Raj Kumar
Class of 2008





Tell us a little about your family background/ history.
Coming from a middle class service family, I spent my childhood in small cities in Bihar. My father is a retired state government employee and mother is a housewife. My sister, an IIT KGP alumnus, currently is taking a break from her career to take care of her toddler. My wife is a dietician and a big time animal lover and wants to run a shelter for street dogs. We also have a 2-year-old dog who has become an integral part of the family now!

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
My biggest achievement so far has been starting my own venture where I launched India’s first mobile app for mall shoppers (MyShopMateTM). The venture ultimately did not succeed (the stars were not aligned!). However, I consider it an achievement since I followed my dreams & passion and built a product which was appreciated by investors and several businesses. Indentifying an opportunity, building a product, creating business plan, pitching to investors and raising seed capital, partnering with malls & retailers – it was like raising a baby and a huge learning experience. Opportunity cost was high (my two years of salary and growth opportunity), but it was definitely worth it.
In my current role I’ve already launched two digital products and few more are in the pipeline. One of the products, Aakash iConnect, is a comprehensive eLearning portal for test prep. It is first of its kind in the industry and is being considered as ‘The Next Big Thing’ in Indian Coaching Industry. You will hear about few more in near future.

Tell us about your profile prior to attending ISB and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
After my B.Tech from IIT KGP, I started my career with Infosys as a software engineer. There, I played roles ranging from team lead, client interface and project manager and also worked at client location in Europe. Post ISB again I joined Infosys, but in their analytics consulting practice. Keen to work with a smaller organization, I moved to a niche analytics company based out of Hyderabad. Along with this I also got closely involved in a startup as a part timer – GetDomesticHelp.com. As a member of the founding team, I was involved in crystallization of idea, product management and investors pitch. This is when the entrepreneurial bug bit me and I decided to take the plunge with an idea I was thinking about for some time (MyShopMateTM).
After around 2 years when the venture did not work out, I accepted an entrepreneurial corporate role which was a good extension of my career so far – I’m currently spearheading technology strategy and products for Aakash Educational Services Pvt Ltd (A leading test prep provider in India) as the Head of Technology & Mobility Solutions.

How do you think your time at ISB has contributed to your career and personal growth?
ISB has contributed immensely to my career/personal growth and I realized it only after I had left ISB. My whole perspective of looking at things changed and I became a structured/rational problem solver with an ability to see the big picture. At the same time, my hunger for challenges grew up and no routine job would excite me. This made me an entrepreneur and in turn lead me to ‘Product Management’, which I’m enjoying immensely.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
In my current role, I own a set of mobile/web products and drive these from conceptualization to development to go-to-market. What excites me the most is entrepreneurial nature of the job and the fact that what I’m doing is not only going to impact our company and customers, but the whole industry. My immediate boss (director of the company), an ISB alum himself, is extremely open to ideas and experiments – this along with a tremendous scope of innovation here makes my job exciting.
Most of the time I do not even feel that I’m working – I’m pursuing my passion and its fun. This also results in thinning of boundary between personal life & work while I’m glued to my phone/laptop even at home and during holidays. But all this happens so voluntarily – and my wife sometime hates me for it.

Briefly describe a typical day at work, in a way that illuminates the kind of challenges and opportunities your role involves.
As the owner of multiple products, my day revolves around those – e.g. planning for a marketing campaign to drive adoption & monetization of an existing product, crystallization of features for an upcoming product or optimization of UX of an under development product. For all these things, my team drives execution and seniors provide much needed support and resources.
Apart from this, a good part of my mental bandwidth goes into thinking how to push the boundaries, discover and plug the gaps in the market and create a strategy/product for sustainable competitive advantage.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Are there any trends that you can identify?
I’m in education, specifically test prep industry. The market is growing rapidly and a clear trend I’m observing is increasing use of technology. Several start-ups have sprung up to ride the wave and even the traditional brick & mortar players are trying to leverage technology. This is still in nascent stage right now and in years to come we’ll see some providers leading this digital revolution in Education and creating new & scalable business models.

What was the main highlight or most memorable aspect of your programme at the ISB?
Undoubtedly – working on those late night assignments with my study group and after hours, realizing that we have done nothing but pulled each other’s legs.
In fact, the whole one year was a roller coaster ride and each day was eventful! 

If you could offer a word of advice to the current class at ISB, what would it be?
The biggest learning you will get from ISB will be through interaction with batch mates and participation in B-plan competitions. Leverage these to the fullest and don’t be overly concerned about grades. And most importantly, have fun – you are never gonna get these days back!!

How do you feel you can contribute to ISB?
By helping fellow alums and current students whenever possible, with my limited capabilities and resources.