Of Fumbles, 12 Minutes And National Case Win – National Winner, ACTapult – Rishabh Singh, IIM Kozhikode – Part 2

Rishabh and me were preparing frantically for the final presentation. I had belief in my own solution. I knew that I had put everything in there to win the case. It was a good solution.

It was a good solution.
It was also a long solution.
It was also a solution we wouldn’t be able to present in 12 minutes.

We were lacking practice and we were short on time. We managed to do an untimed dry run of the solution and just as we finished our dry run. The organisers wave to us (we were seated in the lobby) to join in for the start of the presentations. So this is it. We both are mentally running our lines as we walk to the conference hall. It is a breathtaking site.

There are strobe lights everywhere. And we are seated on round tables with our names on it. It seems like those scenes out of the movies. Where all the big delegates sit in a room with their names on the tables. Think IPL bidding.
The only difference being that these people are self assured people. We weren’t.
We are actually a bit underprepared for the ppt. Rishabh decides that we should request the organiser for a change of slot from 2 to last so that we can prepare it a bit.
We talk to HR, and she accepts our request immediately knowing that we didn’t have much time to prep. She decides to give us a fighting chance.
We both are happy. And though we are seated in the first row, we mentally prepare our lines and also time ourselves.
The first team walks onto the stage – XLRI These guys were good. During the first day these guys had started on the PPT when I had finished reading mine just once. And by the end of my 5th reading. They had finished their solution. Or so I thought. And they were heavily involved with their mentors too. Yours truly on the other hand had barely interacted with anyone but the CASE intimately.

They start presenting. There are no numbers on the slide. The case is about an investment decision. And they have analysed it qualitatively. They have decided on investment decisions without backing it up with any data. I know that we are much more sound than this.
Heck, at that point. I felt we should’ve continued with the 2nd spot. Our solution would look very strong if it came after this. But alas.

They have finished. The announcer comes onto the stage “Now presenting the second team, RishnRish from IIM Kozhikode”
WTF. WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK.

We see the HR rushing towards the stage to inform the guy that we are supposed to go last. But I look into my partners eyes and there is nod of affirmation. This is a good opportunity. We will take it. We walk onto the stage and nod towards the HR that we will take it from here. And with our half baked preparation, we walk on to the stage. So let me describe how it felt.

There was this huge monitor. It has 12:00 countdown timer on it. We had enough lights on us to make us feel like Miss India. And we have 10 slides to present. So it began.
I started off by telling that I’m a gamer and a user of ACT for the last 3 years.
The board broke into applause. I was like. “Oh cool. Never thought playing games could make ppl happy”

And then we flew into our ppt. With complete theatrics and emphasis. The entire shebang. And we reach the end of our 3rd slide!   Timer says : 5 minutes remaining. F*ck. Ever seen a rabbit run? Yeah, that’s how we went till the next few slides  

Timer says: 2 minutes remaining
4 slides left.
Ever seen a rabbit take performance enhancing drugs and run?

So we finish the presentation. And begins the QnA. And surprisingly, it’s just the CEO who wants to ask us the questions. There are many questions. One of them was “All what you have said is fine. There is a competitor with much deeper pockets than us, they are bigger and have better talent. Shouldn’t we give up?” I was stumped. But my partner knew me well enough to understand that he has to take this question. And by god did he answer that question. There was applause. And then the CEO suddenly asks him a technical question. And this was my cue to take the question. And we finished our ppt with mild applause. Rishabh seems very confident with our attempt.

Fast forward, most ppts seem bland to us.
Except the guy from NMIMS. He had content that I did not event think of. And his delivery was very good too. The QnA went superbly for him. That’s when I knew, its over. He’s beaten us.
But that was not all.
Last came the TISS boys. I have not heard such a professional and well articulated presentation in my lifetime. They were true professionals with average content. But the delivery made me feel like he’s a CEO.  The way they tackled questions was also a work of art.

Internal monologue. Runners up bhi gaya haath se. Meanwhile, my teammate. “We are going to win” And soon enough, there was lunch going on. We both had our hearts in our mouth. The results would be announced after lunch. We spotted our mentor. We asked him directly, “Sir can we win” He looked quizzically and said “I don’t know. But the depth of your research was evident. It was very well thought out. Don’t worry about the delivery, what’s done is done”

And soon enough. It was results time.
I had chewed my tie off by then, my teammate as steady as a rock. “We are going to win.”
The runners up was announced first. It was NMIMS.
My heart sunk, I knew that we had a chance at runners up. Now it was the HR people (TISS) that would take it home.
And the winners are “Rishabh and Rishabh from IIM Kozhikode”

F*ck me dead. Like seriously. F*ck me dead. The End Ps: ACTapult has 3 national winners.