We regularly interact with a lot of people around us and notice

problems they face on a day-to-day basis. As a product manager

you have a keen eye for such hurdles and acknowledge the
need to work on it.

Tell us about a real-world problem that you have observed

around you which can be solved using a digital product.

Harshit Krishna Choudhary

17114010
harshit.kchoudhary.mst17@iitbhu.ac.in
8826986083
v.nnd.2015.06
CONFIDENTIAL
 ● Why did you choose this problem and what potential impact can
solving it create?
● Which parts of the problem will you solve for first and why?
● How will you use technology to solve it?
● How would you measure whether the chosen solution is working?
● What might be the reasons for this chosen solution to fail?

v.nnd.2015.06
CONFIDENTIAL
 Understanding the problem

🌎 Dimensions 🗺 Location: Throughout the world ⏰ Time: Today’s information age

Exploration

The main goal of humanity is to The main problem of the age is

🎯 Main struggle increase productivity and efficiency 1 information asymmetry 2
3 4
✅ Actionables Cognitive abilities Physical capacities Data overload Digital illiteracy

● Short attention span and learning curve ● Disorganised social content generation
📋 Drill down
● Weak memorisation skills and deep thinking ● Unlinked bits of valuable information

Problem: In the era of information explosion, humans’ cognitive abilities of attention and memory are decreasing 5

Internet 50 % ( ~ 2.35 b )
60% Tech savvy 6 ( ~ 1.41 b )
Age: 18 - 34 Globally
Estimate

60% ( ~ 4.7 b ) 33% Others

World users 15% addressable user
Age: 35 - 54 ( ~ 1.56 b ) Job: White collar ( ~ 0.23 b )
population segment
Others Job: Blue collar
( 7.9 b ) Age: 55 + is 1.64 billion
Job: Others

Solving the problem would impact three levels of use-cases AND would improve quality of living in both work-life spaces
Impact

🚀 Progress 👩 Individuals 🏢 Communities 🌐 Humanity

☯ Personal Better at higher order thinking Ideas sharing and discovery Valuable civilisation growth
💰 Professional Strong marketable personality Enhanced knowledge bank Organised network of ideas
1: Article explaining how productivity is the main skill for humans 4: Assumption: Information management can be more efficiently tackled
More 2: Article on Information Asymmetry effect on Capital Structure 5: Article on the consequences of internet on memory and cognition
v.nnd.2015.06 3: Assumption: Cognitive actions can be better solved by digital technology 6: Tech savvy users will find value in adapting to new digital solution CONFIDENTIAL
 Envisioning the solution

Product: A self organising, decentralised storage network which is used as a second brain by users worldwide;
where a fundamental block of memory is an idea, with metadata and it links with other ideas and forms cluster

Idea: Single node of information, Self-organising: Similar ideas get grouped

Idea to efficiently save and recall 1 together using ML clustering model 2
Structure

Links Metadata: Reference information Decentralized: Secure, user served

Metadata
(datetime, location, shared-with)
Links: Network to other blocks
One block of idea
for effective neural connections
network distributed with all the users 3
Second Brain: Web of fundamental ideas
Network of Ideas
linked and clustered, “Zettelkasten way” 4

Jim - 21 YO Jill - 27 YO Jane - 48 YO Demand on social media 6

Tech guy Content lead Law teacher
Persona validation

Loves to read Enjoy movies Writes a blog

Jim can maintain a Jill can create a group Jane may publish her
tech-idea note for self. knowledge repository for work and maintain an
For portfolio purposes, team members.5 Ideas ever-growing network of
notes can be shared on added to self organising ideas. Others might
decentral network system would increase discover the web of
maintaining access rights. team productivity 5. ideas and contribute.
1: Article on effectiveness of idea organisation and neural linking 4:: Article on Zettelkasten system of idea organisation
More 2: Article of Machine Learning models used for classification 5: 13.6% CAGR rise in US Productivity management software market
v.nnd.2015.06 3: Guide to IPFS, the decentralised database of web 3.0 6: Screenshots: Reddit discussion, Twitter thread, Youtube tutorials CONFIDENTIAL
 Analysis Prioritising the goals

Technology Frontend + Backend

Depending on
Value : Time
Splits into
the ratio of
Business Financial + Operational Feasibility : Effort

Priority: Features giving maximum value to users in minimum time AND most feasible to build with least effort

Similar to natural neural systems, initially build simple features for single users, then pivot to advanced processes for all users
Biomimicry

󰔞 Senses 1 Visual Auditory 🧠 Brain 2 Memory storage Idea organisation

Output Screen Earbuds Basic Short Term RAM Tabular Structure
Input Camera Recorder Advanced Long Term Disk Clustered Graph

📱 Interfaces: simple to advanced interaction ⚙ Processes 5: single user to global network

Prioritisation

Text Based Individual

6
Screen interface of devices CRUD ideas with access levels
Voice Based 3 Community
Voice interface for wearables Share ideas within a group
Neural Based Humanity
Brain Computer Interface 4 Access to all global ideas
1: Assumption: For digital products, visual and auditory senses would suffice 4: Article exploring the future of the Brain Computer Interface
More 2: Assumption: For second brain, storage and organization functions suffice 5: Processes: Organising ideas with ML models for clustering
v.nnd.2015.06 3: Google Keep and MS OneNote are available on Apple Watch 6: CRUD: Create Read Update Delete CONFIDENTIAL
 Journey Building the product

Discovery Create ideas ML model gets trained The second brain is enhanced 2
Join decentralised
network of ideas
Invitation Sets access 1 Personal/ Group/ Global Shows cluster of ideas on query

Build goals: The frontend is intuitive, agnostic 3, habit-forming AND the backend is scalable, lean and robust
Frontend Backend
Features of the system

● User: Joins the network by accepting contract 5

● Create and retrieve ideas from the Second Brain
● Input using text/ voice or neural (for beta users 4 )
● Zoomable cluster of ideas presented from search
1: Privacy of ideas is maintained by providing access features to users
More 2: With the increase in usage and user feedback, ML algorithm improves
v.nnd.2015.06 3: Agnostic: Works the same irrespective of platform (Linux, iOS mobile, etc)
● Contract: Maintain ledger and share data with network
● Interface: Client side HTML, CSS, JS tech stack
● Self organizing: Idea grouping using ML clustering model
● Decentralised: Data sharing happens with IPFS protocol 6
4: Testing: Advanced technology to be rolled out for a small set of users
5: Contract: Data transaction rules within a decentralized network
6: IPFS: Open source protocol for deploying distributed applications CONFIDENTIAL
 Measuring the success
Drives
Usage data generated
Roadmap

Recommendation Share ideas

User System
Awareness Usage enhance 1
User Joins Network Second Brain Create Datetime
Promotes Retrieve Location

Success: The second brain network serves many users; much more frequently and in multiple locations

Phase Individual Community Humanity

Tracking and analytics

Main usage Create ideas to network Share ideas with groups Save ideas by organising

Focus KPI Frequent and varied usage
# ( Ideas created per user) 2
Supporting
𝚫 ( Time of create - retrieve ) 3
metrics 𝚫 ( Location of create - retrieve ) 4
Active growing community Defined clusters of ideas
# ( Communities formed ) # ( Cluster of ideas = domain ) 6
𝞵 ( Active users 5 per community ) 𝞵 ( Ideas per domain )
𝞵 ( Ideas per user in community ) 𝞵 ( Active users per domain )

Symbols # = Number of 𝚫 = Change in 𝞵 = Average of

1: With increase in usage, the second brain trains more on ML and improvise 4: Retrieval of idea at a different location of its creation will mark success
More 2: An average human generates around 6000 thoughts per day 5: Active users: Who use the network frequently, say twice a day
v.nnd.2015.06 3: Retrieval of idea after a long period of its creation will mark success 6: Well defined cluster by ML model, example ‘cluster of physics ideas’ CONFIDENTIAL
 Examining the system

Ecosystem: Components and stakeholders who directly or indirectly impact the success of product

Areas of concern Major pitfalls Mitigation strategy

● Hosting public network on IPFS is slow 1 ● Replicate most used ideas with active users 2
Technology ML model requires pre-training for clustering
● ● Scrape wikipedia for clustering existing ideas
stack ● Idea clustering might miss edge cases ● Use peer review for supervised learning
Internal

Business ● Backend is open-sourced 3, easy to duplicate ● Build great ML clustering as the product USP
model ● Building a hardware interface is not feasible ● Exclusive partnership with wearable brands

Investors ● Explosive growth might not be expected ● Patent; build moat around second-brain tech

● Hesitancy with sharing device storage space 4 ● Use additional pay-per-use model for storage
First time Low confidence in sharing sensitive ideas
● ● Advocate encryption and blockchain security
users ● Fear of mass surveillance by idea sharing ● Save ideas on own device with strict access
External

Indirect ● Bundle of apps can work-around for solution 5 ● Provide common features of user requests
competitors ● Content duplication issue across various apps ● Build a feature to link content from apps 6

Legalities ● Illegal content shared on the network ● Add peer reviewed content moderation policy
1: Open issue on github on slow latency of IPFS deployed apps 4: Article discussing how content sharing on IPFS uses personal storage
More 2: Store ideas effectively with the use of metadata for time and location 5: Use-case validation by Reddit discussion of Second Brain workflow
v.nnd.2015.06 3: IPFS protocol and Clustering ML Models are open source technologies 6: Embedding the content cross application like twitter and tumblr CONFIDENTIAL
 for building financial literacy
~ Harshit Krishna Choudhary | IIT (BHU), Varanasi | 2022
 Understanding the company
The main vision of the company is learnt from the interviews of the founder and articles by investigative sources.
Product launch coverage for CRED - reported by Livemint on Nov. 2018 1
🦄 The dream The founder suggests that he wants to achieve three main things for customers: lower costs, enable earning more and
The CRED story

investing better. Cred targets for top 10%, to help the nation building tax-payers to be financially treated well.

“Who is the villain in the CRED story?” - asked by Sumanth Raghavendra, co-founder of The Ken 2
🧛 The villain Cred’s approach towards improving financial literacy is rewarding good financial behaviour. But there is no-one to teach
users about money. “The antagonist in the CRED story is the lack of financial literacy”, founder Kunal Shah claims.

Analysis of CRED’s strategy and action plans - essay by Aviral Bhatnagar, founder of AJVC 3
🎯 The action CRED has created a community of ‘high trust’ individuals and is collecting data to potentially offer a myriad of financial
products. Information is gold for offering financial instruments, and CRED is mining it for high-income consumers.

The main stakeholders of the company are identified, who play a key role in building the complete ecosystem.
Brands Buyers Banks
Company that offers goods and services Active user base who avails platform offers Institutions that transacts loan and deposit
Stakeholders

Deliverables Deliverables Deliverables

• Curated offers and plans for users • Access to financial portfolio 4 and history • Exclusive financial services and offerings
• Commision on monetary volume of sales • Investment of time and energy in the app • Unfair advantage to platform users

Benefits Benefits Benefits

• Ride on marketing and sales success • Premium offers on products and services • Network of financially disciplined users
• Access of high credit worthy audience • Hassle free transactions and updates • Platform to cross-sell banking services

1: Company launch - Cred to launch product for credit card users (livemint.com) 3: Analysis of the company - Is Cred the Prada of Fintech? - A Junior VC
2: Founder’s interview - Kunal Shah on the mission of CRED - The Ken (the-ken.com) 4: Financial portfolio - Transaction details of income, expenditure and investment instruments
 Discovering the problem
Opportunities with current technology and trends are explored to enhance the financial literacy of users.
The booming fintech market and offerings in India 1 Online learning experience becoming a new normal 2
Market opportunity

Situation NOW Situation NOW

The social distancing Ever since the covid
norms gave a major outbreak, online learning
push for adaption to has been on the rise
digital finance on top throughout the nation,
of demonetisation a bringing a behavior
few years earlier; change towards digital
exploding the market. learning opportunities.

Multiple interview sessions followed by internet based survey is conducted to understand pain points of users.
Major highlights from the interview 3 Key insights from the survey 4
7 Participants (2 Females; 4 Metro residents; 4 Earning) 75 Respondents (25% Females; 21% Metro residents; 63% Earning)
User research

No
Tedious to manage a complete financial portfolio Yes Use finance app?
The past:
with an analysis of past records of transactions.
Major hurdles Future plans
The present: Needs aid in decision making and keeping update Market knowledge (54%) Digital learning of finance (81%)
of the ongoing offerings from various sources.
Instrument understanding (38%) Multiple income sources (83%)
The future: Seeks assistance in goal planning and making Financial plan (Self score: 3.1/5) Multiple banks accounts (83%)
informed financial decisions based on profile. Portfolio analysis (68%) Hunt for digital solutions (91%)
1: Statistics showing the trend in the market trajectory of transaction value by segments in India 3: Interview highlights: Link to sheet
2: Digital education market in India in 2020, with projection for 2025, by segment 4: Survey insights: Link to sheet
 Prioritising the ideas
Parameters are selected to judge the ideas for weighing the best solution on the basis of SWOT analysis.
Scoring the urgency to modify (1 = least, 10 = most) of all quadrants from company POV Average weight
Dimensions of analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats OVERALL
Scoring criteria

Financial viability (FV) 1 4 6 7

Money and economics Great valuation Brand selection Offering mix Competitors 1
4.5

Technical feasibility (TF) 9 4 5 8

System design aspects Personalisation 2
Transaction faults eRUPI scheme 3
Crypto market
6

Operational usability (OU) 1 3 8 2

Resources and constraints Work culture Brand awareness Influencers effect 4
Work from home
3.5

Various solutions are listed across multiple themes then scored on a scale of 10: FV TF OU = Weighted
• Regular sharing of podcasts 3 8 3 5.14
Building theoretical wisdom
Brainstorming ideas

• Email campaign by newsletters 7 7 2 5.75

Users should get learning content
and exposure to market dynamics • Micro courses on managing finances✅ 6 9 6 7.29
to understand real world finances • Inviting financial content creators to platform✅ 9 9 8 8.75
• Providing popup quizzes for market updates 4 8 6 6.21
• Creating guides and blogs for instrument selection 3 6 5 4.79
Developing practical aptitude • Embedding financial calculators✅ 7.75
8 8 7
Users should get platform to tinker • Tracking and planning goals ✅
and perform tangible actions to 8 9 8 8.43
build and improve financial goals • Dashboard of complete portfolio✅ 9 9 9 9
• Suggesting instruments on risk profile✅ 8 7 8 7.57
1: Competitors - India has been quick to adapt to the digital world of financial technology. 3: In the news - e-RUPI - Digital Payment Solution| National Portal of India
2: Personalisation - Unique recommendation for every user based on their profile and actions 4: Role of influencers - The Financial Gurus Millennials Listen To - WSJ
 Detailing the solution
Creators are incorporated into the ecosystem to build materials for enhancing financial literacy of the users.
Creator’s journey

Start QA Share Enroll Colab Grow

apply check ideas class agent base

Apply for CRED’s Validation is Create posts to Help users gain Affiliate with Build community
creators venture. performed with build recognition. financial literacy brands to promote on expertise area.
Agree to terms. screening test. 1 Generate data to with courses and useful products. 2 Feed data to
Qualification Policy explained train ML model for 1:1 mentorship. Compare financial enhance predictive
details recorded. with welcome kit. tinkering sandbox. Use CRED coins. instruments. ML model.

The feature set gives the users a non-linear path to gain knowledge and apply in practice for enhancing portfolio.
Consumer’s journey

Check Learn Clear Tinker Track Grow

feed theory doubt ideas goals wealth

Check news and Select a topic to Book slot to hold a Access free Bucket goals and Maintain a healthy
top contents. learn and master. 1:1 discussion on a playground 3 to View time analysis finance portfolio.
Get personalised Join cohort based topic of concern. explore ideas and on dashboard Invest in correct
deals and updates course, and Understand real test concepts. Stay updated with instruments.
on followed items access community market dynamics. Plan finance goals market effects. Be at peace. 4

1: Screening test - Process to filter and select the best content creators for the platform 3: Playground -.Experimentation area with various financial scenario creations and calculators
2: Colab agent - Tie up with brands and banks to promote products and get desired commission 4: Peace = Awareness of balanced earn - spend pattern and having right instrument for savings.
 Validating the concept
A landing page is launched detailing the features of the concept to get user validation: projects.harshit.page
Knowledge hub Learning zone Tinkering sandbox Performance area
Stay up to date with the latest Enhance knowledge and get Set, plan and visualise financial Get a detailed macroscopic view
offerings and financial news! trained by expert mentors! goals and be on track! of the financial portfolio!
Features testing and review by users

Practical

Practical
Theory

Theory
Free

Free
Paid

Paid
4.41 4.43 4.57 4.61
1: Free - Features which are free for all users and act as CTA to paid feature; and trains ML model 3: Theory - Features that enhances the wisdom and builds financial concepts of the users
2: Paid - Features which are paid by CRED coins and synergise with existing ecosystem of brands 4: Practical - Features that give users a platform to experiment with their gained knowledge
 Building the product
The major steps taken in the technical and operational process to make the product up and functional.

uses features builds

data
System design

Future plans gives

Knowledge Learning Tinker Predictive data
Consumer hub zone sandbox dashboard Brands

creates content trains on Current market

gives
datasets
data
Creator Banks
LMS server 1 ML server 2 Historical data

Strategy is elaborated on how to build processes that makes self enhancing loops which grows with usage.
Generate community learning culture and creator-brand synergy. Build and improve algorithm of understanding user finance needs
Establishing moat

Subscriptions Enrollments Goals Lending

Avail personalised Learn financial Learn users plans Understand money
offers from banks Users concepts and avail and predict market Systems transaction patterns
and brands guided mentorship demands of various personas
social feedback
Explorations loop 3 Connections Interests loop 4 Offers
Check info feed and Check info feed and Collect user interest Recommend
get updated with get updated with in products and personalised offers
latest news latest news instruments to suit users need

1: LMS server - Learning management system server to manage end to end learning needs 3: Social loop - Digital community effect which enriches user experience in the platform
2: ML server - Machine learning server to manage recommendations and predictions tasks 4: Feedback loop - Training of the machine learning algorithm improving accuracy with usage
 Measuring the success
Hierarchy of metrics system is developed to get an holistic overview of end to end working of the system.
North star The acceptable overall goal of the feature is to achieve 90% financial literacy for 90% of the customers.
Holistic coverage

Organs Consumers: end customers Creators: theoretical System engine: practical

Activity Discover Build financial literacy Conclude Feed Course Financial recommendations

Indicators SEO, ASO 1 DAU: MAU 2 NPS 3 Posts seen + Ratings Accuracy of predictions

Formula (%(users) * #(steps) * 𝞵(active time /day)) / 𝞵(NPS) %(post engage) * 𝞵(courses rating)) * 𝞵(CSAT of predictions)

Key metrics system is formulated giving a deep understanding of achieving the main goal of the new feature set.
North star The primary aim of the feature set is to build financial literacy of the user
Specific focus

Organs Theoretical understanding Practical exposure

Activity Social feed Updates Enrollment Guidance Goals Calculators Dashboard Instruments

Indicators CTA on feed 4 Learning hours N of M steps Weekly updates

Formula (𝞵(posts CTA) * %(course enrollments /views)) / #(drop-offs) %(recommended CTA performed) * 𝞵(Weekly active time)

1: SEO - Search engine optimisation; ASO - App search optimisation 3: NPS - Net promoters score of users currently using the feature
2: DAU:MAU - Ratio of daily active users to monthly active users 4: CTA - Call to action for next desired step of the feature set
 Strategizing the plan
An ambitious roadmap of the product is strategized which ultimately synergies with the vision of the company.

Onboard finance Build financial Build crypto 1 Create money Start currency Horizontal
Product roadmap

content creators advisory portal information portal lending portal exchange options Growth
2022 Q1 2022 Q3 2023 Q2 2024 2028

2022 Q2 2022 Q4 2023 Q4 2026 2030

Vertical One-stop solution Capture insurance Capture crypto Enter P2P lending Enhance global
Growth for educators and risk market trading market platform 2 fintech lifestyle

Major foreseeable problems are analysed and key strategies are suggested to overcome the hurdles.
Potential problems Mitigation strategy
Overcoming pitfalls

Internal factors Product improvements

• Bias in ML model 3 due to skewed profile representation
• Cannibalization of other features of the platform
• Toxic competition in the creators community to get users
External factors
• Users showing hesitancy to share access to personal finances
• Low sales of brands due to users becoming selective for products
• Less bank deposits as users explore for better finance instruments
• Develop data collection strategies to get balanced responses
• Strategize product loops and synergy with existing features
• Personalised content visibility algorithm for healthy competition 4
Policy changes
• Demonstrate the transparency in process and establishes trust
• Share demand predictions with brands for purchase frequency
• Share profile segmentation with banks for selling instruments

1: Rise of cryptocurrency - Understanding the evolving cryptocurrency market 3: Rectifying biases in ML - Article by McKinsey on tackling bias in AI (and Humans)
2: P2P lending market - Explanatory essay on working in the P2P market 4: Personalised content strategy - Three proven strategies to personalise social media feed
Product Design of Date App
~ Harshit Krishna Choudhary | IIT (BHU), Varanasi | 2022
 Defining the scope
The problem statement is analysed and key terms are defined to the best of understanding of the case.

“ You work for a well-resourced startup and are responsible for building a new dating app in India.
Problem statement

Propose a product/feature to the startup’s leadership to increase the number of traction. ”

• Well-resourced: No financial or time constraints → No talent hiring constraints → No technical limitations
• New dating app: A broader meaning 1 → Platform for initiating a deeper bonding between two individuals based on interest
• India based application: Huge internet penetration → Digital being the new normal → Surge in dating app usage 2
• Product/ Feature: Flexibility to build a feature or entire product → Starting with a simple product with core USP features
• Number of Traction: Outcome metric to chase → Fulfill market demand 3 → Deliver unique experience to the users

The key points of deliverables and stakeholders is called out for refining the scope of the problem statement.
Deliverables: The unique selling features of the app which will distinguish itself from the competitors and hence gain traction:
1: Entire product concept based on providing Mixed Reality platform 4 to the users for experiencing virtual date
Plan layout

2: Users can select date partners based on hobbies like ‘Book dates’ for bibliophile, ‘Movie dates’ for cinephile
3: Gamified dating environments setup which sends user’s personality assessment report and partner’s feedbacks
Stakeholders: For the initial version of the product, apart from application users, two more stakeholders are in-sourced:
1: Platform end users who use the app for availing the matchmaking services
2: 3rd party brands, to offer products and services to enhance the experience of the users
3: Platform moderators to review malicious activities and promote and brand content
1: Different forms of dating features in online application 3: Meaning of traction by Naval Ravikant, founder of Angellist:
2: Surge in dating apps users in Tier - II cities in India 4: Mixed Reality is the technology of tomorrow, developing today.
 Understanding the problem
The focus user segment is identified and then current situation is analysed to gauge the potential pain points
Target users: The following three filters are applied on the Indian population to finalise the target user segment for the product
User pain points

1: Focus age should be between 18 to 35 and marital status should be unmarried to fit the socio-cultural norms
2: Focus geographic zones to be Tier 1 and Metro cities due to digital native behaviour and online dating acceptance
3: Focus economic health should be high earning individuals since better device is needed for mixed reality engine
Pain points: Key pain points are analysed for the focus group to address them as the USP of the product and marketing:
1: Restrictive covid protocols: Physical meetups are obsolete due to frequent lockdowns and social distancing norms
2: Introduction first: Traditional dating apps does not give chance to have holistic conversation before real meeting
3: Feedback and growth: Cannot assess relationship failure and understand the root cause in personality trait

Key metrics system is formulated giving a clear understanding of achieving the main goal of the product.
North star The primary aim of the feature set is increase traction of the product
Analytics system

Organs Adoption by new users Retention by existing users

Activity Discovery 1 Onboarding 2 Usage 3 Satisfaction 4

Indicators ASO SEO 1 Signup Verification Nof M steps DAU:MAU CSAT NPS

Formula (𝞵(Impressions) * %(CTA clicks /views)) / #(drop-offs) (%(users) * #(steps) * 𝞵(active time /day)) / (𝞵(NPS) * 𝞵(CSAT))

1: SEO - Search engine optimisation; ASO - App search optimisation 3: DAU:MAU - Ratio of daily active users to monthly active users; NoM - N out of M steps taken
2: Onboarding: Bounce rate due to authentication errors/ process 4: NPS - Net promoters score of users currently using the feature; CSAT - Customer satisfaction
 Validating the concept
High fidelity wireframes of important screens in concept is presented to understand the flow of user journey.
Personal dashboard Social hub Virtual zone Success tracker
Build your profile! Interact with community! Plan virtual date! Understand your personality!
Important screens
 Building the product
The major steps taken in the technical and operational process to make the product up and functional.

Engages builds
data
System design

Future plans gives

Social Virtual Success Personal data
User hub zone tracker dashboard Brands

Moderates content trains on Current activity

gives
datasets
data
Platform Connected
moderator MR server 1 ML server 2 Historical data accounts
Strategy is elaborated on how to build processes that makes self enhancing loops which grows with usage.
Generate community learning culture and user-brand synergy. Build and improve algorithm of understanding user needs
Establishing moat

Interaction Integration Goals Success

Show interest to a Purchase the digital Learn users Understand dating
profile and start Users goods from the purchasing pattern Systems success of the
engagements brands to predict demands users
social feedback
Explorations loop 3 Connections Interests loop 4 Offers
Check info feed and Get notified about Collect user interest Recommend
get updates about the users with same in brands and personalised offers
hobby clubs brand interests profiles to suit users need

1: MR server - Mixed reality server to manage end to end needs of implementing virtual world 3: Social loop - Digital community effect which enriches user experience in the platform
2: ML server - Machine learning server to manage recommendations and predictions tasks 4: Feedback loop - Training of the machine learning algorithm improving accuracy with usage
 Strategizing the plan
An ambitious roadmap of the product is strategized which ultimately synergies with the foundational vision 1.

Launch product Put addons to the Connect with Brand integration Create virtual Horizontal
Product roadmap

beta version MR world other social media in MR world realism world Growth
2022 Q1 2022 Q3 2023 Q2 2024 2028

2022 Q2 2022 Q4 2023 Q4 2026 2030

Vertical Validate MR Populate the MR Create immersive Grow platform and Global metaverse
Growth virtual world world with addons virtual SM space brand adverts users connection

Major foreseeable problems are analysed and key strategies are suggested to overcome the hurdles.
Potential problems Mitigation strategy
Overcoming pitfalls

Internal factors Product improvements

• Bias in ML model 2 due to skewed profile representation
• Mixed reality engine requiring huge data and computation
• Toxic competition in the brand community to sell to more users
External factors
• Users not able to afford the oculus type MR devices
• Low sales of brands due to users becoming selective for products
• Illegal content being shared in the platform
• Develop data collection strategies to get balanced responses
• Invest in servers and infrastructure to optimise performance
• Personalised content visibility algorithm for healthy competition 3
Policy changes
• Invest in R&D to develop VR headset from cardboard 4
• Share demand predictions with brands for purchase frequency
• Moderators review the platform on regular duration

1: Foundational Vision: To create a virtual world in mixed reality for users to date and bond. 3: Personalised content strategy - Three proven strategies to personalise social media feed
2: Rectifying biases in ML - Article by McKinsey on tackling bias in AI (and Humans) 4: Making VR headset DIY - How to Make a Virtual Reality Headset | Custom | Maker Pro
 HiLabs
APM Case Study

Harshit Krishna Choudhary

IIT (BHU), Varanasi
2022
 Defining the context
A mutually exclusive categorisation of services provided by HiLabs; as an explainer to 8th grade student

The mission of HiLabs is to help those who are helping the end users in the healthcare domain, with big data and AI.
The various product and services of HiLabs aims to achieve the betterment of its client in the following categories:
The past The present The future
Services

Learn the analysis of stored historical data
Examples
• Clean the database to extract insights
• Manage data sources and warehouses
• Securely store data and reports
Build the present data oriented strategy
Examples
• Upgrade technology stack to modern
• Assess the data reports and audits
• Operate the logistics of data management
Deploy the future data-backed decisions
Examples
• Derive solutions to implement further
• Prioritise steps for decision making
• Build strategy for solution deployment

Thinking with first principles for the segregation of stakeholders and then prioritising for the segment in focus

The target clients of HiLabs are those involved in end to end process of providing healthcare services.
There are basically three types of stakeholders involved in the process of providing healthcare services:
Stakeholders

End users Financial enablers Service providers

One who avails the healthcare service
Examples
• Patient got medical emergency
• Company offer healthcare to employees
• Government implementing medicare
One who funds the healthcare service
Examples
• Trader who loans to individuals
• Medical Insurance companies
• VC and Investors in healthcare domain
One who provides the healthcare service
Examples
• Doctors operating in a personal clinic
• Hospitals serving a community
• Big Pharma operating multi-nationally

Strategy of building services for the three levels of user groups having unique pain points and price sensitivity
Individual level
Users for a personal or single use case
User cohorts
Effort and cost
Self managed product line on automation
Return on investment
Offer freebies like market report insights.
Target outcome
Brand recognition and p2p marketing
Exploring new users market and potential use cases of services and solutions provided by HiLabs
End users
Potential use cases
Patient
Getting personalised information about
healthcare offerings by the stakeholders
Business
Exclusive offers and deals on subscription
to best services and products on platform
Government
Detailed end to end management and
assistance to roll out welfare schemes
Exploring the opportunities
Company level
Business or group for moderate use case
Effort and cost
Minimal effort SaaS products and add-ons
Return on investment
Freemium offers for beta testing experience
Target outcome
Capture market and understand needs
Financial enablers
Trader
Getting regular updates about the
healthcare and allied industry
Insurance
A marketplace to upsell and cross sell
services to targeted audience
VC-Investors
Customised market report and trends on
healthcare ecosystem enabled by AI
Enterprise level
Society or organization for global use case
Effort and cost
Priority support and assistance for solutions
Return on investment
Premium custom solutions for data needs
Target outcome
Maximize revenue and generate profits
Service providers
Doctor
Getting platform to connect and grow as a
professional in their domain
Hospital
Audit reports and upgradation of services
to modern industry level product lines
Big Pharma
Personalised domain specific assistance
and implementation by data driven strategy
 Planning the experience
Elaborate strategy on how to build processes and system to make self enhancing loops which grows with usage

Generate community culture and build stakeholders synergy. Build internal algorithm and understand clients needs
Establishing moat

Individual Company Goals Monetise

Check and share Avail personalised Learn clients plans Understand money
market insights to Users offers of insurances and predict market Systems transaction patterns
get information and healthcare demands in healthcare
social feedback
Stakeholders loop Global Interests loop Offers
Adapt to the new Build customised Collect clients Recommend
market and improve solutions which interest in products personalised offers
their offerings shapes the market and solutions to suit clients need

Formulating the phases of user journey of HiLab’s potential clients of a global level which will generates revenue
Discovery Onboarding Usage
• Display testimonials of the previous • Explain the pricing to the clients by giving • Cross sell multiple products while the
User journey

clients and their appreciation posts
• Send free market reports insights to the
individual users to promote products
• Create downloadables in the website
landing page for the potential clients
• Sponsor academia and other influential
personalities to publicise the platform
industry specific competitor comparious
• Send training and learning resources to
the clients office for smooth functioning
• Create user guides and FAQs for most
common steps and questions
• Have demo sessions for the first feature
roll outs and enable for beta testing
clients are using the products
• Upsell the higher tier of products for the
clients who need more powerful resources
• Hold paid seminars and networking
session with the industry experts
• Provide need based add-ons to SaaS-like
products for mid-level clients
 Presenting the solution (1/3)
Usage dashboard screen of the client to get the overall analytics of the complete system and business metrics

Resources utilised
Gives an understanding of usage limits

• Engineering hours spent to deploy

• Computation power used to build
• Storage data amount utilised till now
Usage dashboard

Outcome achieved
Gives a brief view of impact generated

• Time saved for doing the same work

• Sales increased since the deployment
• Usage trend report on AI solutions

Trend predicted
Helps to build strategy as per the market

• Demand trends of the end users

• Market trends of the industry updates
• Revenue forecast and strategies
 Presenting the solution (2/3)
Pricing screen for the client to check various services offered and upgrade to a solutions better tier of usage

Product add-ons
Tailored to the client’s needs

• Extra Widgets in the dashboards

• Extra GPU for heavy computation
• Extra Storage for more data expansion
Pricing screen

Pricing tiers
For different cohorts of users

• Freelancers pack for individual users

• Company pack of SaaS style products
• Enterprise pack of end-to-end offers

Custom solutions
For highly personalised AI solutions

• Cloud based for fully remote solution

• Hybrid solutions for custom AI needs
• Onsite projects for legacy systems
 Presenting the solution (3/3)
Solutions discovery screen for the client to get an idea of all the products and learning and training events

Educational webinars
For clients to learn the basic steps

• Fundamental methods of data keeping

• Basic troubleshooting and tinkering
• Feedback and report generation
Discovery screen

Solutions offering
To display all the available AI offers

• Upsell a higher tier of product line

• Cross sell a complementary product
• Update on new dimension of solutions

Affiliate partnership
Referral program to get new clients

• Strategy to engage with new customer

• P2P marketing and idea validation
• Offers for academia and students
 Strategizing the price
Brainstorming three kind of pricing strategy of the products offerings for different use cases and scenarios

Buy upfront Get subscription Pay per use

Pricing strategy to sell the product and
solution in one go at a high fee.
Best for
One time delivery products which need
little to no repairment and customer
support once the product is shipped.
Pricing strategy
A method to get regular fee for certain
period and bundle by usage frequency.
Best for
Capped consumption products which
has a upper limit of usage intrinsically
set and does not require maintenance
The plan to charge the clients only for
the amount of work done for them
Best for
Uncapped consumption products which
has no upper limit of usage, can be
upscaled horizontally and vertically

Two categories of cost to consider for devising the final price strategy:
1. Fixed cost: Research and infrastructure; storage and computation warehouses; customer support; logistics and operations
2. Variable cost: Project-wise scale up cost; client-wise custom team cost; horizontal and vertical scaling up on demand

The pricing strategy would depend upon purchasing power of the market and value offered by the products
Reasons for opting for pay per use pricing for the core products requiring high effort:
1. The product offerings are digital on-cloud solution therefore can be grown vertically and horizontally
2. The implementation is very costly to be charged upfront but can be divided into monthly installments

Reasons for opting for subscription pricing for the subsidiary products requiring low effort:
1. There is a great variation on the usage pattern of the clients; to cater to the needs of casual use cases
2. The subscription based clients would act as the promoter of products and beta testers for the validations.
 1

Contents

The content to navigate the document.

Defining the problem 2

Understanding the users 3

Ideating the solution 5

Validating the concept 7

Detailing the journey 9

Measuring the success 11

Mitigating the pitfalls 12

Strategizing the plan 13

 2

Defining the problem

The scope of the problem and necessary drill-downs.

The company
A few important highlights about the company, Swiggy.
● Vision: “to elevate the quality of life for urban consumers …delivery superpower” 1
● Financial Health: Great financials, Revenue grew 56% last quarter of 2021 2
● Core business: Food delivery to the end users by creating a central platform and
marketplace for local restaurants.

The environment
Key understanding for the current scenario in the market:
● Covid protocols: Temperature checks, social distancing, less gatherings
● Health trends: Indian consumers spending more on healthy edibles 3
● Food Trends: A shift towards home-grown (~ short shelf life ingredients) food 4

The outcome
The barebones of desired functionality of the inventory management system:
● Visibility on the amount of all ingredients
● Alert on the shortage and on unused spoilage
● Sync and update with orders

1
India’s Swiggy has a new service that will deliver just about anything | TechCrunch
2
Swiggy’s food delivery revenue grew 56% from April to Sept, Prosus says | The Economic Times
3
Swiggy sees three-fold increase in orders for healthy food in the past year | The Hindu BusinessLine
4
Godrej Food Trends Report 2021 Predicts The Biggest Food Trends In India (traveldine.com)
 3

Understanding the users

The categories of users and their pain points.

The profile
Some demographic splits of the problem user segments.
● Experience: The problem of managing inventory will be more often for the new
users (0-3 years in cloud kitchen).
● Digital literacy: Users managing the inventory with pen-paper and non-digital
natives would be having a tough time catching up with frequent updates
● Scale of business: Restaurants with less footprint and small setup size would be
facing difficulty in storage and operational management of inventories

Restricting the analysis to urban restaurants only. (as per the vision of Swiggy)

The desires
Let us understand the main tasks which the client enjoys doing and dreamt of
performing in the cloud kitchen business:
● Food engineering and experiments with cuisine
● Food sharing and reaching out to new customers
● Learning new techniques and methodologies around food making

The activities
There are three types of activities performed by the client
● Cognitive: This requires calculations and predictions
● Manual: This requires physical labour and movements
● Passion: This is what the client signed up for and enjoys performing
 4

The pains
Focusing on the key pain points in the current journey of the client
1. Calculate the amount of raw items needed → Cognitive
2. Buy the groceries and stock items → Manual
3. Arrange the items on the shelf → Manual
4. Process the orders and strategise → Cognitive
5. Preparation for the food → Passion
6. Pack the orders and receive payments → Manual
7. Clean and pack-up → Manual
8. Update the catalogue of raw items inventory → Cognitive

The next step is to ideate solutions that will address all the pain points
 5

Ideating the solution

Various ideas to achieve the desired solution, prioritised.

The outcome
The goal is to build an inventory management system for three major tasks:
● Automation of manual works to reduce human errors
● Predictive model for smart alerts and notifications
● Integrate with existing Swiggy and internet ecosystem

The components
Prioritising on the basis of cost to implement, the effort to build and utility achieved.
● Hardware

IoT weighing box Low cost Mid effort High utility

A storage box with IoT kit and sensors

Weighing from dispenser Low cost High effort Mid utility

A dispenser kit to measure the amount

Barcode reader High cost Low effort Low utility

A handheld reader for product packaging

● Software

Dashboard Low cost Mid effort Very high utility

To get a holistic visualisation

CRUD facility Low cost High effort Very high utility

Create Read Update Delete records

Image recognition High cost High effort Mid utility

Update information based on the picture
 6

● Support

Guide course Low cost High effort Very high utility

An online course on how to use

Discussion forum Low cost Low effort High utility

A platform to discuss troubleshooting

Onboard training High cost High effort Mid utility

Training course of clients
 7

Validating the concept

The product idea which addresses all the major pain points of the restaurant personnel.

The hardware
Schematic prototype
● A plastic box with IoT kit setup with sensor for measuring weight
● A dispensing nozzle is attached for fluids and a simple wide funnel for solids
● A small LCD screen for output weight and indicators for signalling

The box is inexpensive, expandable to different sizes and has different inner
materials coatings for different raw items. The IoT kit is connected to WiFi.

The support
The key setups for building the support facility
● Contract with social media personalities and educators in the Food business
● Create a closed course community on discussion forum
● Open a discussion and help forum linked to the course

The course has a community discussion forum for self-managed discussion and
simple troubleshooting. For serious assistance, client approach via helpdesk mail.
 8

The software
Mockups of important screens
● Feed page for entry and update of new items
● Check page for validating entry and querying in detail
● Dashboard for overall analytics and reports

The software is synced with the storage box and the main swiggy ordering application.
Based on the current market trend, historical data of the client and end-customers wish
lists, the model trains and gives recommendations on inventory management steps.
 9

Detailing the journey

The key action steps that are taken by the restaurant personnel in using the product.

The single box

The action flow of the events with a single container:

The software is synced with the storage box and the main swiggy ordering application.
Based on the current market trend, historical data of the client and end-customers wish
lists, the model trains and gives recommendations on inventory management steps.
 10

The complete picture

The journey of a client in a complete time frame of reference.
1. Fills all the containers with raw materials
2. Gets order on Swiggy
3. Takes out raw materials from the container for preparation
→ The amount gets updated with the IoT sensor
→ The inventory is updated on the application
4. Gets prompt when the amount in any container reaches a critical value
5. Refills the container
→ Spending analysis is maintained
6. Packs and handover the order
7. Gets payment
→ Revenue analysis is maintained
→ Profit time-series is maintained

The complete system is automatic and smart which makes the restaurant personnel
focus on his passion → cooking.
 11

Measuring the success

Key measurements to have regularly for checking the overall success of the product.

The experience
The user-centric metric which determines the product success:
● Adoption: Percentage of restaurant personnel opting for the new product
Gives an idea about the demand of the product in the market
● Retention: Average time spent on the product
Helps to gauge the usage behaviour of the product
● Satisfaction: NPS score of the product features
Gauge the customer satisfaction with the product

The system
The product-centric metric which checks the product performance:
● Health: Median error in the measurement by the system
Checks the technical robustness of the product
● Ecosystem: Percent of market share captured
Gives an idea of the competition in the market
● Outcome: The time saved in inventory management
Measures the focus metric of the product

The formula
A single number to check trend with the timeline to understand the overall success:
% ( 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 ) × % (𝐼𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑)
χ (𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡)
% = Percentage of
χ= Median of
 12

Mitigating the pitfalls

The potential problems in the solution and methods to overcome.

The tech
The technological barriers for the product
● IoT needs a constant power source
→ Use replaceable batteries and power bank compatible setup
● IoT needs wifi connectivity
→ Use NFC connection to pair with the mobile phone to transfer data
● ML model bias in the initial stage
→ Use crowdsourced information by online events like quizzes, games, etc

The ops
The operational challenges in the deployment of the product
● The training of the restaurant personnel
→ Contract with online educators and content creators to build materials
● Moderating the discussion forum
→ System to report most upvoted queries to the main support team
● Managing the faults in the hardware
→ Partnership with hardware agencies to provide guaranteed units

The biz
The business financial viability concerns with the product
● The cost-efficiency of the product
→ Roll out pre-orders and then bulk manufacture the containers
● Leakage and copy of the product concept
→ Patent the concept and build on the proprietor codebase
● High upfront cost to roll out the product
→ Use the container printable area to advertise food brands
 13

Strategizing the plan

The roadmap and the future plan of the product.

The vertical
Perfecting the inventory management system
● More sensors in the IoT kit
→ Temperature sensor to assess shelf life
● Better materials
→ Tetra-pack materials to contain dairy and perishable products
● Actionable insights
→ Expand the power of the dashboard to engineer menu

The horizontal
Integrating the product with the delivery ecosystem
● Predict market trends
→ Evaluate the supply side of the restaurant in the localities
● Hyperpersonal brand integration
→ Offer deals and discounts on raw materials to desired restaurants
● Rapid franchise scale-up
→ Help restaurants to scale up by setting up cloud kitchens with inventory