure 5.1 Relationship between AI & ML

Figure 5.2 Machine learning and related

areas
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 34

Machine Learning can be divided into three major areas:

Supervised Learning
Making a prediction based on a set where the output is labeled.
Regression: To predict a continuous variable. For example, weather
forecasting, indicating the price of a stock, etc.
Classification: Classifying input into a set of predefined classes. For example,
fraud detection, image classification, spam detection, etc.

Unsupervised Learning
Organizing/describing the structure of unlabeled data.
Clustering: Finding similar groups between data. For example, customer
segmentation, recommender systems, etc.
Dimensionality Reduction

Reinforcement Learning
To take action to maximize the notion of cumulative reward. For example, game
AI is trained for several generations until it learns from its mistakes how it ought
to take each step, so that it would lead to victory or survival.

Figure 5.3 Training testing flow of an ML model

I n t h e a b ov e d i a g r a m , t h e c r i t i c a l s t e p i s t o d e c i d e w h i c h m o d e l t o u s e b a s e d o n
each algorithm's limitations. Below are a few of the standard algorithms with
their pros and cons.
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 35

One of the most important classes of algorithms is recommender systems.

Companies like Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Spotify rely on
recommender systems for their core product. As Steve Jobs said, “People don't
know what they want until you show it to them.” Recommender systems help
people identify their needs, which they are not aware of. It can be determined by
looking at relationships characterised by ideas like, “people bought X products
also bought Y products.”

Types of Recommender Systems

Content-based: This approach identifies attributes/descriptive keywords from

different items and recommends on the basis of similarity between two items.
The drawback of this approach is that if there is no common attribute then the
users won’t be recommended a particular item.
Knowledge-based: This approach is used in the initial stages where a user is
explicitly asked for his/her preferences and creates a model to recommend
the next items. Example: Netflix asks users to select three preferred movie/tv
series of their liking.
Collaborative filtering: This approach utilizes both item attributes and user
preferences, including the information obtained from other users’ ratings.
Hence it is known as collaborative filtering.

We’ll now look as example of the above recommender systems:

MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 36

Content Based The above example contains a list of

users and information as to whether
they liked a particular movie or not.
If Scaz liked the movie Inside Out, we
want to know which movie we should
recommend that he watch next. We
take a weighted average of the
opinions of people who have similar
reviews as Scaz does for Inside Out,
and choose the movie with maximum
votes. In this case, Ant-man has the
highest votes. This approach's
drawback is that it doesn't consider
the fact that we have no information
Figure 5.4 Example of content-based about the genre preference. We are
recommender systems not utilizing the movie-attribute
information in this scenario.
The table contains a list of movies
and their attributes. It shows that
Collaborative Filtering
Inside Out is an animated, non-
marvel movie without any
supervillain, which failed the bechdel
test, and includes people from “Parks
and Recreation”. Based on this
information, if somebody had
watched Inside Out, we want to know
which among the three – Ant-Man,
Avengers and Minions we should
recommend. We take the similarity
between the features of each movie
Figure 5.6 Example of collaborative
and Inside Out. The highest similarity
filtering recommender systems - step 1
is with Minions, and hence Minions
should be recommended. The The matrix contains half-filled
drawback is that this approach information with reviews that users
doesn't consider user preferences have filled for different movies. The
and relies solely on the movie's missing values correspond to movies
attributes. that haven’t yet been watched by
those users. The aim is to find the
Knowledge Based
missing values. We will try to
decompose the matrix into two
matrices, known as latent factors.

Figure 5.5 Example of knowledge-based

recommender systems
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 37

Figure 5.9 Example of collaborative

Figure 5.7 Example of collaborative filtering recommender systems - step 4
filtering recommender systems - step 2
The predicted values are
We start with random values in the recommendation scores.
two matrices and multiply them to
get the information matrix. We This method takes care of user
calculate the difference between preferences and object attributes,
actual and predicted values. Finally, and is a very powerful and simple
we find the optimal values for both recommendation algorithm.
matrices by using gradient descent,
which minimizes the error between Neural Networks
predicted and given information
matrix. All the algorithms described earlier
worked differently from how humans
learn. The goal of machine learning
and artificial intelligence was to
mimic our way of learning in
computers. Neural Networks were
developed in the 1960s but gained
popularity in the current era, with
increased computational capabilities
of existing systems. Below is a
diagram that compares the working
mechanism of a biological neuron and
Figure 5.8 Example of collaborative an artificial neuron.
filtering recommender systems - step 3

Using the two matrices, multiply and

get the missing question mark values.

Figure 5.10 Comparison of biological

neuron vs artificial neural network
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 38

If one puts their hand on a hot stove, of Deep Learning Neural Network, a
the immediate action would be to pull state of the art network, known for
their hand away from the stove. In its future potential.
this process, information that the
stove is hot, is taken as input from Generative Adversarial
dendrites to the nucleus, where it Networks
decides if it is hotter than some
threshold; if yes, the neuron is fired.
The axon carries the impulse or
signal to take the hand away, till axon
terminals. Similarly, in an artificial
neural network, inputs are taken
from all the xi, and weights are
assigned to minimize error. Based on
Figure 5.12 Illustrative diagram of a
the value of the weighted sum and
generative adversarial
activation function, the output is
predicted. It is a special type of neural network
where we have two optimizing
Each neural network has a different functions instead of one, and both of
architecture, and is used for different them compete with one another. We
purposes. However, neurons, have a generator network and a
artificial networks, and hidden layers discriminator network, with their
are common, which extract hidden loss functions, and the task is to
features. reduce the loss. Initially, the
generator is provided with random
The more the number of layers, the input, and hence the discriminator
more capable the ANN of extracting can easily distinguish between real
features of a higher dimension. and fake images. The generator loss
will be too high. After several
iterations, generator loss is
minimized, and it creates a more and
more realistic image. In a nutshell,
both neural networks have achieved
state of the art by letting one
machine compete with the other. The
final output is two networks, one to
generate fake images and the other to
detect. Both of them can be used
Figure 5.11 Illustration of a deep neural independently.
network
Conclusively, the product manager
The deep neural network has more
should understand what different
number of hidden layers, which help
tools they have available, and how to
in feature extraction. Compared to
improve the product by applying ML
classical ML models, w he r e users
and AI. The following framework
have to derive or specify features
provides an idea as to whether you
from the dataset. In Deep Learning,
should apply ML to the existing
the model itself selects and creates
product or not:
features. We shall see a specific type
MACHINE LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PAGE 39

Does it fit the product goal? https://medium.com/@neal_lathi

How does the product revolve a/machine-learning-for-product-
around the ML? managers-ba9cf8724e57
How should the product start https://medium.com/@yaelg/pro
using ML? duct-manager-pm-step-by-step-
Benchmark to compare it with? tutorial-building-machine-
How quickly should the product learning-products-ffa7817aa8ab
change? https://www.aha.io/roadmapping
What interactions, actions, and /guide/product-
control do users have? management/what-is-a-product
https://www.mckinsey.com/indus
Several innovative solutions like tries/technology-media-and-
Tesla self-driving cars, sentiment telecommunications/our-
analysis, and object detection in insights/product-managers-for-
robotics and the futuristic store – the-digital-world#
Amazon GO, wouldn’t have been https://hbr.org/2017/12/what-it-
possible without an understanding of takes-to-become-a-great-
advanced algorithms and where these product-manager
tools could be used. The expectation https://www.youtube.com/watch
is not to code, but know what ?
requirements to ask of the technical v=rZufA635dq4&list=PLtBw6njQRU
team member! -
rwp5__7C0oIVt26ZgjG9NI&index=
References 4&ab_channel=AlexanderAmini
https://www.youtube.com/watch
https://towardsdatascience.com/ ?
the-remarkable-world-of- v=njKP3FqW3Sk&list=PLtBw6njQR
recommender-systems- U-
bff4b9cbe6a7 rwp5__7C0oIVt26ZgjG9NI&index=
https://towardsdatascience.com/ 1&ab_channel=AlexanderAmini
what-are-product- https://towardsdatascience.com/
recommendation-engines-and- introduction-to-recommender-
the-various-versions-of-them- systems-6c66cf15ada
9dcab4ee26d5 https://towardsdatascience.com/
https://www.analyticsvidhya.com understanding-confusion-matrix-
/blog/2015/08/beginners-guide- a9ad42dcfd62
learn-content-based- https://www.youtube.com/watch
recommender-systems/ ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch v=ImpV70uLxyw&ab_channel=Luis
? Serrano
v=jhFFOmvPne4&ab_channel=5Min
utesEngineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=n3RKsY2H-
NE&ab_channel=ArtoftheProblem
https://towardsdatascience.com/
machine-learning-for-product-
managers-part-i-problem-
mapping-5436132c3a6e
AUGMENTED REALITY & VIRTUAL REALITY PAGE 40

AUGMENTED REALITY &

VIRTUAL REALITY

Introduction I n V R , w e a re creating a parallel

reality itself. We are creating an
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality entire simulated environment for a
are two particularly popular complete, immersive experience.
buzzwords. They have been a part of
popular culture since at least 2012- A user is placed inside a virtual
13, which is quite a long time in the environment, which in turn tries to
tech-world. However, clarity about trigger and engage (i.e. simulate) as
their functioning and use cases is many senses as possible. The
still pretty limited and niche. ultimate motive is to create an all-
Frequently, these two terms are used round experience with complete self-
interchangeably as well. However, immersion. The only limits to virtual
there is a significant difference reality (VR) are the availability of
between both the technologies. content and cost effective
computation power. As is apparent
Augmented Reality (AR) refers to from the definition itself, detailed
observing the real-life environment graphics are an important part of a
with a digital augmentation overlaid powerful and convincing virtual
on it. The fundamental idea here is to reality (VR) experience, and hence
enhance real-life experiences with the requirement for high
relevant content, information etc. computation power. (Bardi, J. 2019)
(“What is Augmented Reality”, 2019)
Popular Products & Brands
I n A u g m e n t e d R e a l i t y ( A R ), w e a r e
using a computer to decrypt, or AR has a wide range of applications,
understand the live video stream and hence its product set is also
from camera. By understanding, we diverse. Examples of AR include
mean identifying & recognizing the multiple app based software products
objects in the video and using the like “Pokémon Go”: an AR based
contents of the video to create a smartphone game that became a viral
context. The computer then renders sensation in 2016-17. Similarly, the
the relevant 3D graphics and “IKEA Places” app by IKEA- a
superimpose it on the live camera furniture retailer has an AR feature
feed to enhance a user’s experience
of the real world.
AUGMENTED REALITY & VIRTUAL REALITY PAGE 41

which allows customers to visualise duration use, to the tune of an entire

the selected IKEA product in their day at a time. As a result, the make or
homes to confirm product fit. break features include the device
Amongst hardware-based AR being light in weight and having
products, “smart glasses” is the most long-lasting batteries. Google Glass,
popular category, which is led by for example weighs around 46 gms
brands like Google (“Google glass”), and has a battery which is sufficient
Epson (“Moverio”), Toshiba for a typical day’s use. However, it
(“dynaEdge”) etc. The “smart glasses” costs the customer around $1500.
category is highly fragmented with no
clear winner. VR devices on the other hand are
typically used for short durations, in
VR products can also be segmented the range of 2-3 hours of continuous
into Hardware and Software. VR use. They weigh more, in the range of
headsets, popularly called “Head 400-600gms and have less battery
Mounted Display” (HMD) is the most life, to the tune of 3-4 hours. With
popular hardware product category lower battery life and heavier weight,
in VR. HMDs are further classified however comes the benefit of a lower
into three types: price tag compared to AR devices.
Category 1: VR headsets to be used Pricing starts from $120 and touches
in combination with Smartphones. $600-700. The inefficiency in product
Category 2: VR headsets to be design (battery life and weight) are
used in combination with PCs the major bottlenecks in VR and
(Personal Computers), or provide immense scope for
Consoles. improvement.
Category 3: Standalone VR
headsets. How AR Works

Each category has a different source Computer Vision is the most

of computation power. For example, fundamental building block of AR
in category 1, smartphones provide technology. In this section, we will
the computation power, while in first introduce Computer vision and
Category 2 PCs or consoles provide then further explore the working of
the same. In category 3, the onus of AR technology.
computation is embedded in the
headset itself. Generally, category 2 Computer Vision Basics: The goal of
and category 3 HMDs are also Computer Vision is “to use observed
accompanied with “hand controllers”, image data to infer something about
which improve motion tracking and the world.” (Browlee, J. 2019) Given
therefore, the virtual device an image (or video stream – which is
experience. The major brands again a set of image frames), what
operating in the VR headset space are can we understand about the scene
Sony PlayStation, HTC Vive and being portrayed in that image? Does
Facebook’s Oculus. it have an object, what kind of object,
how many such objects are there etc.
Pricing and Product Features These are the key questions that
computer vision focuses on. It is an
AR devices, having varied extremely advanced research field
applications, are meant for long and can be further broken down into
AUGMENTED REALITY & VIRTUAL REALITY PAGE 42

subfields like object detection, object feature extraction algorithm used

classification, object verification etc. earlier, thus deriving a feature vector
We’ll delve a little deeper into object Y. We then compare feature vector Y
classification, to develop a clearer with Xc and Xe, to identify which one
i d e a o f h o w c o m pu t e r v i s i o n w o r k s . i t i s c lo se r t o . I f i t i s c l o s e r t o X c , o u r
algorithm will classify the image as
We will try to understand the Class “c”. If it is closer to Xe, our
underlying theory of how object algorithm classifies it as Xe. In this
classification works through the example, since only two classes are
character recognition problem. used, not belonging to class “c”
implies belonging to class “e”. But, in
The problem statement for us is: case of 3 or more classes, the same
given a set of images containing only would not be possible.
two characters: “c” and “e”, how can
we develop an automated algorithm N o t e: T h i s i s a v e r y s i m p l i s t i c m o d e l .
to classify each image as either the Advanced algorithms which are used
character “c”, or character “e”? for classification are much more
sophisticated.
The solution here is broken into two
parts: the training phase and the
testing phase. The two possible
outcomes (“c” or “e”) are called
classes. Any given image will belong Figure 6.1 Basic character recognition
to either class “c”, or class “e”. algorithm

AR technology works through the

In the training phase, a labelled data
following steps:
set is passed through the “feature
First step is Computer vision,
extraction algorithm”. A labelled data
where a computer understands the
set is a set of images, where each
content of the video streaming
image is labelled as either class “c” or
from camera feed and generates a
class “e”. We always use labelled data
basic context for the world around
sets for the training phase. For
the user.
example, a user would know
Second step is Rendering. Once
beforehand that the image which is
the computer has understood (in
being passed to the algorithm for
the step 1) what the camera (and
training is of class “c”.
hence, the user) is looking at, it
searches for the relevant digital
In the testing phase, we use an
content and then super impose it
unlabelled dataset. The only
on the camera feed, so that it
information that we have about the
looks like a part of real world and
unlabelled data set is that each image
enhances the experience.
in the data set will either be of class
“c” or of class “e”. Unlike the labelled
AR is a real time application & hence;
data set, we don’t know beforehand
both the above steps have to be
whether a given image is of class “c”
performed on every frame that the
or class “e”. However, we now have a
camera captures. iPhone 11 has a
classifier in place. We will pass the
camera which capture 4k resolution
unlabelled data through the same
frames at 60fps, which gives us
AUGMENTED REALITY & VIRTUAL REALITY PAGE 43

around 16-17 millisecond per frame to headsets have sophisticated tracking

complete both the above step for a 4k sensors, which are essential to create
frame. Considering the computational a quality experience. Tracking of the
speed of modern processors, 16-17ms user’s head is done via internal
is a very long time. This gives components like gyroscopes,
developers enough bandwidth to magnetometers and accelerometers.
design sophisticated AR algorithms. Many headsets have a set of external
sensors like LED lights and cameras
How VR Works to further improve the tracking
accuracy. Image data from the
In the case of VR, it is a three-step headset camera is used to create a 3D
process: model of the room and detect
Step 1: Video is sent from PC (via external landmarks like stairs,
HDMI cable), or smartphone corners in the room etc. The earlier
slotted into headset, or from the mentioned co m p u te r vision
graphics controller in headset techniques are used here. Rotational
itself, for a standalone VR headset. and linear acceleration data from
Step 2: VR headsets either send 2 sensors in the hand controllers is
feeds on a single display, or have used to track the user’s hand
two LCD displays: each for one movements.
eye.
Step 3: VR headsets have a lens Latency is an important performance
assembly between the user’s eyes parameter in VR. Head-tracking tech
and the display, which reshapes needs low latency to be effective - 50
the picture appropriately for each milliseconds or less or we will detect
eye and create a 3D image. the lag between our head movement
and the VR environment changing.
We are just trying to mimic the way The Oculus Rift has lag of around
our eyes work. There is a minimum 30ms.
requirement of 60fps from the VR
headset for a convincing experience. FOVE VR headset has implemented
The modern devices have capabilities eye tracking as well, using an internal
which far exceed this limit. Oculus camera and infrared sensor that
gives 90fps level performance, while monitors the user’s eye. Even keeping
Sony’s PlayStation VR gives 120fps one’s head still, while moving only
level performance. Another spec. to one’s eyeball, will lead to the VR
focus on for VR headset will be field environment changing.
of view. Ideally, VR headset should
provide a 360-degree display to Industrial Application
mimic the real life, but that will be
too expensive. Most of the VR AR and VR headsets are expanding
headsets have 100 to 11o degree field their market by creating enterprise
of view which is enough for human use cases. There are multiple
capability. companies using AR smart glasses in
their supply chain to improve their
Tracking is an area where VR productivity. Ford designers use
headsets try to differentiate Oculus Rift to visualise and
themselves from each other, in order experience the interior and exterior
to justify their premium pricing. VR design of their cars. Lockheed
AUGMENTED REALITY & VIRTUAL REALITY PAGE 44

Martin’s engineers use AR glasses to Overall, the industry is moving away

get real time visuals of their aircrafts from hardware based technological
and overlay images with instructions improvements and towards software-
in a real working environment. The based improvement, with a focus on
company has realised an annual creating enterprise level use cases,
savings of $10 million in its product while creating more content on play
line (Source: Statista). s t o r e s . C u s t o m e r e n t e rpr i s e s a r e a l s o
in the process of exploring how to
Vital Enterprise has created an AR use AR-VR for productivity related
software which makes instructions i m p r o v e m e n ts i n t h e i r v a l u e c h a i n s ,
a v ai l a b l e i n a h a n d s f r e e a n d v o i c e - such as production supply chains. PM
controlled format. Assembly and roles in customer enterprises are
m ai n t e n a n c e engineers can access extremely generic and exploratory,
instructions using AR glasses instead while in AR-VR manufacturing
of reading long pdfs of instructions. enterprises, PM roles are more
software focussed.
“Focus is shifting from talking about
technology benefits to showing real References
a n d m e a s u r a b l e b u s i n e s s o u t c o m e s,
including productivity and efficiency Bardi, J. (2019, July 03). What is
gains, knowledge transfer, employee's Virtual Reality? VR Definition and
safety, and more engaging customer Examples. Retrieved September
experience” – IDC report 20, 2020, from
https://www.marxentlabs.com/w
Industry Status and Product hat-is-virtual-reality/
Manager Roles Brownlee, J. (2019, July 05). A
Gentle Introduction to Computer
Figure 2 shows the current industry Vision. Retrieved September 20,
size and the forecasts for 2020. The 2020, from
industry is expected to go through a https://machinelearningmastery.c
high growth period, with a CAGR om/what-is-computer-vision/
forecast of 77% for the AR-VR market What Is Augmented Reality? (2019,
size over the 20180-2023 period. December 18). Retrieved
September 20, 2020, from
https://www.fi.edu/what-is-
augmented-reality

Figure 6.2 AR-VR market size and 2020

forecasts

N o te : t h e s e f o r ec a s t s a r e P r e - C O V I D
figures. The absolute value may carry
l i tt l e v a lu e , b u t t r e n d s a r e u s e f u l .
BIG DATA PAGE 45

BIG DATA

What is Big Data V a r i e t y r e f e r s t o t h e d i ve r s i t y o f

data generation sources and
Data is the most essential component formats. Source can be structured,
in decision-making and serves as the n u m e r i c da t a t o u n s t r u c t u r e d t e x t
raw material for accountability. Big documents, emails, videos and
Data refers to data which is so large, financial transactions.
generated at such a pace and is so
complex that it is difficult to process Over the years, many additional
and use it with traditional methods. dimensions have been added, but
Major improvements in processing majorly there are three more:
power, storage density and internet Variability refers to change of
access with cloud have led to a rapid meaning with context. Also,
evolution in the field, making Big businesses need manage daily,
Data accessible to any company. seasonal and event-triggered peak
data loads.
Big Data was characterised in the Veracity of data refers to
form of three V’s by Doug Laney, an reliability and accuracy aspects of
industry analyst back in the 2000s: it. As data comes from variety of
Volume refers to the large size of sources, there are a lot of
the datasets. Data comes from challenges associated with
many sources ranging from cleaning, linking, matching and
transactions, IoT sensors and, transforming the data to maintain
industrial and manufacturing uniformity of operations.
equipment, audio-visual data, Value refers to using data as a
social media mining and more. game changer. Leveraging
Velocity refers to the high speed technologies such as Machine
of data generation. With adoption learning and Simulation,
of IoT, data comes at an companies can transform their
unprecedented speed and is business model and explore
handled in real time. Eg. RFID futuristic scenarios.
tags, sensors and smart meters.
Big Data can be classified based on
the source that it is coming from, or
based on the form in which it is
coming.
BIG DATA PAGE 46

Internal Data Big Data Architecture

Data generated within the operations
of a business. For example, The architecture components of a big
transactions, inventory, customer data system typically consist of four
data etc. layers:
1. S o u r c e s L a y e r – T h i s i s t h e l a y e r
External Data where we source the data from.
Data sourced from external This is different from where data
sources.For example, traffic, census, is originated, as the Sources layer
industry data etc. refers to data which has already
been recorded and stored in the
Structured Data form of data warehouses, Database
Data which is highly specific and is management systems (SQL or
stored in a predefined format. For NoSQL) etc.
example, geo-locations, employee 2. S t o r a g e L a y e r – H e r e , t h e d a t a i s
details, marketing campaigns etc. taken from the source layer and
stored in a suitable format to
Unstructured Data proceed with analysis. The format
Data stored in varied forms, which is decided based on the
cannot be analysed in a fixed form. requirements of the data analytics
For example, social media, blog tool.
comments, video/image etc. 3. A n a l y s i s L a y e r – In this layer,
there are various analytics and
Nowadays, the concept of horizontal business intelligence tools which
scaling (more machines working extract insights from the stored
parallelly) is used for intense data data.
storage or processing. However, this 4. C o n s u m p t i o n L a y e r – T h i s i s t h e
strategy incurs an additional penalty final layer of the architecture
of complexity. Most cloud which interfaces with the end
applications are on distributed user. The output of the analysis
systems (network that stores and later is presented in visual or
shares data on more than one node at dashboard type of formats.
the same time). The CAP theorem
states that while designing a
management system we can only
choose 2 out of the following 3
characteristics – Consistency (all
clients see the same data across
nodes at the same time), Availability Figure 7.1 Big Data Architecture
(any client making a request gets a
Big Data Technologies
valid response all the time) and
Partition Tolerance (cluster
The platform of Big Data is like an
continues to work despite any
ecosystem. There are three broad
number of communication
components associated – Data
breakdowns between the nodes in a
Management, Data Analysis and the
system).
Infrastructure side.
BIG DATA PAGE 47

Data Management – Within data Infrastructure – Infrastructure

management, there are ingestion refers to the medium through which
platforms like Flume and Sqoop, these technologies are stored,
through which data is transported provided and accessed. These are
from various sources to a storage mainly cloud services like AWS,
medium. Then there are storage Azure, GCP, Whirr etc. Figure 2
technologies like Hadoop and NoSQL. shows Microsoft’s Big Data
They help in storing the data in the ecosystem.
form of clusters, with a node
assigned, that can be accessed from
any part of the system. There are also
cluster administration technologies
like Ambari and Chukwa, which help
in managing and monitoring clusters.
Finally, we have data governance
technologies like Eagle and Falcon,
which help in controlling the quality
and security aspects of data. Figure 7.2 Microsoft HDInsight
ecosystem
Data Analysis – For data analysis,
B2C Applications
there are query technologies like
Hive, Impala and Drill, which provide
Major companies using Big Data in
interactive query support for the
their operations can be classified
stored data. There are batch
based on their industries.
processing engines like ETL, Pig and
Oozie, which help in scaling out
BFS – Banking and financial
computations, in order to handle a
service industry includes
large volume of data. Unlike real-
insurance providers, banks, credit
time processing, however, batch
card providers, etc. Big Data is
processing is expected to have
used in insurance and trading
latencies (the time between data
operations, identifying and
ingestion and computing a result),
detecting fraud, analysing
that measure in minutes to hours.
portfolio and valuations. Data
There are also data stream engines,
security and governance is critical
which are an improvement over batch
in this industry.
processing. They process data over
Retail – This includes sales of
rolling windows or most recent
goods and services and use cases
records, removing the latency.
across supply chain, vendor
Examples of such technologies are
management, analysing shopping
Kafka and Spark. Finally, there are
baskets, and other service based
Advanced analytics technologies like
categories.
Mahout and Spark which apply
Healthcare & Life Sciences –This
Machine learning to Big Data to
includes biotech companies,
perform more advanced
research institutes, health
computations.
insurance providers, who use big
data for pharma R&D, disease
management, drug efficacy etc.
BIG DATA PAGE 48

ICT – This includes companies causing equipment failure and then

that work on software and perform maintenance activities in
information systems, and other time, leading to maintenance cost
technology based companies. Use savings. Some examples include:
cases include data analysis. Schneider Electric’s PRiSM, a big
Media & Entertainment – This data software solution, diagnoses
includes companies working in equipment issues in advance and
print media, television, radio, provides early warnings. Southern
gaming, and online advertising. Company in the U.S currently uses
Most commonly big data is used in the system.
delivering content and optimizing GE’s Predix platform uses
workflows. advanced predictive analytics to
Telecommunications – Telecom identify patterns from datasets.
service providers and operators Enel, an Italian MNC, active in
use big data to improve customer electricity generation and
service, churn management and distribution sectors, uses Predix
for optimizing their network. platform to achieve the following
Government – This includes all 4 goals – increased performance,
government affiliated entities increased reliability, optimized
such as intelligence agencies, output, and reduced costs.
defence & military. Some of the
most common use cases are Big data plays a large role in utilities
Cybersecurity, defence, legal consumption management – Utilities
intelligence, disaster companies use a demand response
preparedness, & law enforcement. strategy to spread the energy
consumption from the peak hours of
B2B Applications the day to other parts of the day
when demand is lower.
Big data analytics can address and The national grid in the U.K has
improve many issues in B2B partnered with Open Energi to
industries – operational, strategic, explore the use of automated
financial, etc. Consider the example demand response in stabilizing the
of the power sector. The industry grid. The focus was on frequency
infrastructure is becoming smart, control which requires fast
with built-in processing, response from the system.
connectivity, and sensing
capabilities. Technology systems like Big data to be used to optimize
electric vehicles (EVs), internet of electric vehicle charging – EVs
things (IoT), smart homes, grid generate datasets of various
management systems, and others are parameters and from various sources
likely to interface with utilities and which can be collected via vehicle-
provide them with potentially to-grid (V2G) charging systems. This
valuable data. Currently, there are data can then be analysed to develop
few players in the world who have new effective charging station
actively adopted big data analytics. policies, develop smart charging
algorithms, solve the issues of energy
Big Data analytics help power efficiency, and even calculate the
companies avert turbine failures – By required capacity of electrical
utilizing predictive models, distribution systems to manage the
companies can study various factors future load.
BIG DATA PAGE 49

PM & Big data these MVPs, Product analytics can

inform PMs about the features that
Organisations usually have data are working and those which are not.
scientists leading a team of data Analytics help in creating a product
analysts for all the big data roadmap, which can tell where the
operations. By creating a separate product is currently, where they
team, businesses sometimes create want it to go and how to get it there.
yet another ‘silo’, which is isolated
from the rest of the functional Test – Prototypes are tested in front
groups. For a product manager, big of users at this stage. Usually
data can be an important tool in a products are released into apps or
typical product development cycle. websites for A/B testing, hence
We explain it through the Design app/web Analytics data gives a broad
Thinking method: user feedback. Nowadays, social
media mining helps perform
Empathize – This phase is all about sentiment analysis, and gauge the
understanding the customer - who perception of users as well.
they are, their pains, problems,
attitudes, and what their emotional Things To Look Out For
goals are. PMs can look at website or
app analytics, observe the user Personas – Understand the end user
journeys, understand the heat maps of the product. Different groups will
and where users end up, to gain be at different levels of data literacy.
insights. So, possible groupings could be: data
producers, data consumers, data
Define – In this phase, a PM defines maintainers etc. These could be
the problem that they are going to further divided into different
solve. Data visualization tools allow functional roles and use case
PMs to isolate pain points and attach scenarios. For example, data
root causes to them. It is also producers could be divided into
important to chart out different user engineers, executives (web based use
personas, where the product or phone based), etc.
positions itself vis-à-vis competitors
to segment users. Analytics – This involves the
application part of the data and
Ideate – Here, PMs come up with a extracting insights from it. One must
bunch of different ways to solve the be cognizant of all the steps involved
problem. It is necessary to evaluate between storing data and retrieving
different ideas. Large amounts of it to perform analysis. One must
historical data (internal + external), consider how the data will be
along with the data from the retrieved and processed, and
empathize phase can be used to consequently what the requirements
assign weights to different of it are. There are multiple
parameters and shortlist the most companies offering ready to use
relevant ideas. solutions, and some of these can be
outsourced as well.
Prototype – The ideas are turned into
an MVP in this stage. As they build
BIG DATA PAGE 50

Visualization – To make the best use of the data present it in an intuitive and
user-friendly way. A PM must understand the user personas and demographics,
their mindset when using data and the accompanying form factor.

Storage – While a PM does not define the technical requirements, he/she is

responsible for defining the use cases and business model. The data type used
will impact the kind of database to use. For example, for a structured database a
relational database like an SQL Server would work, but for unstructured data, one
would use a schema less database such as MongoDB or Hadoop. A PM’s job is to
define clearly the use cases and then convey those to the engineering team.
Similarly, on deciding where to store data, on cloud or on-premise, a PM must
analyse the ROI for each approach.

Multiple Access Points – There are multiple products that different people
prefer, and it is difficult to make a one-stop tool. Hence include import and
export capabilities and other migration features that allow the user to transfer
data between systems through various methods, and not restricted just through
the user interfaces (UIs). Creating an open API is one way to do so.

Security – Security is a big concern for various stakeholders, since we are

dealing with private and sensitive data. As a PM one must ensure that security is
kept a priority since the beginning of the development process and is
incorporated in all features of the product, across the full stack, right from the
database to the UI and APIs. Correct quality control measures should be in place
and bugs removed in frequent tests.

Practice Case Study

Sample – B2B social media data analytics process in a firm like Sprinklr
The steps involved in this process would be – Identifying data sources, Capturing
data, Processing data, Presenting findings, and finally Generating Insights.

Figure 7.3 Social Media Data Analytics

BIG DATA PAGE 51

Exercise – Can Big Data and Design https://www.accenture.com/t000

thinking be used to help combat 10101T000000Z__w__/mx-
COVID 19? es/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conver
sion-
References Assets/DotCom/Documents/Glob
al/PDF/Dualpub_7/Accenture-
https://link.springer.com/chapte Big-Data-POV
r/10.1007/978-3-319-67925-9_1 https://www.sciencedirect.com/s
https://www.ibm.com/cloud/lear cience/article/abs/pii/S00198501
n/cap-theorem 20300298
https://www.sas.com/en_us/insi https://danielelizalde.com/big-
ghts/big-data/what-is-big- data-6-key-areas-every-product-
data.html#history manager-should-address/
https://www.bcg.com/publicatio https://www.enginess.io/insights
ns/2013/advanced-analytics-how- / d a t a - a n d - d e s i g n - t h i n ki n g
get-started-big-data https://www.sciencedirect.com/s
https://docs.microsoft.com/en- cience/article/abs/pii/S00198501
us/azure/architecture/guide/arc 18305236
hitecture-styles/big-
data#:~:text=A%20big%20data%20
architecture%20is,big%20data%20
sources%20at%20rest.
https://www.oreilly.com/library/
view/hands-on-
devops/9781788471183/9e02877f-
eba8-47f5-bd88-
7d7e67b858c8.xhtml
https://www.cloudera.com/produ
cts/open-source/apache-
hadoop.html
https://store.frost.com/global-
big-data-analytics-market-
forecast-to-2023.html
INTERNET OF THINGS PAGE 52

INTERNET OF THINGS

What is IoT

The Internet of Things is essentially a

b u n c h o f d e v i c e s co n n e c t e d t o g e t h e r .
IoT doesn’t require that the network
connecting the devices be the
internet. However, given that the
Figure 8.1 The IoT stack
Internet is the network connecting
most systems, the terminology holds.
D e v i c e Ha r d w a r e
The d e v i ce hardware forms the
IoT is widely regarded as the fourth
b o t t o m - m o s t l a y e r of t h e I o T T e c h
stage of the industrial revolution and
stack. The two primary components
is touted to be as impactful as the
of the device hardware are the
steam engine, assembly line, or
sensors and the processors.
personal computer. The rapid
development in artificial intelligence,
The sensors collect raw data from the
big data analytics, and internet
surroundings, which is processed
connectivity, are the key drivers in
further to generate an output that
the adoption of Internet of Things
can influence some other system. A
based technologies.
typical IoT system can have anywhere
between tens and millions of sensors
The IoT Tech Stack depending on its complexity.

The IoT Tech stack consists of 5 The microprocessors form an integral

layers. These are the device part of the device hardware, and a lot
hardware, device software, of them put together, form the basis
communication, data & analytics, and for crunching the high-velocity data
the application layer. that are generated by the sensors
and use it for processing in other
stages.
INTERNET OF THINGS PAGE 53

Device Software The most important thing to consider

T h e d e v i c e s of t w a r e i s p r i m a r i l y t h e when designing an IoT system is to
operating system and the understand the nature and volume of
applications built on top of the data you will receive, and see which
operating system, to connect to the of it is relevant and needs to be
upper layers in the tech stack. extracted. U s in g this information,
one can then design the system to
The operating system to be used is h a v e t h e a b i lit y t o p r o c e s s s u c h d a t a .
determined on the basis of the
complexity of the system, along There are a lot of cloud APIs that can
dimensions such as whether it has to help generate insights using
be real-time, and the amount of data sophisticated data analytics
that needs to be processed. Another techniques and can help make sense
critical factor in deciding on the OS of the data collected and processed
is the kind of interface available in so far.
the layers above. Linux is one
operating system that is widely used Applications
in IoT design. The last layer in the tech stack is the
applications layer. These can take
Communication Layer different forms like web-based or
The communication layer forms the app-based depending on the
backbone of any IoT system and requirement. The applications layer
connects the different devices that is typically the layer that the end-
comprise the system. user interacts with and sees.

There are five broad types of There are multiple examples of areas
connectivity: bluetooth, radio, wi-fi, in both B2B and B2C segments of IoT
cellular, and satellite. These differ applications. Some examples in the
mainly in their operating frequency B2C space are Pawscout (A dog
and the range (distance) that they tracking app), or Amazon go.
support. The trade-off between the
type of connectivity is often in terms One Example in the B2B space is
of cost and the kind of hardware and South East Water, which made an app
software that has been used in the to improve its clients' service
lower layers. delivery and CRM scores. Another
company CSG has made IoT solutions
There are also communication specifically for the
protocols that define how these telecommunications sector.
devices interact with each other.
Some examples include IPV4/V6,
JSON -Ld. and WebSocket.

Data and Analytics

There is a lot of data that is
generated in an IoT system. The data
can be either in a structured or an
unstructured format (which needs to Figure 8.2 Images of pawscout and
amazon go
be interpreted before being
processed for further use) depending
on the kind of system.
INTERNET OF THINGS PAGE 54

Growth Potential Smart Cities - One of the most

i m p o r t a n t a n d p r o mi s i n g u s e c a s e s
The Internet Of Things is taking over of IoT is in d e v e l o p in g smart
mainstream business use cases, and cities. IoT systems can sync up
provides opportunities to create different traffic lights across
disruptive solutions for different use cities as per real-time data, which
cases across industries. The number will help redirect and synchronize
of IoT connected devices is estimated traffic as and when needed. The
to increase from 9.9 billion in 2020 to sensors in buildings like CO2
21.5 billion in 2025. As per the sensors, smoke detectors, cameras
growing demand IoT market will grow etc. can optimize buildings' energy
globally at a 26.9% CAGR, from $ usage. Power energy grids can be
170.57 billion in 2017 to $561.04 synced further to predict energy
billion by 2022. The adoption of the surges and then redistribute
cloud platform, digital energy as per requirement.
transformation, 5G, and reduction in Numerous other functions can be
the cost of sensors are other integrated using IoT devices to
attributes that have contributed to make cities more efficient.
the fast growth of the Internet of Healthcare - Health trackers and
Things. wearables are already used heavily
in urban areas. However, IoT
Important Use Cases provides a much bigger
opportunity to revolutionize
Amazon is reinventing warehousing medicine completely. IoT devices
and uses "armies" of wi-fi connected are being used to collect critical
robots to locate and dispatch patient information and send it to
products at its warehouses. some other location. They are also
used to continuously monitor
Power and Robotics Major ABB has heart rate, blood pressure, and
used connected sensors to monitor glucose for patients like diabetics
the performance of its robots and who need regular attention. Apart
maintain them. from remote monitoring,
caregivers can use IoT devices to
Airbus is building the factory of the monitor and administer medicine
future to improve operational remotely.
efficiencies and have incorporated Industry 4.0 - IoT has only
features like the smart glasses to accelerated all use cases related
minimize errors. to Industry 4.0. Real time data are
collected through sensors, RFID
These are just glimpses of a few use tags, and various electronics and
cases of the way IoT has seen then integrated with industrial
adoption. machines and various systems.
From asset management in real
time and tracking to predictive
maintenance, all have the useful
application of IoT.
INTERNET OF THINGS PAGE 55

Autonomous and Connected References

Vehicles - Cameras, LIDAR, and
other onboard sensors can get Goel, A. (2018, May 24). IoT
data about road conditions and technology stack explained in
inform appropriate driving actions detail. Retrieved October 09,
to prevent. IoT is playing a part in 2020, from
making "vehicle-to-everything" or https://engineering.eckovation.co
"V2X" technology a reality. m/iot-stack/
Obear, B. (2017, September 11). The
IoT Product Management Internet of Things (IoT) Tech
Stack Explained. Retrieved
An IoT product combines hardware(s) October 09, 2020, from
and software(s), measures real-world https://www.cognitiveclouds.com
data, and connects to the internet to /insights/the-internet-of-things-
create value for the user. iot-tech-stack-explained/
Internet of Things (IoT) Market.
An IoT product manager would be (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2020,
different from others because of the from
complexity of multiple layers in the https://www.marketsandmarkets.
IoT stack, and the need to keep all com/Market-Reports/internet-of-
layers and various interfaces in mind things-market-573.html
while designing. One does not need Iarovici, S. (2020, July 16). Top 10
to be an expert in all layers, but it is IoT Use Cases. Retrieved October
vital to have a fundamental 16, 2020, from
understanding of them. It's essential https://www.iotevolutionworld.co
to adopt a system thinking approach m/iot/articles/446032-top-10-
for the success of the IoT product. iot-use-cases.htm
CLOUD COMPUTING PAGE 56

CLOUD COMPUTING

What is Cloud Computing? IBM Cloud

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Cloud computing can be defined as SAP Cloud
the collection of computing services
that are delivered such as servers, Types of Cloud
databases, networking, storage,
analytics and even intelligence over Public Cloud: Amazon Web Service or
the internet, aka “the cloud”. This Microsoft Azure are example of third
helps in achieving not just faster party cloud vendors who deliver their
i n n o v a t i o n b u t f l e xi b i l i t y a s w e l l a n d computing resources like storage and
one of the reasons for very fast server over the internet. All
adoption had been lowering overall Software, hardware and other
operating costs, no or low supporting infrastructure
management of i n f r a s t r u c t u re and management is done by the cloud
option of quick scaling up as and vendors. The resource model can be
when needed. shared and dedicated, hence helps to
leverage economies of scale.
Market Size and Key
Characteristics Private Cloud: It can be defined as a
cloud computing offering that can be
1. B y 2023, the global cloud described as a proprietary
computing market is expected to environment of resources used
reach 623.3 billion USD and by dedicatedly by a single organization
2027 it would be 927.51 billion USD or many a times the cloud
(Source: Report Linker). environment given by public vendor
2. A s per the cloud computing itself but the environment is
growth stats, this industry is completely isolated. This option
expected to grow at a CAGR of results in less cost saving but
16.4% from 2020 to 2027.. ensures high security. The resource
model is dedicated, hence it is capital
Major Players intensive.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid clouds

Microsoft (Azure) combines flavor of both public and
Google Cloud (GCP) private clouds. Hybrid Cloud allows
Alibaba Cloud both application and data to be
CLOUD COMPUTING PAGE 57

shared between. This easy sharing have fine grain control in the
model allows business to have a environment, as they would have had
greater flexibility as well as many on PaaS. Here the cloud provider
more deployment options which helps handles the setup, capacity planning
in optimizing existing infrastructure, and server management for you. The
compliance and security. use case can be for developing any
event-driven programming.
Types of Cloud Services
FaaS [Function as a service]:
IaaS [Infrastructure as a Service]: Function as a service (FaaS) is a very
Iaas is the basic offering of cloud new model which is becoming
computing services with no frills. increasingly famous . The design of
With IaaS, IT infrastructures like Faas is based on the premise of
virtual machines (VMs), servers, serverless architecture. It provides
storage, networks, operating systems environment to develop, run and
can be rented. It is a pay-as-you-go deploy the code unit on the fly and
based on the usage. Users manage gets executed in response to any
their own infrastructure. In simple event. For example, Lambda functions
terms it can be understood as an on- from AWS, Microsoft Azure functions,
premise machine that you buy on Oracle Cloud Fn etc.
cloud at a very low cost. For example,
AWS EC2, Rackspace, Google
Computer Engine.

PaaS [Platform as a Service]: Very

similar to IaaS, PaaS provides a
framework around the offerings. Here
the barebone infrastructure is hidden
from the end users. It provides the
developer with various tools and
services. PaaS is more focused on Figure 9.1 Types of Cloud Services
providing an environment for
developers to start working instantly. Benefits
For example, AWS Elastic Beanstalk,
Windows Azure. It is estimated that in the USA, 69%
of businesses are using cloud in one
SaaS [Software as a Service]: The or the other form, and 18% are
most opted offering where considering adopting it. So let’s look
applications is provided over the at what makes the cloud so appealing.
Internet to the end-user on demand
and typically on a subscription basis. Cost Savings – Adopting Cloud
For example, Google Workspace, Services can help to drastically
Dropbox, Salesforce. reduce the huge capex incurred while
setting up computing infrastructures
Serverless Computing: Intersecting like machines or even large-scale
with PaaS offering, serverless data centers. Most cloud services
computing intrinsically focuses on give you the flexibility to choose
building app functionality and scaling what you want to do and pay only for
up-down. The developer does not how much you use. For example, for
storage, the pay-as-you-
CLOUD COMPUTING PAGE 58

go m o d el en s u r e s that the Freemium – In this model, the

organization/individual is paid company offers their product for
exactly for the space one is currently free, with limited features based on
using. Taken together, such factors users, bandwidth, and other criteria.
lead to huge cost savings, and When you cross that threshold, you
organizations need not worry about might need to upgrade to a paid
scalability at all. In one word it account.
reduces the total cost of ownership
(TCO). Tiered pricing - Some services have
volume pricing tiers across certain
Mobility and collaboration - As usage dimensions that lowers price
resources are over the internet, rates when usage increases. With
cloud ensures that resources can be consolidated billing, the system
accessed from anywhere, anytime determines which volume pricing
24X7, and on any device. This makes tiers to apply, giving a lower overall
collaboration a simple process by price whenever possible.
empowering employees to connect
and share information seamlessly and Pay-as-you-go/Usage based - PAYG
securely. cloud computing is a payment
method that charges the user exactly
Reliability – Backup and disaster on the amount of usage. For example:
recovery is an intrinsic feature. Even The electricity bill is charged on the
the backups are geographically entity based on the usage.
distributed, to add a layer to
reliability. For example, loss Reserved capacity – For certain
prevention of data that would not resources flat monthly or yearly rates
have been possible in case of are charged.
hardware failure in a local computer.
Challenges in Cloud Computing
Security - Cloud host's full-time job
to carefully monitor security, which No control over infrastructure:
is significantly more efficient than a Backend infrastructure
conventional in-house system. Cloud governance and control is with
storage providers implement baseline the cloud vendors.
protections for their platforms and Policies are decided by vendors
the data they process, such only.
authentication, access control, and Limited control over backend,
encryption. Many enterprises system metrics, telemetry
supplement these protections with information etc.
added security measures of their own Monitoring and maintenance tools’
to bolster cloud data protection and shortcomings – The tools for
tighten access to sensitive maintenance are not very mature
information in the cloud. in the market. The data monitored
at the infrastructure level is very
Revenue Models generic, and might not be helpful
for predicting performance issues.
The revenue model for cloud
resources are under the following
buckets:
CLOUD COMPUTING PAGE 59

Privacy of data – This is the Use Cases

biggest blocker for non-adoption
of cloud in many organizations Cloud strategy - This is used by
and specially in data sensitive companies for the business
domains like healthcare, military transformation strategy. It helps the
and government. There have been organization to understand the best
reports around data breaches, way to use cloud services. For
insecure access of data etc. example, which apps are right for the
Another reason is the secondary cloud, what are the prerequisites for
usage of data by cloud companies cloud application, migration , cost
resulting in l os s of privacy , benefit analysis, ROI etc.
targeted advertisement.
Service levels – Although most Cloud first application development
cloud vendors guarantee 99.x% - E2E services – Projects to build
SLA’s (service level agreements), progressive, scalable, value driven
for mission critical application cloud applications to match the
this is still a no go. business needs.
Cloud migration and integration –
Although creating a new Cloud migration - Designing (or re-
application in the cloud is very designing) your software to fully
easy, migrating existing leverage cloud deployment and to
applications to the cloud is not so gain access to scalable
straightforward. It might even infrastructure, as business needs
require an architecture change. require it.
Many times, the application might
have a dependency on other High Potential in SME’s - With rise
applications, or tools that in turn of growth stage Startups as well as
might be on-premise. Such issues existing SMEs moving towards digital
lead to a lot of interoperability transformation ,the cloud service
issues. market forecasts a huge growth.
Compliance - Transferring data on Major reason being cost saving and
the cloud can involve compliance flexibility.
clearings. For multinational
companies, it can be very difficult Design Considerations - To design
to remain in compliance with cloud applications following
regulations of all countries. GDPR, consideration can be useful:
Canada’s privacy act or health 1. S c a l a b i l i t y
laws and the U.S patriot act are 2. R e s i l i e n c e
trying to force stop exposure of 3. L o o s e coupling between
data to third parties. Many a times interacting modules
companies need to do due 4. T a k e a d v a n t a g e o f m u l t i t e n a n c y
diligence or consult data security to optimize resources and cost.
professional to ensure they 5. P e r f o r m a n c e M o n i t o r i n g
comply with the law.
To conclude : Till recently IT was
considered as a cost center, but now
with advent of cloud, IT is considered
as a business enabler, helping
tremendously in organizational
transformations.
CLOUD COMPUTING PAGE 60

References

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/saa
s-vs-paas-vs-iaas-whats-the-
difference-and-how-to-choose/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cl
oud_computing
https://www.salesforce.com/in/p
roducts/platform/best-
practices/benefits-of-cloud-
computing/
https://www.globaldots.com/blog
/cloud-computing-benefits
https://www.cio.com/article/242
4886/cloud-computing-
definitions-and-solutions.html
https://www.bmc.com/blogs/saa
s-vs-paas-vs-iaas-whats-the-
difference-and-how-to-choose/
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-
in/overview
BLOCKCHAIN PAGE 61

BLOCKCHAIN

Introduction T i m e - s t a m p e d: Each
transaction/block has an
A blockchain is a form of a immutable timestamp associated
mathematical data structure and is with it. Having a timestamp for
programmed such that it is very each entity not only helps in its
difficult or even i m p o s si b l e to unique identification but also
manipulate it. A blockchain consists ensures easy tracing of the
o f a l i s t o f r e c o rd s c a l l e d b l o c k s t h a t chronology of events at any
keeps on growing as more subsequent stage.
i n f o r m a t i o n i s a d d e d . T h e se r e c o r d s P r o g r a m m a b l e: Blockchain
(blocks) are linked with one another transactions could be automated
using cryptographic functions. There using programmed codes called
a r e t hr e e e l em e n t s i n e a c h b l o c k - smart contracts. Smart contracts
1. A cryptographic hash function are stored on the blockchain as
pointing to the previous block in lines of codes and give
the chain. blockchains the ability to
2. T r a n s a c t i o n d a t a o f t h e c u r r e n t automatically complete
block + Timestamp, corresponding transactions when certain
to the current block. predefined terms and conditions
3. A cryptographic hash of the written on the contract are met.
current block.
Types of Blockchain
Some of the properties that make
blockchain very interesting are listed Traditional enterprise applications
below- are built on a client-server-database
D i s t r i b u t e d: All network architecture, where a centralized
participants possess a copy of the server services requests from clients.
ledger, and any addition to the The database acts as an information
records will reflect for storage device that communicates
participants in real-time. with the server. In the blockchain
I m m u t a b l e: Any record once environment, there is no centralized
validated and added to the ledger server or database; each node in the
cannot be changed and is network owns their copy of the
irreversible. In order to change shared ledger. The following diagram
any block, every block preceding it gives a brief note on possible
must be changed, which is architectures in a blockchain
computationally impossible. environment, based on different
BLOCKCHAIN PAGE 62

nodes' ability to access and edit the by using a private key. The receiver
shared ledger. of the message and signature will use
the sender’s public key to verify the
message's authenticity. This allows
secure and anonymous messaging
w i t h i n a n e t w o rk.

Broadly, each block in a blockchain

consists of three major parts - the
hash of the previous block, the
contract specific data along with a
timestamp, and also the hash of the
Figure 10.1 Types of blockchain current block. Since each block
refers to the previous block, the
Technical Details
chain essentially is an immutable
structure. If someone tampers with
A blockchain is technically defined as
an intermediate block's data, they
a collection of blocks that contain
will also have to change every
data or information linked together
subsequent block to make the
in an immutable and decentralized
blockchain consistent again.
structure. The following two
components are useful to understand
Example: Transactions Ledger - This
how blockchains function at its core.
section will cover the working of a
sample transaction ledger that
Cryptographic Hash Function - A
records every transaction on a
special type of function named the
decentralized and immutable
cryptographic hash function is
database. The network consists of
pivotal to the functioning of the
five nodes, all of which have a copy
blockchain protocol. It can be
of the blockchain with records of
imagined as a BlackBox, that takes
every transaction since the inception
some random input (images, text,
of the chain. This record of
etc.) and will convert it into a unique
transactions is depicted into a
output of a fixed size. There is no
simplified ledger, which stores the
mapping possible between the input
account balance of each node. In this
and the output of the hash functions,
network, every node also acts as a
and the only way to inverse this
verifying node. Consider a case
function is by brute force checking.
where the Node “A” wishes to
transfer two units to node “B.” In this
Digital Signatures – Digital
scenario, “A” will transmit the
signatures are pivotal to allow secure
message “A pays 2 units to B” in a
messaging in any network. Each
protocol that is fixed by the
identity consists of two unique
blockchain. This message's validity is
components – public key and private
established as soon as it reaches the
key. These keys are generated in
rest of these nodes using a digital
pairs by a mathematical function. The
signature. Once the message sender
public key of a user is visible to
is verified, each node will then
everyone in the network, whereas the
separately validate the transaction in
private key is only visible to the user.
two significant steps. In its first step,
Each message that is sent over this
every node would check if “A” has the
network is converted into a signature
BLOCKCHAIN PAGE 63

required amount of balance to Improved Traceability - On a

complete the transaction (greater blockchain ledger, each
than 2 units in this case). Blockchains transaction/exchange of goods is
have underlying protocols that recorded in a timely manner. This
determine how transactions get time sorted information helps in
verified. One common protocol is tracking the movement of the goods
termed as “Proof of Work,” which is a as a single point of the proof trail is
consensus mechanism that crudely present. This helps in improving
states that the node in the network security and prevent counterfeit
that has the highest available related frauds. This has become
computing power will validate a especially important in the current
transaction, create an updated ledger pandemic context where consumers
and send the updated ledger across need and demand the ability to track
the network. The process of finding their product's origin.
the node with the highest computing
power differs across each blockchain, Better security - Blockchain is highly
but all have the same goal – to secure as each transaction is
validate a transaction. The node that encrypted and linked to the
achieves this gets a reward, network's previous transaction. This
essentially the transaction fees. makes tampering with any past
Finally, the transaction is completed transaction practically impossible.
as all the network players receive an This immutable and incorruptible
updated ledger from the verifying nature of Blockchain makes it safe
node. from falsified information and hacks.

Blockchain Business Value Business Applications of

Blockchain
The discussed properties of
blockchain infrastructure make it The uses of Blockchain can be
suitable for a variety of business categorized two fundamental
sectors due to the following functions-
advantages-
Record Keeping - The feature of
Greater Transparency - immutability and easy accessibility
Transparency due to the distributed makes Blockchain a powerful
ledger technology. It increases candidate that could be used for
accountability for each stakeholder storing static information, which has
and motivates them to act in the best potential uses in keeping records for
interest of the firm. land titles, patents, government
databases like IDs and social security
Increased Efficiency - Peer-to-peer numbers. Storing of voter
transactions remove the need for a information on blockchain could
middleman even while doing cross- potentially be the first step towards
border transactions. Programmable secure and trusted digital voting.
contracts or smart contracts
automate many manual processes Dynamic transactions Registry - As
based on some predefined conditions the transactions of a blockchain
further improving efficiency. network are time stamped and
programmable (via smart contracts),
they could be used for storing and
BLOCKCHAIN PAGE 64

real-time updating of tradable

information. Widespread use of this
is the Bitcoin network, where
transaction information is
dynamically stored and acts as a
single point of truth for everyone.
Other use cases include monitoring
s up p l y chains in real-time,
information of drug trials, cross- Figure 10.2 Blockchain augmented
border peer-to-peer transactions, Supply-Chain

insurance, and medical claims, etc.

Government/Civic Tech Applications
- As governments push their digital
The following segment highlights a
initiatives, ensuring that the
few industry use-cases where
government’s record-keeping
blockchain can be used to drive
facilities are tamper-free and
business value
transparent is essential. Blockchain’s
trust-based record-keeping and
Blockchain Augmented Supply-Chain
transaction mechanisms can be used
– As businesses grow complex, the
to solve this issue, especially by
network that allows firms to deliver
enabling services such as Digital
manufactured products to market
Voting. Since blockchains are
also grows complex. In this scenario,
immutable, secure and anonymous,
a trust-based method to transfer
they can be used to create digital
information is crucial to ensure
voting alternatives to existing
operational efficiency. Along with
systems.
operational efficiency, such a
mechanism would allow players in a
Banking and Finance – The banking
supply chain to trust the nodal firm.
and finance sector has been one of
Currently, only limited information
the earliest adopters of blockchain
about products is recorded, with
technology. Bitcoins and other
none of the players having complete
cryptocurrencies function on the
visibility or access to a product’s
infrastructure of Blockchain. The
origin or path. Providing a
primary need for blockchain
centralized database to track
technology arises from the need for
products in a supply chain would not
peer-to-peer transactions to
be appreciated by other players, as
facilitate cross-border payments and
trust is not reinforced. A private
trade. Currently, many intermediary
permissioned blockchain-based
banks and financial institutions that
solution can be used in this scenario,
facilitate cross border transactions.
where only supply chain partners can
Nevertheless, due to the presence of
access and edit product quality and
intermediaries, the process is both
transaction data. This has multiple
time-consuming and costly. Utilizing
use-cases such as flagging
the framework used for Bitcoins,
counterfeit products/raw materials,
blockchain infrastructure could
tracking provenance of damaged
eliminate the need for intermediaries
goods, etc. A blockchain based supply
for any transaction. The blockchain
chain solution will thus add business
protocols also eliminate the problem
value by allowing businesses to avoid
of double-spending, which is
risk and ensure better planning.
prevalent in other digital currencies.
BLOCKCHAIN PAGE 65

Healthcare – Healthcare industry Blockchain and Product

needs the functionality of Management
immutability and a distributed
database of blockchains. The primary Deciding whether to adopt a
need arises due to th e need for blockchain infrastructure for your
accessibility of medical records to organization could be a highly
accelerate clinical and biomedical challenging task, as there are trade-
research. Currently, centralized data offs between speed and
stored with medical institutes, which security/reliability. While the
is shared according to their will, and traditional database system would
generally, time-consuming processes work better in specific industries,
are involved in obtaining these blockchain would provide
records. Using blockchain technology unparalleled advantages in others.
and the ability of distributed storage The below framework could be really
with correct access permissions, helpful in choosing between various
medical data could be democratized. options of data storage
This will allow medical institutions infrastructures.
other than hospitals to leverage this
data for further development.

Figure 10.3 Assessing need for blockchain solution

References

Medium. 2020. How Does The Blockchain Work?. [online] Available at:
<https://onezero.medium.com/how-does-the-blockchain-work-
98c8cd01d2ae> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/blockchain-beyond-the-hype-what-
is-the-strategic-business-value-> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
MIT Technology Review. 2020. Explainer: What Is A Blockchain?. [online]
Available at:
<https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/04/23/143477/explainer-what-is-
a-blockchain/> [Accessed 14 October 2020].
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 66

ECONOMICS OF
PLATFORMS

Understanding the m i c r o e c on o m i c s Introduction to the Framework

of an industry indeed lends one an
excellent theoretical u n d e r s t an d i ng The definition of platforms for this
of the business, even as a complete chapter is going to be very broad.
outsider. Microeconomics forms the Platform businesses are essentially
backbone of management education any business which creates value by
a n d i s m os t c r i t i c a l t o u n d e r s t a n d facilitating an exchange between one
various subjects. Naturally, it also or more "sides" or "segments of
lends insights to product managers, users," e.g. in the case of Uber,
and it is fitting to start the book by drivers and riders are the two sides
looking at the technology industry of the platform. Various examples of
through the lens of microeconomics. platform businesses include Uber,
Google, Amazon, Facebook and even
This chapter will help PMs and Windows OS.
aspiring PMs to understand what type
of features are essential, how to There are the following three factors
compete with companies, and to align comprising the framework:
personal goals with the strategy of
the organization to move into a Economies of Scale: When looking at
strategy role eventually. economies of scale, we try to ask the
question “how much does it cost the
The chapter has been structured into company to produce one extra
three parts. The first part introduces unit/to service one extra user/to
a framework to understand various produce one extra minute of
elements to understand platforms. streaming etc.?” We will only look at
The second part has exercises which economies of scale from the point of
help drive the concepts further. view of costs.
Finally, we have three cases (Google,
Amazon & Uber) where we apply the Network Effects: Network effects are
above framework and draw insights about customer value. Network
about the strategies that the effects are said to exist when the
company should choose. value of the product/platform
increases by increasing one extra
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 67

customer or user on the platform.

The question that we ask here is
"What type of network effects does
the company have if it does have
network effects?"

Differentiability: Differentiability
helps us understand competitive
evolution. Differentiation is created
when there is a unique space in the
customer's mind about the company's
product. It is about the perception of
the customer and is not internal.

Figure 11.1 Demand Supply Curve

Economies of Scale
That begs the question if the supply
Economies of scale are said to exist curve is just the marginal costs
when the cost of producing one extra curve, why is the supply curve
unit or servicing one extra user (marginal cost curve) increasing?
reduces. Usually, when there are What happened to economies of
fixed costs like a factory which can scale? Shouldn't the cost be
produce multiple units or serve reducing?
multiple users, the costs get
distributed. Therefore, once a
company has invested in a factory
with a capacity of 100 users and
current demand is 50, the extra cost
incurred to produce one extra unit,
i.e. the 51st unit is minimal.

The extra cost associated with

producing one unit is called the
m a r g i n a l c o s t. O n t h e r i g h t s i d e , w e
see the standard Demand-Supply
curve. The y-axis represents the Figure 11.2 Marginal Cost
price, while the x-axis represents the
Well, economies of scale do exist.
number of units. The demand curve
The actual cost curve (supply curve)
represents the customers, i.e. what
looks like the one in the figure below.
the customer is willing to buy at that
So, the economies of scale do exist
price. The supply curve represents
for the first few units, but then the
what the suppliers are willing to
marginal cost curve goes upward, and
serve when they are getting the
diseconomies of scale set in. This
price. Therefore, the supply curve is
starts to happen because after a
nothing but the marginal cost curve
certain point several costs begin to
of the suppliers, because the
increase, e.g. managerial costs, costs
supplier would be willing to supply a
of raw materials, cost of capital etc.
particular unit only when he gets a
In the above example of a factory, to
price higher than its marginal cost.
produce the 101st unit, the cost
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 68

incurred will be to set-up an entirely the product or platform increases

new factory which is going to be when one additional user is using the
much higher than the marginal costs product. The simplest example of
for the previous units. network effects is messaging
services. The service holds zero value
We can also see that the size of the to a person when they are the only
company is limited by the upward person on the platform. Add 1,000
curving supply curve, which leaves more people, and you have probably
space for competitors to carve out got some people who know each
the remaining customers and other. Keep adding more people on
compete with the company. We can the platform, and there will be a
also see from here that highly point where the platform reaches a
scalable companies delay the upward critical mass where the value
curving of the marginal cost curve, addition for every customer
which automatically results in a snowballs. Eventually, there is a point
bigger sized company. reached where the value that is
created by adding more people to the
Hence, there are also natural platform diminishes and the network
monopolies which exist, whose effects begin vanishing.
marginal cost curve is like that shown
in the figure on the left. The curve There are two different categories of
suggests that the companies are network effects:
infinitely scalable, which means that Side Network Effects: Cross side
there is no space left in the market network effects vs Same side
for another competitor – hence the network effects.
name natural monopolies. Some Scale Network Effects: Global vs
examples of natural monopolies are Local Network Effects.
railways, pipelines etc.
Side Network Effects
For side network effects, we can have
either cross-side or same-side
network effects.

Cross Side Network Effects

When the value of the platform
increases when users get added to
Figure 11.3 Marginal Cost the other side.In case of Uber, if
there are more drivers on the
The cost curves of most technology platform, it is more attractive for the
companies are similar to that of a riders because the waiting times will
natural monopoly, i.e. highly be lower because of higher
scalable. availability and lower surge prices.
Similarly, the more the number of
Network Effects riders, the more attractive it
becomes for drivers to join the
The second element of the framework platform, and take advantage of the
is Network effects. Network effects high capacity utilization and higher
are said to exist when the value of prices.
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 69

Same Side Network Effects additional driver in Mumbai does not

When the value of the pl a t f o r m h elp a r i d e r i n D e l h i .
increases when more users get added
to the same side. Messaging service Global Network Effects
that we discussed above, has same- When the network effects are spread
side network effects. The more the across global geographical regions or
number of people using the service, several segments of customers, the
the higher value it holds for network effects are global. In the
everyone. case of Airbnb, where having an
additional room in New York provides
Same side network effects are more value to a customer travelling from
potent than cross-side network Mumbai.
effects because of the existence of a
flywheel. More people keep
increasing the value for customers
because of which even more people
join because of which value increases
even further. It is no coincidence
that the apps and companies with the
most massive scale have same-side
network effects (WhatsApp, Google,
Facebook).

Figure 11.4 Demand Curve

In cross-side network effects,
however, there is always an
Global network effects are more
equilibrium which is reached. In the
p o w e r f u l b e c a u s e i t h elp s c o m p a n i e s
case of Uber, adding more drivers
scale over a broader market much
makes more customers join in, and
faster, while for companies which
the cycle ends there creating an
have local network effects it requires
equilibrium. One side needs to be
much more investment to reach a
consistently incentivized to keep
similar scale. Since network effects
joining the platform to make the
are a demand-side effect, let us
other side join. There is no flywheel
examine how the shape of the
effect in place, and hence it is more
demand curve changes due to the
challenging to grow in this case.
existence of network effects. The
demand curve is the cumulative
Scale Network Effects
willingness to pay of all the
For scale network effects, again, we
customers, and we can see the
have two types, i.e. local and global
resulting curve on the image on the
network effects.
right.

Local Network Effects

Initially, the value added by the
When the network effects are
network effects is minimal, and hence
restricted to local geographical
the demand curve keeps falling.
regions or a particular segment of
However, when critical mass is
customer, the network effects are
reached, the value increases due to
called local network effects.In the
powerful network effects. At some
case of Uber, the network effects
point, the marginal value provided by
which exist are local. Having an
network effects goes to zero, after
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 70

w hi c h t h e d em a n d c u r v e r e t u r n s t o high, then the first mover in the

normal. market has a significant advantage.
Having high customer switching costs
The demand curves of most can lead to differentiation since the
technology companies are platforms do not have an incentive to
characterized by the above curve converge features.
where the network effects are
strong and pervasive. Putting it All Together

Differentiability Initially, let us assume that there is

no competition and consider the
The third element of the framework effect of economies of scale &
is differentiability. Differentiability is network effects on the demand curve
when one creates a unique space in and the supply curve in conjunction.
the customer's mind about the Before we do that, let us look at the
product. It is strictly external and company and customer surplus in
not related to internal processes. If case of a standard demand-supply
Uber creates a new algorithm which curve and the natural monopoly.
increases cab availability for
customers, but the customers do not
perceive any significant difference
over Ola, then Uber has not
differentiated itself. A difference in
the internal processes of the
company should change into a
tangible, customer value to be
considered differentiation.

Cost of Convergence: Differentiation

requires a unique value proposition.
A unique value proposition in the Figure 11.5 Supply Demand Curve
context of technology platforms is
provided through unique features. For a standard demand-supply curve
However, maintaining the uniqueness shown on the right, the darker area
of features in technology products is represents the consumer surplus,
not easy. As soon as company A while the entire light blue area
launches a new feature, product represents the surplus of a monopoly
managers in company B and company firm. For a technology platform,
C immediately start reverse- we juxtapose the demand curve and
engineering the feature to add it to the supply curve we discussed
their products. This is because the p r e vi o u s l y a s i s s h o wn i n t h e f i g u r e
cost of them copying the feature is above on the left. Since technology
quite low, i.e. the cost of platforms can also price discriminate,
convergence is quite low. the entire surplus is captured by the
company. Even a very preliminary
Customer Switching Costs: The comparison reveals that technology
second aspect we should take a look companies can capture a vast amount
at are customer switching costs. If of supernormal profits.Now let us try
the customer switching costs are and introduce competition and
understand how the market evolves.
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 71

Figure 11.6 Marginal Cost

I f t h er e a r e p o w e r f u l e c o n o m i e s o f As a result, we can draw three

scale, powerful network effects and i m p o rt a n t implications from the
lo w differentiability (low customer entire discussion about the
switching costs and high convergence framework that was introduced.
costs), the industry will undoubtedly 1. N e w c o m p a n i e s b u r n c a s h t o r e a c h
end up as a monopoly. the critical mass point. The
companies ramp up fast because
Because there are scale economies, they are likely to get eliminated
the bigger player can price lower from the market if they do not
because of which the bigger player reach the point first.
grows faster. If there are strong 2. A company needs to ask itself
network effects, the bigger player whether it inherently has vast
adds customers faster, because of economies of scale. If it has 100
which the bigger player grows faster. users today, it needs to
The bigger player would also find it understand whether it can handle
attractive to acquire smaller players 5,000 users tomorrow and a
and increase its scale. Hence, million users in a year, if it does
whichever company (typically the business the same way it has been
first mover) reaches the critical mass doing until now.
of users faster will become the 3. A s a s m a l l e r p l a y e r i n t h e m a r k e t ,
dominant player. Infinite economies the only way to compete is by
of scale leave no space for differentiating. Increasing
competitors, and robust network switching costs and introducing
effects mean the company grows to features that make it difficult for
occupy the space faster than any the bigger player to copy, will
other company. create differentiation.

As a late mover, the only way to Exercises

compete is by creating
differentiation. To create the Which company amongst Uber and
differentiation, the company needs Airbnb would find it easier to
features which can increase the cost expand overseas?
of convergence or increase the AirBnB has global network effects,
customer switching costs. whereas Uber primarily has local
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 72

n e t w o r k e f f e c t s . He n ce , A i r B n B w o u l d smaller companies or for very early-

find it much easier to expand s t a g e c o m p a n i e s , w h e r e f l e x i bi l i t y i s
overseas, while for Uber to expand, it e s s en t i a l , cloud service providers
will need cabs operating in several would be best. However, when the
local regions. scale increases, and the company
starts getting bigger, owning
You are examining a start-up infrastructure is more critical.
company you want to join. In its
chosen market, a bigger player You are a PM in Flipkart. Amazon
already exists. The switching costs has approached you with a potential
are low, and convergence costs are collaboration. They want to partner
high. Do you think the start-up will to create a tool which lets suppliers
do well? manage their inventory and pages
Since the customer switching costs through a common portal for all e-
are low, there is scope for the commerce platforms. Should you
company to attract a segment of the accept?
customers of the bigger company Flipkart is the first mover in India
with some new features. The bigger while Amazon is the second mover.
company cannot also copy the Both companies have similar scale.
features to win back their original This would result in reducing the
customers. customer switching costs by way of
which differentiability would be
You are examining a start-up reduced. Since you need to maintain
company you can invest in. In its your own space in the market, it is
chosen market, the switching costs best not to go ahead with the
are low, and convergence costs are proposal.
low. There are no other players in
the market, will you invest? Case Studies
Since the customer switching costs
are low, this company might quickly Google & the Search Market
lose customers to new players. Economies of Scale: Google has
However, since the convergence considerable economies of scale.
costs are low, the start-up can easily Google's file system is highly
copy any new features the other scalable. In fact, there is an
player comes up with. interesting story associated with
Google and Yahoo. Even though
When should you go for a cloud Yahoo was the first mover, Google
service provider and when should won the search market. Why? This is
you own your infrastructure? because Google built its file system
Having your own infrastructure to be highly scalable while Yahoo's
ensures vast economies of scale and story is captured in the following
scalability. However, having your own sentence extracted from a
infrastructure also undermines Techcrunch article. Yahoo was
flexibility. Having a cloud service "unable to keep up with increasing
provider significantly increases demand due to complex & inefficient
flexibility. However, since the infrastructure and rising vendor
marginal costs increase with scale, it costs."
undermines scalability. Hence, for
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 73

Network Effects: Google's search higher overheads than Amazon.

algorithm improves with every new Hence, the economies of scale of
search. Google also has global Amazon are m o re si g n i f i c a n t than
network effects. Google has been standard retail chains.
further strengthening its global
network effects by expanding the Network Effects: Amazon has
languages it supports. Google countrywide network effects as its
primarily has same-side network international supply chains are still
effects. Cross side network effects not very well developed. Amazon also
exist for businesses that want to has strong cross-side network effects
advertise on Google Search. More the which means that one side needs to
search market share, more businesses be continuously incentivized.
are interested in Google.
Differentiability: In terms of
Differentiability: This is a classic differentiability, the convergence
example of a market where a smaller costs are low, but the customer
company needs differentiability to switching costs of its customers are
create space for itself. This can be very high.
done either by decreasing switching
costs or by increasing convergence Anyone who has taken a look at
costs. Google has so much of our data Amazon's business model flywheel
stored with it, including passwords will realize that Amazon understood
and search history, which makes the economics of its business well.
browsing the internet much more Amazon understood that the scale of
comfortable, hence the switching its retail business is limited and knew
costs are relatively high. Hence, a that competitors would soon be able
feasible way to increase to create space for themselves.
differentiability is by increasing Hence, they created high customer
convergence costs. DuckDuckGo switching costs in the form of
exploits precisely that characteristic Amazon Prime. Amazon did not focus
of the industry. Since Google will find on features because it knew that the
it extremely costly to provide privacy convergence costs are low. Instead,
to people, DuckDuckGo positioned once they created a good website,
itself as a company which provides they have hardly made any significant
privacy. changes to it over the past few years
and moved on to newer, more
Hence, this way, we can draw insights attractive businesses like cloud
about how Google came to dominate service.
the search market, overtook Yahoo
and how some niche players are still Amazon can improve by creating
competing with the giant. more network effects as its current
ones are underwhelming. Hence,
Amazon & the E-Commerce Market Amazon has taken a few measures
Economies of Scale: Amazon does not recently, which, when put in the
necessarily have high economies of context of this, makes more sense.
scale. To ensure delivery, it needs to Amazon has introduced vernacular
build and maintain a long supply languages to make the countrywide
chain. However, the alternative, i.e. network effects more powerful. It
physical retail stores have much introduced a social network for
ECONOMICS OF PLATFORMS PAGE 74

customers to talk about what they Though the market has not
shopped. It is also introducing completely evolved yet, we can
advertisements for sellers and third predict that the market will end up in
parties to strengthen the cross side local monopolies or duopolies. Since
effects further. the economies of scale are not
pervasive, and the network effects
Uber and the Ride-hailing market are local, other companies can create
Economies of Scale: Uber's software space for themselves.
developed anywhere can be deployed
across the world. Uber also owns What can Uber do today to improve
some of the cars in some markets; value? One, since it has economies of
hence higher capacity utilization scale, it should look for mergers and
drives its economies of scale. acquisitions in all key markets. Two,
Uber should take measures to
Network Effects: Uber has strong increase customer switching costs by
cross-side network effects but is instituting highly attractive loyalty
restricted locally to cities. One side programs. Three, the company can
needs to be continuously incentivized instantly create value by getting into
to join; hence it undermines the the transportation business and not
economies of scale. just a ride-hailing business because
that creates global network effects.
Differentiability: Uber's model has
been copied across the globe because
it could not expand fast enough
owing to its local network effects.
The ride-hailing market currently
also has very low switching costs,
and the customer goes to the player
with lower costs and higher
availability.
EDGE COMPUTING PAGE 75

EDGE COMPUTING

What is Edge Computing? and storage as close to the client

location reduces the bandwidth
Think of the cloud ecosystem that usage in transmitting the data
AWS etc. have created. Data of Indian across the globe. This even makes
clients is stored across the world in it easier to avoid internet outages
data centres across various across the globe. Places where
geographies. What if there was a there are perennial bandwidth
better way to store data and perform constraints due to geo location
processing and at the same time etc., can benefit massively as the
potentially save some money? That is computing becomes on-site for
exactly the advantage that Edge these locations.
Computing provides over the cloud. C y b e r s e c u r i t y: Distributed
Edge Computing is a distributed systems make it easier to prevent
Information Technology architecture physical cyber security attacks on
in which the client’s data is stored as the servers.
close to the client’s origin location as Legislation (Data S o v e r e i g n t y ):
possible and the computing machines Recent legislative directives from
are also as close to the client as many countries including India
possible. have made it mandatory to store
Indian data in Indian data servers.
Why Edge Computing? This is especially true for financial
transaction data. This has been
The following improvements are necessitated to protect against
offered by Edge Computing over the the threat of other countries
traditional cloud: Disadvantages of Edge
H u g e L a t e n c y I m p r o v e m e n t s: A s Computing
the data centers are closer to the Limited Scalability: Part of the
client, the data has to travel lesser allure of Cloud computing stems
physical distances through optic from the fact that its scale can be
cables and hence, latency increased on-demand. Users can
improves drastically be added to CRM systems etc. and
L o w e r & b e t t e r B a n d w i d t h U s a g e: computing capacity can be scaled
The amount of data being very easily. But, with edge
processed everyday by computing, the scope and scale
organizations is increasing at a need to be defined early and
very high pace and hence, keeping hence, it is not as easy to scale-up
the processing units or down as in the cloud.
EDGE COMPUTING PAGE 76

C o n n e c t i v i t y: E v e n w i t h t h e l o w 5G and Wi-Fi 6: Faster, low

bandwidth requirement, edge latency communication enabled by
computing does still have the 5G and Wi-Fi 6 would enable
basic connectivity requirements. faster and real-time data transfer
Provisions need to be made for required for various IoT and
poor and erratic connectivity in connected environment concepts.
case some failure occurs. At the The biggest example is the
same time, provisions for what connected car concept arriving
happens to the data/on-going with 5G services in various parts
computing at the time of failure of the world.
need to be made. IoT enabled d e v i c e s / a p p l i a n c e s:
Data maintenance and b a c k u p: Many industries are moving
With the limited scalability, it towards the concept of smart
becomes important to understand devices for electricity usage and
which data to store for long and many other applications like
which one to remove. It would be health monitoring, home appliance
immensely critical to make such improvement etc. With the
provisions in the edge computing improvements provided by edge
framework. Also, cloud servers computing, it would become easier
generally have multiple data for such devices to transfer and
backups at various locations to process data with significant
safeguard against data loss due to improvements in power
various reasons like server failure consumption and bandwidth
etc. It would become imperative to requirements.
make similar adjustments for edge A I: AI-enabled edge computing
servers and needs to be services will help make smart
incorporated while thinking about decisions on how to handle a
the scale. particular processing task like
Security and server lifecycle sending it to the cloud for faster
c o n t r o l: With the distributed processing or having an overall
network, a lot of the software better network utilization for all
updates and maintenance work the tasks running etc. It would
needs to be done online and may even help handle bandwidth,
prove to be difficult to do over a latency and storage issues.
short span of time. Also, with the N a n o s c a l e d e v i c e s: W i t h s e r v e r s
distributed systems, it also occupying significant amount if
becomes imperative to have more physical space and having high
secure local communications power and cooling requirements,
which doesn’t exist at this scale it becomes difficult to setup
for edge computing. It needs to be decentralized edge computing
scaled down from the cloud locations. With the advent of nano
infrastructure, especially for the devices, all these problems can be
IoT environment. solved. More on nano devices is
available here: link
Technologies and applications
enabling Edge Computing Market Size and growth
With the ever improving tech stack, it The industry is expected to grow to
becomes important to know what ~USD 11bn by 2026 with a CAGR of
would drive the growth of edge 24% over the next few years. The
computing. The following are current market size in 2021 is pegged
expected to contribute the most: at ~USD 2 bn.
EDGE COMPUTING PAGE 77

References

https://searchdatacenter.techtar
get.com/definition/edge-
computing
https://innovationatwork.ieee.org
/how-new-technologies-can-
enhance-edge-computing/
https://www.statista.com/statisti
cs/948762/worldwide-edge-
computing-market-size-forecast/
https://www.ibm.com/in-
en/cloud/edge-computing?
utm_content=SRCWW&p1=Search
&p4=43700055271017258&p5=e&gcl
id=CjwKCAjwndCKBhAkEiwAgSDK
QQ6KzDgSiqWj6O5jMGL4y6C8j9LN
0-
S5AjtjohbXdvj4mcrpJ7lehRoCDRUQ
AvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
https://www.theverge.com/circui
tbreaker/2018/5/7/17327584/edg
e-computing-cloud-google-
microsoft-apple-amazon
https://www.statista.com/statisti
cs/948762/worldwide-edge-
computing-market-size-forecast/
5G PAGE 78

5G

What is 5G? communication frequencies in 4G. 4G

operates in most regions with a
The 5th generation of communication frequency spectrum of 600MHz to
technologies as standardized by the 2300 MHz and in some cases even a
ITU (International 2800MHz band is available. The mm
Telecommunication Union), is the wave introduces the frequencies
next big technology change in above 6GHz into the communications
wireless communication sector which promise a much faster
technologies. It is an incremental data transfer due to their capability
update over the existing technology to carry more data per wave. The mm
infrastructure provided by 4G and wave has the drawback of being more
the main gains include upto 500% suited for short range
speed boost over 4G, lower latency communications only. Long range
and more efficient data transmission. communication with mm wave
A walkthrough of older technologies requires much higher power of
is provided here with a better transmission and the radio waves
understanding of 5G: don’t remain within the safe radiation
https://www.qualcomm.com/5g/wha level limits.
t-is-5g All-in-all the advantages of 5G mainly
stem from 3 facts:
How does it differ from 4G? 1. I n c r e a s e d number of antennas
which give more simultaneous
The main difference in-terms of data transfer at the same
technology is that while 4G is limited frequency and hence, increased
to a maximum of 4 antennas in a speeds
device, 5G can go upto having 32 2. T h e new mm Wave has the
antennas for communication in a inherent ability to carry more data
single device. Also, with 5G, a new per wavelength and hence, more
interface for communication called data can be transmitted in a single
NR (New Radio) has been introduced transmission cycle.
to make the connection experience 3. T h e new NR communication
smoother and more reliable. A new protocols promise much lower
spectrum of frequencies for latency and higher
communication called mm Wave interoperability
(millimetre wave) has been
introduced with the existing
5G PAGE 79

How much of this potential is obstructions lives buildings, trees,

realizable by us? more reflective surfaces (cars etc.)
make it difficult for the 5G mm
In the initial launch plans, none of waves to reliably communicate
the telecom operators are planning with the devices as they are more
on a full scale launch for mm waves suited to short communications.
and only a select few regions will get Efficiency of devices: With more
it. This is mainly due to the high devices being brought under the
capex requirements of setting up 5G fold of 5G, battery and processing
cell towers very close to the users as efficiency of the devices is being
mm wave requires the user to bee brought under question. To help
very close to the cell towers, in some with better battery efficiency,
crowded areas, as close as 100m to bigger batteries are being
realize the gains from it. proposed as a short term solution
Also, currently on our hand-held which would make the device
devices like phones and laptops, bigger and bulkier. To overcome
having 32 antennas is impractical as the processing efficiency issues,
both the weight and size of the download speed caps are being
device would have to increase with proposed on the devices which
more physical components being means we may not be able to
fitted and bigger batteries required access the full advantages of 5G.
to power them. Even with some 4G Health issues and potential harm
phones, the companies put only 2 to animals: More towers mean
antennas in the phone to save cost higher radiation levels which can
and keep a smaller size but this leads lead to various diseases in humans
to a slower 4G experience for such and animals/birds. The internal
consumers. Some studies show that compass of migratory species is
more than 8 antennas are currently affected by electro-magnetic
impractical in hand-held devices. radiation which potentially means
So why even think about 32 antennas? that they wont be able to navigate
Well, the fact is that such a setup is and probably die due to climate
very useful for high speed data issues etc.
transfer operations like in the case of Insufficient Infrastructure & high
connected cars and autonomous initial costs: Very heavy
drone delivery etc. It would also be investments to set-up the 5G cell
very useful for enterprise level towers much closer to users and
applications like having high speed much higher in number than the
data connection indoors with the mm existing 3G and 4G infrastructure
wave. There are many more makes it a massive undertaking
applications in current AI/ML, AR/VR and not all will be able to access it
etc. with the low latency promise of immediately. This means
5G which would help in immersive technological exclusion for non-
experiences, better communications, urban areas who may actually
gaming applications etc. require them for telemedicine and
other online services.
Drawbacks of 5G 4G device o b s o l e s c e n c e: With

T e c h n o l o g y a c c e s s: I n d e n s e u r b a n various carriers stopping 4G

areas, the communication support post 5G rollout due to

technology maybe only as efficient capex considerations, almost all

as 4G in most cases as 4G devices will become

immediately obsolete.
5G PAGE 80

Potential data security i s s u e s: Healthcare with the advent of

According to multiple tests, 5G telemedicine, tele-diagnostics and
communications are not 100% even remote surgeries in the
secure and are almost as future can improve access to
susceptible to successful hacks as people across the rural-urban
4G networks. access divide. Remote data
collection and analysis can even
When is 5G coming to India? improve preventive healthcare.
Data gathering and analytics will
TRAI is setting up the spectrum be revolutionized by the speed of
auction in Q1 FY2022-23 and once communications as the time to
that happens, carriers would be able communicate would reduce by 10x
to roll-out the technology to users or even more with 5G connections
within 3-4 months delay. Hence, Q2 over 4G.
and Q3 FY2022-23 seem the most Automobile and transportation
likely launch dates. industries with connected and
autonomous vehicles powered by
Alternatives to 5G 5G connections would make them
safer and easier to drive
Mission Critical applications
Fibre c o n n e c t i o n s: Optic fibre
would have better remote control
connections for fixed connections
with lower latency. This is true for
like Wi-Fi and LAN are providing
manufacturing, power plants,
data rates of upto 1 Gbps currently
defence applications, etc.
in India and are much more
reliable than their 5G due to the
References:
fixed nature of the connection.
W i - F i 6: L o w e r c o s t s o f s e t u p a n d
similar speeds at higher reliability https://www.5gamericas.org/wp-
make Wi-Fi 6 a much better content/uploads/2019/08/5G-
connection to have indoors Americas_Advanced-Antenna-
especially for enterprise Systems-for-5G-White-Paper.pdf
applications. Also, Wi-Fi 6 is https://www.qualcomm.com/new
backwards compatible with s/onq/2019/02/19/driving-5g-
devices that are on older Wi-Fi nr-technology-evolution-forward-
standards and hence, it doesn’t unlock-full-potential-5g
make devices obsolete. https://www.qualcomm.com/doc
uments/making-5g-nr-
What are the technologies set to commercial-reality-0
https://www.t-mobile.com/5g
be potentially revolutionized by
https://www.bbva.ch/en/news/a
5G?
dvantages-and-disadvantages-of-
5g-technology/
IoT, connected, and smart devices
https://www.intel.com/content/
will have much lower latency
www/us/en/wireless-
connections and hence,
network/5g-technology/5g-vs-
potentially much better response
wifi.html
times with even more data being
processed and hence, more
functionalities being available
with such devices
Section 3

APP CRITIQUES
PAGE 81
ECOMMERCE PAGE 82

ECOMMERCE

Understanding e-commerce Customers can also be classified as:

E-commerce (electronic commerce) 1. T h e V a l u e S e e k e r w h o i s s e a r c h i n g

is the activity of electronically for the best deals.
buying or selling of goods and 2. T h e R e s e a r c h e r w h o i s l o o k i n g t o
services over the internet. The compare different products.
industry can be classified into 3. T h e B r a n d D e v o t e e w h o u s u a l l y
following categories based on the purchases from the same brand.
business application: 4. T h e Social Butterfly who
recommends products to others.
5. T h e Replenisher who brings in
repeat sales.
6. T h e G i f t e r w h o i s l o o k i n g t o b u y
for friends and family.

In an interview, you can decide

customer personas based on any
factor you choose. Describing 3-4
personas is usually sufficient.

Figure 12.1 Industry categories

Customer Journey

User Personas From the user's perspective an E-

commerce platform may have two

The users of an e-commerce platform typical customer journeys:

are the customers, sellers,

advertisers and delivery executives. First is if the user launches the app

The customers can be classified basis directly, they will be taken to the

their behaviour as: home screen, where they will have to

research/search the product and

1. P e o p l e w h o a r e a w a r e o f t h e e x a c t proceed from there.

product they want to purchase.

2. P e o p l e who have a purpose in
mind but not a final product.
3. P e o p l e w h o a r e c a s u a l l y s h o p p i n g
without a specific purpose. Figure 12.2 Customer Journey 1
ECOMMERCE PAGE 83

Second is when a user searches for a App Critique: Amazon

product on search engine and clicks
on a link that directs them to the PDP After logging in, the app can be
(product description page) of the divided into three sections based on
product on the e-commerce platform, the user's purpose:
via a deep link, then the research
part has happened off the e- Section I
commerce platform. This comprises the research and
selection phase and has the following
features.
Banners for upcoming or existing
sales, offers, product releases,
Figure 12.3 Customer Journey 2 prime membership promos, and so
on the homepage. These banners
lacked carousel indicators, which
From the perspective of the e- would have made it very clear to
commerce app, the important steps the user that they could swipe left
in the journey are: or right on the banners to
navigate through them.
Deal of the day area which
includes a live clock that displays
the time when the deal for a
certain product expires, which is
an useful feature.

Figure 12.4 App's perspective

Cus t o me r Ac q ui s i t i o n

Customers can be acquired through

the following routes:

1. P a i d : T h e p l a t f o r m h a s t o p a y t o
acquire customers, primarily
Figure 12.5 Banners & Deal of the Day
through advertising.
2. O r g a n i c : T h e p l a t f o r m d o e s n o t
Product Categories and
have to pay and users reach the
personalized recommendations are
platform organically through
available on the home page after
websites like search engines.
scrolling down. Unlike Myntra,
3. D i r e c t : T h e u s e r d i r e c t l y o p e n s
which has a well-organized
the e-commerce app and does not
categories approach, Amazon's
arrive through third parties.
categories list is not very user
4. R e f e r r a l : Existing users or
friendly.
influencers bring users through
their recommendations.
ECOMMERCE PAGE 84

Figure 12.6 Product Categories Figure 12.8 Product Description Page

Product Listing Page shows all

products retrieved by the search. Section II
The user has the option to search This comprises the cart page and
by text or use the camera function order confirmation sections of the
to search for products by image. app.
The page includes a variety of Cart page lists all of the products
filters and sorting options to make in the cart, along with their
the user's research and decision- quantities. Amazon allows users to
making process easier. change the quantity of their order
and add gifting options.
Confirm delivery schedule screen
allows the user to choose the
delivery option as well as supply
their contact information.
Payment screen takes care of
payment methods available to the
customer. Rewards and discount
options are also provided.

Section III
This section houses the post order
Figure 12.7 Product Listing Page
workflow for users.
The Product Description Page The order review screen allows
(PDP) contains all of the product's users to provide feedback Once
details. The pricing, media an order has been placed, an e-
(photos/videos), user ratings and commerce platform needs to know
reviews and similar product the quality of the goods and the
recommendations. As the user vendor.
scrolls down the page to learn The order tracking page displays a
more, amazon provides a list of all prior orders, together
navigation bar at the top so that with the invoice and status
the user can easily browse to information. It also shows the
different areas. This is a good order(s) that have yet to be
feature for easy navigation within fulfilled, as well as the projected
the page. delivery date and current status.
ECOMMERCE PAGE 85

Risks & Challenges

The various challenges and risks for e-commerce players are as below:
Brick and mortar retail stores - Instant gratification is something that brick
and mortar retail stores have an upper hand over e-commerce platforms.
Data Security - With saving customer contact information, customer card
details on the platform, the onus is on the e-commerce platform to make sure
the details are secure.
Customer loyalty and retention - With multiple players in the space,
increasing the LTV of a user at a low retention cost is a big problem for e-
commerce platforms.
New stringent consumer protection guidelines – Antitrust laws across
geographies are getting stringent with the discounting model on e-commerce
platforms and in turn hurting small businesses.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules in e-commerce – Changing government
regulations on FDI in e-commerce is a constant challenge of the platforms.
Rural area reach and last-mile delivery constraints - With very low
penetration in rural areas, high cost of customer education, poor
infrastructure, e-commerce platforms are finding it hard to get the next
billion users on their platforms. Furthermore, high cost and uncertainty in last
mile delivery is a problem all players are fraught with.
Reverse logistics - Easing and reducing reverse logistics is important for the
seller and the platform to function at lower costs, especially in the apparel
domain.
SEO - With voice as the new upcoming way of searching and placing orders,
SEO evolution is something that these platforms are wary of.

References

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ecommerce.asp
https://blog.miva.com/7-types-of-consumer-personas1
https://www.buyapowa.com/blog/referral-program-examples/
Amazon app on Android (Version 22.18.0.300)
FINTECH PAGE 86

FINTECH

Fintech Space in India Fintech Business Models

Fintech is one of the fastest growing The popular business models in

sectors in India, and India is amongst fintech are:
the fastest growing fintech markets Payment Gateways
globally. Within fintech, the Digital Wallets
payments space has been most active Digital Insurance
in India, with 19% of India’s 2200+ Digital lending
start-ups working in payments. The PoS
sector grew tremendously after both Neo banking
Demonetization and the Covid-19 Wealthtech
pandemic. The value of monthly
transactions has more than tripled Payment Gateways and Wallets
since Jan 2020. Ever since demonetization happened
in India, the emergence of payments
has been phenomenal. With 375
payment start-ups in the country, the
digital payments market in India is
expected to grow exponentially till
2023. A proactive government, and
deep mobile penetration are the
driving forces for this industry. Some
emerging companies in this space are
PayTM, MobiKwik and FreeCharge
and RazorPay.

Digital Lending
Digital lending FinTechs are mainly
targeting the unmet demand of
MSMEs as well as consumers, for
credit. The emergence of technology,
easy access to data has led to the
Figure 13.1 Payments statistics and popularity of digital lending based on
Number of startups by fintech model credit scores for loans, mortgages,
FINTECH PAGE 87

and small businesses. Some promising Google Pay

start-ups in this space are
LendingKart, Capital Float, Initially called Google Tez, the app
RupeePower and Rupeek. was launched in India in August 2017.
Initially the app gained huge traction
Point of Sale (PoS) by offering Rs. 51 to a user every time
The point of sale (POS) or point of they invited a friend. The app also
purchase (POP) is the time and place rewarded users with lucky draw
where a retail transaction is scratch cards for completing
completed. A digital retail point of transactions. The user journey and
sale system typically includes a POS features needed on the app are
terminal that can read debit/credit shown below:
cards and enable payments through a
swipe. Service providers that provide
both POS hardware and software
solutions are called POS companies.

Some of the notable POS terminal

providers here are Ezetap, Mswipe,
Pine Labs, Innoviti, Mosambee,
Payswiff (earlier known as Paynear),
among others.

NEO Banking
Neobanking is a relatively new
concept in India. Being a digital-only
platform, neobanks are fast, efficient,
straightforward, adaptable and highly
Figure 13.2 User Journey
cost-effective. Different neobanks
have different focuses – some help
with managing online bank accounts,
and with budgeting and saving tools.
SBI Yono, Open, Kotak 811 are some
of the examples of neobanks in India.

Wealth Management
WealthTech describes a new class of Figure 13.3 User Journey

financial technology companies Interviewers often ask what your

which are creating digital solutions favorite app is and why it is so. It is
to transform the investment recommended to prepare in advance
management process. This includes to answer this question. The analysis
both end investors and firms that here will give you one possible
service them. Some of the profiting answer as to why Google Pay is a
companies in this space are Zerodha, great application.
PayTM Money and Groww.
FINTECH PAGE 88

Google Pay's Initial Success Google Pay's Killer Feature

In payment apps, the challenge is to In day-to-day life repeat transactions

acquire users and get them for rent, groceries, bill split among
familiarized with the app / platform. friends are extremely common.
Once the initial hurdle is crossed, People's usage behavior indicates
users will be more likely to stick to that they often send money to the
the app. same few people.

To overcome this challenge Google Upon opening the app, the very first
used the ₹51 offer as an incentive for screen shows a list of contacts that
inviting new users. The amount was the user has sent money to in the
awarded after the referred user past. Therefore, Google Pay's UI is
makes their first transaction. This extremely helpful for sending money
meant that every new user acquired to people you have sent money to
was also using the app at least once before.
and getting familiarized with it.

Lucky draw scratch cards provided

incentive for users to come back and
use the app again. In later years
Google also used gamification with
Diwali stickers increase usage of the
app. The stickers were awarded for
completing different tasks within the
app, thus showing users that the app
can also be used for bill payments,
mobile recharge, etc.

The internet was filled with

advertisements like the one shown
below which made the app go viral.
Figure 13.5 Google Pay Home Screen

While other apps also show a history

of recently paid accounts, this is
usually kept away from the home
page. Google pay is unique and
intuitive as it puts the most used
feature right on top.

Figure 13.4 Google Pay Advertisments

FINTECH PAGE 89

References

http://www.statista.com/statistics/1241994/india-fintech-companies-share-
by-segment/
https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-statistics
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?
id=com.google.android.apps.nbu.paisa.user
https://www.shinybaba.com/google-pay-app-download-earn-upto-1-lakh/
HEALTH TECH PAGE 90

HEALTH TECH

Industry Overview Healthcare Apps

Healthcare Technology, also

popularly known as Healthtech,
alludes to the usage of technologies
created to improve all aspects of the
medical care system. From telehealth
to robotic-assisted medical
procedures, from sports apps to
calories counters, all domains of
health assistance leveraging
technology can be termed as
Figure 14.1 Healthtech apps in different
healthtech.
spaces

Drivers of HealthTech – A big The healthtech industry is growing at

opportunity for the future a very fast rate, and is attracting a
lot of VC funding, which has
1. A g r o w i n g l a n d s c a p e - I n c r e a s e i n bolstered startups building apps to
health tech firms. create specific solutions in the space.
2. G r o w i n g m a r k e t o p p o r t u n i t y f o r The global health market is expected
Indian Health Tech providers - to reach $111.8 billion by 2025,
Increase in market size. growing at a CAGR of 44.2%. As can
3. A c c e l e r a t i o n i n f u n d i n g - B i r t h o f be seen from the above figure,
new health tech focused startups. healthtech is a very broad segment
4. I n c r e a s e i n c o n s u m e r a w a r e n e s s - with several different categories of
Proliferation of B2C segments. apps - from building up habit and
productivity, to healthcare checkups,
from meditation and fitness to
medicine deliveries and reminders. In
this chapter, we have taken up the
Indian startup - Practo to dive into
details from a Product Management
perspective.
HEALTH TECH PAGE 91

Figure 14.2 Practo data flow

Key activities: Software Key resources: Website, Practo

development, Networking with app, Manpower skills, IT.
m u l t i p l e s t a ke h o l d e r s , P r o m ot i o n s .
Consumer/Partner segments:
Patients, Clinics, Hospitals,
Pathology Labs, Pharmacies,
Insurance companies, Doctors,
Delivery partners.
HEALTH TECH PAGE 92

Figure 14.3 Practo revenue model

How Practo crossed the ‘chasm’ book doctors seamlessly, avoiding

unnecessary existing hassle. This
Crossing the chasm is a theory by made Practo a multi-side platform
Geoffrey Moore built around the with several other stakeholders like
technology lifecycle for tech clinics/hospitals, even for the MVP.
products. As we can see in the graph
below, there is a chasm between the Most successful multi-sided
early market and mainstream market, platforms first need to set up the
crossing which can only help make supply side, and only then can they
any company leverage gains and a expect the demand side. This meant
sizable market chunk for the product. doctor onboarding was a very
To cross the chasm, companies need important step. The pain point for
to provide products that add value to doctors, clinics and hospitals at the
consumers and are easy enough to time was maintaining patient
use. information, records and maintaining
billing details. So, Practo furnished
them with a complete end-to-end
practice management electronic tool
that managed their consultations,
prescriptions, bills, and medical
records. Within 2 years, had
onboarded 500 doctors and 500,000
patients.

Figure 14.4 Crossing the chasm Crossing the chasm: Now they
needed to onboard large and popular
What problem did they start with: To doctors, as only that could pull in
make clinic visits cashless, paperless, more patients, and thereby create
and painless. network effects to pull in further
more doctors and more patients.
MVP - Building the multi-sided They came up with several features
p l a t f o r m: Practo was, in a way for the doctors, to assist them and
designed to help the patient find and had a 3-tier pricing plan and a free
HEALTH TECH PAGE 93

version with limited features. Free showing network effects and helped
service for patients and minimal them cross the chasm.
monthly charge for listing doctors,
once the number started growing. In Entering the Tornado: This is the
this next year, the number of doctors phase right after crossing the chasm,
jumped from 500 to 8000 doctors and surviving which, the company
3 million patients. becomes able to reap the benefits of
the mainstream market. They
For marketing, they went ahead with introduced several features including
the ‘Fleet on street model’. This same Practo software and ads. They started
model has been used by Byju’s, to with multiple acquisitions in 2015.
grow. This model was to bring They also expanded their product
doctors onboard as we already portfolio - medicine delivery, chat
discussed, this was the key in with doctors and even undertook
growing the app. They also initiated geographic expansion.
developing for B2C features –
discovering the doctors and booking User Profiling and Jobs To Be Done
the appointments comprehensively. The most important step in designing
‘Practo Ray’ got doctors on board and any product or solution is to
‘Practo Search’ got patients onboard. understand the WHY and WHOM. It
They began a spree to map every begins by trying to understand the
doctor and clinic to ensure genuine user and create a user profile, which
doctors. By 2013, they had 10,000+ is more than just demographic
registered doctors and 7.5mn+ unique information. A good user profile
visitors. Once doctors were on board, should illustrate the behavior,
they became habituated, so even tendencies and pain points of the
though the cost of acquisition was user. From the JTBD primary
high, LTV was higher. It was the two- statement, we create a job map. This
sided marketplace which began is a step by step, what a customer is
trying to do. It gives a ‘needs view’,
rather than a ‘solution view’.
HEALTH TECH PAGE 94

App Critique - Customer How is it facilitated on the app - A

Journey Snapshot Critique:
Identification of symptom -
In general, a patient or a potential Symptom to issue mapping is still
patient or their relative/well-wisher relatively weak, and doesn’t come
follow these steps in case of medical out in the UI, though there is a
issues. These steps have a lot of provision for the same.
detailing within as you can imagine, Quick research and self-treatment
when you recall a time you were not - The app provides articles on
doing great health-wise. issues and free expert answers.
However, it does not seem to
Steps in general: promote this idea, as the home
1. I d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f s y m p t o m screen should have had a search
2. Q u i c k r e s e a r c h a n d s e l f - t r e a t m e n t button to really make this a part
3. D o c t o r s e l e c t i o n of their offering.
4. A p p o i n t m e n t
5. P o s t a p p o i n t m e n t
HEALTH TECH PAGE 95

Doctor selection - The process of Here, we will only look at the

selecting doctors is seamless and snapshots of only some of the
e v e n p e r so n a l i z e d , a s t h e d o c t o r s processes:
previously consulted, show up on
the home screen. This has been Home page:
the core offering of the app for a P r o s: T o b e g i n w i t h , h a s a v e r y g o o d
long time. Also provides reviews of looking, familiar UI. Major offerings
doctors. in the home screen and other
Appointment - Seamless offerings can be easily accessed from
appointment booking process, the menu bar in the home. Has a very
where after selecting the doctor, effective nudge to the “Practo Plus”
you can easily select the required feature, which is a paid subscription.
date and time from the simple UI. Has major features listed on the top
Post appointment - This is a new of the home screen. Also, has a
segment that they have entered personalized home screen with info
and have been adding feature after on doctors consulted.
feature with flavor of C o n s: I t ’ s a l l w e l l a n d g o o d u n t i l ‘ N o t
personalization. Be it ordering feeling too well’, which provides a
medicines, or lab tests and simple way to choose between
checkups, or reminders - the options. At this stage usage starts
UI/UX is seamless. getting overwhelming. A very lengthy
home page (mostly seem to be ads).
A user’s journey begins with the The app should have followed the
signup and onboarding. Then they maximum 3-scroll screen rule. People
can directly book an appointment or will just scroll through without
add more profile details. The app has reading. Has to be some bifurcation.
a lot of other features, like setting Additionally, the plus feature only
reminders, adding medical history, supports debit and credit card
viewing personalized articles, payments.
ordering medicines etc.

Figure 14.5 Practo home page

HEALTH TECH PAGE 96

Menu bar C o n s: Your profile option is

P r o s: A v e r y w e l l m a d e m e n u b a r w i t h comprehensive which is a good thing.
standard icons that are intuitive, and But people may not want to fill in so
with feature names that are easy to much detail manually without any
understand. Option to add medical incentive. Either the process could
records, add reminders. Very be made more seamless or it could be
personalized. Also, the features are incentivized.
very simple and easy to use. The
design is intuitive.

Figure 14.6 Practo menu bar

Figure 14.7 Practo reminder feature

HEALTH TECH PAGE 97

App critique - Parametric version is 4.6, clearly showing the

Review upside potential of improvement in
Android. We will analyse the app
The app has over 5 million downloads based on several standard parameters
on the PlayStore and a rating of 4.2. of app critique:
However, the rating in the iOS

Product Management and Mobile Application - Has to be

Healthtech mobile, always on always
connected.
Future Trends Blockchain Back-end - Blockchain
Forefront versatile healthcare is revolutionizing security and
innovations are going to be founded supply chain. Healthtech already
on the following layers: has data privacy concerns and a
Open Marketplace - A great multi- growing number of stakeholders.
sided platform that seamlessly AI & Big Data Analysis -
integrates the entire healthcare Personalization, optimized
ecosystem. recommendations, self diagnosis,
the entire doctor, clinic and
hospital ecosystem will be
available on the phone.
HEALTH TECH PAGE 98

Things to keep in mind when Create a plan for user orientation

designing an app: and onboarding.
1. U s e r E m p a t h y : T h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t Make UI Mockups for two of the
thing to keep in mind when modules, showing interaction
designing a solution is the user. between them.
What does the user want, what are Show the steps for A/B testing.
her pain points and behavioral Define the KPIs you will measure
traits. Define your target segment and show how they will help you
and build MVP features for it in improving your app from a PM
before expanding further. PoV.
2. P e r s o n a l i z a t i o n : Health is a Create a business plan for the
personal thing. Any user would MVP to cross the chasm.
only want an app that caters to
their needs and that understands References
their issues.
3. H a v i n g deep multi-level Saransh Solanki, Practo design
architecture in the app can lead to https://saranshsolanki.in/practo.
users missing out on important html
features of the app. Tony Ulwick, Medium, Jobs to be
4. V i s u a l d e s i g n s h o u l d b e c o n s i s t e n t done mapping https://jobs-to-be-
with the intended communication. done.com/mapping-the-job-to-
For example, a notification icon be-done-45336427b3bc
should be used for notifications A Junior VC, What Happened to
only. Using it to say ‘book an Practo
appointment’ is non-empathic https://ajuniorvc.com/practo-
design. heathcare-healthtech-startup-
medical-provider-doctor/
Exercise to solve How to create a healthcare app
Design a healthcare app (MVP) similar like Practo
to Practo with improvements or https://www.webcluesinfotech.co
features that are required but not m/how-to-create-a-healthcare-
present currently, In the process, you app-like-practo/
will have to do the following as a part UX Collective, Acing the app
of the exercise: critique product design interview
Present a summary upfront using https://uxdesign.cc/acing-the-
CIRCLES method to show the app-critique-product-design-
complete process. interview-260ca71e8d22
Very distinctive user profiling and Fitts’s law,
jobs to be done. https://lawsofux.com/fittss-law
Identify the platform and business Health Tech Mobile apps
strategy. Which module will you Landscape overview - 2018
make first and what features will http://analytics.dkv.global/data/
you add: pdf/Health-Tech-Mobile-Apps-
Patient Panel Module Analytical-Report.pdf
Doctor Panel Module
Admin Panel Module
Clinic Panel Module
Diagnostic Panel Module
Delivery Panel Module
RIDE HAILING TECH PAGE 99

RIDE HAILING TECH

Industry Overview Value proposition also talks about the

competitive advantage of the
The taxi-booking market was highly product.
fragmented, and there was no
transparency in the entire process Customer Segment - Understand the
(from booking to payment). Earlier, user who will interact with the
there were some regional players, but product and how they will use it.
they were not established players,
and the value proposition they Channels - The ways the product
offered were not significantly reaches the customer.
different from the traditional taxi-
booking services. Customer Relationships -
Relationships that the customer
Uber and Ola brought transparency expects from the company, and the
to the entire process, and have also cost required to provide that.
improved the reliability of cab
services significantly. Lower search Key Activities - Activities required to
cost is also one of the additional provide the value proposition, and to
value-adds that a customer/user maintain the channel, customer
enjoys through these services. relationships and revenue source.
Currently, the ride-hailing market in
India is estimated to be ₹2 0 0 0 0 - Key Resources - Resources required
25000 cr. (Philip, 2020). to provide the value proposition and
to maintain the channel, customer
Business Model Canvas relationships and revenue source.

The following must be kept in mind Key Partners - Mention the partners
when you address the question. It and suppliers, and keep in mind the
gives us an exhaustive list of the resources that they provide.
business dependencies.
The business model canvas in the
Value Proposition - What is the ride-railing business is as follows:
problem/need addressed by the
product to the different customer
segments?
RIDE HAILING TECH PAGE 100

Figure 15.1 Business model canvas for ride hailing

W h e n a n a l y s i n g p l a t f o r m a p ps , i t i s Customer Journey
imperative to consult the interviewer
regarding the side to be explored and Discussing an application using a
the metric to be focused on. For customer journey ensures that you
example, in Uber and Ola, they will don’t miss any critical parts. It also
have different apps for the passenger shows that you can think through any
and the driver. Also, keep in mind the problem in a structured manner. To
1 0 h e u r i s t i c s o f u s e r i n te r f a c e d e s i g n start with let’s divide the user
that were developed by Nielsen and journey in three easy to understand
Morich and are me n t i o n e d in the parts – pre-ride, during-ride and
chapter, “User Experience Design for post-ride
Digital Products”. The product can be
assessed from the following point of
view:

UI/UX
Current features
Metrics used Figure 15.2 User Journey

Near future improvements

Long term product roadmap Section I : Pre-Ride
This part of the app is most critical
The metrics that can be focused on to business as it enables conversion
are: of user into a rider and generate
Awareness revenue. It can further be broken
Acquisition down into following four parts:
Activation
Engagement R e g i s t e r / L o g i n: A m i n i m a l d e t a i l s
Retention (usually mobile no.) based login is
Monetisation first step towards a lightweight
Referral experience.
RIDE HAILING TECH PAGE 101

S e a r c h: C u r r e n t l o c a t i o n i s a u t o Section III: Post-Ride

picked and the user just needs to
put in the destination. Apps also P a y m e n t: Auto-debit facilities
display the route in a map which make user experience lightweight.
aids in selecting the destination Multiple payment options are
location. Various options like provided to cater to everyone's
changing the starting location and needs.
adding stops are included to R a t i n g: Feedback loop enables
account for alternate scenarios. forward movement of any system.
B o o k: Platform businesses add In platforms, it also encourages its
value by reducing the search cost users (both riders and drivers) to
and building trust between two perform their tasks well. A simple
different sides of the platform. star-based rating input with
The two sides here are taxi drivers default fill-in scenarios like driver
and riders. Based on the search, was rude, fast driving, etc.
the user is shown various details ensures users can fill this easily.
like type of cab and estimated cost C o m p l a i n t: T h e a b i l i t y t o r e g i s t e r
before booking. For value- complaints and get them resolved
conscious customers cab sharing further builds user confidence.
scenario has also been added. Companies often make the
W a i t: A f t e r b o o k i n g t h e c a b , t h e complaint feature less apparent to
user receives details of the cab. avoid misuse. Pre-filled common
The ability to track the movement scenarios like charged more than
of the cab to the pickup location shown earlier, missed belongings
adds transparency and optimizes etc. adds to the simplified user
travel time for the customer. The experience and modularizing the
feature to cancel the cab at this system.
stage boosts user confidence. The P r o f i l e D a s h b o a r d: A d a s h b o a r d o r
communication channels like call a menu where user can check past
and chat enables smooth pick-up trips, change default payment
experience. options, rating etc. also caters to
various use cases. For instance, a
Section II: During the ride user may want to share the bills of
past rides for reimbursement from
T r a c k: A f t e r t h e u s e r b o a r d s t h e the employer.
cab, the ability to track the
movement on the map further Driver Journey
builds consumer confidence.
S a f e t y: I t i s d i f f i c u l t t o e n s u r e Similar to customer's journey,
that only good drivers are driver's journey can also be
onboarded and to control their discussed.
actions. The app should provide
features that can reduce untoward
incidents during the journey. A
few of such features are a boldly
visible red emergency button and
sharing ride details (and tracking
ability) with others. Figure 15.3 Driver Journey
RIDE HAILING TECH PAGE 102

How would you improve a Ride Hailing App

Often app critique interviews turn into suggesting improvements in the product.
A product manager is expected to be practical and as such one need to
empathetically discuss the features with respect to both consumer and
development. When asked for improvement, candidate can continue a structured
approach. CIRCLES (Lewis, 2016) is a good framework which can be applied here.

1. Clarify your goals

In app critique, the goal will arise out of the part you are criticizing. Let’s say we
want to improve ‘wait’ part in the user journey discussed above.

2. Identify User Personas

Following are common users:

3. Report Use Case

The use cases for the above described personas are:

4. Cut through use cases

While the use case of comparing wait time across multiple ride hailing is a
common scenario, building such feature looks out of scope. And the focus should
be on improving the app to the extent that user don’t feel like checking
competitor app. With this let’s discuss further about use cases of convenient
alternate pick-up location and alternate ride finder with less wait time.

5. List Solutions
To solve above use cases we can consider below solutions:
RIDE HAILING TECH PAGE 103

6. Evaluate trade-offs
The trade-offs and metrics for evaluating success are:

7. Summarize
With the goal of improving wait time experience of user, we started with
discussing about common user personas – student, working professional and
business traveler. Two use cases which seemed solvable were suggesting
alternate nearby pick up location and finding alternate cab with less wait time.
While the first feature is mostly intended towards youngsters, the second one is
geared towards working professionals and business travelers. Further, the second
feature is more complex to develop and it may have a negative impact on drivers’
morale. To assess the same, ratings given by user and time spent by driver on app
should be tracked.

References

Philip, L. (2020, September 27). Stuck in first gear: Car subscription services
are not gaining momentum. Retrieved September 28, 2020, from
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/auto/auto-news/stuck-in-
first-gear-car-subscription-services-are-not-gaining-
momentum/articleshow/78337063.cms
Uber Business Model Explained: From Start to Finish. (2020, March 11).
Retrieved September 28, 2020, from
https://mobisoftinfotech.com/resources/blog/uber-business-model-
explained/
Lewis. (2016). impact interview. Retrieved from Circles Method Product Design
Framework: https://www.impactinterview.com/2016/06/circles-method-
product-design-framework/
TRAVEL TECH PAGE 104

TRAVEL TECH

The COVID-19 pandemic has very There are a variety of players in each
severely affected the travel industry, step of the user journey and many
and will probably continue to be the players that cut across all three.
reason for its transformation. The Given a very long customer journey
sector was already transforming and technology advancements in both
before the lockdown, with tech the digital and physical world, the
companies enabling users to travel strategy of a company is determined
better. In 2019 the travel industry by the choices it makes on its
was at its peak with only leisure business model.
travel spending at $4.7 trillion
(Statista, 2020). A user journey for On the basis of a known umbrella
travel, currently comprises mainly business model, we list nine different
discovery (where to go, what to do ), categories which are shaping the
booking (for transport, lodging, modern day travel experience of the
activities) and experience (supporting customers (Skift, 2016).
the during travel needs).

Figure 16.1 List of choices across business model

elements for travel tech Companies
TRAVEL TECH PAGE 105

Figure 16.2 Examples of companies in different

business categories

C o n ve ni e n c e a n d a b i l i t y t o c o m p a r e 1. D e s i g n for your users, not for

prices have pushed the adoption of yourself: Build for an identified
Online Travel Agencies (OTA) in user persona and not for yourself.
India. The leaders now compete for a Make it easy and delightful for
larger share of the market, and to do these users to use the product.
the same, continually focus on 2. F e e d b a c k : G i v e u s e r s a l i t t l e v i s u a l
offering better services and confirmation/response for their
i m p r o v i n g c u s t o m e r e x p e r i e n c e. T h e actions.
website and mobile app experience 3. D i g e s t i b i l i t y : Show users only
become a big part of the overall user limited content, which they can
interaction with an OTA. comprehend.
4. C l a r i t y : Design to minimize
To develop or evaluate UX in a confusion by ensuring elements
product we must look at it by keeping work as expected.
in mind five basic principles of UX 5. F a m i l i a r i t y : T a k e d e s i g n c u e s f r o m
Design (Barua, 2019) real word or acceptable digital
standards.

We compare the UX of two popular

OTA apps in India: MakeMyTrip &
Yatra.
TRAVEL TECH PAGE 106
TRAVEL TECH PAGE 107

Recommending a new feature Does the feature have to be in any

using CIRCLES Framework specific domain of the current app
structure, e.g. Hotels, Flights,
The CIRCLES framework (Lewis, 2016) etc.?
is used by product managers for Yes, it has to be cohesive with
identifying new features & products the existing structure
as it provides an exhaustive & No, it has to cover a new
structured framework for the same. domain
We have clarified that the new
Stage 1: Clarify Your Goals feature needs to increase revenues
At this stage, one must aim to clarify through one of the three revenue
doubts in order to provide suitable streams, and it has to be cohesive
recommendations. Some possible with the existing structure.
questions at this stage could be:
What is the end goal of this Stage 2: Identify User Personas
feature? Knowing and understanding
Increase user engagement customers and their needs are
Improve UI/UX crucial. Let us consider the
Increase revenue / sales customers we had identified using
Additional In-App the Business Model developed earlier
Purchases in this chapter. We will attempt to
Increased bookings create a background of their general
Increased advertising behaviours, demographics, app
revenues journey and possible needs to achieve
Increase market share of clarity.
product
TRAVEL TECH PAGE 108

S t a g e 3 : R e p o rt U s e Ca s e
In this stage, we try to connect the aforementioned user personas with their
needs.

S t a g e 4 : C ut T h r o u g h U s e Ca s e s
In this step, we cut through different use cases listed above and choose a few
that stand out based on our criteria or goals like revenues (in this case) or
customer benefits. Based on the above use cases & our end goal of increasing
revenue, we shortlist our top cases:
1. Q u a l i t y A i r p o r t S e a t i n g
2. C o m p a r e / F i l t e r H o t e l s
These are chosen as they would be more likely to have a higher frequency of use
and be relatively easier to monetize as compared to the other options.

Stage 5: List Solutions

In this step, we list a couple of solutions to solve the above-shortlisted use cases.
The most feasible solutions, meeting users’ needs post this step, will be
considered for evaluation.
TRAVEL TECH PAGE 109

S t a g e 6 : E v a l u at e T ra d e o f f s
In this step, we evaluate the solutions on various metrics to identify which
solution will be most beneficial for the end-user while simultaneously meeting
our goals and not overburdening our development resources.

S t e p 7 : S u m m ar i z e
In the final step, we discuss our identified solution and the rationale behind the
same: “For our identified goal of increasing revenue by developing a new feature
within the constraints of the existing infrastructure, I recommend developing a
Lounge Discovery and Booking Feature. This feature will primarily target Business
users with families being secondary targets. It has been chosen as business
travellers typically have a high frequency of travel, and since their bills are
reimbursed through company accounts, they are less likely to be price elastic. We
can promote this feature to be an alternative to booking hotel rooms for shorter
trips. This feature is also less complex to develop than the alternatives and the
KPIs are easier to measure for an increase in revenue as they share a direct link
as compared to advertising revenues”

References

Barua, S. (2019, November). 5 Principles of UX Design. Retrieved from

UXPlanet: https://uxplanet.org/5-principles-of-ux-design-d1579e7267db
Lewis. (2016). impact interview. Retrieved from Circles Method Product Design
Framework: https://www.impactinterview.com/2016/06/circles-method-
product-design-framework/
Skift. (2016). Skift Travel Tech 250. Retrieved from Skift:
https://skift.com/traveltech250/Statista. (2020). Global leisure travel spend
2000-2019. Retrieved from Statista:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093335/leisure-travel-spending-
worldwide/
EDTECH PAGE 110

EDTECH

Industry Overview Customer Needs

‘EdTech’ refers to the use of Currently, the apps in the market

technology in the education sector, work as a supplement to the
starting from smart devices in classrooms, like the tuition classes
classrooms, test prep platforms and where the student's learning is self-
online certifications for skill paced and tailored to their learning
development. India has over 1,100 speed.
million wireless internet subscribers
(Statista, 2019) with a high rate of A school student may start using such
a d o p t i o n . T he E d T e c h se c t o r s t o o d an app at a very young age, and
fourth amongst all sectors, with 8.5% continue using it through to grade 12,
of total startup investments in 2018 and for associated competitive
(Statista, 2018). exams.Hence, their journey becomes
all the more critical. Therefore, the
The startups involved in K12 and experience should not be
online certifications have accounted homogenous for everyone, as is the
for a significant share (~88%) of $1.6 case in industries like ride-hailing,
billion worth of investments, in the where the service is the same
education sector between 2014 and irrespective of the characteristics of
2019 (inc42, 2020). This skewed the user. It needs to be tailored to
funding is in part due to the grades- individual ability and interests.
first approach of the Indian market
and the need for skilled labour in the Student Journey
fast-growing services sector.
Moreover, Indians have a higher The typical customer journey of a
willingness to pay for education, and school student on an EduTech
consumer income inelasticity in this platform looks like:
market is greater than even
healthcare in some cases.

Figure 17.1 Student Journey

EDTECH PAGE 111

Parent Journey

Parents play an essential role in all the major decisions of their kids, and
education is no different. As the amount involved is significant with typical
yearly packages in the tune of 10000 and above, the sale is only possible when
both the students and their parents see value in the platform.

Figure 17.2 Parent Journey

Byju's

F o u n d e d i n 2 0 1 1 , B y j u ' s i s t h e h i g h e s t v a l ue d E d T e c h c o m p a n y i n I n d i a w i t h a
valuation of $11 billion as of September 2020 (inc42, 2020). It engages in online
tutoring with pre-recorded course videos, which can be viewed either through a
mobile application (iOS/ Android) or on the Byju's tablet.

Byju's has a range of apps, which targets students from kindergarten right up to
grade 12, as well as for competitive exams, which significantly increases the
customer lifetime value.

Figure 17.3 Byju’s range of apps

Vedantu

Founded in 2011, it operates as a marketplace for teachers and students where

the students can enrol in classes of the tutor of their choice. It uses a
proprietary virtual learning e n v i r o n me n t , WAVE ( W h it e b o a r d Audio Video
Environment) to deliver live classes through its website and mobile applications.

Vedantu caters to students of grades 6 to 12, primarily from the CBSE and ICSE
boards. They provide summarised notes at the end of each class.
EDTECH PAGE 112

Business Model Canvas

The points in red are specific to Byju's & those in yellow are specific to Vedantu,
while the remaining points apply to both the companies.

Figure 17.4 Business model canvas

Evaluation of the Product

The companies operating on the subscription model have two primary tasks at
hand. Firstly, signing up the customer, and secondly, reducing the churn through
higher engagement and value delivery. The UI/UX and features of the apps have
been evaluated based on the following three stages:
Trial & On-boarding
Nurturing & Expansion (Nielsen's Heuristics)
Renewal & Loyalty
EDTECH PAGE 113
EDTECH PAGE 114
EDTECH PAGE 115

Recommendations and Product Inclusion of a Help Document: A

Improvement guide to help resolve issues on the
go would improve the user
Introduction of a Search Bar: It experience, as the current
would allow students to directly methods of calling up the service
look for the lesson, without executive, or waiting for a reply
wasting time in remembering the on the mail is too cumbersome.
path, and navigating to the same. In-app Purchases: Allow up-
gradation of the content by paying
from within the app, without
calling up the service centre, with
transparent pricing.

Figure 17.5 Disney Byju's early learn app (v 2.8.0; 21st sep 2020)
EDTECH PAGE 116

Figure 17.6 Byju's parent connect app (v 3.3.0; 21st sep 2020)

Figure 17.7 Vedantu app (v 1.7.3; 21st sep 2020)

References Statista. (2018). Retrieved from

in c 4 2 . ( 2 0 2 0 , F e b ) . R e t r i e v e d f r o m https://www.statista.com/statisti
https://inc42.com/datalab/the- c s / 1 0 1 8 6 0 1 / in d i a - s h a r e - o f - s t a r t -
landscape-of-edtech-mapping- up-deals-by-sector/
the-innovation-revamping- Statista. (2019, Dec). Retrieved
education-in-india/ from
inc42. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statisti
https://inc42.com/features/byju- cs/258794/mobile-telecom-
before-byjus-the-making-of-the- subscribers-in-india-by-
worlds-most-valuable-edtech- company/
company/
FOODTECH PAGE 117

FOODTECH

Industry Overview Home Food to the office: These

companies enable users to place
Foodtech applications have seen delivery orders, and offer pickup
tremendous growth in recent years. facilities for the food prepared by
The contribution of online orders to home chefs. For example, Ootabox.
t h e o v e r a l l f o o d d e l i ve r y m a r k e t h a s Recipe Discovery: These platforms
grown from 2% in 2016 to 11% in enable users to search, store, and
2020. Zomato has shown an increase upload their recipes. For example,
of 4x in the number of orders in the Tastemade.
first quarter of 2020 as compared to Personalized nutrition: These
2019, showing the increasing companies offer personalized
popularity of the online food delivery nutrition plans and diet to the
applications. The industry comprises users. For example, DayTwo.
a multitude of business models. Some
of the prominent business models Other business models include, but
include: are not limited to dine out apps,
Restaurant Aggregator: These are recommendation apps, innovative
the platforms that host the restaurants, catering platforms, chef
restaurants and allow users to marketplaces, and novel foods.For
search for restaurants. For further discussion, the restaurant
example, Zomato, Swiggy. aggregator business model is chosen,
On-Demand Food: These and in particular, Zomato and Swiggy
restaurants have their own are the focus applications.
centralized kitchens and take
orders through their own Business Model Analysis
application/website. For example,
Rebel Foods, Freshmenu. S w i g g y: S w i g g y i s l i m i t e d t o h e l p i n g
Ready to heat food: The platforms users to find restaurants/dishes.
which provide the ready to heat Once the user places an order,
meals depending on the demand or Swiggy’s delivery partners will visit
the subscription. For example, the restaurant to pick the order and
Freshly. will deliver to the customers.
FOODTECH PAGE 118

Figure 18.1 Swiggy business model canvas

Z o m a t o: I n a d d i t i o n t o w h a t S w i g g y o f f e r s , Z o m a t o a l s o p r o v i d e s a p l a t f o r m t o
explore the detailed reviews of the restaurant along with a pickup option. They
also provide a ‘hyperpure’ option to restaurants, aimed at providing high quality
fresh raw material to the restaurants. The elements of business canvas which
differ from Swiggy are colored in red.

Figure 18.2 Zomato business model canvas

User Persona

Three different user personas can be defined on the basis of the frequency of
orders and the affinity towards dishes.
1. A u s e r w h o i s n e w t o t h e p l a t f o r m a n d w a n t s t o e x p l o r e v a r i o u s r e s t a u r a n t s , o r
the user who does not have any bias towards a particular restaurant or dish.
2. A repeat user who wants to explore the dishes of a particular
cuisine/restaurant only.
3. A r e p e a t u s e r w h o o r d e r s p r e v i o u s l y o r d e r e d i t e m s f r o m f a v o r i t e r e s t a u r a n t s
frequently.

Typical User Journey

S w i g g y: T h e t y p i c a l u s e r j o u r n e y i n S w i g g y i s a s b e l o w :
Login/Signup: The user logs in, either using mobile number/email or social
media accounts. The user can skip the process of login and explore the menu
of the restaurant.
Restaurant Search: The user searches for the restaurant and selects a
restaurant from which they want to order.
Placing the Order: The user selects the dishes that they want to have from a
restaurant and then places an order.
Tracking: After the payment is done, the user tracks the progress of the order.
FOODTECH PAGE 119

Z o m a t o: T h e t y p i ca l u s e r j o u r n e y i n Restaurant Explorer Page: This is the

Zomato is: page where the users will explore the
Login/Signup: The user logs in different restaurants available.
either using mobile number/email S w i g g y: S w i g g y ’ s r e s t a u r a n t e x p l o r e r
or social media accounts. The user page looks cluttered, with offers
can skip the process of login and floating everywhere. They could
explore the menu of the instead have only one row for offers,
restaurant. rather than bombarding the users
Restaurant Search: The user with offers. They do provide ‘Top
searches for the restaurant and Picks for You’ at the beginning,
selects a restaurant from which accounting for the user preferences
they want to order. or the past orders of a user. In the
There are two choices available to restaurant display panel, they have
the users of Zomato, either similar time for delivery, the average cost
to the Swiggy user, they can place per person, and the rating of the
the order, or can explore more restaurant. But they do not have any
about the restaurant through filters on the page. Also, the
detailed reviews and photos. extracted number of people who have
Tracking: If the user goes for rated the restaurant is unknown,
placing an online order through impacting the trust of the user.
the application, he/she can track Towards the bottom of the page, the
the progress of the order. user has search, cart, and account
options. The cart option seems
App Critique and Comparison unwarranted when there are no items
in the option. The option could have
Disclaimers: The critique is done on been made dynamic.
the basis of the apps’ design as on 1st Z o m a t o: Z o m a t o ’ s r e s t a u r a n t e x p l o r e r
Oct, 2020. page contains a list of restaurants,
similar to the Swiggy. But the
S i g n - i n O p t i o n: L a z y s i g n - i n i s a n information related to the number of
important feature, considering a orders since the lockdown has been
hungry user will be looking for food imposed is given so as to gain the
quickly and hence forced sign in at trust of the user. There is also an
the start can increase the bounce option to bookmark a particular
rate. Both the applications give an restaurant. Also, the filtering options
option of lazy signing in and allow including cuisine, rating, cost per
users to explore the dishes and person along with sorting options by
restaurants without mandating them delivery time, cost, and popularity
to log in. The sign in can be done are available, easing out the process
when the user is placing the order. of finding the best suitable
But, the option to skip the login is restaurant for the user. The app also
more intuitive in the case of Zomato offers top brands in the spotlight,
with the button title as ‘Skip’. In the what’s new on Zomato, and other
case of Swiggy, the option of lazy options to help out explorers to try
sign-in is available with button tile new items or the items liked by the
‘Swiggy’ making it less intuitive than community. Towards the bottom of
Zomato. the screen, there are options for
history, videos, and account
FOODTECH PAGE 120

m an ag e m e n t . T h e h i s t o r y o p t i o n i s reviews for all the dishes in the

particularly useful for the third restaurant for gaining the trust of
persona, who might be interested in the user. This, in my opinion, is one
r e p e a t i n g t h e p a s t o r d e r s f r eq u e n t l y . of the top differentiating features in
Al s o , t h e v i d e o o p t i o n g i v e s a c c e s s t o Zomato, as not all the dishes in the
Zomato originals, cook with pros, restaurants are equally good. It also
easy to cook recipes increasing the provides best seller dishes, and
user engagement in the application. unlike Swiggy, best seller dishes are
displayed at the top, making the
R e s t a u r a n t L a n d i n g P a g e: W h e n t h e ordering process convenient for the
user finalizes which restaurant to users. Zomato also tries to increase
order from, they land on the the order value through suggestions
restaurant’s landing page, where they such as popular add-ons, which get
can select dishes, from the displayed when the user is in the
restaurant’s menu. process of completing the payment.
S w i g g y: T h e r e s t a u r a n t l a n d i n g p a g e
in Swiggy shows a rating, delivery Covid Related Initiatives: In times
time, and cost per person on the like Covid, users care about safety
page. The number of people who have the most. In any food delivery
rated the restaurant is not made platform, food transfers from
public and is shown as 20+ or null on restaurant personnel to delivery
the page. Swiggy could show the partners to customers. As multiple
number of reviewers explicitly, to people are involved in the end-to-
gain more customer trust and add end delivery of food, gaining the
credibility to the rating system. Also, trust of the users, providing them
it provides an option to mark a with confidence around the safety
restaurant as a favorite. As compared measures taken by the platform is of
to Zomato’s bookmark feature, paramount importance to any food
mentioned in the restaurant explorer delivery platform.
page, the favorite restaurant feature S w i g g y: Swiggy mentions ‘delivery
in Swiggy is well placed, as the user partner safety’ on its restaurant
will mark a restaurant favorite only explorer page. But it does not
after looking at the menu. The page mention the safety precautions
also marks some of the dishes as best followed by a restaurant. Also, the
sellers on the menu, but they are delivery partner safety banner is not
randomly placed on the menu. Swiggy at the top of the page. Hence, the
could have placed the best seller user at first glance, would not see
items at the top. to provide the user the initiatives taken by Swiggy to
convenience of finding the popular deliver the food safely.
dishes. Z o m a t o: Z o m a t o m e n t i o n s h o w f o o d
Z o m a t o: Z o m a t o ’ s l a n d i n g p a g e h a s delivery is safe and how customers’
detailed reviews of the restaurant, safety is a priority for them. They
along with time for delivery. The have also mentioned the number of
review highlights are also provided, orders delivered since the lockdown
to get the gist of all the reviews started. They also mention the
making the process of going through number of orders from each
the review easy and comfortable for restaurant, giving a sense of safety to
the user. The app also provides the customers. On the restaurant’s
landing page,
FOODTECH PAGE 121

Zomato explicitly mentions the safety References

measures followed by a particular
restaurant in an attempt to reinforce https://brandriddle.com/zomato-
the trust in the customer. business-model/
https://brandriddle.com/swiggy-
In a n u t s h ell , z o m a t o a p p e a r s t o b e business-model/
doing better in terms of customer https://bstrategyhub.com/zomat
convenience, easing out the process o-business-model-how-does-
of food ordering, bringing in more z o m a t o - m a k e - m o n e y /
transparency and customer https://bstrategyhub.com/swiggy
engagement. Order tracking on the -business-model-how-does-
apps is not covered in this chapter, swiggy-make-money/
and is left to the reader to explore.
Section 4

PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
INTERVIEW CASES
PAGE 125
GUESTIMMATE 1 PAGE 126

GUESTIMMATE 1

Problem personal users on Instagram with the

I n t e r v i e w e r: E s t i m a t e t h e n u m b e r o f average number of uploads they make
I ns t a g r a m u p l o a d s o c c u r r i n g i n I n d i a each day. First, I shall estimate the
number of personal users. Then I will
Ask clarifying questions come up with the average number of
C a n d i d a t e: I’d like to ask some uploads figures by splitting these
clarifying questions. Do you want me users into categories based on
to estimate the number of uploads frequency of use.
per day or per year?
I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , g o a h e a d .
I n t e r v i e w e r: U p l o a d s p e r d a y .
Guesstimate
C a n d i d a t e: Do uploads consist of (Candidate writes down the following
posts or stories or both? on a sheet of paper)

I n t e r v i e w e r: C o n s i d e r o n l y p o s t s . General equation:
# uploads = [# of users on
C a n d i d a t e: Are we considering Instagram] * [avg. number of uploads
personal or business accounts? per person each day]

I n t e r v i e w e r: C o n s i d e r o n l y p e r s o n a l C a n d i d a t e: T o e s t i m a t e t h e n u m b e r o f
accounts for now. personal users of Instagram, I will
multiply the following parameters:
C o m m e n t s: T h e c l a r i f y i n g q u e s t i o n s (Candidate writes down the following
showcase the candidate’s on a sheet of paper)
understanding of the different types
of uploads that can be made on [# of users on Instagram] =
Instagram (posts, stories), and the [population of India] * [% population
user profiles (personal, business). It with smartphone and access to
portrays a sense of internet] * [% of people on
comprehensiveness. Instagram] * [% of monthly active
users]
Strategy Formulation
C a n d i d a t e: I will approach this
problem by estimating the number of
GUESTIMMATE 1 PAGE 127

C a n d i d a t e: T h e p o p u l a t i o n o f I n d i a i s C o m m e nt s :
1.2 billion. Due to an all-time high
penetration of mobile services, I The candidate provides rationale for
estimate that 40% users have a every estimate they make. They also
smartphone with access to internet. simplify their calculations by
Instagram is the third most popular rounding off. This is a good trick, as
app on the Play Store with over a numbers can start getting
billion downloads, so I assume that complicated when segmentation is
50% of these users have Instagram. done. The Candidate also provides
About 30% of these accounts would alternate ways of segmenting, which
be fake or inactive, leaving us with shows that they understand that
70% monthly active users. trends can vary across user
demographics.
I n t e r v i e w e r: S o u n d s r e a s o n a b l e .

(Candidate writes down the following

on a sheet of paper)
[# of users on Instagram] = 1.2 billion
* 40% * 50% * 70% = 168 million

C a n d i d a t e: I ’ l l r o u n d t h a t o f f t o 1 7 0
million. Now, I’ll estimate the average
number of uploads per person per
day. For this, I’ll divide the monthly
active users into three categories,
with rough estimates for the
percentage of users in each category
from my own experience:
1. L i g h t u s e r s : 1 p o s t e v e r y m o n t h o n
an average - 30% = 51 million
2. M o d e r a t e u s e r s : 1 p o s t e v e r y 1 0
days on an average - 60% = 102
million
3. H e a v y u s e r s : 1 p o s t e v e r y 2 d a y s
on an average -10% = 17 million

Therefore, number of posts per day =

51 * 1/30+ 102 * 1/10 + 17 * 1/2 ≈ 20
million posts

Additional ways of segmenting which

could be done:
Age/gender wise segmentation for
posting habits
Users could be Indians or tourists
making posts in India

I n t e r v i e w e r: S o u n d s g o o d , t h a n k y o u .
GUESTIMMATE 2 PAGE 128

GUESTIMMATE 2

I n t e r v i e w e r: Estimate the re v e n u e For estimating the total number of ad

that YouTube makes in a day? views, there are two ways we can go
about it - estimating from the
I n t e r v i e w e e: I n t e r e s t i n g ! T o e s t i m a t e demand side as to how many videos
the total revenue, I will have to break do people watch on YouTube on a
down the same into revenue streams. daily basis. The second way is from
As per my knowledge, YouTube has the supply side as to how many video
multiple revenue streams - Ads, views does YouTube have the
YouTube music, YouTube TV, affiliate capacity to serve. Since, in this case
marketing, etc. Ad revenues form the capacity will not be a problem as
majority of this. Am I missing any YouTube can easily scale up its infra
revenue stream? Do you want me to to serve the demand, we should go
go into a particular revenue stream via demand estimation. Does this
or across all of them? sound fair?

I n t e r v i e w e r: Since you mentioned I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , t h a t d o e s s o u n d

that ad revenues form a bulk of it, like a plan. Lets go ahead.
let's deep dive into that.
I n t e r v i e w e e: F o r e s t i m a t i n g t h e t o t a l
I n t e r v i e w e e: S u r e , d o y o u w a n t m e t o number of ad views in a day, I will
consider the ad revenues of YouTube start with the population of the US,
globally or in a specific geography? segment it into age intervals and
then assume a percentage of them
I n t e r v i e w e r: Good that you asked that watches YouTube videos on a
that! Lets look at estimating the daily basis. This will give me average
revenues specifically in the US. total daily Youtube viewers in the US.
Then, I will assume the number of
I n t e r v i e w e e: A l r i g h t s o t h e a p p r o a c h videos watched by each of these age
I’m going to take is as follows - segments on a daily basis to get to
the total number of Youtube video
Youtube ad revenues = Total number views in a day. Assuming a
of ad views x avg charge per ad view percentage of this has ads on it, we
can get to the total ad views per day
Youtube ad revenues = Videos in the US.
watched per day x Avg ads/video x
avg charge per ad view
GUESTIMMATE 2 PAGE 129

I will start with the total US I nt e r v i e w e r: Alright anything else

population as 300 m with an average that you would want to see in this?
life expectancy of 80 years and
assume a uniform age distribution. I n t e r v i e w e e: I w o u l d l i k e t o h a v e a
sanity check on this answer. I’m
Estimating the avg number of getting a per annum Youtube
YouTube users per day - revenues of = $10 * 365 = $3.65
0 - 5 yrs : doesn’t watch => 0 billion
5 - 10 yrs : watches on 50% of the
days => (5/80)*300*50% = ~10m I know that Google makes ad
10 - 20 yrs: watch daily => revenues of ~$100 billion on an
(10/80)*300*100% = ~40m annual basis of which YouTube
20 - 40 yrs: watch daily => contributes around 10-15%. This
(20/80)*300*100% = 75m brings global youtube revenues to
40 - 60 yrs: watch on 75% of the around $10-$15 billion.
days => (20/80)*300*75% = ~60m
60 - 80 yrs: watch on 50% days => $3.65 billion forms a big chunk of this
(20/80)*300*50% = ~40m revenue coming from the US alone. It
sounds sane given the higher
So now we have the daily viewers internet penetration in the country
across age segments we can go ahead as compared to other geographies.
with calculating the daily views -
0 - 5 yrs : 0 daily views I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , s o u n d s f a i r , w e
5 - 10 yrs : watch 5 videos per day can end the interview here.
=> 5*10 = 50m views
10 - 20 yrs: watch 20 videos per
day => 20*40 = 800m views
20 - 40 yrs: watch 10 videos per
day => 10*75 = 750m views
40 - 60 yrs: watch 5 videos per
day => 5*60 = 300m views
60 - 80 yrs: watch 5 videos per
day => 5*40 = 200m views

Hence, we get the total number of

views as = 50+800+750+300+200 = 2.1
billion views

We will assume that of these 2.1

billion views, 50% of them have ads
showing up on them => This gives us
a total of ~1bn ad views per day.

Total estimate the ad revenues, I’ll

assume a per $10 charge per 1000
views to the advertisers.

Total ad revenues = 10 * 1
billion/1000 = $10 million per day
GUESTIMMATE 3 PAGE 130

GUESTIMMATE 3

I n t e r v i e w e r: Estimate the market I n t e r v i e w e e: U n d e r s t o o d ! S o h e r e ’ s

size for driverless cars. how I’ll structure this problem as -
I’ll formulate the market size of
I n t e r v i e w e e: I n t e r e s t i n g ! I ’ v e a f e w driverless cars as a percentage of the
questions regarding the problem total new car purchases in the US -
statement before I get into
structuring a solution for the same. Driverless cars unit sales = New car
So, is there a particular geographic purchases in the US x Market share
area that we are considering for the of driverless carsNext, I would
estimation? estimate the total car purchases in
the US in an year by considering the
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s ! I w o u l d l i k e y o u t o replacement cycle of the car -
estimate the market size for the same
in the US. New car purchases in an year = Total
number of cars in the US/Car
I n t e r v i e w e e: S u r e . A l s o , d o y o u w a n t replacement cycleTo estimate the
me to estimate market size in terms total number of cars in a country - I
of unit volumes or in terms of total will start with the population of the
value of cars sold? country and estimate the number of
households in the same by assuming
I n t e r v i e w e r: T h a t ’ s a g o o d q u e s t i o n . an average household size. Further, I
Let's look at it in terms of the unit will then multiply the same with an
volumes. average car per household
assumption -
I n t e r v i e w e e: G r e a t , w e c a n a l w a y s
get to the total value by multiplying Total number of cars in the US =
with an average unit price. So, that Total number of households x Avg.
makes sense. Lastly, the market size cars per household
will include both B2B and B2C sales.
Should I consider both? Total number of households = Total
population/Average household size
I n t e r v i e w e r: L e t s o n l y g o f o r t h e B 2 C
or purchases made by US households. So, does this sound like a fair
approach?
GUESTIMMATE 3 PAGE 131

Interviewer: Yes, that sounds fair! I nt e r v i e w e e: I k n o w t h a t i n t h e U S ,

Lets go ahead. Tesla is the largest producer of
driverless cars. Further, with the
I n t e r v i e w e e: Great! So, let's start model 3 being its most affordable car
with the US population of 300 in the driverless segment, Tesla had
million. I will assume an average sold about 300k cars which is around
household size of 4 in the US to get 1.66% of the total market size. I’ll
the total number of households in the assume this market share to further
country as - 300/4 = 75 million increase marginally to around 2% to
households. get total driverless cars sale as -

Further, given that the US is a high 15 million x 2% = 300,000 cars

income country combined with a
much higher percentage of women in Hence, we reach a market size of
the workforce, we can safely assume 300k driverless cars being sold in the
that on an average, the households in US per year.
the US will have a car each for both
the elder male and female members. I n t e r v i e w e r: I n t e r e s t i n g ! A l r i g h t , w e
Hence, I will continue by assuming can close this year.
the average number of cars per
household as 2.

Hence, we can formulate the total

number of cars in the US as = 75 * 2 =
150 million

Now, I’ll estimate the total car sales

in the US on an annual basis. For the
same, using my prior knowledge, I’ll
assume a car replacement cycle of 10
years. This means that each car
would be replaced by a new one after
10 years of usage. This gives us the
total number of cars sold in an year
in the US as - 150 million/10 years =
15 million cars per year

I n t e r v i e w e r: G r e a t , s o n o w t h a t w e
have reached the total number of car
sales in a year, how would you
estimate the driverless cars market
size?
GUESTIMMATE 4 PAGE 132

GUESTIMMATE 4

P ro b l e m I n t e r v i e w e r: Y ou can consider
I n t e r v i e w e r: E s t i m a t e Z o o m ’ s d a i l y business accounts for now.
server usage during the lockdown
period C a n d i d a t e s: Among business
accounts, should I account for both
Ask clarifying questions event streaming or just professional
C a n d i d a t e: I’d like to ask some calls between employees?
clarifying questions. My
understanding is that Zoom’s server I n t e r v i e w: Y o u m a y p r o c e e d w i t h t h e
usage would comprise of the latter.
following:
1. S t o r i n g information about its C o m m e n t s:
users and their call logs The clarifying questions showcase
2. S t r e a m i n g t h e d a t a ( a u d i o , v i d e o the candidate’s understanding of the
and text) to and from participants different types of data usage that
in a zoom call Zoom may have and the types of
3. M i s c e l l a n e o u s processing tasks users it caters to.
(backend)
Strategy Formulation
Among these, I believe that the C a n d i d a t e: I will approach this
second point would take up the problem by estimating the number of
majority share of the server usage. employed personnel in India working
Shall I proceed with this assumption? white collar jobs. My assumption is
that most of these people would be
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , t h a t s o u n d s r i g h t . using some video conferencing app
for their work day. Zoom has two
C a n d i d a t e: Do you want me to main competitors that I can think of-
account for global usage or Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
constrained to particular geography, However, Zoom has the major share
such as India? of video-conferencing app users, so I
will assume that 60% of the white-
I n t e r v i e w e r: C o n s i d e r t h e u s a g e f o r collar employees use Zoom.
India.
I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , g o a h e a d .
C a n d i d a t e: Are we considering
personal, student, or business
accounts?
GUESTIMMATE 4 PAGE 133

Can d i d a t e: I w i l l u s e t h e f o l l o w i n g C a n di d a t e: F i n a l l y , t o g e t t h e d a t a
general equation: usage per hour, drawing from my
Daily server usage = # of Zoom users personal experience, a zoom call
* data usage per user functions best when I have access to
=60% of white collar employees * at least 1 Mbps of data. So I will
data usage per hour * # hours per assume that a zoom call uses 1 Mbps
user of data in a call. This equates to 360
Mb of data in a n hour.
C a n d i d a t e: F i r s t , I w i l l s t a r t w i t h t h e
number of zoom users. As there are a So, finally we have:
large number of jobs in India that are 30 million zoom users * 2 hours * 360
in the manufacturing and agriculture Mb/hour = 21,600 million Mb = 21.6
sector, I will assume that 10% of the Tb/ day
workforce is employed in white collar
jobs. And to estimate the workforce, I I n t e r v i e w e r: S o u n d s g o o d , t h a n k y o u .
will assume that 80% of adults in the
age range of 20-60 in India are C o m m e n t s:
employed. I will assume that the The candidate provides rationale for
population is uniformly distributed every estimate they make. They also
between the ages of 0-80, so 50% of simplify their calculations by
the population is in the 20-60 rounding off. This is a good trick, as
range.# of white collar employees= numbers can start getting
10%* 80% * 50%* population of India complicated when segmentation is
= 48 million. 60 % of this is roughly done.
30 million.

Among the white collar employees

too, there would be a gradation in
usage based on how critical
collaborative tasks are to their job or
how much time of their work day is
spent in a meeting. So for estimating
data usage, I will consider three
categories of users:
Heavy users: >50% of the work day
spent in a meeting => >4 hours
Medium users: 1-2 hours
Light users: <1 hour

C a n d i d a t e: I w i l l m a k e a s i m p l i f y i n g
assumption that users are distributed
among these categories roughly
normally, so 20% of the users are
heavy users, 60% are medium and
20% are light users and that the
usage for the categories is exactly 4,
1.5 hours and 0.5 hours
respectively.So, average usage per
user = 20%*4 + 60% *1.5 + 20% *0.5
=1.8 hours, which is roughly 2 hours.
PRODUCT DESIGN- DO'S & DON'TS PAGE 134

PRODUCT DESIGN- DO'S & DON'TS

Do’s F o r m a t : A s a ( u s e r p e r s o n a ), I w a n t t o
( n e e d ), s o t h a t ( r a t i o n a l e ).
Laying down the structure: Giving
the interviewer a broad overview of Don’ts
how you plan to approach finding
solutions to the given problem can be Jumping to Solutions/Features: You
beneficial. It helps the interviewer will be judged more on the approach
follow your answer better and helps to the solution and the logic behind
them understand the rationale behind the various decisions you take to find
each step in the approach. the solution. Hence, it is critical to
walk the interviewers through your
Naming personas based on approach.
attributes: Giving your persona a
proper name, e.g. Rahul, is common Spelling out the framework:
as it makes referring to the persona Frameworks are meant to structure
easier. However, a better approach your approach. Avoid mentioning the
would be to name the persona by name of the framework or being too
their defining attribute (which is key obvious in your application of it. A
to your solution), e.g. Sports good practice would be to add some
Enthusiast. variations to the framework.

Map the customer journey: A simple Reporting only the unique solution:
way to approach brainstorming user One always feels the pressure to
needs is to first think about the come up with a unique solution with
series of actions the intended advanced application of
customer would perform in the AI/ML/AR/VR, leaving out the most
context of the question. For example, obvious solutions. While it is
if the question is based on e- important to come up with creative
commerce, write down the list of solutions, it is also necessary to show
actions a user performs to buy a that you can identify the obvious
product on an e-commerce platform. solutions that satisfy important
The needs and problems at each step customer needs.
can then be listed down.
Being married to your first solution:
Reporting needs as stories: User It is recommended to come up with
stories are a concise way of defining multiple features to provide
a user’s needs. alternative strategies.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 1 PAGE 135

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 1

Design a mobile application for an design. Also, I believe we are not

office space sharing business for focusing on monetization for the
Airbnb. business as of now, later for sure,
please correct me if I am wrong.
C o m m e n t: The first step of the However, I will address the payment
candidate is to clarify any issues between the owner and the
ambiguities in the problem person renting it. Now that I
statement. understand the business, I will look
for user segments, then find their
C a n d i d a t e: B e f o r e m o v i n g f u r t h e r , I needs, build user stories, search for
would like to understand a bit more solutions and create an MVP to fit
about the problem at hand. What is these solutions.
the exact business model of this
office sharing app? For whom would C o m m e n t: After understanding the
we be designing the app, the owner problem statement, the candidate
or the renter? And lastly, what is the clears all his/her assumptions
objective of this app. beforehand. Also, he/she gives an
overall flow of how he/she is
I n t e r v i e w e r: Good questions. The attacking the problem. This helps to
whole business idea is that people keep the interviewer intact with the
with extra office space can rent out broad view, and aligned with the
to start-ups or freelancers, Airbnb candidate’s thought. It’s always good
will take the empty space and to first give a high-level view and
remodel it, but the owner will take then go on to the detailing.
care of the operations. We need to
design the app for both owner and C a n d i d a t e: T h e r e a r e 3 u s e r s f o r t h i s
the renter. As of now, the objective is application
to get as many customers as possible 1. O w n e r
on board. 2. T h e p e r s o n r e n t i n g i t
3. A i r b n b
C a n d i d a t e: That’s helpful. I am Which one should I focus on?
assuming that the person who is
renting the space is the owner, just I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u m a y d e c i d e t h a t .
to reduce the complexity of the
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 1 PAGE 136

Can d i d a t e: For any multi-sided C o m m e nt: I t ’ s a l w a y s g o o d t o b r e a k

platform, it is important to solve the down the whole process into
chicken-egg problem. Taking the intermediary stages and figure out
example of Uber who first focused on the customer in these stages, this
on-boarding the drivers, I will also helps in getting the exhaustive list of
focus on owners. Since we are user needs, and avoids missing of any
focusing on the owner, we must first important part.
define their persona. Mostly, the
owner will be a person or a company I n t e r v i e w e r: F a i r e n o u g h . B u t h o w
who have extra space in their will you prioritize among the
building which can be monetized. different needs of the user?
They will be comfortable in sharing
t he i r s pa c e t o a s t r a n g e r . I f i t i s a C a n d i d a t e: S i n c e w e a r e f o c u s i n g o n
company, this will be an additional MVP, I will look at the most needed
source of money. features which are 2, 3, and 4. So my
user stories as an owner are : Keep a
C o m m e n t: The candidate chose a check on the office supplies and
particular user to focus, but he/she other furniture, replenish them
also gave a proper rationale for that. whenever necessaryI want to know
He/she backed it up a similar the rent I will get so that I can decide
business model like of Uber to rightly whether it is meaningful for me or
choose the user. It would have been notA way to interact with the system
better if the candidate would be gone to confirm/cancel bookings and
deeper about the user(the owner) like settlements
their demographics, their size, their
location etc. C o m m e n t: Prioritizing the
requirements is one of the key roles
C a n d i d a t e: F e w o f t h e n e e d s o f t h e of a product manager. Since its a
owners would be boundary spanning role, product
1. F i n d i n g r e l i a b l e p e o p l e t o r e n t i t managers are bombarded with
to, also the ability to approve or multiple tasks of the product, from
decline requests the business team, from the
2. F u r n i s h a n d m a i n t a i n t h e s p a c e engineering team, from the marketing
with office supplies team etc, but the product managers
3. E s t i m a t e d r e n t a n d i n f o r m a t i o n o n have to make hard calls on
rental periods and owner’s rules prioritizing the requirements. Some
4. P a y m e n t a n d c u s t o m e r s u p p o r t of them use the effort-impact matrix
5. S e c u r i t y o f t h e p l a c e to do this, however, there are
multiple other frameworks as well.
The user needs can be analyzed by
navigating through the steps the C a n d i d a t e: F o r a n M V P , I w i l l a d d r e s s
owner would need to go through the all the stories individually first
whole process.

So the needs of the user should be

identified at each stage of the
process.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 1 PAGE 137

Solution to story 1: I n t e r v i e w e r: Would you go ahead

Display the list of all the supplies with all of these?
and furniture available in the
location. C a n d i d a t e: N o , I w i l l e v a l u a t e t h e
Provide the capability to the place solutions in each story based on
orders through the app itself, customer impact and its ease of
Airbnb can provide support. implementation. After the evaluation,
An ability to display to the renters I will select 1,2 in S1, 2 in S2, 1,2 in S3
what all furniture and equipment for the MVP. Do you like me to go in
is present in the office. detail about these?

Solution to story 2: I n t e r v i e w e r: N o , t h i s i s g o o d . T h a n k s
Option for the owner to send the for your time and all the best.
rent to the person renting it
Rent estimation based on C o m m e n t: Candidate could have
Space occupied explained here a bit more about how
No. of days selected the features for the MVP,
Special however, since the interviewer
requests/Customisation confirmed then it’s fine. It’s always
Number of people/employees better to back up your arguments
with data and logic, interviewers are
Solution to Story 3: looking for critical thinking of the
A tab to manage request for ability of the candidate.
renting. Option to confirm/cancel
or chat with an interested person.
Have a payment gateway to pay
full rent in advance. Provide a
weekly settlement into the
owner’s account.
Cancellations/Refunds will be
handled by Airbnb in between
settlements
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 2 PAGE 138

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 2

Perugia's voting turnouts have The government runs awareness

stagnated at 55% in the last few campaigns, but they have reached
years. The Government of Perugia has and affect only a few of the voters.
hired you to design an application to The people skipping are primarily the
improve voter turnout. What are some new voters from the ages of 18-30
of the features you would recommend years of age. The current voting
for such an application? method is just a ballot paper system,
and the government doesn't aim to
Interviewee: Okay. Can I start with a change that. With the application, the
few clarifying questions about the government wishes to attract more
problem? voters to the process and engage
them during the election season to
Interviewer: Sure, go ahead. get them interested and vote more.
Does that help?
Interviewee: What has been
attributed to as the reason behind Interviewee: Yes, it does. From what
the stagnation of the turnouts? Are I could gather, the government would
the people skipping the vote from a like the application to make the
specific demographic? What are the voters more engaged with the voting
current methods of voting in Perugia? process and show up to vote. As the
What is the specific aim of the most affected user base is the new
government with the application, and voters, I'll keep the application
is it supposed to serve as a method of focused on solving their needs. Is
voting at all? that okay?

Interviewer: The voters who have Interviewer: Yes, that is the

skipped have cited reasons of lack of government's target segment as well.
knowledge of the candidates, lack of
interest in the voting process, Interviewee: Okay. From what you
confusion about how the registration mentioned, it seems the new voters
and voting process works, the suffer from both the absence of
perception that their vote doesn't information on multiple levels of the
count for much and that they were voting process and the lack of
busy on the day of voting. interest in the voting process.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 2 PAGE 139

This also shows that the currently Timeline of the voting process
accessible mediums are unable to What's my booth and navigation to
solve this problem, be it conventional the voting booth.
media or otherwise. Looking at the
voting process itself, it could include Addressing lack of interest:
information on the performance of Gamification of the voters:
the current/previous candidate, the Running an app-based
profiles and activities of all daily/weekly quiz to find the most
contesting candidates, their informed voters. There may be
manifestos, the current problems perks associated with that, like
faced by the majority of the citizens, preferential voting etc., depending
how to enter the voting process and on the rules and laws of the land.
where to vote. If these look fine, can Notification centre: Using
I take a minute to think over the notifications specifically to keep
solution? the voter engaged about the
happenings of the process and the
Interviewer: Sure, go ahead. critical dates.
Connect with the candidates: The
Interviewee: Alright. Keeping the candidates can leverage the app to
needs in mind, I have come up with communicate directly with their
the following features in the app: voters specific to the region. On
the other side, the voters could
Addressing lack of information: ask questions and upvote the
Candidate Scorecard: This would questions that they find relevant.
be curated using the information It would be in the candidates'
from their previous work, their interest to answer more of the
previous election performance, questions asked since it would
their headlines in the news, only increase their reach, and the
criminal and other charges against voters would be more engaged.
them. Since we are working with Non-transferrable badges for
the government, some of this voters: Perks like badges, QR to
information can be directly your exclusive photo at the booth
sourced from the candidates, and etc, could be incorporated into
the rest can be gathered from the app to encourage voting.
external sources. Do these look fine, or should I
Application-based registration: By explore more features?
digitizing the voter registration
through the app, the voter would Interviewer: No, these should do.
be able to register from anywhere Could you elaborate on one of the
using the app, reducing the time user workflows that you see the user
and money taken to set up and use having on the application?
an extensive offline registration
system. Interviewee: Sure. Talking about a
News section: Capture the scenario a week before the election
headlines to inform the user of the when the app has the most
current issues in the news, which information. The user would open the
would be localized to their voting app and see their profile details with
region. the gamified score (could be a
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 2 PAGE 140

percentile of how much more

informed they are than the others on
the app), the next quiz they should
attempt, and the latest news on their
voting area. The user takes the quiz
and moves to the candidate profile
tab. The user can select the
current/previous elected member
who is re-contesting. The app gives
the user a candidate scorecard, their
recent work in the office, the
candidate's latest headlines, and the
recent legal charges against them (if
any). The user selects the work tab,
which then elaborates on their recent
participation in the parliamentary
debate, the bills they presented etc.
The user reads the information and
closes the app. That would be a flow
where the candidate engages with the
app and consumes some information.
Does that work?

Interviewer: Yes, that is good

enough. Thank you.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 3 PAGE 141

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 3

You are a PM at Disney. You have The users perform the following
been asked to design an application to activities: -
improve the customer experience at Book the entry ticket to the park
Disney theme parks. What would you Decide on the attraction to engage
do? with
Navigate to the selected attraction
Interviewee: I would like to ask a few Make the payment if the attraction
questions before diving into the has an associated fee
solution. I want to verify whether my Visit eateries for meals or
understanding of the offerings of the refreshments
theme park is correct. The parks
generally offer amusement rides and
shows for entertainment. Theme Based on the activities I listed down,
parks typically have eateries for the users will have the following
customers to eat. Some theme parks needs:-
have an in-premise hotel for Ticket Booking: I would want to
customers to stay. explore the different tiers of
tickets available and their
Interviewer: You can assume that the offerings to find the tier which
theme park you are developing for best suits my budget and
has all the offerings you mentioned interests.
except hotels. Picking the amusement ride/show:
During this phase, the customers
Interviewee: I will start with would have the following needs: -
identifying the primary user of the I would like to understand the
application and then listing down the experience of the attraction I
actions they take while visiting the am planning to visit to ensure
theme park. that the attraction would be
The most common visitors of theme interesting to me.
parks would be families where the I would also like to understand
adults are accompanying the the restrictions (e.g., age,
children. The decision taker would be height) of the ride/show of my
one of the parents, so they would choice to validate that I am
potentially be the primary user of the eligible to visit it.
application.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 3 PAGE 142

Based on the selected parameters, I

I would be visiting the park for would choose ‘Ride Picking’ as the
a fixed amount of time and pain point to be solved.
want to make the best use of
my time. Solution:
I want to visit an attraction The goal of the features to be built
when it is not too crowded so would be to help the customers
that I don’t have to wait in line. optimize the time spent in the park.
Navigate to selected attractions: I Attraction Catalogue: The feature
need help figuring out the way to would help customers explore the
the ride or the show I want to rides and shows available in the
visit. park by filtering them based on
Eateries: I want to pick an eatery their requirements. The rides can
that would provide me with the be filtered based on the following
food I like. parameters: -
Age, Weight, Height – To
Interviewer: The pain point ensure eligibility
assessment seems fair. Assume that Attraction Type – Audio-Visual
you had the budget to solve only one Shows, Rollercoasters, Games
of these problems. Which one would etc.
you select, and what feature would
you build for it? The feature would give the following
information about the attraction:-
Interviewee: I would prioritize the Rules & Regulations
solutions based on the following Video of the ride
parameters: - Timings with available slots (If it’s
1. E f f e c t i v e n e s s o f E x i s t i n g S o l u t i o n s a scheduled show)
2. V a l u e c u s t o m e r w o u l d d e r i v e f r o m Expected waiting time
the problem being solved Customer Reviews
The feature would have an option to
N o t e: A n a l y s i s g i v e i n t h e t a b l e b e l o w pre-book scheduled shows/rides.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 3 PAGE 143

Itinerary Optimizer: The feature

would assist the customers in
building the itinerary for a visit.
The optimizer would be a chatbot
that would take the following
information: -
Duration and Timings of the
visit
Number of visitors
Preferences of each visitor
(type of rides/show they want
to see)
The feature’s output would be an
itinerary that allows the customers to
visit the most attractions, which are
to their liking, in the duration they
are present in the park. The feature
would enable the customer to make
changes to the itinerary manually.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 4 PAGE 144

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 4

India's start-up ecosystem has grown 1. F o u n d e r s : A p e r s o n o r g r o u p o f

immensely in the past decade. As a people who come up with the
product manager at LinkedIn, suggest fundamental idea that forms the
features to leverage the growth in the core business of the start-up
start-up ecosystem. 2. I n v e s t o r s : A high net-worth
individual/group that provides
Interviewee: LinkedIn's mission is to capital to start-ups in exchange
"connect the world's professionals to for ownership equity in the
make them more productive and company
successful." Is it fair to assume that
LinkedIn has successfully attracted Interviewer: Those are the two key
the various stakeholders of start-ups stakeholders. Before moving to the
into registering to their platform (as needs, could you tell me which
shown by the steady growth in their stakeholder you would prioritize?
user base)?
Interviewee: As the business goal is
Interviewer: Yeah, that's true. to increase customer engagement, I
would prioritize the two stakeholders
Interviewee: The goal of the based on the potential for increased
additional features of the platform customer engagement. Investors are
should then be to increase customer generally backed by a professional
engagement. The goal would be team or institution and have the
achieved by banking on LinkedIn's capital to get personalized services
strengths - its large user base, for their needs. Thus, they have
presence of experts from all domains, limited requirements for additional
data analytics capabilities, and services and limited engagement
services like LinkedIn learning. potential. On the other hand, many
founders do not have the monetary
Moving ahead, I would figure out the backing or human capital to meet
stakeholders in the start-up their business needs, thus creating
ecosystem and list down their needs. multiple potential avenues to engage
There are two primary stakeholders with them.
in the start-up ecosystem: -
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 4 PAGE 145

Interviewer: Assume that you have

the resources to build features only 1. M e n t o r s c o n n e c t : I n d u s t r y e x p e r t s
for your priority stakeholder. can be designated as mentors (like
a blue tick). Start-up founders can
Interviewee: A typical journey of a search for mentors based on
start-up from the founder's point of industry and domain of expertise.
view is the following: 2. V C Marketplace: A dedicated
1. I d e a t i n g and Conceptualization: platform on LinkedIn where start-
The founder develops a business ups can post their elevator pitch
idea and conceptualizes a product and funding requirements would
or service offering. The needs be established. Investors can
during the phase are - review the pitch, connect to the
a. M a r k e t R e s e a r c h start-up's team, and negotiate.
b. G u i d a n c e f o r c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n 3. L i n k e d I n learning skills gap
c. I d e a V a l i d a t i o n analyzer: LinkedIn learning would
2. C o m m i t m e n t : T h e f o u n d e r m o v e s be integrated into the training and
from a concept to a company, feedback system of the company.
putting their research into The feature would analyze the
practice. The needs during the team's existing skills and required
phase are – skills and suggest training courses
Prototyping/Simulating idea accordingly.
Building a team
Training the team
Building the Minimum Viable
Product
3. T r a c t i o n & S c a l i n g : T h e f o u n d e r
takes steps to grow the company
which is still in its infancy. The
needs during the phase are –
Raise funding
Marketing product/service
Soliciting customer feedback
Refining product/service

The features are prioritized based on

the compatibility with LinkedIn's
mission and strengths, value to the
customer and lack of existing
solutions fulfilling the needs. Based
on the above criteria, need for
guidance, training the team and raise
funding are prioritized.

I would like to suggest the following

features to satisfy the prioritized
needs: -
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 5 PAGE 146

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 5

Ola management has recognized Identifying stakeholders

travel needs of school kids as a
potential business opportunity. The key stakeholders would be the
Design the experience on Ola to meet service users (school kids –
their needs consumers, their parents -
customers) and the drivers. We will
Comprehending The Situation be designing the service from the
point of view of service users
Interviewee: Would the service be because the new service will be
integrated into the existing Ola drastically different compared to
application or a new application? their usual services from the service
What would be the region of user’s point of view but similar from
operation? the driver’s point of view.

I n t e r v i e w e r: T h i s s e r v i c e n e e d s t o b e Users will be segmented based on:

integrated into the existing Ola Distance between school and
environment. The region of operation residence – A student residing
is India. very close to the school can walk
to the school, use a bicycle, or be
Interviewee: The target audience for dropped off by the parent and will
this service would primarily be probably not avail a bus/van
children falling in the age group of 4- service. On the other hand, a
17 years. As per my understanding, student who resides far away from
the goals for the service would be:- school would look for a more
User acquisition comfortable mode of transport as
Setting up a new revenue stream he/she will have to travel for a
longer time.
Before moving on to the features, I Affordability (parent) – The choice
would like to identify the key of service also depends on how
stakeholders, their needs and the much the parents can afford.
problems they face with the existing
services. Target user segment: Our service
should target the middle-income
Interviewee: Sure, go ahead segment. Higher-income segments
.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 5 PAGE 147

prefer personal vehicles and school Step 2: Commute

bus services and are less likely to 1. L a c k o f d i s c i p l i n e , v e r y u n t i m e l y
look for cheaper alternatives. The 2. D r i v e r s t a k e u n i n f o r m e d / i r r e g u l a r
lower-income segment is not an ideal leaves
segment to target at launch. The 3. I n f o r m a t i o n a s y m m e t r y r e g a r d i n g
service could later be expanded at a driving skills
future stage to cover all the 4. M a n y drivers don’t have
remaining segments. insurance/required paperwork
5. O v e r c r o w d i n g i n t h e v e h i c l e
Interviewer: That sounds fair. What 6. N o t v e r y s e c u r e
other factors will you consider while
building the service. Step 3: Payments
1. I r r e g u l a r p r i c e h i k e s
Interviewee: Another decision- 2. O n e to one dealing with the
making point would be the kind of drivers
service Ola would be planning to 3. N o r e c e i p t s o r o f f i c i a l p a p e r w o r k
offer. The standard services available
are listed below:- All the above-given problems are
Bus – Cheaper, more secure, more must-solves to engender trust in the
timely and disciplined service parent’s mind and ensure the safety
Auto – Unsafe, informal, multiple and comfort of children. The
vendors, more options to choose incremental effort of adding features
from to solve the above pain points is also
Van – Flexible timings, multiple low. Therefore the MVP should solve
vendors, more options to choose all the listed problems.
from, safer option
Cab – Expensive, target higher- Interviewer: Okay Lets move on to
income segments the solution.
Bicycle – Ideal option for
travelling small distances Solutions

Target Service Segment: As the Interviewee: The solution is an end-

current Ola service already includes to-end school drop and pick up
travel via autos, cars and bicycles, we service with the following features
can target all the service segments
excluding buses, as including buses Ola verified drivers: The drivers on
could add huge establishment cost. the platform will be tested and
verified by Ola (driving tests and
I n t e r v i e w e r: T h a t s o u n d a l r i g h t . background checks) to allow parents
to be sure of the driving standards of
Interviewee: the driver. The driving quality will
Step 1: Driver/Vehicle Selection also be kept in check using GPS
1. V e h i c l e c o n d i t i o n i s n ’ t g o o d tracking on the vehicles at all times.
2. L a c k o f d r i v e r / v e h i c l e o p t i o n s
3. P r i c e s are same irrespective of Free trial rides: To onboard new
quality of service customers, a free trial ride will be
4. P r i c e s are same irrespective of offered so that the parents can
quality of service experience the product features live,
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 5 PAGE 148

meet the driver and validate the Step 2: Select Service Type & Driver
vehicle quality before subscribing to Select service type - van/auto etc.
the service. If the parents do not like Look at price estimates for each
the free trial ride, they can report service
the same on the app and provide Select driver
feedback. A customer service rep will Look at driver profile & vehicle
get in touch if needed. condition information
Schedule test ride with the driver
Real-time location u p d a t e s: Finalize driver
Notification in the app for relevant
locations – driver starts the ride, Step 3: Payment and Service
driver 10 mins away from your Agreement
location, driver at your place, driver Select Subscription Model -
at the school, etc. Monthly/Yearly
Sign Online Agreement
B a c k u p a r r a n g e m e n t s: O l a w i l l o f f e r
to arrange for a backup at no extra Step 4: Avail the service
charges if the regular vehicle breaks Confirm Schedule for the week.
down or the driver is unavailable. (Driver to be notified for minor
tweaks in schedule)
Workflow of the application: - See the live location of driver
Select backup vehicle in case of
Step 1: Signing In driver/vehicle unavailability
Create a profile with name ,age,
photograph
Select school and home address
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 6 PAGE 149

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 6

You are a PM for Microsoft Surface Interviewer: Yes, we are looking at a

and Delta asked you to design the 6-8 months timeline of making the
perfect airline entertainment system. changes, and the budget is not a
You decide the features, scenarios, constraint.
and users. What would you do?
Interviewee: Got it. Based on our
Interviewee: I have some clarifying discussion so far and my
questions to ask before we proceed. understanding, the needs of the users
could look like this:
Interviewer: Sure, go ahead Casual Entertainment
Information on the flight
Interviewee: Since airline Other Information
entertainment systems already exists, Communication
do I need to make improvements to Does this sound okay?
the existing system or design one
from scratch? What are their On the user persona side, I think
objectives with this new application? there would be the following user
What is the problem with the current personas that we can look at:
product that you are planning to The busy business traveler already
solve for the user? has internet access
The bored economy traveler
Interviewer: You would need to make The international leisure traveler
improvements to the existing Would you like me to focus on any
software system. The hardware, specific persona?
however, can be changed with the
new corporate relationship between Interviewer: We would ideally like to
MS and Delta. MS wishes to become serve all of them, but let’s look at the
the leading provider of the domestic bored economy traveler for
entertainment system for airlines, the problem.
and Delta wishes to improve the user
experience. The current usage of the Interviewee: Sure. So, let’s dig
system remains low, especially on deeper into the user persona. These
shorter flights. are travellers who are flying for
personal use and are usually at their
Interviewee: Yes, are there any own expense.
constraints?
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 6 PAGE 150

They are on a short flight and can’t Making free and premium
usually afford the in-flight Wi-Fi. The sections: to encourage users to
current system gives them minimal rely on the entertainment system
support unless they spend money to for the flight time rather than look
access the live tv, shows etc. and is for their own devices.
virtually unusable. Quick Navigation to all important
options
The user is left to their own devices
to spend the time of the flight. Would you like me to prioritize some
Addressing their requirements, with of these features?
the needs in the background, I would
like to propose a few features: Interviewer: Yes. As stated, let think
Interface with OTT platforms: of an MVP that can be built within
Users can utilize their existing the stipulated timeline.
subscriptions during transit and
continue their watchlist. Interviewee: Sure. Since time is our
Home screen with options based only constraint. I will focus on the
on topics and areas of interest: features with the highest impact and
This would better assist the users the least effort not only in
in understanding the scope of the development but also in the
content. Currently, the system implementation. I’ve eliminated the
shows the type of entertainment physical changes to devices as they
options like movies, tv-series, require a change in both the software
radio, music etc. and hardware. Therefore, the
Incorporate MS surface abilities features we can focus on for the MVP
like drawing, MS 365 ecosystem could be:
apps: The surface ability gives the Incorporate MS 365 ecosystem
user the apps to create drawings, apps like OneNote, MS office
documents, notes, etc. The user without the login
could also email their work to Interface with the OTT platforms
themselves once done and MSN access on the system
wouldn’t need to log in to secure Making free and premium sections
the user better. These features enable the user with
The MS 365 ecosystem with a login more entertainment options than
option would give additional currently available and make the
access to MS Teams and the user’s experience more convenient to use.
past work for messaging and Moreover, it strengthens the
collaborating. corporate relationship between Delta
MSN available freely on the and Microsoft, increasing their
system: The user would have stickiness.
access to information and stay up
to date with current happenings. Assumptions:
Incorporating MSN as a free The current system can take a
service would serve both software update
companies better. Revenue generation has not been a
Detachable systems for drawing or focus since we looked at only
reading mode improving the user experience
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 6 PAGE 151

Changes in content were also put

out of the current scope of the
problem

Metrics:
Increase in the usage time of the
entertainment system overall
Increase in the number of users
accessing the entertainment
system more a minimum threshold
time
Increase in the customer
satisfaction of the entertainment
system showing a better
perception of the system in the
user’s mind

Would you like me to elaborate

further on any part?

Interviewer: No, this should do.

Thank you.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 7 PAGE 152

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 7

Design an Alexa skill for is that of graphic artists and

artists/designers that can be designers. They use products like
monetized. Adobe Illustrator, GIMP, etc. to
create designs ranging from posters
Comprehend the situation and flexes to logos for clients. This is
one market segment that I can think
C a n d i d a t e: L e t m e j u s t c l a r i f y t h e of targeting. Their needs include
problem statement. I need to design searching for appropriate graphics to
an Alexa skill for artists or designers. be used in their designs and being
I am assuming that this means that able to create the designs in a time-
the skill I am designing shall have a efficient manner.
voice-interface?
The second segment I can think of
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s . Y o u m a y f e e l f r e e are UI designers who create mock
to add other interfaces too. ups of ads, apps, and websites. These
customers can be catered to with the
C a n d i d a t e: O k a y . A r e w e t a r g e t i n g a value proposition of having voice-
particular segment of artists? assisted designing.
Sculpters/painters/graphic artists,
etc.? I n t e r v i e w e r: S o u n d s g o o d .

I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u c a n c o n s i d e r a n y C o m m e n t: This problem statement

artists or designers. requires you to create a revenue
generating product, so it is good to
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u c a n c o n s i d e r a n y identify use cases up front that have
artists or designers. demonstrable monetizing potential.

Identify the customers & Report Cut, through prioritization

their needs C a n d i d a t e: A s t h e b u s i n e s s g o a l i s t o
Candidate: I will first try to identify have a monetizable skill, I will
certain user personas that the Alexa prioritize among the two personas on
skill can cater to. Among artists, the monetization potential. I am aware
most attractive market that has a that Adobe products are provided for
demonstrable monetization potential a high subscription fees. Thus, I think
that professional graphic designers
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 7 PAGE 153

are much more willing to pay for a C a n d i d a t e: The primary revenue

product that they can use, whereas stream is from the sales of the Alexa-
for UI designers, prototyping is a based add-on (which would have to
secondary a c t i vi t y . So, I would be done in conjunction with the
choose graphic designers as my graphic design software). The second
target users. stream is from commission on sale of
premium designs from shutterstock.
List Solutions
I n t e r v i e w e r: I n w h a t w a y w o u l d t h i s Evaluate Trade-offs
Alexa skill cater to graphic I n t e r v i e w e r: As a PM, would you
designers? work on this product to bring it to
market?
C a n d i d a t e: T h e t y p i c a l u s e r j o u r n e y
for a graphic designer is: ideation- C a n d i d a t e: N o . M y r e a s o n s f o r n o t
>planning->searching for pursuing this product to market
graphics/vector clipart to be used- would be:
>designing->iterating. One of the 1. T h e s i z e o f t h i s m a r k e t i s v e r y
issues that I used to face when I small, and developing such a skill
would create posters for my college would require a lot of product
fest was finding appropriate graphics development effort. It is not easy
to be used on the posters. That is one to seamlessly integrate voice
pain point that can be addressed plugins with sophisticated
among the users: search for graphics software like Illustrator.
to be used in their designs, as an add 2. A m a z o n f o c u s e s o n c r e a t i n g v a l u e
on tool for some graphic design for users and creating a complete
software. ecosystem. As a skill that would be
a secondary add on to a graphic
I n t e r v i e w e r: So, how would this software, that would be opted by a
work? few graphic designers, and that
shows limited potential outside
C a n d i d a t e: T h e u s e r c a n c a l l , “ A l e x a , this market, I would not
find me animal clip-arts”. Apart from recommend developing this
asking for clip-arts from a premium product.
library that can be built by
partnering with firms like C o m m e n t: T h e c a n d i d a t e d r a w s o n
ShutterStock, the users can also use personal experience. This gives more
Alexa to make use of voice assistance credibility to their assumptions and
to rapidly prototype designs and prioritization criteria. They also
storyboards. They can ask for the show that it is okay to answer the
right elements and with a touch ‘Would you build this product?’
interface and the voice interface question negatively, if you can give a
reposition elements on their canvas logical and/or business reason for
to generate quick designs. the same.

I n t e r v i e w e r: W h a t a r e t h e p o s s i b l e
revenue streams from this product?
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 8 PAGE 154

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 8

Design a product for social media I n t e r v i e w e r: T h a t s o u n d s o k a y

apps to fight Covid-19
I n t e r v i e w e e: D e f i n i n g u s e r n e e d s f o r
Comprehend the situation each of the categories
I n t e r v i e w e e: I s t h e m a i n p u r p o s e o f
this product to access information Healthcare workers:
easily and reduce misinformation Need to communicate with other
going around and be a reliable source hospitals and government
for data? officials to confirm protocols to
be followed
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , A l o n g w i t h t h i s w e Availability of kits, medicines etc.
would also use this product to build As this is a heavy stress period,
strong support communities in this concentration should be there on
difficult times the mental health of healthcare
workers.
I n t e r v i e w e e: S u r e , W e c a n a l s o s h a r e Express concerns and update the
safe practices to be followed. status of patients etc.

I n t e r v i e w e r: S u r e , G o a h e a d Covid - 19 Patients:
Confirmed patients: Steps to be
Customer Identification and followed next and actions to be
reporting their needs taken
I n t e r v i e w e e: I would like to Non - confirmed patients: Starting
segregate users based on the from testing procedure, what are
emergency and their impact on the the steps to be followed
situation. So, the main segments
would be Government:
Healthcare workers Send alert messages when new
Covid -19 patients cases are detected
Government General information and rules to
Others (Friends, family and be followed - in terms of
everyone else) conveying them to citizens or
checking if they are being
I would like to first define the user followed etc.,
needs of these segments and pick the Track confirmed patients and
most critical one to solve. Is that returnees from abroad
okay?
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 8 PAGE 155

Act as single channel to address Information portal : This will act

all the frequent concerns and as a source where doctors from
questions that public might have different hospitals will be able to
Act as a medium to let public know update different requirements
of the new schemes by they have (like blood, plasma, PPE
government kits etc.,) and update multiple
things like number of patients
All the other users etc., and because large amount of
Act as single trusted source for all people already use different
the information platforms this will be helpful
Protocols to be followed as One of the other objectives in
advised by WHO and other these times is morale building. If
governments we enable users on facebook to
appreciate the real world events
For the purpose of this interview I happening around them, this
would like to address the issues faced would act as a motivator for
by healthcare workers as they are the health care workers in these tough
ones most impacted and have to times. This can probably include
spend long hours at hospital, away sending appreciation stories to
from family and are really important their profile, or give some badges
for us to catch a hold of the or ratings on different platforms.
situation.
While suggesting these you may face
To define these personas a little some questions like by whom, who
more, they are mostly doctors, will support the platform and funding
nurses, hospital staff and other staff etc., be careful to not quote
related to healthcare. The something totally unrealistic.
assumption here will be that most of
these people are well connected with Cut through prioritization
technology and are often 25 years or To come up with the prioritization
older. list let’s consider engineering costs
and the number of people this will
Possible solutions - healthcare impact.
workers especially doctors and So, in my opinion the Information
nurses portal has the highest ROI
In the problems mentioned above for amongst the suggested options
the healthcare workers I would because in these tough times, it is
suggest the following solutions hard to get correct data and
Online counselling app to harder to fulfill the requirements
healthcare workers working needed. This might act as one of
directly with Covid patients: This the ways in bridging that gap.
will be available for both This can be followed by Online
healthcare professionals and their counselling app as keeping
families to help them get through doctors mentally healthy is also
this stressful situation critical.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 8 PAGE 156

A t t h e e n d w e c a n h a v e f a c e b o ok Summary
stories where others can To summarise, data has a crucial role
appreciate the real word to play to understand the spread of
happenings to increase morale of disease, capacity of workforce we
doctors and nurses. have, necessity of medical equipment
etc., so the process of data sharing
Success metrics should be seamless, for this reason
#people using this service (in the idea of an information portal is
terms of regions, professions in a prioritised.
time frame like 1 months, 3
months etc.,) - helps us
understand the attractiveness of
our features
#of requests answered by
government officials in terms of
supplying kits, filling up
vacancies, addressing concerns
(converted) - on daily basis
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 9 PAGE 157

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 9

Design a new bicycle renting app to be R e si d e n t s :

used in a college’s campus. College students: They would
be young (generally, 18 yrs to
I n t e r v i e w e e: S o w e h a v e t o d e s i g n a 30 yrs) and tech savvy.
bicycle renting application for the However, they will have lower
people staying in large college willingness to pay. They might
campuses. I want to confirm that the use the bicycles for faster
goal of this product will be to provide commuting between hostels
an easy mode of commute for the and academic complexes, and
college’s residents? Also, will these for leisure campus rides.
bicycles be allowed to be driven Faculty members: The younger
outside campus? section of faculty members
might be interested in utilizing
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , t h i s i s t h e g o a l . T h e the bicycles for commuting
bicycle can be driven only inside the within campus. Their
campus. willingness to pay would be
higher than that of students.
I n t e r v i e w e e: Then this can be a College staff: They would
mobile application, thus, giving users comprise guards, mess workers
the flexibility to plan the commute and workers in food outlets.
from anywhere. Moving forward, I Fewer of these will be tech
will first identify the customers for savvy and have higher
the product, then list down and willingness to pay than
prioritize their needs. Then, I will students. Their main goal
brainstorm the solutions and would be to travel from one
prioritize among them for the MVP. location to another faster and
Lastly, I will define the success carry goods.
metrics for the product. Does this Visitors: They may visit the
plan look good? campus during fests, conferences
and competitions. Their
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , p l e a s e c o n t i n u e . willingness to pay might be higher
when compared to resident
I n t e r v i e w e e: T h e r e c a n b e f o l l o w i n g students. Their goal would be to
type of users: travel from dorms to event
locations faster and sightseeing.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 9 PAGE 158

Whom shall I focus on for this 5. She will end the ride after reaching
interview? the destination so that she can stop
the meter from charging her
I n t e r v i e w e r: L e t s f o c u s o n s t u d e n t s . anymore.

I n t e r v i e w e e: Sure. I will first list 6. She would want to make the

down the needs of a student as per payment through the apps she
their user journey. commonly uses so that she doesn't
1. A student would want to find the have to maintain a new wallet.
nearest available bicycle so that she
is aware of where the bicycle can be 7. She would want to generate
picked from. Furthermore, she would recurring bicycle booking requests so
block the bicycle for some time so that she can have a mode to commute
that no one else takes it by the time for each of her classes.
she reaches there.
8. She might want to synchronize her
2. She might need directions to reach academic calendar with bicycle
the nearest bicycle stand. booking so that a bicycle can be
tentatively blocked for her.
3. After reaching the location, she
would have to identify her bicycle For MVP, we would initially focus on
and unlock it to start the ride. fulfilling the following needs so that
students rent the bicycle for easy
4. New students might want to be commuting: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6.
navigated to the destination.
Students will also require an B ra i n s t o r m i n g f e w f e a t u r e s f o r M V P
emergency contact number whom of mobile ap p l i c a t i o n and also
they can reach out in case the bicycle measuring their impact:
breaks in the route.
NEW PRODUCT DESIGN 9 PAGE 159

B a s e d o n t h i s , I w i l l p r i o r i t i ze t h e f o l l o w i n g f e a t u r e s : 1 , 2 , 3 , 8 , 1 0 , 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 3 , 1 6 .

To measure the success of the product, I would track the following metrics:
No. of app downloads per month
No. of new registrations per month
No. of rides per month
Average duration of a ride
Average distance of a ride
Percentage of pickups from each point
Percentage of drops from each points

Would you like me to do something more?

I n t e r v i e w e r: T h i s i s g o o d . T h a n k y o u !
QUESTION BANK PAGE 160

QUESTION BANK

Live Sports Streaming Book Lending Service

Amazon is planning to venture into Book readers have a large number of
the live sports streaming segment. physical books that they have
You are the PM in charge of leading read/don't intend to read in the near
the initiative. Describe the future. Design an application that
experience you would build. lets them earn some money by
lending out the books.
Mobile phone for the elderly
You have been tasked to build a Social Media for the elderly:
mobile phone for the elderly. What Design a social media app that caters
would the MVP for the same include? to the needs of the elderly.

B-School ERP Health & Wellness

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) B-School students often prioritize
refers to a type of software that academics and career over their
organizations use to manage day-to- health. Build an
day activities. It generally takes the application/device/website that
form of a website where different would increase the focus on
stakeholders can login to manage managing health & wellness.
their daily activities. Design an ERP
website for a B-School. Myntra Return Rate
There has been 12% increase in
Investment App product returns on Myntra in the last
Design an application to create the 4 months. Suggest features to reduce
habit of investment in rural India. the return rate.

Mall App Invigilation App:

You have been hired by Beta Two The director of IIB has noticed an
mall's IT team as a PM. You have been increase in cases of malpractice
asked to build an application to during its take-from-home online
improve the visitor experience of the entrance exam. Design a test taking
mall. How would you go about doing platform that would make
it? invigilation of the tests easier.
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 1 PAGE 161

GO TO MARKET
STRATEGY 1

Interviewer: Our company wants to Candidate: So, who are the target
launch a social fitness product. How users for this app? I assume it would
would you develop its go-to-market be fitness enthusiasts who are also
strategy? tech-savvy.

Candidate: Interviewer: Yes, you are right. We

(Ask clarifying questions about the are targeting people in the age group
product, what it does, what problem it of 20-60 years, living in
solves and how, target market and the metropolitans and urban areas of
goal of the launch) India.
What kind of a product is this? Is it a
tangible product like smartwatches Candidate: Is this a new product or
or a smartphone app? an existing one being launched now
in India? And, what is the goal of this
Interviewer: It is a smartphone app launch?
where users can connect with other
fitness enthusiasts. The users can Interviewer: This is a new product,
share updates about their workouts, and India is the first country where it
diet plans, progress etc. with each would be launched. The MVP launch
other. They can work together and beta testing were successful and
through video conferencing on the now we want to launch the full
app itself and compete against other version in the market. The goal,
users in groups or individually in therefore, is to build awareness,
regular challenges hosted on the app. drive adoption and generate revenue.
The aim is to encourage users about
health and fitness through peer Candidate: Okay, thank you for
motivation. answering my questions.

Candidate: Okay. Are you partnering (Analyse the market situation – take
with other third-party apps? company, product, customer,
competitor, and market landscape into
Interviewer: Yes, users can also consideration)
share their updates on other social
networking accounts like Facebook The company is a sports equipment
and Instagram. It can also connect to company that manufactures footwear,
smartwatches and wearables to sports and casual apparel. They are
enable automatic updates. looking to diversify their offerings by
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 1 PAGE 162

entering the smartphone app space. Acquisition - conversion rate, cost of

There are some synergies on both customer acquisition, # of downloads
sides of the business. Major Retention - churn rate
competitors would be other fitness
apps currently in the market like Engagement – avg. session time, what
MyFitnessPal, cult.fit, HealthifyMe, features are being used, # of
FTTR etc. Today, especially in the updates/posts posted
covid era, physical activities and
social interactions have reduced. Customer satisfaction – feedback in
This product covers both of these the form of ratings and reviews, NPS
aspects. Moreover, people are scores
becoming aware of the importance of
good health and the fitness industry Revenue and market share – are we
is in the growing phase in India. meeting our revenue and market
Now that we have analysed different share goals
components, we can go to the
launching strategy. I will divide the I will use the feedback information
activity into 3 stages: pre-launch, and engagement information to plan
l a u n c h a n d p o s t - l a u n c h. for v2 potentially.

Pre-Launch:
Pricing – The product could be a free
app with ad based revenue or follow a
freemium model or could be a
mixture of both (depends on the
discussion with the interviewer)

Create buzz – through marketing

activities like releasing teasers on
social media channels and promotion
by fitness influencers

Launch:
Place – Since this is an app, it will be
released via app stores(android and
iOS)

Promotion - start marketing the

product actively by employing digital
and social media marketing tactics.
We should also advertise the product
in gyms and wellness centres. And we
can also use SEO to help gain
traction for the application on the
web as well as on the app stores.

Post -Launch:
Now, we will measure the
performance by tracking relevant
metrics. Some examples could be:
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 2 PAGE 163

GO TO MARKET
STRATEGY 2

Market entry strategy for the hand- need an expensive setup in a

held gaming device for PC games at traditional PC.
affordable rates.
Product:
Marketing Goals: (What are the product, its
(A s k c l a r i f y i n g q u e s t i o n s ) specifications, and the current market
entry strategy envisioned by the
1. P o s i t i o n t h e p r o d u c t i n t o a n i c h e company?)
segment entailing the go-to PC
gaming with seamless PC A hand-held gaming console powered
connectivity. by AMD options ranges from 64GB
2. C r e a t e space into already mme to 512 GB nvme (There is a large
competitive hand-held gaming gap between mme and nvme. Why is
space the mme option even considered?).
The specs seem enough to run a
Overview: typical game in 720p resolution.
(Enquire about the company's details, Current go-to market entry is based
the prevailing situation, and the value on pre-booking with a delivery date a
proposition the company seems to year ahead of the launch date.
fulfil) Comment on an ideal go-to-market
strategy for such a product and any
Valve Corporation has developed a improvements that may be
hand-held gaming device that incorporated into the steam deck's
purports to maintain steam PC library launch
games into a hand-held device. The
hardware offers an opportunity to Competitors:
experience high-end gaming
experience on a hand-held device. It 1. N i n t e n d o Switch: Leader in the
aims to leverage an already segment offering two modes of
established position in the PC gaming playing viz. plugging the switch to
market by enabling a user to play any dock or playing as a stand-alone
game in the user's library. It is more device. An extensive gaming
than a hand-held console and leans library is available, entailing
towards a portable PC with various numerous Nintendo titles.
storage and CPU options. The 2. G a m i n g M o b i l e d e v i c e s : H i g h - e n d
software is optimised towards a gaming devices like Asus ROG, One
smooth gaming experience which may plus pro, and Ipad pro cater to
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 2 PAGE 164

multiple users' needs, viz gaming and Proposed Initiatives:

productivity. The increasing library
of mobile games has pushed users 1. M a r k e t i n g v i a d i r e c t c h a n n e l s t o
against stand-alone consoles. the already subscribed users of
However, the gap between mobile the Steam PC platform. A discount
games and PC games persists. should be offered in pre-booking
stage to bring the most loyal
Customers: customers on board.
(W h a t d o e s a t y p i c a l c u s t o m e r l o o k 2. T h e mobile gamers may be
like? What are the primary targeted via advertisements in the
requirements of a typical customer? standard games available on both
Any niche customer segment which platforms.
may be looked at?) 3. T o p p l a y e r s o f t h e f a m o u s g a m e s
should be roped in. The streaming
1. T h e g a m i n g e n t h u s i a s t s l o o k i n g of the games played on the
for a more convenient setup for portable device should be
gaming: These users are already incentivised to remove inhibitions
familiar with the steam interface in the minds of prospective
offerings and would like the buyers.
product as an extension for the 4. P a r t n e r s h i p s with the top-
primary setup. grossing gaming companies should
2. O n t h e m o v e e n t h u s i a s t s w h o m a y be initiated, which should
be gaming enthusiasts but do not incorporate interoperability
use services offered by the steam. between the platforms. The
These customers need to be made dedicated hardware and software
aware of the value proposition of of the device shall bring in more
Steam Deck. It may be assumed users.
that these customers are looking
at the steam deck to be their Summarize:
primary device. (I n d i c a t e h o w t h e o b j e c t i v e s a r e m e t
3. H e a v y m o b i l e g a m e r s l o o k i n g f o r with the initiatives.)
better alternatives for mobile
gaming: These customers want a By addressing the high-performance
better experience than mobile need of the current mobile users and
gaming. Again these are looking the portability need of frequently
for a device that may be their mobile users, steam may carve out
primary gaming device unique space for its product. The
irrespective of the PC platform. targeted message towards the
existing users about interoperability,
Context: synchronisation shall help the
company to induct them.
The portability of the device has
become an important consideration
in recent times. Cloud services may
enable a better experience with lower
hardware specifications and costs in
future. However, a gap persists in the
"on the go" gaming market.
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STRATEGY 3

Interviewer: Swiggy has decided to 1. C u s t o m e r s – Customers usually

enter the table reservation category aren’t aware of the different
in restaurants. Formulate a launch restaurants in their cities. They
strategy for the same. would like to search for
restaurants offering dining
Candidate: according to their cuisine and
(Ask clarifying questions about the budget preferences. Under
product, what it does, what problem it cuisine, they would like to know
solves and how, target market and the the variety of dishes served.
goal of the launch) Customers do not like waiting, so
they would want to know the
Can you tell me more about the waiting time beforehand. They
product, like if you want to create a would also like to know about the
new app for this requirement, or availability of parking space,
would this be a new feature in the timings etc. And most importantly,
existing app? they would like to reserve tables
so that they don’t have to join a
Interviewer: So the product is still in queue when they reach the
the idea conceptualisation phase. I restaurant.
was hoping you could help me with 2. R e s t a u r a n t s – Restaurants are
that. aware that if they cannot handle
demand effectively in their
Candidate: All right, for table restaurants, they would lose out
reservation, there would be three on customers who had to wait too
major stakeholders, the customers, long. On the other hand, if a
restaurants and Swiggy. I would restaurant reserves a table for a
suggest creating a new feature in the customer, then they can’t give it
app itself as Swiggy already has a to another customer. They must
large customer base, therefore keep the table vacant until the
creating awareness and growing designated customer arrives. Due
customer adoption about this to this, there are chances of them
product would be easier. Next, I want losing out on prospective
to look at the pain points of the customers.
stakeholders involved to come up
with the product features
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 3 PAGE 166

Interviewer: But don’t you think teasers on social media channels,

Zomato already provides these putting up billboards.
features?
Launch
Candidate: Yes, so one differentiating We can start marketing and
feature of this product would be that promotional activities to build
customers can also pre-order their customer awareness: traditional and
dishes while reserving a table. This modern channels
way, they wouldn’t have to wait for
their orders to be prepared in the Post Launch
restaurant. Swiggy can provide Now, we will measure the
estimated arrival times of customers performance by tracking relevant
to the restaurants so that they can metrics. Some examples could be:
start preparing their orders
accordingly. Acquisition - conversion rate, cost of
customer acquisition
Interviewer: Okay, I have one more
question. If the customer has booked Engagement – # of reservations,
a table for a particular time and is bounce rate, % of reservations where
late, what happens then? Should it customer visited the restaurant out
continue to be blocked at the cost of of total reservations, % of
losing another customer? reservations where customer arrived
before the end of buffer period
Candidate: We can provide a buffer
time beyond a customer’s reservation Customer satisfaction – feedback in
time till which the restaurant will the form of ratings and reviews, NPS
reserve the table for them. If the scores
customer arrives later than the
allotted buffer time then he/she will Revenue and market share – Are we
have to wait if the restaurant is fully meeting our revenue and market
occupied. share goals?

In t e r v i e w e r: O k a y . C o n s i d e r i n g t h i s I will use the feedback information

to be what the application does, how and engagement information to
would you go about launching it? expand it to other cities potentially.

Candidate: I would like to divide the

marketing activities into three
buckets. Pre-launch, Launch, and
Post-launch. I would like to go
through this one by one.

Pre-launch
Swiggy can release this product in
big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore,
Delhi etc first where the dining
culture is big to observe customer
adoption. They can create hype
around the new feature through
marketing activities like releasing
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 4 PAGE 167

GO TO MARKET
STRATEGY 4

Market entry strategy for an all- awareness to diagnosis. The

encompassing mental health increased awareness about mental
App/product health should prompt a user into
using the App. Thus, an element of
Marketing Goals: the offering should entail awareness
(A s k c l a r i f y i n g q u e s t i o n s ) about mental health and removing its
1. P o s i t i o n t h e p r o d u c t a s a o n e - s t o p stigma. Various organisations,
solution for mental health needs. including many non-profits and
The offerings should range from governmental ones, are engaged in
detection, self-help, preliminary the sector. The company aims to be a
diagnosis, expert help, and regular one-stop solution for such needs.
motivation. The current App focuses on the
2. A d d r e s s u s e r s ' p r i v a c y c o n c e r n s specific aspects of mental health,
about user data sharing and the whether mindfulness, anxiety or
confidentiality of users' limiting digital time.
information and diagnosis.
3. I n c r e a s i n g the uptake by other Product:
stakeholders in the programme (W h a t i s t h e p r o d u c t , a n d w h a t a r e t h e
viz. regulatory bodies, certified privacy concerns that may perturb a
practitioners, academics and user?)
associations dealing with the
matter. The product should focus on
prevention, preliminary diagnosis,
Overview: awareness, and expert help. The
(E n q u i r e about the prevailing product aims to track user data
situation and value proposition the across various platforms, and thus,
company sims to fulfil) certain inhibitions may arise about
data sensitivity and its sharing with
Mental health is being recognised as others. Additionally, mental problems
an important element of overall still carry a social stigma. The user
wellbeing. However, it is continued should not have any concern about a
to be ignored. The mobile and other breach of private information in any
electronic devices present an regard. Consequently, the company
immense opportunity to engage users has adopted no data sharing policy.
in this space. It shall include all
aspects of mental health, from The product shall have various
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 4 PAGE 168

features like a meditation session, Customers:

mindfulness session, gratitude (W h a t d o e s a t y p i c a l c u s t o m e r l o o k
journal. The relevant options are to like? What are the primary
be suggested to a user without requirements of a typical customer?
overwhelming them. The primary Any niche customer segment which
option to take user input includes m a y b e l o o k e d a t ?)
filling in keywords about their day,
rating it, searches, and App usage 1. A n o v e r w o r k e d i n d i v i d u a l f a c i n g
data. The motivation game feature is difficulty in balancing personal
an innovation of the product which life with professional life. The
presents a relevant historical resultant anxiety has affected
anecdote to uplift the mood by asking both aspects of their life.
the user to make the right choice. 2. A t y p i c a l i n d i v i d u a l s t u c k a t h o m e
in times of COVID. The sheer
The recommendations and advice are amount of change faced by such
to be based on expert help and individuals has caused numerous
guidance. In this regard, changes in their psyche. The
experimental features shall be unknown nature of experience has
available to limited users. The caused them not to be able to
necessary regulatory obligations decipher their situation correctly.
regarding privacy concerns and 3. T h e s i l e n t m a j o r i t y a r e p l a c e d i n
expert qualifications are given due various conditions which may be
importance and highlighted in the suffering from some mental
product. problem yet remain unaware. The
diversity of the segment prevents
Competitors: drawing sweeping generalisations.
It may range from a student
There exist numerous products struggling through their course
targeting specific aspects of mental work, a homemaker who recently
health. Digital well being is now found themself in an entirely new
being offered in the OS of most environment or even a worker
devices. Some enable users to faced with severe workplace
demand therapy sessions at any time. hazards every day.
Others enable users to have a
gratitude journal or takes them Proposed Initiatives:
through simple exercises to uplift
their mood. Others take a spiritual 1. A w a r e n e s s v i a d i r e c t c h a n n e l s o n
take towards mental health and social media sites. The non-profit
address common concerns. On a and government bodies should be
different note, many products enable roped in to advertise about the
users to develop a healthy routine, prevalence and harmful effects of
habits, and dietary plan, essential for mental problems. It is along with
mental wellbeing. term initiative, which should be
scaled up in due time.
The problem with such offerings is 2. M a r k e t i n g v i a d i r e c t c h a n n e l s t o
that a person must be self-aware the already subscribed users of
about the problem they face and must similar products. The dedicated
look for the right application, which user therapist (enclosed in the
may not be true. expert guidance platform) should
be leveraged to bring in some
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 5 PAGE 169

GO TO MARKET
STRATEGY 5

I n t e r v i e w e r: You are PM at the u s e a d s t o g e n e r a t e re v e n u e . O n e o f

F ace b o ok b u i l d i n g f o r I n d i a . Y o u ’ r e the main reasons for a freemium
tasked to come up with a Go to model is to get the users to use the
Market strategy for a dating p r o d u c t a n d r e a l i ze t h e v a l u e b e f o r e
application that Facebook has come asking them to pay. There is also the
up with. aspect of network effects. Getting
more users on the platform is very
C a n d i d a t e: B e f o r e I m o v e o n , I w a n t important for its success.
to clarify the marketing goal. It is to
launch the application in India? I n t e r v i e w e r: S o h o w d o e s F a c e b o o k
fit in this market? What can Facebook
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , y o u n e e d t o c o m e do differently?
up with a strategy to launch this
application in India. C a n d i d a t e: T a l k i n g a b o u t F a c e b o o k , I
think the goal of Facebook is to bring
C a n d i d a t e: S u r e . I w o u l d l i k e t o s t a r t the world close together and help
off by analyzing the current dating build communities. A dating platform
application market. Dating is among that enables building new
the top-grossing categories on the connections fits right into its vision.
Google play store in India. People are The key strength of Facebook is its
willing to pay for such products. The data. It can leverage this data to find
top applications which in can recall an almost perfect match. However,
are Tinder, Bumble. They are a global dating experiences vary from culture
product. There are quite a few local to culture. Facebook has to keep in
products as well. But all these are mind that dating expectations are
dating applications first. None of completely different in India
them have the capabilities that compared to western countries. So
Facebook has, in terms of Social the data on users and their networks
graph, user preferences, etc. Most of can be leveraged to build a product
the users are between the ages of 18 that people can trust. Dating
- 27. They are usually in college or platforms in the market struggle to
early stages of their professional keep the platform clean of bots and
careers. Most of the dating platforms fake accounts. This is a huge
follow a freemium model. They also problem, which is hard to solve
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 5 PAGE 170

without taxing the actual users to Post-launch - Facebook should

give out personal information. actively market the product and
However, the current platforms have educate the users about how this
the advantage of understanding the platform is different from its
users’ behavior. They also have brand competitors. They can use existing
equity. This would take quite some products like Facebook and
time to build. Facebook can have Messenger to market this product.
features like fraud detection and a
better recommendation system to Now, talking about distribution;
win over the customers’ trust. So Facebook can launch this as a
Facebook should focus on providing a separate application. Facebook has
platform for building lasting access to 300 million Indian users
relationships as they have enough and they can use this user base to
data about the users and their market the product to.
behavior.
I n t e r v i e w e r: N o w l e t ’ s m o v e o n t o
I n t e r v i e w e r: Okay, this is good. the retention of these users.
Considering this to be what the
application does, how would you go C a n d i d a t e: S u r e . W h e n i t c o m e s t o
about launching it? dating platforms, retention is
dependent on the value people derive
C a n d i d a t e: Sure. I would like to in terms of connections made.
divide the marketing activities into Facebook should not focus on
three buckets. Pre-launch, Launch, whether the said match goes on a
and Post-launch. I would like to go date or meet up in real life as there
through this one by one. are a lot of other factors beyond
Facebook control. The primary focus
I n t e r v i e w e r: S o u n d s g r e a t . G o o n should be on how happy a user is
with the kind of people they meet on
C a n d i d a t e: O k a y . the platform. We can measure this by
seeing how long they interact with
Pre-launch - Facebook should ideally each other on the platform and also if
start by testing it in a few regions they add each other on Facebook as
within India. Probably start with friends. We can also ask them for
metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore feedback a week after they start
where the dating culture is more interacting with each other. We need
progressive. Facebook should create to message the feedback in such a
hype around the product. They could way that the users realize why the
release teasers, small clips showing feedback is being taken.
what the product could do.
I n t e r v i e w e r: H o w w o u l d y o u g o a b o u t
Launch - They should launch the pricing this product?
product by creating a virtual/ live
event. All the competitors in the
market are kind of established, so
Facebook should seek to make an
impression on its users.
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 5 PAGE 171

C a n d i d a t e: The product should be C a n d i d a t e: Sure. The goal for

free for all users. New experiences Facebook would be to stand out and
can be added later which can be differentiate itself from the
made paid. We can also tap into live competition. The focus should be on
experiences with virtual parties, b u i l d i n g l o n g t e r m r e l a t i o n s h i p s, b e i t
events, etc. They can also create a friendship or dating. Moving on to
pro version for the user which would marketing, Facebook should focus on
unlock several features to find better creating hype towards the product.
matches or even find matches This will also set the right
quicker. expectations for the users. They
should back that up with a launch
I n t e r v i e w e r: T h i s i s g o o d . C o u l d y o u that involves its users. However, it
please summarize the whole plan? would be a product that would
determine success. Most platforms
don’t have enough data to find the
perfect match for a person.
Therefore, the value derived from the
platform is not maximum. Also, these
platforms struggle to identify bots or
fake accounts on their platform.
Facebook can differentiate itself by
solving these very problems.
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STRATEGY 6

Interviewer - The company “Grocers” i n t r o d u ce new services, make the

wants to launch a product which does logistics cheaper. The product has
grocery delivery service. Give us a features like scheduling of delivery,
Go-to-market strategy for the taking limited credit, vernacular
company. language support.

C a n d i d a t e -  W h a t a r e t h e g o a l s o f Weaknesses: Security of customer

the company? What are the data, Technical glitches in the
company’s strengths and weaknesses? product, Mismatch or errors by the
human agents in the system like
Interviewer - The company wants to delivery agents.
capture market share in Tier-2 cities
and towns in the country. The Candidate - How do competitors
product has vernacular language position their products? What are
support, which adds further strength their strengths and weaknesses?
to the company’s goal of entering
Tier-2 cities and towns. Interviewer - Given the current
changing scenario, we can divide the
Candidate - What does the product competitors based on the delivery
do and what is the value proposition channels as Online Delivery platforms
for the customer? What are the and physical stores.
strengths and weaknesses of the
product? Within Online Platforms, we have
Hyperlocal services (like Bigbasket,
Interviewer - The product delivers Grofers, Swiggy Genie etc) and E-
goods listed on the app/website to Commerce platforms (like Amazon,
your doorstep, with a minimal Flipkart etc). The hyperlocal delivery
delivery charge. With the stress on services now have a quicker delivery
social distancing, the product gives time when compared to the E-
the freedom of shopping from home. commerce platforms. E-Commerce
platforms are venturing into grocery
Strengths: The product captures data delivery now lately. The advantage
and the same can be used to predict that the online platforms have are
demand, improve product features, the aggregation of orders and that
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 6 PAGE 145

successively helps in planning the We offer different payment options

deliveries and procurement better. for the customers like Cards, Wallets,
Also, tech products give abundant UPI and also take credit with a limit
user data, from which insights can be based on the customer profile. There
mined and used. is subscription-based payment for
certain products such as milk, which
Within the traditional physical can be delivered daily. Our revenue
stores, we have Organised and stream includes the delivery fee and
Unorganised retail. In organised the margins that we get on each
retail, we have big players (like order.
Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, D-Mart
etc) and small players (like local Candidate - What are the trends?
supermarkets). Big players have the What are the legal and regional
advantage of big basket size and issues?
enjoy economies of scale Under
unorganized retail, we have the local Interviewer - The Online e-
kirana stores. The unorganized retail commerce industry is currently
usually works with low volume and growing very fast due to the Covid’19
high margin sales. scare. Many new players are coming
in, like Amazon, Flipkart who are
Since our target market is Tier-2 getting into the grocery category to
cities and towns, we do not have Big meet the increased demand amidst
Organized retailers and Hyperlocal Covid’19.
delivery services to a large extent.
The major competitors still would be Candidate - I want to segregate the
physical stores only. marketing activities in 3 headers,
pre-launch, launch, and post-launch.
Candidate - Who are our customers? I’ll cover different aspects like
What do customers want to use the Product, Distribution, Promotion,
product for? How do they pay for the Partnerships, Retention strategy,
product? Pricing that are associated with the
launch.
Interviewer - With the pandemic Speaking about the features that
situation, working professionals in the product must have, While
metros have moved to WFH. They are moving to Tier-3 cities and towns,
either working from their homes in it is necessary to focus on
the same city or have moved to their regional features like vernacular
homes in Tier-2 cities and towns. languages, buying habits of
They now live with their parents, who consumers, traditional customs
are aged and have a higher risk due etc.
to the pandemic. Regarding d i s t r i b u t i o n  , the
product can be available as an App
They would take sufficient on the Playstore, Website and
precautions to ensure that the aged Ordering via Phone. Ordering via
parents are safe and would be phone is an important channel to
inclined to use all the means consider because our goal is to
available to ensure that. The capture tier-2 cities and towns.
customers can use our product to do
their usual grocery shopping in a
safer manner.
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 6 PAGE 173

About Promotions, An outbound P a rt n e r s h i p s with farmers and

marketing strategy can be used to mandis would enable procuring
cover the audience in masses, fresh supplies in a lower cost.
again due to the nature of Loyalty programs to ensure
consumers in Tier-2 cities. While customer retention, accumulated
a significant number of people in data would enable better logistics
these places would have ordered planning and hence cheaper
online, our outbound marketing delivery costs.
strategy should be focused on The product pitches in the enable
making this a habit. the convenience of shopping from
Partnerships with wholesalers and home, amidst and post Covid’19
suppliers. Partnerships with local where physical distancing is very
farmers to buy fresh produce, at important. The competitors here
low prices. are Local supermarkets and Kirana
To keep users actively using the stores where the consumers have
product, retention strategies like to interact physically. Whereas
Promotions and discounts based our product enables consumers to
on a Loyalty program. follow physical distancing.
Our Pricing  s t r a t e g y can be
offensive or defensive. The
offensive could be price
leadership, penetration pricing,
price/performance pricing, or
promotional discounts. Defensive
could be value-based, maintaining
the highest price, price skimming,
or bait-and-switch pricing. We
could go with an Offensive pricing
with promotional discounts to
capture market share from Local
supermarkets and Kirana stores.

Interviewer - Can you summarize the

launch strategy for the company and
wrap it up?

Candidate - The company is aiming

to capture a market share in the
grocery space in Tier-2 cities and
towns in India, through Online
delivery service.
To target the Tier-2 consumers
effectively, the product has
vernacular language support,
Ordering via Calls, Outbound
marketing strategy to educate and
create awareness among the
people.
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STRATEGY 7

How would you launch a Multi-Cloud The key partnerships from the
architecture service in India? primary business carries over to
this business smoothly. There are
Marketing Goal synergies in both sides of the
Ask clarification questions to business.
understand what the main objective Because the company is not well
is- known in the space, raising
The objective is to raise awareness awareness of their capabilities and
for the technology and how can the variety of solutions is
the company help with the important.
assembly and deployment of the
solution. P r o d u c t- What exactly is the
As you can assume, this is a B2B product? What are the key
marketing case. differentiating factors?
The product is a service provided
Analysis by the company where they will
C o m p a n y —  W h a t a r e t h e g o a l s o f t h e create a platform for the client
company? What are the company’s which can host information on
strengths and weaknesses? both public clouds like Microsoft
The company is an emerging Azure, AWS etc. and private cloud
player in the cloud service through data centres. The service
industry with partnerships with would include both gaining access
multiple cloud infrastructure to public cloud as well as
providers. The focus is selling the deployment of private data
clients on the idea of having centres to host a private cloud.
public as well as private cloud for The differentiating factor is the
a seamless access to all the data. number of different partnerships
The company has been a pioneer the company has with different
in the tech world and is well component manufacturers, OEM’s
renowned for its hardware and ISV’s. Hence the optimisation
products. They are looking for an of parts and integration done by
expansion to other sectors as the the partnership is much more
competition in their primary efficient than doing this
industry is growing at a rapid individually. This aspect needs to
space. be highlighted.
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 7 PAGE 175

C o m p e t i t o r s- Who are the major point of time, it would be good to

competitors? What are the have a private cloud which hosts the
s u b st i t u t e s t o t h e p r o d u c t s ? information as well. This also works
A couple of other Global System the other way around.
integrators(GSI’s) have a service in
this domain but the company’s Marketing Activities
offering is more detailed and it The activities are bifurcated on the
helps with the ground up build. In basis of the objective being fulfilled
comparison to competitive by them, feel free to use these
services where you would have to examples for any other case where
avail multiple services to achieve you can identify application for
the same end result. them-
Talking about the substitutes, the Lead A c q u i s i t i o n- Mass broadcast
company can opt to have either programs can be conducted to
public cloud let’s say from AWS or generate opt-ins as well as leads for
just go for private cloud where targeted communication. The
lets say Lenovo would build them programs can include broad
the servers and the company goes technology podcasts, newsletters,
to some ISV for the software and contests(eg. Hackathons) etc.
integrate it themselves.
R a i s i n g A w a r e n e s s- T h i s n e e d s t o b e
C u s t o m e r s- W h o a r e t h e c u s t o m e r s ? more solution specific. Talking more
Which decision makers should be about the application of the solution
targeted for the campaigns? and its benefits. This can include
The clients are big companies with Webinars, thought leadership
a lot of data which needs to be programs, Product demos etc.
accessed easily. Conveying to
them the advantages of having T a r g e t e d e n g a g e m e n t- T h i s i s a m o r e
Multi-cloud infrastructure is key. focused program. This will include
Ideally the decision makers like demos for the product for a selected
CIO’s should be targeted for a set of people. Engagement with
more focused campaign. But people already interested in cloud
engaging with managers and infrastructure and training them in
technical architects is important. ways of engaging with the company.
Raising awareness for the solution
amongst the bottom of the Strengthening existing a c c o u n t s-
pyramid is important. This is focused for decision makers in
The revenue for the company is existing clients. Engaging with
from both, deployment of the clients who already do business with
solution as well as the service the company is easier than gaining a
provided for keeping the new audience. The barriers to entry
infrastructure up and running. are lower and they already trust the
company to give them a good service
M a r k e t L a n d s c a p e- I n t h e p o s t c o v i d as they already do business with the
world, there is a need for on the go company. Incentivising first hand
access to information and that is usage of tools needs to be inculcated
made possible by a Multi-cloud in some manner.
solution. There are issues with public
cloud, they might shut down, at that
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 7 PAGE 176

Messaging Utilise the new leads to

U s e f u l n e s s o f M u l t i- C l o u d i n a p o s t understand trends and do targeted
covid world- The pain point which campaigns like Webinars, demos,
needs to be described is how some thought leadership events etc.
companies felt handicapped when Engage with the scattered
they had to move to work from home. decision makers
Many companies didn’t have the right Have focused programs for CIO’s
infrastructure to facilitate work from to educate them on ways of
home. That is where companies improving the IT infrastructure of
having a multi cloud architecture had their companies. Collaborating
no issues mobilising their workforce. with technology analysts or
In the future it would be great to brands like CIO by IDG can help in
have the option to host their getting legitimacy for the events.
workforce in a work from home Create solution collaterals along
setting. with the partners. Having joint
collaterals will help as the reach
Usefulness of P a r t n e r s h i p- The would be broader if contacts for
different partnerships need to be all the partners are leveraged.
highlighted. It would be great to use Solution collaterals can include
the partner’s marketing reach and creating Whitepapers and
end user influence to drive the Syndicate reports.
campaigns. Highlight the
optimisation capabilities which come Following all these practices would
on working with the partner. surely help in differentiating the
product for the competitors and
Wrapping up make it more appealing compared to
the substitutes. In all, awareness for
Restate the Objective of Marketing Multi-Cloud solutions would be
The objective is to educate people increased.
on the usefulness of having a
Multi-Cloud infrastructure.
Raising awareness for the product
and the various partnerships done
by the company to deliver the best
product.

Summarising activities
The messaging for the marketing
activities need to be as described
in the previous section.
When it comes to activities, the
practices need to start with broad
reach campaigns to gain newer
leads.
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 8 PAGE 177

GO TO MARKET
STRATEGY 8

I n t e r v i e w e r: Lyft wants to enter Lets now explore the opportunity on

Indian market, what should be its go the segments. one of the main things
to market strategy? to keep in mind is the traffic in India,
along with this we also need to keep
C a n d i d a t e: L y f t h a s b o t h r i d e s h a r i n g in mind demand and supply for these
and Food delivery. Is there anything segments. My suggestion in here is to
specific that I should be focusing on? take use of high number of cars
existing already and give good
I n t e r v i e w e r: Let’s focus on ride benefits to drivers so they use lyft
sharing. more than other competitors

C a n d i d a t e: I n r i d e s h a r i n g s h o u l d w e Coming to our customers most of

focus on only cars or should we also them might not know about the brand
look at Autos and bikes? itself and most of them might be
regular customers to other
I n t e r v i e w e r: W e ’ l l j u s t k e e p i t t o c a r s competitors we have. We need to give
for now. them a compelling reason to try out
our app, can be discounts, more
For this lets first analyze the safety etc.
situation in the market.
As we know we have 2 major
Company competitors currently and many
Lyft is a ride sharing app like OLA upcoming ones. Uber expanded into
and Uber. It connects riders and this market with a lot of competition
drivers and allows an easier mode of and was successful, if we have a
transportation. Lyft has many compelling differentiating factor we
verticals in other countries like Uber can also be successful as customers
does in India (Autos, Shared, normal look for best options for them. We
etc.,). We need to decide in which can probably tie up with local car
segments we are going to launch dealers to create localisation feelings
initially and the future plan. among customers which would
probably encourage drivers to join us.
We should also invest heavily into
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 8 PAGE 178

marketing initially and probably be a Launch

l os s m a k i n g f i r m l i k e A m a z o n i n i t i a l l y Promotions and discounts for
to get customers to try our product. riders, customers
In addition to this our pricing Advertisements in local news
strategy is unique and will help us in papers, pamphlets Tie ups with
remaining competitive. corporates
Blogs with influencers/celebrities
Market Conditions to create positive images etc., can
If we divide India into rural, be done.
suburban and Metropolitan we need
to decide on where to launch first Post Launch
and what would make sense to This is where we measure the
achieve our goal. Because major metrics. I think these are the metrics
customers are there in Metropolitans which we make more sense in this
that would be the first place to case.
launch according to me.
For Acquisition
Regulatory Issues #customers in time frames like 1
Along with these we also need to month, 3 months and 6 months
consider regulatory issues and rules #drivers in time frames like 1
that the country has so that we won’t month, 3 months and 6 months
get into trouble later which might #app downloads in time frames
spoil the brand reputation. like 1 month, 3 months and 6
months
Now that we have analysed different
components we should go to the For Revenue
launching strategies. Let’s divide the Expenditure/ride - 3 months Vs 6
activities into 3 stages: Pre launch, months
Launch itself and Post launch. Revenue/ride - 3 months Vs 6
months
Pre-launch
Marketing Activities For Customer Experience
Billboard ads, news paper ads, # of repeat customers in a week
pamphlets, experience videos Wait time (average) in a day
from other countries etc. #cancellations in a day
Enough supply according to the Ratings given by customers on
demand in the area average
Offer monetary benefits to
drivers better than competitors In addition to all this we should
Referral programmes proactively reach out to customers
Tie ups with local dealers with complaints to resolve them soon
Training and adhering to rules for better experience and also reach
Compulsory training for drivers out to people for feedback for
to improve customer continuous improvement.
experience as they are the face
of our brand
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 8 PAGE 179

users who have already recognised

the problem.
3. The partnership with various
organisations must be leveraged to
bring in users. The reach may be
enhanced by partnering with content
creation agencies working in similar
spaces, even on an ad-hoc basis.
4. The differentiators and one-stop
solution aspects should be
highlighted in relevant discussion
forums across the internet. The
populace engaged here determines
the behaviour of numerous users.
5. The partnership with academics
and other aspects of innovation must
be highlighted across the channels.
Yet still, it should not glamorise
mental issues and ensure
reservations in some aspects.
6. The motivation games may be
popularised by embedding them into
the social media feeds and other
relevant platforms

Summarise:
(Indicate how the objectives are met
with the initiatives)

The first step towards resolution is

taken by recognising the diverse
problems and informing the users
about the same. Suggestions for
specific features shall enable
appropriate resolution. Certifications
and no sharing policy shall address
the privacy concerns. Bringing
stakeholders onboard shall be a slow
process that must be done brick by
brick.
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 9 PAGE 180

GO TO MARKET
STRATEGY 9

Interviewer: The tata group wants to I believe that would make the
incentivize their customers and want customers angry.
to increase their loyalty towards the
brand. We need your help to prepare Interviewer: Good that you
a loyalty program for the mentioned it. In your solution,
conglomerate. ensure that there is a smooth
transition for the existing reward
(C o m p r e h e n d t h e s i t u a t i o n ) system.

Candidate: To make sure I Candidate: Okay. One last question

understand the situation correctly, before I lay out my solution, will the
Tata group wants to design a brands have a say in incentivizing
conglomerate wide incentive program their customers or the complete
which would cover all the brands control will be with the of Tata
falling under the Tata brand group?
including Taj, Titan, Tanishq,
automobile etc. I n t e r v i e w e r: W e w o u l d l i k e y o u t o
think how this Loyalty program
Interviewer: Yes, that is correct. should be structured. Also, comment
on its technical feasibility.
Candidate: As I understand, many
brands under Tata group already has Candidate: Okay, can I take 2 minutes
their standalone loyalty program. to structure my thoughts and provide
May I please know what will happen a solution?
to these programs.
Interviewer: Sure.
Interviewer: You can assume that all
the existing loyalty programs will be Candidate: So according to me,
replaced by the new loyalty program different stakeholders like the Tata
that you would suggest. Group, brand owners and store
owners should have the option to
Candidate: I am not sure that I award reward points to the
understand the problem statement. customers. Also, the system should
Do the Tata want to make the have the capability to award different
existing benefits (reward points) that points to consumers using different
customers have earned null and void? brands. For example, different reward
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 9 PAGE 181

should be awarded to customer of as they would tend to forget. I

Starbucks and customer of Titan. suggest we use the mobile number of
the consumer as a unique identifier.
I n t e r v i e w e r: M a k e s s e n s e , c a r r y o n . However, with this, we will have one
limitation. The identity of the person
C a n d i d a t e: S o , t h e s t r u c t u r e s h o u l d will be saved at the Tata group level
be as follows: and not the brand level. To counter
Tata Group points: Under this, the this, we need to create a tag where
Tata group can award points to all the customer registers.
the customers irrespective of the
brands. Interviewer: Can you suggest other
Brand points: Under this, any things to consider for a good loyalty
independent brand can award program?
points to their customers. They
can define rules for the loyalty Canadiate: Sure, please let me think
program. about it for a minute.
Store owners: Every store owner
should have the ability to award The whole idea of accruing the points
points to the local customers. is to have the ability to redeem the
points. Usually, the points can be
Another thing I need to add is that a redeemed at the same brand where
customer can be eligible for any they were accrued. I believe Tata
points, depending on the rules group can look to allow some cross-
defined. A customer can get Tata brand redemptions. For example, the
group points, brand promotions and points accrued at Titans can be used
even points by the store owner. to redeem at Starbucks.

Interviewer: Usually when the Interviewer: Interesting. Are you

campaign runs, the points are done with your solution?
provided in a particular city. How will
you ensure that? Candidate: One last point which we
discussed in the beginning about the
Candidate: Fair enough. I believe if current reward points of the users. I
all the store owners are asked to believe if we are going with the new
update the offers, it might be quite Loyalty program, all the existing
ineffective. We should probably give points should be mapped to the new
this functionality in brand points and customer identifier so that customers
Tata group points. Generally, the can use those points in future. I
configuration should be done on believe the personal data of all the
store id which acts as an identifier existing customer is also important
for the store. to import. Therefore, there needs to
be a one-time data migration activity
Interviewer: That seems like a good to get the old data in the new system.
plan. Can you explain the That will be all, sir.
implementation plan?
Interviewer: Thank You for the
Candidate: Okay. I know that we need insights.
a unique identifier to identify each
person uniquely. It is hard to provide
the unique number to the customer
GO TO MARKET STRATEGY 9 PAGE 182

Suggestion:
Here, the candidate could have talked
about the currency value to be used
across the loyalty program. Ideally,
the value of one point gained at Titan
would be same as the value of one
point at Starbucks. The number of
points to be awarded should be same
across the brand, although the
number of loyalty points earned can
be different for a fixed amount of bill
at different stores. For example,
Titan may give 2 points per Rs 1000
spent and Starbucks may give 5
points per Rs 1000 spent in that
brand.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 183

INTRO TO PRODUCT
METRICS

As a Product Manager, your role revolves can be millions of views but 0 donations.
around metrics in one way or another. Hence, the number of views is the vanity
Metrics are the numbers that describe metric.
what is going on with your products. They
are also called KPIs, i.e., Key Performance The most important metric to focus on is
Indicators. However, metrics, KPIs, and the Product North Star metric. A North
OKRs (Objective and Key Results) differ Star metric must fulfil three criteria: lead
from each other. to revenue, reflect customer value, and
measure progress. If a metric hits those
Metric: Metrics are the quantitative three points, and every department
measurement used for assessment of any contributes to improving it. The north
product’s performance star of some of the famous companies are
KPI: A specific type of metric that lets Spotify: Time spent listening, Amazon:
you know quantitatively how successful a Number of purchases per month, etc.
process is at achieving the desired Several frameworks can be referred to
outcome. define the requisite metrics. We will
OKR: An OKR is a metric that defines a focus on the HEART and AARRR
big-picture objective for the team or the frameworks.
company as a whole, along with a limited
set of critical results used to measure HEART Framework: It is used to define
that objective's success. It is similar to a the metrics and improve the product's
KPI but differs in that OKRs are typically user experience (UX). This was originally
more aggressive and represent larger- developed by Kerry Rodden, previously a
scale initiatives. UX researcher at Google. It stands for:
1.Happiness: Measure of user attitude.
While prioritizing the metrics, we should E.g., Net Promoter Score, satisfaction,
be aware of the vanity metrics that boost etc.
the team's motivation. They can even 2.Engagement: Measures the level of user
serve as very indirect indicators that your involvement. E.g., Number of visits per
products have an increased potential for day, Number of photos uploaded per
success. For example, the number of week, etc.
views on a Youtube Donation campaign
video is good to follow. However, there
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 184

3 .A d o p t i o n: N e w u s e r s o f a p r o d u c t / f e a t u r e . c .C o s t p e r A c q u i s i t i o n: T h e c o s t o f a c q u i r i n g
E.g., the number of new accounts created one customer. It is generally compared with
4 .R e t e n t i o n: Rate of returning users. E.g., the customer lifetime value
Number of returning users per month d .L i f e - T i m e V a l u e: t h e v a l u e o f a c u s t o m e r
5 .T a s k S u c c e s s: N u m b e r o f u s e r s d o i n g t h e over their lifetime. All customer-facing
most important task with the product products should measure this to understand
the value derived over the lifetime of a
HEART is an acronym. But the correct order customer
according to the Product Cycle is ATERH. For
each metric, we measure the Goals (What 2 .M o b i l e - b a s e d a p p l i c a t i o n s:
needs to happen), Signals (things we need to a .D o w n l o a d s, Activations, and Uninstalls:
measure), and Metric (Signals measured over Measure the Number of downloads,
a period of time). activations, or logins and the uninstalls per
month. Activations depend on the product
A A R R R o r P i r a t e M e t r i c s: I t w a s c r e a t e d b y b .D a i l y / M o n t h l y Active U s e r s: Number of
Dave McClure, and it's commonly used in the users using the app daily or monthly. This is
software and service business. The acronym an important metric to track
AARRR stands for: c .S e s s i o n l e n g t h a n d i n t e r v a l: S e s s i o n i s t h e
1 .A c q u i s i t i o n: Metrics related to user duration between app open and close. These
acquisition, such as how people are give the measure of engagements
discovering the product d .R a t i n g s : T h e s t a r r a t i n g o f t h e a p p o n
2 .A c t i v a t i o n s: Metrics related to users' AppStore or play store.
activity and engagement with the product e .I n - a p p p u r c h a s e s: R e v e n u e m e t r i c
3 .R e t e n t i o n: C u s t o m e r s c o m i n g b a c k t o u s e
the product 3 .A P I P r o d u c t s:
4 .R e f e r r a l: A r e u s e r s r e f e r r i n g t h e p r o d u c t t o a .A P I c a l l s a n d a c t i o n s : T h e N u m b e r o f t i m e s
others? the API is called (request or response) in a
5 .R e v e n u e: m e t r i c s t h a t s h o w t h e r e v e n u e month. Actions are the specific task done
from product through the API call, such as booking,
Now, Let's dive into the success metrics for purchase, etc. It gives the effectiveness of
various types of products: the API
1 .G e n e r a l P r o d u c t M e t r i c s: T h e s e a r e n o t b .F a i l u r e R a t e: N u m b e r o f t i m e s t h e A P I w a s
specific to any product, but the common called, but no response was sent. This can be
metrics we should be familiar with such as: due to missing arguments in the calls or any
a .N e t P r o m o t e r S c o r e: W e m u s t h a v e s e e n t h e internal issue
question, "How likely are you to recommend c .U p t i m e a n d D o w n t i m e: D u r a t i o n f o r w h i c h
the product/service to others, on a scale of the API was working and not working.
1-10 ?". This is a measure of customer loyalty
and satisfaction. High NPS means healthy 4. E - c o m m e r c e w e b s i t e s :
customer relations. a .O r d e r a n d A v e r a g e O r d e r V a l u e: N u m b e r o f
NPS ranges between -100 to 100. orders and average monetary value of the
NPS= %Promoters - % Detractors. order. This is helpful for future projections
and updating the investors
b .S h o p p i n g Cart & Checkout Abandonment:
Number of customers who add items to the
basket and do not checkout, and Number of
b .C h u r n R a t e : T h e N u m b e r o f c u s t o m e r s w h o customers who do not complete the purchase
stop using the product in a particular but reach the checkout. If these are high,
duration. This is important for subscription- experiments can be run to reduce the value
based products
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 185

c .V i s i t S a l e c o n v e r s i o n: T h i s i s t h e % o f a l l References:
visitors who make a sale. This can be related https://hbr.org/2013/03/know-the-
to the shopping cart and checkout difference-between-yo
abandonment metrics. https://www.productplan.com/glossary/hea
rt-framework/
5. C o n t e n t - b a s e d w e b s i t e s : https://assets.productplan.com/content/Pr
a .C l i c k - T h r o u g h R a t e , C T R : I t m e a s u r e s t h e oduct-Success-Metrics-by-ProductPlan.pdf?
effectiveness of advertisements. It is _hsmi=93893101&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-
calculated as: Number of clicks on the _CmKEU6jUAQCFzJk2Sf67dtTOjgEqXV2GmPy
advertisements / Number of times the ad wOOMtNFlMF1RqZozqmORr5l7HoLoSTQ2rSU
was shown. 8-rcQ2JDOit5zSKe51Q1A
b .C o s t p e r T h o u s a n d I m p r e s s i o n s ( C P M ): I t i s https://medium.com/agileinsider/how-to-
the price of 1000 advertisement impressions set-user-centered-metrics-the-google-
on a web page, also known as cost per mile. heart-framework-ab41bf217a34
c .B o u n c e R a t e: I t i s t h e % o f u s e r s l a n d i n g o n https://growwithward.com/north-star-
a webpage, clicking on nothing, and leaving. metric/#north-star-metric-examples
It helps in measuring the performance of https://www.departmentofproduct.com/blo
specific landing pages g/metrics-matter-product-managers/
d .E m a i l S u b s c r i b e r R a t e: I t i s t h e % o f t o t a l
visitors who subscribe to email newsletters.
It indicates the effectiveness and quality of
the content
e .P e r c e n t a g e o f s h a r e s: T h i s i s t h e p e r c e n t a g e
of visitors who share at least one article vs.
the total visitors. It indicates the viral
growth of the pages.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 186

METRICS 1

I n t e r v i e w e r: You are a product For defining the metrics, I would like

manager at Instagram. How will you to proceed with defining the journey
measure the success of Instagram of both the stakeholders on the app.
shops? I n t e r v i e w e r: That should be fine.
C a n d i d a t e: I w o u l d l i k e t o s t a r t b y Please go with the journey
shedding light on my understanding C a n d i d a t e: The seller follows the
of Instagram shops to check whether below steps to set up shop on
it’s accurate. Please correct any Instagram:
inaccuracies that I might state. Checking the eligibility: It checks
Instagram shops is a new shopping whether- the Business is in a
experience feature which allows supported market, Product is
businesses to setup online shops with eligible to be sold, Business is
product listings on Instagram. The compliant will all terms &
buyers can visit the profiles of these conditions and Business has a
businesses which include brands or website,
stores and view the products on sale. Creating a Business or Creator
They can even place the orders and account: It would involve adding
the purchase the product through important info like website, email,
Instagram if the business allows it. phone number, address
Since Instagram is one of the highest Linking to a Facebook page: It is
used social media platforms, helpful in setting up the shop on
Instagram shops allows businesses to Facebook marketplace as well
showcase their products without Importing a product catalogue:
requiring buyers to visit their The product offerings need to be
website for product discovery. listed on Instagram and the items
I n t e r v i e w e r: The description is need to be added to the catalogue
accurate. Please proceed ahead with Activating shopping: If the seller
the rest of the solution. wants the entire checkout process
C a n d i d a t e: S o , i n s u m m a r y I n s t a g r a m to go through on Instagram shops,
shops serves a platform for buyers they can activate this feature.
and sellers to interact. Buyers can Otherwise, the buyer needs to
now directly view the product select the product and checkout
offerings of their favourite brands on the seller’s website to complete
and stores on Instagram itself. I the purchase.
observe that Instagram Shops is a Regularly updating the catalogue
two-way platform and both buyers & items, prices, and quantity
sellers are stakeholders here. available
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 187

For the buyer, the steps involved Instagram for checkout. (Sellers
would be: can check out through Instagram
Searching for the brand or store or redirect buyers to their
on Instagram or viewing an ad of website)
their brand or store Instagram shops is currently free to
Visiting the page of the brand or use. However, there are plans to
store and clicking on ‘View Shop’ monetise it based on a commission of
Going through all the listed every executed order.
offerings The revenue can be calculated as
Selecting the required product Revenue = No. of shops * Avg order
and adding it to cart value * Avg. no. of orders per shop
Once all the products are added, The revenue metrics can be
begin the checkout process by • No. of shops on Instagram
adding personal details, address, • Average order value of every order
and the payment information. • Average no. of orders per shop
The checkout is complete once the
payment is successful, and the I n t e r v i e w e r: T h a t l o o k s g o o d . P l e a s e
order is placed proceed with defining the success
I n t e r v i e w e r: That is correct. You metrics for the buyers
have correctly identified the user C a n d i d a t e: I’ll follow a similar
journeys. You can proceed with approach for buyers by following the
defining the success metrics. steps of their user journey
C a n d i d a t e: I ’ l l s t a r t b y d e f i n i n g t h e Awareness: This step checks
metrics for the sellers at each stage whether the buyer is aware about
of their user journey. Instagram stores, E.g., Percentage
Awareness - The seller needs to be of users visiting the shop after
aware about the existence of visiting the Instagram profile of a
Instagram shops. E.g., Number of business, Percentage of users
signups on Instagram shops every clicking on ads about the
month and Percentage of Instagram shop of a brand
businesses who have viewed Engagement: Average time spent
marketing mails and ads on on viewing the products in a shop,
Instagram shops Average no. of products checked
Engagement: This step gauges if out in detail in the shop
the seller can use the feature and Conversion: Percentage of buyers
is able to setup the shops adding products to the cart among
successfully. E.g., Percentage of all shop visitors, Percentage of
sellers who setup shop after buyers completing the order
becoming aware of Instagram process at each stage i.e.,
shops, Percentage of sellers going personal information, address &
through each stage of the seller payments (Leakage in the
journey i.e., finding leakage at checkout process)
each step whether the setup
process is left in between, and I believe this covers important
Percentage of sellers update their metrics of Instagram shops for both
product catalogue every week, buyers and sellers
every month
Conversion: This step sees if the
seller successfully manages to sell
products on Instagram shops •
Percentage of sellers using
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 188

METRICS 2

I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u a r e a p r o d u c t m a n a g e r i n From the user’s perspective, the metrics will

the Google Pay team. You have been given be covering the frequency of promotions, its
the task of defining the metrics for tie-in utilisation, and its impact on user
promotions on Google Pay. How will you go engagement on the platform. We would
about it? ideally expect the promotions to be useful
C a n d i d a t e: I b e l i e v e I c a n s t a r t b y d e s c r i b i n g for the users.
how tie-in promotions work on Google Pay No. of successful uses of promotions = No.
to get my context right. Please correct if my of payments * Percentage of tie-in
description is inaccurate at any point. promotion scratch cards * Percentage of
Google Pay is used for making payments. tie-in promotions used.
People use it for transferring money to their The metrics are:
friends or making online payments mostly No. of payments/ Payment rates every
via UPI or cards. Once the user makes a month
payment, they get a scratch card as a Percentage of scratch cards which are
reward. On scratching the card, users get tie-in promotions (Scratch cards be
rewards which can be cashback or coupons cashback, promotions, or better luck
of various companies. I believe these next time)
coupons of various companies like Lenskart, Percentage of promotions getting
Mamaearth, Zomato & others are tie-in expired
promotions. Average of no. of different brands/types
I n t e r v i e w e r: Your description of tie-in of promotions given to the user
promotions is accurate. Essentially tie-in Percentage of repeat promotions of a
promotions involve a company partnership specific type or brand.
with another company for promotions. You From a promotion partner’s perspective, the
can proceed further with your analysis. metrics will cover how Google Pay and
C a n d i d a t e: T h e m e t r i c s n e e d t o b e a l i g n e d promotion partners can benefit from the
with the business value. The tie-in exercise.
promotions are an important factor for No. of successful use of a specific
users to repeat payments using Google Pay. promotion = No. of payments * Percentage
Users will keep using Google Pay if they get of promotional coupons for a given partner
relevant offers on some occasions. Similarly, * Percentage of a specific coupon *
promoters will partner with Google Pay if Percentage of users successfully using the
they benefit out of the partnership by promotional coupon.
gaining more customers & revenue. The metrics are:
I n t e r v i e w e r: The business goals seem No. of tie-in promotion partners
accurate. Please proceed with the metrics. Retention rate of promotion partners
C a n d i d a t e: I w i l l c o v e r t h e m e t r i c s f r o m Churn rate of promotion partners
aspects of both users and promotional Average number of promotional coupons
partners. shown for every partner
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 189

Percentage of promotions which

get expired without use, both
overall and for a given partner
Average number of recipients of a
given promotional coupon
Percentage of users successfully
using a given promotional coupon
(this needs to be shared by the
partner)

Overall, these metrics will help track

the success of tie-in promotions and
help identify some issues. For
example, if a promotional coupon by
Lenskart has very low conversion
rates, it can be discontinued or be
modified to increase the usage.
I n t e r v i e w e r: I t h i n k t h i s c o v e r s m o s t
of the important metrics for tie-in
promotions.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 190

METRICS 3

I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u a r e t h e P M f o r F a c e b o o k B u ye r ’ s J o u r n e y
Marketplace. What metrics would you 1. V i s i t t h e m a r k e t p l a c e
track to measure the health and success of 2. S e a r c h f o r a p r o d u c t
the feature? 3. C o n t a c t t h e s e l l e r
I n t e r v i e w e e: I w o u l d f i r s t l i k e t o c l a r i f y 4. M a k e t h e p a y m e n t
my understanding of the feature and the 5. R e c e i v e t h e p r o d u c t
stakeholders involved. Facebook An alternate customer journey would start
marketplace is a platform within Facebook with buyers discovering a product they like in
to discover, buy and sell items with people groups
in your community. The functionality I n t e r v i e w e r: Your understanding of the
caters to two stakeholders – the buyer journey of the stakeholders is fair. Let’s move
and the seller. The feature allows sellers ahead to the metrics
to list both new and secondhand items I n t e r v i e w e e: I w o u l d d i v i d e t h e m e t r i c s i n t o
they want to sell that would then show up Awareness, Activation, Conversion and
on the marketplace tab. Buyers can then Retention metrics.
explore the listed products in both the 1. A w a r e n e s s : T h e g o a l w o u l d b e t o m e a s u r e
marketplace tab and groups in which whether users can discover Facebook
product details are shared. Marketplace. #Users who have visited
I’ll assume that Facebook’s goal with the Facebook Marketplace, #Clicks on
feature is to increase customer Facebook Marketplace tab per day
engagement on the platform. 2. A c t i v a t i o n : T h e g o a l o f t h e p h a s e i s t o
I n t e r v i e w e r: You are right. Please go measure the level of active engagement
ahead. with the feature. #Products listed per
I n t e r v i e w e e: Before I list down the week, Bounce Rate. #Clicks on product
metrics, I would like to map out the listings per week
journey of both the stakeholders to 3. C o n v e r s i o n : T h e g o a l o f t h i s p h a s e i s t o
understand the goal of each action the measure how effective is the feature in
feature asks the user to take. getting users to perform the primary
action, i.e. buying a product. #Unique
Seller’s Journey Interactions per week, #Purchases made
1. V i s i t t h e m a r k e t p l a c e t a b per week
2. S e l e c t t h e o p t i o n t o l i s t a n i t e m 4. R e t e n t i o n : R e t e n t i o n i n d i c a t e s t h e u s e r s ’
3. A d d i t e m d e s c r i p t i o n a n d p r i c e propensity to come back to the platform
4. R e c e i v e a n o f f e r t o b u y f r o m t h e b u y e r and use the feature again. Repeat
5. A c c e p t o r r e j e c t t h e o f f e r Purchase Rate, Repeat Product Listing
6. R e c e i v e t h e p a y m e n t Rate
7. H a n d o v e r t h e i t e m
The last two steps happen outside
Facebook’s ecosystem
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 191

The Activation and Conversion metrics

should be tracked for individual categories
to understand differences in buying and
selling process for different product
categories.
With the goal of increasing customer
engagement in mind, the North Star Metric
would be - #Unique Interactions per week.
#Purchases per week would be used as the
counter metric to ensure that product
quality on the platform is not compromised
for increasing user engagement
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 192

METRICS 4

I n t e r v i e w e r: T h e r e i s a d e c l i n e o f a b o u t I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , y o u c a n a s s u m e t h i s . W e
10% in cart additions (Add to Cart) in the have checked the logs multiple times.
last 3 days in Myntra. Can you help us
investigate the problem? C a n d i d a t e: Thank You. I will divide the
framework in 2 parts: External factors and
Comprehend the situation internal factors.
1. External factors:
C a n d i d a t e: S u r e , t o m a k e s u r e w e a r e o n What competitors have done in the last 3
the same page, I would clarify the problem days. This can include any new product
statement. The cart addition refers to launch or new announcement by the
adding an item through the ‘Add to Bag’ competitor. This can take away some of
button on Myntra and I have to find the the existing customers of the Myntra or
root cause behind the decline in the cart their purchase decision can be delayed.
additions. Macroeconomic changes. Is it the
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , t h a t i s c o r r e c t . seasonality impact or has been there any
C a n d i d a t e: Myntra has both mobile particular news in the market?
application (android and IOS) and website.
Are we looking at a generic 15% decline on 2. Internal factors:
all platforms or is it specific to any one Is there any new announcement or
platform i.e. app or website? campaigns run by the Myntra?
I n t e r v i e w e r: Good question, we are Has Myntra made any design changes in
noticing the decline in the Myntra android the app or released any updates in the
app. android app?
C a n d i d a t e: I s t h e d e c l i n e s e e n a c r o s s a l l
categories of products or in any specific Apart from these factors, we can look at the
category of product? customer journey to see whether any step
I n t e r v i e w e r: The decline is seen before the cart addition has seen any glitch
throughout all the categories. or bugs. If none of this is the reason, then
C a n d i d a t e: O k a y . I w i l l t a k e j u s t 2 m i n s t o probably we can look at some of the factors
prepare the root cause analysis framework that impact the purchase decision of the
and explain it further. consumer.
I n t e r v i e w e r: S u r e , t a k e y o u r t i m e . Does the approach look good or do you want
me to make any changes?
Framework I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , t h a t l o o k s g r e a t . P l e a s e
C a n d i d a t e: O k a y , s o I a m a s s u m i n g t h a t a l l continue.
the analytical tools are working fine and C a n d i d a t e: Has there been any sale or
we do not need to check the tool that are product announcement by the online of
providing us with the data. offline competitors of Myntra?
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 193

I n t e r v i e w e r: N o , n o t h i n g u n u s u a l . T o t h e Looks like there was a mistake in the

best of our knowledge, they are running deployment. Thank You for resolving the
their regular campaigns. issue.
C a n d i d a t e: I s i t s a f e t o a s s u m e t h a t t h e r e C a n d i d a t e: D o y o u w a n t m e t o a n a l y z e i t
have been no macroeconomic changes that further by going through the customer
can influence customer behavior? journey?
Personally, I did not come across any such
news. I n t e r v i e w e r: N o , I t h i n k t h a t w i l l b e a l l .
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , i t i s s a f e t o a s s u m e .
C a n d i d a t e: O k a y , s o I w i l l m o v e o n t o t h e
internal factors. Firstly, has there been any
new announcement or campaigns run by the
Myntra? The information can help me
identify whether customers are waiting for
any special event to shop or has there been
decline in any one product category and
increase in another.
I n t e r v i e w e r: T h e d e c l i n e i s s p r e a d o v e r a l l
the categories and not specific to any
product or gender. Also, we are running
regular campaigns that we run throughout
the year.
C a n d i d a t e: Interesting. My next question
would be whether Myntra app has released
any new updates?
I n t e r v i e w e r: Yes, we have released few
updates to improve the user experience of
the customer.
C a n d i d a t e: A r e t h e s e u p d a t e s r e l a t e d t o t h e
customer journey of the user and does it
involve changes in Add to Bag feature?
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , i t i n v o l v e s d e s i g n c h a n g e s
related to ‘Add to Bag’ feature. We want you
to analyze this thing further. What other
factors do you think can be there that can
lead to decline?
C a n d i d a t e: O k a y . T h e f i r s t t h i n g I c a n t h i n k
of is whether this update released for the
android app was a force update or not. If it
was not a force update, then some
consumers might be using the older version
and the backend services might not support
the older version. Second, we can look at
the success rate of the ‘Add to Bag’ API in
the last 3 days to analyze if the API is
working fine or not. Thirdly, I hope
consumers are aware of the new changes in
the app and they might not consider the
changes fishy and abort the transaction.
Interviewer: Actually, when the consumer
clicks on the ‘Add to bag’ button, that action
is not being captured by the API.

PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 194

METRICS 5

I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u a r e t h e D i g i t a l P r o d u c t The user would go through the following

Manager of Big Basket. What would be the journey
metrics you would like to follow? The user either lands the home page
I n t e r v i e w e e: O k a y , f i r s t I w a n t t o c o n f i r m through url or the product page through a
that my understanding of Big Basket is search engine.
correct. The user then browses through the
Big Basket is an Indian food and grocery website either through navigation or
store eretail store. A user can order edible through the search box.
products and get them delivered at their The user adds the products he wants to
doorstep. They have also cataloged few purchase to the basket.
other products like aluminium foil and The user can also save the product. For
mugs. Moreover, the users can use both a saving, Big Basket will ask the user to
mobile app and website for placing an login or register.
order. The user can create custom lists and add
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , y o u m a y m o v e f o r w a r d . the items to the list for repeated
I n t e r v i e w e e: C o u l d y o u p l e a s e s h a r e t h e purchase. For ordering the products from
business goal which we would like to the basket also, Big Basket will ask the
report through the metrics. user to login or register.
I n t e r v i e w e r: A s s u m e t h a t t h e g o a l o f t h e The user can review the items we want to
business is to increase the value of orders buy and then click on checkout.
placed. Following this, the user is navigated to the
I n t e r v i e w e e: I w i l l c r e a t e a u s e r j o u r n e y checkout screen. Here, the user can select
map, identify which actions indicate or add the delivery address. He/She can
success and failure towards placing order also select an appropriate delivery slot
and then define the actionable lagging and apply for a voucher. Users can also
indicators. Should I do it for both, website opt to buy the BBstar membership if
and mobile app? she/he plans to order frequently with high
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y o u c a n d e f i n e t h e m e t r i c s value carts.
for only the website for now. The user is then navigated to his preferred
I n t e r v i e w e e: S u r e . T h e v a l u e o f o r d e r s c a n payment gateway for placing the order.
be formulated as follows: After placing the order, the user is
Total Value = # of order * average value navigated to the confirmation screen.
per order # of order = # of visitors * % of Confirmatory email and message is also
Viewed/added items to cart * % bought delivered. T
the items # of visitors = # of new visitors he user can connect with the customer
+ # of retained visitors. care any time to make a change in order or
delivery time slot or requesting
cancellation.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 195

The user receives the confirmation after the Percentage of users applying vouchers
order is delivered at the doorstep. per month
Value of vouchers applied per month
In this journey, the user goes through 5
stages: Awareness: The users can visit Big Retention: The user should again opt for Big
Basket either through url or search engine. Basket for further purchases within 2 weeks.
Through search engines also, the user can The following can be measured to improve
navigate through organic search results or retention:
inorganic paid results. Hence we can have Percentage of users opting for BBstar
following metrics: membership per month
No. of visits per month Percentage of users buying again per
Percentage of visits through organic month
results per month
Percentage of visits through inorganic Referral: The users can also be a marketer
results per month for our product through word of mouth and
Rank on search engine results sharing referral code.
Percentage of users sharing referrals per
Engagement: The user browses through the month
website to find products. The following can
be measured to improve user engagement: I n t e r v i e w e r: T h i s i s g r e a t . T h a n k y o u !
Bounce rate per product or category page
per month
Average no. of pages visited per session
per month
Average time of a session per month
Average quantity per product added to
the basket per month
Number of saved lists per month
Percentage of users using referrals per
month
Percentage of logged in users per month
Percentage of new registrations per
month
No. of complaints per month
No. of orders per user per month
Value of returns per month
Daily active users
Monthly active users

Conversion: After adding the products to the

basket, the user reviews the basket and
checks out. The following can be measured
to improve conversion:
Average number of items in the basket
per month
Average value of items in the basket per
month
Basket abandonment rate per month
Order cancellation rate per month
Average order value per user per month
Percentage of users who select similar
products during checkout per month
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 196

METRICS 6

I n t e r v i e w e r: H o w w i l l y o u m e a s u r e t h e Quantify behaviour in the customer journey

success of WhatsApp’s in-app video C a n d i d a t e: Since this feature would be
playing feature? Describe the feature & its available only on phones with an Android
goal version that supports in-app windows, and an
C a n d i d a t e: F i r s t , I w o u l d l i k e t o d e s c r i b e update version of the app, all the metrics
the feature and my understanding of its should account for that.
objective. Activation
WhatsApp has introduced an in-app video % of users that play a link they are sent
playing feature, whereby users can play Relative activation rate: % of users with
YouTube videos from within the chat this feature available that play a video v/s
window itself. I think the objective of the % of users without the feature who play a
feature is to keep the users within the app video (which opens the YouTube app
context, so that the time spent on instead)
WhatsApp can be increased. There are Engagement
three types of interactions that can be % of users who played the link and
done when this feature is in use: watched the video (either partly or wholly)
1. E x p a n d t h e v i d e o t o f u l l s c r e e n Relative return rate: % of users who stayed
2. C l o s e t h e v i d e o in WhatsApp after they stopped watching
3. W a t c h t h e v i d e o o n Y o u T u b e b y the video v/s of users without the feature
clicking on the YouTube icon who return to WhatsApp after watching
I n t e r v i e w e r: That sounds good. Please the video
proceed. Time spent on WhatsApp by users with this
Walk through the customer journey feature v/s without this feature
C a n d i d a t e: T h e u s e r ’ s j o u r n e y f o r u s i n g Leakage:
this feature would look like this: % of users with the feature opting to view
Activation: The user receives a link to a the video on YouTube
YouTube video on WhatsApp % of users who opted to view the video on
Engagement: They click on the link, YouTube that returned to WhatsApp
and the video starts playing within the
app Evaluate the metrics
Engagement: They can expand the C a n d i d a t e: T h e e n g a g e m e n t m e t r i c s w i l l g i v e
video to full screen, or stop viewing by a picture of whether the feature has boosted
clicking on the close button. time spent on WhatsApp and whether it
Alternately, they can click on the enables users to engage with YouTube
YouTube button to be taken to the content more frequently. Ease of
YouTube app. If they chose this option, measurement: The metrics can be easily
they can either continue browsing on tracked by logging actions of the users.
YouTube (Leakage), or return to
WhatsApp.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 197

Wrap up
C a n d i d a t e: T o s u m m a r i z e , t h e i n - a p p v i d e o
playing feature is an effort by WhatsApp to
boost time spent by users within WhatsApp
as well as enable more media consumption
for users. Primarily, the relative activation
and retention rates will help evaluate these
value propositions of the feature.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 198

METRICS 7

I n t e r v i e w e r: How do you measure the Also, Instagram has introduced a story

success of the Instagram story highlights archive feature which is the backbone of
features? highlights feature. So, even after 24 hours of
posting a story, you can get those stories in
Understand the feature and its objective the archive.
I n t e r v i e w e r: B a n g o n . Y o u a r e r i g h t , p l e a s e g o
C o m m e n t: The first step for deciding ahead.
product metrics is to understand the C a n d i d a t e: T h a n k s . S o , u s e r s c a n m a k e a n y
product objectives well. old stories a highlight, which will be present
on the Instagram account until and unless it
C a n d i d a t e: I would like to clarify my is removed manually by the account owner. It
understanding of the Instagram story just acts like key highlighted posts for the
highlight feature and its objective. You account. These highlights are like small
may interrupt and correct me if my circular icons, similar to story icons present
understanding is wrong. So, basically, the on top of all of the posts on the account page.
Instagram story highlights is a feature to So, there are two stakeholders in this system:
describe a particular account in crisp Account owner: The account owner
selected stories. The intention of the follows the below steps:
highlights could be multiple. For instance, 1. C l i c k o n t h e n e w b u t t o n o n a c c o u n t p a g e
if we talk of a photography page, the 2. S e l e c t the Instagram stories to be
highlight might include its best photo highlighted
works to indicate the level of quality to its 3. C o n f i r m t h e s t o r i e s t o m a k e t h e m t h e
clients. If the Instagram page is about a highlight
tech product, its highlight may include
how to use the product in stepwise, or A c c o u n t v i s i t o r: O n c e a u s e r v i s i t e d t h e
maybe the answer to the frequently asked Instagram account, they can see all the
questions about the product. So, the highlighted story in circular icons on the
objective of the story highlights feature is account page. Then they can click on the
to reduce viewer’s time to highlight of their choice and they will be
understand/know about the Instagram able to get the story like any other
profile/product in a short span of time Instagram story.
and thus increase the conversion rate for I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s c o r r e c t , y o u h a v e g o t t h e
these accounts. Conversion might mean product correctly. Now tell me, how will we
different things for different accounts, for measure its success.
instance, for the personal account it could C a n d i d a t e: L e t ’ s g o t h r o u g h t h e c u s t o m e r
mean increased followers/likes, for journey in phases. I have already explained
business accounts, it could mean the detailed steps for both the account owner
increased product sales etc. and visitor. Now, let’s get into the customer
journey stages.
PRODUCT METRICS PAGE 199

Awareness: The account owner should be Comment: Always try to quantify the metrics
made aware that such a feature exists. It is like what is the time range we are talking
currently being done at two places, on the about, is it per month, is it per day etc. Also,
account page and on the story page. each stage of the product has different
Average # of times highlight button objectives and thus the metrics should be
clicks per story on the story page aligned with that. Thus, we must be first
Average # of times highlight button clear what we expect from a particular
clicks on the account page per account stage, for instance, what is expected out of
page visit per user Awareness stage, or conversion stage and
then align your metrics to their objectives.
Engagement: The engagement here indicates
whether the account owner is able to engage
with this feature or not, basically the
highlights they created. For account
visitors, the engagement depends on various
other factors like time spent by visitors on
other’s account seeing these highlights and
so on.
Percentage of number highlights created
to the number of stories posted per user
per month.
Percentage of number highlights created,
from account page to the number of
stories posted per user per month.
Percentage of number highlights created,
from story page to the number of stories
posted per user per month.Average time
spent on watching other account's
highlights per user per month.

Conversion: The whole purpose of the

feature is to improve the conversion for
users. So, once a user has engaged with
other’s highlights, he/she should be able to
quickly understand about the other’s
account and make decisions whether to
follow or not, whether to buy their product
or not etc.
Average time spent on another account's
p a g e p e r u s e r p e rm o n t h .
Percentage of highlight viewers following
other’s page per user per month.
Percentage of highlight viewers ordering
services from other’s account per user
per month
Average time spend on other’s account
before following them per user per month
Average time spent on other’s account
before placing the order for their
products/services per user per month.
PRICING PAGE 200

INTRO TO PRICING

The pricing strategy for a product In majority of cases, using one of

would be one of the following three these three techniques directly
strategies: should be sufficient in an interview.

1. C o s t B a s e d: C o s t b a s e d p r i c i n g i s Before you delve into the pricing

simply charging the customer the strategies, it is important to define
direct and indirect product cost the objective of the case. Objective
along with a certain markup. This sets the way forward towards
approach is generally used when deciding the correct approach to
the product is a commodity and arrive at the right price. The
can’t be differentiated easily. In a objective can be, for example,
case, even when other strategies attaining a 10% market share within 3
are more relevant, it is good to years of product launch or
check if the costs are getting combatting the entry of a new
covered and the profit margin is in competitor in the market. In an
line with expectations. interview, the objective would be
2. Co m p e t i t o r B a s e d: T h i s t e c h n i q u e either told by the interviewer upfront
involves pricing products basis (rare) or more often, arrived at by
what competitors’ price. This discussion between the interviewer
approach is followed when the and the interviewee.
product offering lacks
differentiation. Examples of this is Once the objective has been decided,
online airline prices and prices we need to analyze the following,
charged by food delivery keeping in mind our target audience:
platforms.
3. V a l u e B a s e d: U n l i k e t h e p r e v i o u s Product offerings: We must lay out
two approaches, this involves the key offerings our product has
pricing a product basis the value it which would be of interest to our
generates for the customer. The customer segment.
value is often the differentiation it
offers when compared to the Competition Landscape: We need
competitors. This value can be to identify the major competitors
calculated by focusing on a single which exist in our market.
customer segment, comparing the Competition is any player who
next best alternative, tries to fulfill the same customer
understanding our product needs as our product.
differentiation, & quantifying this
differentiation in monetary terms.
PRICING PAGE 201

Customer’s Willingness to Pay Other pricing models:

(WTP): For our target audience, we
need to identify their willingness Upfront Pricing (Perpetual
to pay for our product. This can license): In this case, the customer
be decided considering the nature pays upfront for the product and
of business, their revenues, gets lifetime access to the same.
urgency to fulfill the needs While the license is perpetual,
catered by our product. product updates and new feature
releases might not always be
Position on Product Life Cycle offered after a certain cut-off
(PLC) Curve: We must also date. This pricing technique is
consider where our product lies more common in B2C segment
on the PLC curve. A product at the than the B2B segment, as the
introductory stage usually attracts latter generally values continuous
users who are open to product support, security patches,
experimentation and usually have and product updates more than
a higher WTP. This is also the the B2C segment.
stage where the price reference
for the future is established. In Subscription Based: In
growth and maturity, the subscription-based pricing, the
competition starts increasing and customer pays a fixed amount
the customer WTP starts basis their usage, usage being
declining. At this stage, our generally defined by time duration
product needs to take either a low (annual/monthly), computation, or
cost-based position or a premium storage (followed by cloud service
product offering-based position, providers). More and more firms
and each would have a separate are migrating from upfront to
target audience. At the decline subscription-based pricing models
stage, a prudent approach is to due to its clear advantages like
simply extract whatever revenue is recurrent revenue stream and
possible and shut down the reduced upfront cost for
business or move into a new customers.
arena.
Gain Sharing: This is still an
In majority of cases, using one of evolving pricing strategy and
these three techniques (Cost, might be considered in B2B space.
Competitor, or Value-based) directly In this strategy, the revenue is
should be sufficient in an interview. directly linked to the gains made
But sometimes, the interviewer by the customer due to our
expects a more comprehensive product. This raises the
approach for arriving at the pricing customer’s confidence in our
technique. You could use the models product and reduces their
and techniques given below: financial risk in case the product
doesn’t work. On the flip side, it is
often difficult to accurately define
the exact gains for the customer
due to our product alone. This can
often be a source of disagreement
and is a major challenge towards
the adaptation of this pricing
technique.
PRICING PAGE 202

Quite often, the pricing is a Feature Bundling: In this pricing

combination of some upfront price approach, multiple product
and then a recurrent subscription bundles are introduced, each
cost. The upfront price can be priced differently and catering to
justified if the product needs different customer segments. The
customer-based customizations, features and functionalities
installation cost etc. The recurrent offered are customised for the
cost can be attributed towards target segment. Linkedin
product maintenance and support. subscription is an example of the
same. Some example of different
The upfront and subscription-based bundling tiers is:
pricing techniques can be further
classified into: Free, Individual, Team
Starter, Professional, Company
Cost/Competitor/Value Based
approach (already covered) While no pricing approach is
incorrect, some approaches would be
Fremium: In this case, the more appropriate than others in the
customer gets access to some contextual setting we are analysing.
basic set of features for free, and The rationale for chosen approach
pays for complete access. The free needs to be justified using the
part provides the user an analysed factors.
opportunity to try out the product
and decide whether it is suitable
to their needs. Zoom, Grammarly,
Spotify are all examples of
fremium pricing model.

Flat Rate: In flat rate pricing, the

entire product is priced at a flat
price and offers all the features.
The only variation introduced can
be by offering monthly/annual
subscription options. This is a
simple to implement pricing
technique but fails to extract
varying customer surplus of
different customer segments.

Usage Based: This is the pay-as-

you-go approach, where the
customer is billed basis their
product usage, usage being
defined in units of
data/computations etc. This is
used generally by cloud computing
and storage providers, customer
support services etc.
PRICING PAGE 203

PRICING 1

I n t e r v i e w e r: JioSaavn is a music assume JioSaavn’s main user base is

streaming service that wants to those listening to regional songs and
launch a family music plan for its this plan would be targeted towards
users. How would you go about it? the same user segment. (One can use
a matrix to better represent the
I n t e r v i e w e e: Sure, from what I market)
understand JioSaavn wants to launch
a new subscription plan aimed at I n t e r v i e w e r: S u r e , g o a h e a d .
families. So I have to come up with a
pricing strategy for this plan? I n t e r v i e w e e: I t h i n k G a a n a a n d W y n k
are the appropriate competitors. I
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , g o a h e a d . would look at their pricing strategies
as well as the offerings they provide
I n t e r v i e w e e: O k a y , a n d I a s s u m e t h e to their customers.
goal of the pricing strategy is to
attract more users. Especially, the I n t e r v i e w e r: Here is the pricing
users who are not earning or those chart.
who are taken care of by others in
the family.

I n t e r v i e w e r: F a i r e n o u g h . H o w w o u l d
you go about pricing such a plan?

I n t e r v i e w e e: F r o m w h a t I k n o w m u s i c
streaming is a very competitive
market in India and I would like to
concentrate on competitor based
pricing. However various players
target different customer segments.
To identify the most appropriate
competitors to benchmark against, I
would look at the customer segment
that we would be targeting this plan
and identify the competitors
targeting the same customer base. I
PRICING PAGE 204

I n t e r v i e w e e: L o o k i n g a t t h e c h a r t , I To s u m m a r i z e , I w o u l d p r i c e i t t h e
see that there is very little same as the competition but maybe
differentiation wrt to the offering run a few experiments to find the
from each streaming service. I think r i g h t v a l u e p r o p o s i t i o n . I w ou l d a l s o
the appropriate pricing would be Rs take into consideration the market
499 for 5 users or Rs 399 for 4 users. and JioSaavns position in the market.
We can probably run experiments to I w ou ld make sure t he pricing
see which of these offers would be s t r a t e g y i s a l i g n e d wi t h t h e o v e r a l l
more attractive to the users. There is strategy of the company.
another data point I would look at to
ensure that we are not missing out on I n t e r v i e w e r: Great! This sounds
any opportunities. I would look at the good.
number of subscribers to each of
t h e s e s t r e a m i n g s e r v i c e s . E s p e ci a l l y
the number of paid users. If we are
significantly lagging behind the
c o m p e t i to r s , I w o u l d c o n s i d e r p r i c i n g
i t m o r e a g g r e s s i v e l y . If n o t , I w o u l d
stick to the competitors’ pricing
range. The market is very
c o m p e ti t i v e , and being aggressive
about pricing might lead to a price
war.
PRICING PAGE 205

I n t e r v i e w e e: L o o k i n g a t t h e c h a r t , I To s u m m a r i z e , I w o u l d p r i c e i t t h e
see that there is very little same as the competition but maybe
differentiation wrt to the offering run a few experiments to find the
from each streaming service. I think r i g h t v a l u e p r o p o s i t i o n . I w ou l d a l s o
the appropriate pricing would be Rs take into consideration the market
499 for 5 users or Rs 399 for 4 users. and JioSaavns position in the market.
We can probably run experiments to I w ou ld make sure t he pricing
see which of these offers would be s t r a t e g y i s a l i g n e d wi t h t h e o v e r a l l
more attractive to the users. There is strategy of the company.
another data point I would look at to
ensure that we are not missing out on I n t e r v i e w e r: Great! This sounds
any opportunities. I would look at the good.
number of subscribers to each of
t h e s e s t r e a m i n g s e r v i c e s . E s p e ci a l l y
the number of paid users. If we are
significantly lagging behind the
c o m p e t i to r s , I w o u l d c o n s i d e r p r i c i n g
i t m o r e a g g r e s s i v e l y . If n o t , I w o u l d
stick to the competitors’ pricing
range. The market is very
c o m p e ti t i v e , and being aggressive
about pricing might lead to a price
war.
PRICING PAGE 206

I n t er v ie w ee: I t s e e m s t h a t f r o m a Moreover, it would not negatively

competitive angle, a Netflix impact the top-line, as the change in
subscription becomes economical product mix is likely to be
only when shared among 4 different compensated by the higher number of
users. Further, Netflix doesn’t users buying the low-price
provide annual subscriptions. This subscription.
can increase churn rates due to
higher monthly costs for the users. Further, I also recommend a second-
Further, Netflix shows a clear degree price discrimination by
instance of decoy pricing wherein its providing annual subscriptions. This
cheapest pricing subscription of 500 would attract the users with a lower
is a decoy to stimulate users to opt price point perceived on a monthly
for the marginally higher priced basis and would also help reduce user
options which in turn cost users less churn that happens on a monthly
on an individual basis. basis due to higher monthly
subscription charges.Interviewer:
Looking at the pricing strategy of Alright, that sounds fair. What else
competition, I would suggest Netflix you would be looking at?
to decrease its lowest price to a
competitive level close to 300. This I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , t h a t s o u n d s f a i r .
goes in line with increasing the user What else you would be looking at?
base within the highly price
conscious customers in India. It I n t e r v i e w e e: W e a l s o n e e d t o a n a l y z e
would be economical for viewers to the value proposition of the three
buy a single screen plan while platforms and how they stimulate
eliminating the market friction trial and stimulate renewal. Hence,
involved in finding a co-subscriber to do so, I would be looking at the
for the “2 screens” version to reduce following parameters across the
cost. platforms.
PRICING PAGE 207

PRICING 2

Interviewer - With the launch of the Interviewer - The screen sizes are
iPhone 12 a few months away and going to be 5.4”, 6.1” and 6.7”
keeping in consideration Apple’s respectively with 120HZ XDR OLED
focus on growing their market share d i s p l a y fo r t h e P r o m o d e l s . T h e P r o
across the world. How do you think models will have a triple camera
Apple should go about pricing the setup whereas the non Pro models
iPhone 12 lineup? will only have dual cameras. Apart
from this you’re free to make any
Candidate - Is there any particular other assumptions.
manner would you like me to go
ahead with, for example: Candidate - Who are the main
Competitor based pricing competitors for the iPhone 12 and
Value based pricing iPhone 12 Pro models?
Cost based pricing
Interviewer - You can consider the
Interviewer - You are free to go OnePlus 8/Huawei P30 Pro and
ahead anyway you would like. Samsung S20+ to be the competitors
respectively.
Candidate - Sure, in that case I
would prefer going with the Candidate - How much do those
Competitor based pricing. It would be retail for?
great if you could further explain the
product portfolio for the iPhone 12 Interviewer - OnePlus 8 retails for
lineup? $699, Huawei P30 Pro retails for $599
and Samsung S20+ retails for $899.
Interviewer - Sure, there are going
to be four models, namely- iPhone 12, Candidate - Do I need to consider
iPhone 12 Max, iPhone 12 Pro and different storage variants or just a
iPhone 12 Pro Max. single base storage variant for all the
models?
Candidate - Can you tell me the key
differentiators between the models? Interviewer - Just consider the base
models with 128GB storage.
PRICING PAGE 208

Candidate - Thanks for the sales severely in such markets. Hence

background information, there are i t i s su g g e s t e d t h a t t h e i P h o n e 1 2 b e
t h r e e d if f e r e n t w a y s w e c an l o o k a t p r i c ed b et w e e n $ 5 9 9 a n d $ 6 9 9 .
pricing
Customer’s willingness to pay As for the iPhone 12 Pro model, its
Competitive pricing competitor the Samsung S20+ retails
Cost-based pricing for $899. We also need to consider
the bigger iPhone 12 Pro Max model.
First I’ll start looking at the product It would be better to have a Pro
from the customer’s perspective. The model iPhone which costs higher
customer will look for the best than Samsung’s flagship model. There
alternative to our product or find a is always the bigger iPhone 12 Pro
substitute product. Negotiators call Max model to be the best that Apple
it BATNA or the best alternative to a offers which can command a premium
negotiated agreement. Here I would over other competitors flagship.
call it the customer’s willingness to Pricing Apple’s flagship iPhone 12 Pro
pay. Max higher that all the other
competitors will help in two ways-
In the case of the iPhone 12, the next Help maintain Apple’s brand image
best alternatives are prices at $599 of being the most premium
and $699. This gap of $100 is smartphone and its always a
something Apple can think about statement to carry an iPhone.
playing around in. The perception for It would help skimming from the
an OnePlus device is that it’s a good top and tap into the super-
product but the cost doesn’t justify premium/luxury smartphone
the high premium they are asking for market.
their brand. When it comes to Huawei
P30 Pro the brand image is not that Interviewer - So what are your
of a premium smartphone but that of recommendations?
a Chinese manufacturer. If Apple
prices the iPhone at a cost lower Candidate - For the iPhone 12 model,
than that of the Huawei P30 Pro then I would suggest to cost it at $649.
that would give out the perception This would help undercut the mass
that the iPhone 12 is just a cheaper popular OnePlus 8 while preserving
version of the superior Pro models. the iPhone’s brand name by not
That would be detrimental to the becoming a cheap phone or being
iPhone 12 as a standalone phone. compared to the Huawei P30 Pro.
Hence it is logical to cost the iPhone This can help in selling more quantity
12 more than $599.Apple also need to of iPhones and the revenue would be
consider the screen size of the driven by the surge in demand for the
iPhone 12. At 5.4” the iPhone 12 would apple accessories, app store licensing
be significantly smaller than the fees and also from other services like
OnePlus 8. In mass consumer markets apple music and iCloud storage that
like India, the perception is that iPhone provides.
bigger the smartphone screen the
more premium and desirable it is.
Hence pricing the iPhone 12 at a cost
higher than OnePlus 8 would hit the
PRICING PAGE 209

T h e l a r ge r of t h e n o n P r o m o d e l s , t h e Interviewer - Can you summarize

iPhone 12 Max can be priced at $749 the pricing for me?
as a better alternative to the iPhone
12 and would also seem superior to Candidate - The iPhone 12 should be
the $699 priced OnePlus 8. priced at $649, the iPhone 12 Max
should be priced at $749. The Pro
Coming to the Pro series of phones, models would charge a significant
here I would suggest that the iPhone premium, partly because of the
needs to preserve its premium brand technology used in them and partly
image. Even if Samsung comes up because of it being the flagship
with a more expensive series of offering by Apple. Hence, the iPhone
phones before the next cycle of Apple 12 Pro should be priced at $999 and
iPhones, the cost of iPhone 12 Pro the iPhone 12 Pro Max should be
should be at least on par with the priced at $1099.
flagship phones from other
manufacturers. Hence I would
suggest to price the iPhone 12 Pro
model $100 over the price of the
competitor. There is always a
cheaper non Pro series for a
customer with a smaller budget. The
iPhone 12 Pro Max, being the flagship
product offered by Apple, commands
a premium for the larger screen over
the standard pro model. Hence I
would suggest to price it at $1099.
PRICING PAGE 210

PRICING 3

I n t e r v i e w e r: Recently, Disney has I n t e r v i e w e e: A l r i g h t , w e c a n l o o k a t

partnered with Hotstar to provide its the pricing policy of Netflix through
Disney+ streaming services in India. three lenses –
This poses a major threat to the user Competitor based pricing
b a s e o f N et f l i x . A s a p r o d u c t m a n a g e r Value based pricing
at Netflix, you need to formulate a Cost based pricing
competitive response in terms of the
pricing and product strategy of I would look at Hotstar and
Netflix in India. Primevideo as the only two major
competitors of Netflix. Can you tell
I n t e r v i e w e e: S o , I u n d e r s t a n d t h a t me more about the current pricing
the objective here is to preserve and policy of these platforms?
grow the user base (market share) of
Netflix in India. Is that right? I n t e r v i e w e r: Following are the
pricing models of the three players.
I n t e r v i e w e r: Y e s , t h a t s o u n d s f a i r . G o
ahead.
PRICING PAGE 211

I n t er v ie w ee: I t s e e m s t h a t f r o m a Moreover, it would not negatively

competitive angle, a Netflix impact the top-line, as the change in
subscription becomes economical product mix is likely to be
only when shared among 4 different compensated by the higher number of
users. Further, Netflix doesn’t users buying the low-price
provide annual subscriptions. This subscription.
can increase churn rates due to
higher monthly costs for the users. Further, I also recommend a second-
Further, Netflix shows a clear degree price discrimination by
instance of decoy pricing wherein its providing annual subscriptions. This
cheapest pricing subscription of 500 would attract the users with a lower
is a decoy to stimulate users to opt price point perceived on a monthly
for the marginally higher priced basis and would also help reduce user
options which in turn cost users less churn that happens on a monthly
on an individual basis. basis due to higher monthly
subscription charges.Interviewer:
Looking at the pricing strategy of Alright, that sounds fair. What else
competition, I would suggest Netflix you would be looking at?
to decrease its lowest price to a
competitive level close to 300. This I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , t h a t s o u n d s f a i r .
goes in line with increasing the user What else you would be looking at?
base within the highly price
conscious customers in India. It I n t e r v i e w e e: W e a l s o n e e d t o a n a l y z e
would be economical for viewers to the value proposition of the three
buy a single screen plan while platforms and how they stimulate
eliminating the market friction trial and stimulate renewal. Hence,
involved in finding a co-subscriber to do so, I would be looking at the
for the “2 screens” version to reduce following parameters across the
cost. platforms.
PRICING PAGE 212

I n t er v ie w ee: I t s e e m s t h a t f r o m a Moreover, it would not negatively

competitive angle, a Netflix impact the top-line, as the change in
subscription becomes economical product mix is likely to be
only when shared among 4 different compensated by the higher number of
users. Further, Netflix doesn’t users buying the low-price
provide annual subscriptions. This subscription.
can increase churn rates due to
higher monthly costs for the users. Further, I also recommend a second-
Further, Netflix shows a clear degree price discrimination by
instance of decoy pricing wherein its providing annual subscriptions. This
cheapest pricing subscription of 500 would attract the users with a lower
is a decoy to stimulate users to opt price point perceived on a monthly
for the marginally higher priced basis and would also help reduce user
options which in turn cost users less churn that happens on a monthly
on an individual basis. basis due to higher monthly
subscription charges.Interviewer:
Looking at the pricing strategy of Alright, that sounds fair. What else
competition, I would suggest Netflix you would be looking at?
to decrease its lowest price to a
competitive level close to 300. This I n t e r v i e w e r: A l r i g h t , t h a t s o u n d s f a i r .
goes in line with increasing the user What else you would be looking at?
base within the highly price
conscious customers in India. It I n t e r v i e w e e: W e a l s o n e e d t o a n a l y z e
would be economical for viewers to the value proposition of the three
buy a single screen plan while platforms and how they stimulate
eliminating the market friction trial and stimulate renewal. Hence,
involved in finding a co-subscriber to do so, I would be looking at the
for the “2 screens” version to reduce following parameters across the
cost. platforms.
PRICING PAGE 213

The value that Netflix provides lies in I would also recommend Netflix to
its originally produced content such inculcate third-degree price
as House of Cards, etc. However, this discrimination by providing separate
competitive advantage is weathering content options to users at different
off due to popular Disney and MCU price points. In case of Netflix, these
content coming up on Hotstar. This product options can be
entails that from a value perspective, Non-original content – American
it’s difficult for Netflix to justify a TV shows, movies, etc.
price premium based just on its Netflix originals content + Non-
exclusive content. original content.

Netflix should look at increasing its Decoy pricing should be used in

trial. An offensive strategy for the these product options to stimulate
same can be to provide some content users to buy the complete bundle of
for free coupled with its existing 30- Netflix originals and non-original
day free trial policy, something that content.
Hotstar has been doing since its
inception. To increase conversion of Further, Netflix should lay emphasis
these prospects to paid-users, Netflix on dubbing at least the most popular
can adopt a strategy of providing the content to regional languages to
pilot episodes of some of its most enhance its reach to people from
popular web series for free. This across the country.
would psychologically increase the
tendency of users to buy a
subscription.
PRICING PAGE 214

F urt h e r , moving on to cost based Further, should also implement

pricing, it doesn’t make sense to annual subscriptions to provide for
analyze it from a cost perspective as lower price monthly price points for
the variable cost involved in serving this price-conscious market and at
every additional subscriber is close the same time reducing the
to null. This industry comprises subscription churn rate.
primarily of high fixed costs of
obtaining content licenses, content It can also look at increasing the trial
production, IT infrastructure costs, by providing select content for free
etc. and hence shouldn’t be looked at and adoption a partially freemium
through a cost-plus pricing angle. model. Also, given the heterogenous
market, Netflix should focus on
I n t e r v i e w e r: S u r e , t h a t l o o k s g o o d . regional content to provide value to
So, can you summarize your the customers and justify its premium
recommendations for the pricing and pricing.
product strategy.
I n t e r v i e w e r: Alright, sounds good.
I n t e r v i e w e e: A l r i g h t ! S o , w e s a w t h a t We can close the case here.
from a competitive viewpoint, Netflix
is priced much higher than its
competitors. Further, due to its
decoy pricing, its lowest price point
of 500 comes at a much higher level
than its competitors. Hence, I
recommend reducing this lower price
point to a competitive level of 325
and shift the decoy pricing towards
the 2 product-based options of non-
original content and non-original +
Netflix original content.
PRICING PAGE 215

PRICING 4

E x c e r p t: While most pricing I n t e r v i e w e r: Currently we have a

questions cater to s et t i n g the pay-per-use payment mo d e l . Here
appropriate price for new products the amount to be paid per user
or services, negotiating vendor d e p e nd s o n t h e b a n d i n w h i c h t h e
contracts is another kind of pricing lump sum requirements of the server
problem that a manager might capacity lies. During the times of
encounter COVID, there has been a surge in the
server capacity used by our
I n t e r v i e w e r: H i , Y o u a r e a p r o d u c t application, which has motivated the
manager at a large gaming company. vendor to demand an overage.
It has only one application in the
market - a multiplayer first-person C a n d i d a t e: A l r i g h t . S o t h i s s u r g e i n
shooter game. The server for this usage could be both due to an
game is hosted with a third-party increase in the usage per active user,
vendor who is dissatisfied with the or a spike in the number of active
pricing contract that is currently in users itself. Which one has been the
place and is asking for the payment case with us?
of overage charges. How would you
proceed? I n t e r v i e w e r: G o o d q u e s t i o n . S o w e
have had a spike in the number of
C a n d i d a t e: That’s an interesting users and in addition, the average
question. To begin with I would like time for which a user engages with
to clarify some aspects of the the application has increased too.
problem.
C a n d i d a t e: A l s o , t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e
I n t e r v i e w e r: G o a h e a d business requirements better, I
would like to know more about the
C a n d i d a t e: I w o u l d l i k e t o u n d e r s t a n d business model in place. Typically
what kind of pricing structure is such applications would either
currently in place, and what is the generate revenue based on adverts or
reason for which the vendor is asking based on registration fees, or a mix
for the renegotiation? of the two. If the model is ad-based,
we would be in a marginally better
position, because the increase in
engagement time would translate to
PRICING PAGE 216

higher ad revenue per user. In the On the pricing end. We can either
case of registration fees, the existing continue with the current pricing
fee would have been decided strategy or shift to a new one. The
considering the break-even point new strategy can, in turn, be
with the ongoing server costs - hence registration-based or usage-based.
the loss of profits would be higher. Is there something else I should
consider?
I n t e r v i e w e r: Fair analysis. Assume
for simplicity that there are no I n t e r v i e w e r: N o t h i s l o o k s p e r f e c t .
advert based revenues, we are simply What parameters would you evaluate
using a registration fee-based model. these options on?

C a n d i d a t e: G r e a t s o w e c a n a p p r o a c h C a n d i d a t e: We could evaluate the

the issue in the following way. There options on the revenues (a proxy of
are two counter forces to shape the pricing success), cost (a proxy of
response to the situation - Server costing success), and risk (a sanity
costing and Product pricing. check on whether the option makes
sense for the business).
Servers can either be our own or
from a third-party. The third-party I n t e r v i e w e r: Great. Now you can
server additionally can be existing or present your analysis and
new. The existing one can have the recommendations
ongoing costing model, or it can be
renegotiated. C a n d i d a t e:
H=High, M=Medium, L=Low
Since the ongoing costing model is
clearly loss-making, we would
exclude that from our analysis.
PRICING PAGE 217

Based on this I would like to recommend options 3 and 5, due to low risks and
high returns.

I n t e r v i e w e r: T h a t ’ d b e a l l , t h a n k s !
It is time to...

MEET THE TEAM!

PAGE 218
 COLLABORATORS
AY 2021-2022

ANAND PATIL ANNU BANSAL

B.TECH Electronics Engg, B.E Electronics & Comm. Engineering,
IIT (BHU) Varanasi BIT Mesra,

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Microsoft Previous Company: Amadeus Labs

ASHUTOSH CHANDRA ASITAVA SARKAR

B.TECH Chemical Engineering, B.TECH Electrical Engineering,
IIT Delhi IIT Kanpur

PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Innovacer Previous Company: Gartner

JAY BHAVIN SHETH MANPREET SINGH

B.TECH Electrical Engineering, Dual Degree Mechanical Engineering
IIT Jodhpur IIT Kanpur

PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Loylty Rewardz

Previous Company: Intel

MRIDUL KOTHARI NANDIT JAIN

B.TECH. Chemical Engineering
B.TECH Metallurgical & Materials Engg,
IIT Kanpur
IIT Kharagpur

PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: EXL, Thales

Previous Company: Morgan Stanley

ROHAN PATNAIK ROHIT JOSHI

B.E. (Hons) Computer Science B.TECH Production and Industrial Engg,
BITS Pilani, Goa Campus IIT Roorkee

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Morgan Stanley

Previous Company: American Express
 COLLABORATORS
AY 2021-2022

SAI KRISHNA NARRA SANKET PANDHARE

B.TECH Electrical Engineering, B.TECH Mechanical Engineering,
NIT Calicut IIT Guwahati

PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: TATA Motors Previous Company: Capgemini

SHOBHIT SINGH SHUBHAM YADAV

B.TECH Mechanical Engg, B.TECH Production and Industrial
MNIT Jaipur Engineering, IIT Roorkee

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Dassault Systems Previous Company: Green Affiliates Pvt

Ltd

SOORYA RAMESH VAISHALI YADAV

B.TECH Computer Science & Engineering, B.TECH Information Technology, DTU
SASTRA University
PGP, IIM Ahmedabad
PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Visa Inc.

Previous Company: Amazon

VIGNESH RENGARAJ
B.E Electronics & Communication
College of Engineering Guindy

PGP'22, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Genesys

 COLLABORATORS
AY 2020-2021

ABHISHEK KIKANI ADITYA DOIPHODE

B.E. MS Operations Research, B.TECH Chemical (TXT),

Columbia University Institute of Chemical Technology

PGPX, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Charles River Previous Company: Pivy (Founder)

Development

AKASH PADMANE AMRIT VERMA

B.TECH Mechanical Engineering, B.TECH Mechanical Engineering

IIT Bombay NITK Surathkal

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Oracle

ASHISH NAUTIYAL ARINDAM RAJ

B. TECH Mechanical Engineering, B.TECH Civil Engineering,
IIT Kanpur
MNIT Jaipur

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Capgemini

Previous Company: NTPC

BHAVNOOR SINGH DHAVALA V S ADITYA

B.TECH Mechanical Engineering,
B.TECH Electrical Engineering, IIT BHU
IIT Roorkee

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: ZS Associates

DHIRAJ KULKARNI ISHMEET SINGH

B.TECH Computer Engineering, B.TECH Electronics & Communication
College of Engineering Pune IIT Kharagpur

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Citicorp Services Previous Company: Texas Instruments

 COLLABORATORS
AY 2020-2021

JAYANT JAIN KUNAL JAIN

B.TECH Electrical Engineering
Bachelors in Design
IIT(BHU) Varanasi
IIT Guwahati

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: EXL Services

Previous Company: D.E.Shaw

MAYANK CHAUHAN MAHENDRA B

B.TECH Mechanical Engineering
BTech, Chemical Engineering
NITK Surathkal
IIT Kanpur

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: RoaDo

NAIMIL SHAH NEHA MAZUMDAR

BE Computer Science, B.TECH Computer Engineering,

BITS Goa DTU

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: HSBC Previous Company: Arcesium

Technology

NIKHIL KEDIA MAURICE PATEL

B.TECH Electronics, Int. MSc. Applied Mathematics,
IIT Kharagpur IIT Roorkee

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Qualcomm Previous Company: Accenture Digital

PREMNANDHAKUMAR
PRAKHAR GUPTA
B.E Mechanical Engineering,
B.TECH Electronics &
PSG College of Technology
Communications Engineering,
NIT Trichy PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

 COLLABORATORS
AY 2020-2021

R MOUNICA RAVI KOSHAL

B.TECH Electronics & Communication,
B.TECH Chemical Engineering,
NIT Surat
IIT Madras

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGPX, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Kabbage Previous Company: Medibuddy

SEEMA SHIVAM KUMAR

BE Computer Science, B.TECH Electronics & Communication,

Manipal Institute of Technology IIT Roorkee

PGPX, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Honeywell Previous Company: Amazon

SHIVANI SPRIHA SHIWANI JAISWAL

B.TECH Electronics & Communication, B.E. Computer Science & Engineering

NIT Sikkim M.S Ramaiah Institute of Technology

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGPX, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Citrix Systems R&D

SHUBHANGI SINGHAL SOMITRA BALDUA

B.TECH Information Technology B.TECH Electronics & Electrical,
IIT Guwahati
Maharaja Agrasen Institute of

Technology PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGPX, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Texas Instruments

Previous Company: Sopra Banking

Software

SHREYAS HARISH TANYA DHIR

Bachelors in Design,
BTECH + MTECH Computer Science,
NIFT Bangalore
IIT Madras

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Future Group

Previous Company: Reckitt Benckiser
 COLLABORATORS
AY 2020-2021

UTKARSH KUMAR VAIBHAV PATIL

B.TECH Computer Science,
B.TECH Electrical Engineering,
IIT (BHU) Varanasi SGGSIE&T, Nanded

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Oracle Previous Company: Tata

Consultancy Services

YUVRAJ SINGH BAWA

B.TECH Mechanical Engineering
NITK Surathkal

PGP, IIM Ahmedabad

Previous Company: Microsoft

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ABOUT THE BOOK

This is a book for the aspiring Product Manager, new age tech product enthusiast and
truly anyone interested in understanding what makes the technology around us so
engaging and effective.

The book aims to bring the average reader up to speed on today’ s most relevant
technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, and methods of
problem solving, such as design thinking. It also cuts straight to learning by doing,
critiquing apps that every reader has used, ranging across Uber, Amazon and Zomato.

Depending on the reader’ s level of knowledge and understanding of Product Management,

they may find tremendous value in each chapter of this book, or crisp insights by leafing
through specific sections.

Why is this book needed?

In today’s age of information, it is easy enough for aspiring Product Managers to find
resources which layout the basics of the PM interview, as well as information on what to
expect from the industry. As Product Management continues to grow as a career of
choice, and become increasingly competitive, a need was felt for a resource which builds
not just a theoretical understanding, but a practical experience and intelligence.

This book therefore was born out of industry relevant discussions and sessions
conducted by the ProdMan Club of IIM Ahmedabad & the ProdX Club of IIM Ahmedabad.
In each chapter, the learnings and perspectives of the youngest generation of students
entering the industry are used to provide the reader with the advantage of cutting edge
industry knowledge. These chapters are further refined with insights, springing from a
healthy discussion and dissection of concepts, by a group of budding Product Managers.
Finally, ideas are presented through simple user journeys and relatable app critiques.

FOLLOW US

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twitter.com/prodmaniima