Knowing myself
“Congratulations! Indian Institute of Management Bangalore is pleased to offer you admission to the Post Graduate Programme in Management (2019-21)”
With this most awaited email, which felt heavenly at that time, I started my journey to my dream MBA. Before even entering IIM Bangalore (IIMB), or the place to B as we all call it, I knew about the hectic initial 4 months that were going to follow as soon as I step inside the campus. And before I knew it, I was amidst the mind-boggling workload, following the step by step process to land the perfect internship under the guidance of PGP2s.
I also went through the adventurous journey of preparing my resume – watching the entire movie of my own life so far to figure out impactful points, doubting myself as nothing seemed to be competitive enough, introspecting again and figuring out that my achievements haven’t been that bad after all, getting the 100th amendment of my resume thrown away in the trash and rewriting the entire work experience section to carve out something I had never consciously attributed my efforts to.
I made some of my best friends at B during my interview preparation and those discussions at 3 am are still etched in my mind. The insightful case discussions (both consulting and product cases), fascinating product design questions, guesstimates, product applications, and a lot more. We divided various tasks like following up on the latest tech news, understanding company-specific products, and exploring domain-specific best apps within the group to ensure we don’t miss out on anything during the 2-month preparation. Every part of the journey was an experience in itself.
Facing the Dreaded
As I started receiving my shortlists for various General Management and Product Management roles, I had to take the crucial decision of sorting and prioritizing the companies to sit for. I chose Sprinklr as my first show for the day. Reasons? Excitement to explore the new domain of Customer Experience Management, make my hands dirty by stepping into the unexplored territory of a start-up, and work as a Product Manager of modern world AI-based products. The factors favored Sprinklr.
After resume shortlisting, Sprinklr usually conducts Group Discussions (GDs) on product design cases and shortlists candidates for final interviews based on their performance in those GDs. However, during my summer internship process this year at IIMB, there were no GDs scheduled and shortlisted candidates (based on resumes) were directly called for interviews.
I had 3 interviews with Product Leads, Directors, and HR of Sprinklr lasting for about 20 minutes each, making it an hour-long exercise. All three interviews were knockout rounds and hence people were being eliminated at any stage of the process. The interviews spanned multiple questions on product design, product basics, my resume details like prior work experience and projects, my career plans, a few situational questions, and about Sprinklr itself. As I waited patiently (read anxiously) sitting there, the HR confirmed my offer. Sprinklr, I am coming. :P
According to me, the key areas Sprinklr focused on were critical thinking, product design knowledge, clarity in thought process, and structured approach to handling problems. I believe other aspects were secondary to these more important ones.
Taking the Leap
Summer internships in 2020 happened amidst the complete hazy environment of the pandemic that hit the world. The internships went virtual into a complete Work from Home mode. Amidst all our apprehensions, Sprinklr informed that the internship would start 2 weeks late from the previously assigned joining date. We were both happy and sad. Happy about our internship to start soon, sad about it being virtual. But, I guess, that was the best we could have got in this situation and I would like to thank Sprinklr to manage everything very well.
I joined as a Product Manager intern with the Modern Engagement team of Sprinklr. It was a challenging situation for everyone to have a smooth internship and Sprinklr fared there very well with a beautifully crafted 3-day induction program. It covered interactions with the Chief Technological Officer (CTO), Chief Culture & Talent Officer, and the entire Product Team of Sprinklr. We also had brief knowledge training on the 5 Sprinklr products to kick off the internship.
I was expecting an open environment and a steep learning curve at Sprinklr, especially because of its futuristic vision on AI and enabling modern ways to engage with customers, and it did not disappoint. Sprinklr has a dynamic culture and I was assigned 4 tasks during the course of my internship based on its evolving strategy and roadmap. The tasks were demanding with high expectations and immense learning ahead.
One of my major projects was to analyze and research a new social platform and draw a plan for its integration with Sprinklr. Sprinklr, being a SaaS company, enables brands to listen to and engage with their customers through 35 social platforms. As people go more and more social, supporting new platforms directly contributed to increased annual revenues, and hence the project was significant for Sprinklr’s future roadmap. The project involved understanding the platform’s various business use cases, functionality, and API offerings for the integration. The project enhanced Sprinklr’s customer engagement product roadmap and in turn its rich portfolio. Another project was focused on performing in-depth competitor analysis for a major competitor of Sprinklr’s customer support product. This boosted the sales team’s efficacy to pitch the product better and brought out new feature recommendations for Sprinklr.
It was my first professional experience on the business side, and I was excited to give my best. The Sprinklr Way stresses upon ownership and perseverance to never give up and it was communicated clearly in our interactions with the Culture & Talent Team. The same was felt during my two-month stint in which I had complete control over my projects and reached out to anyone regarding my queries and suggestions. My mentor was my complete support during the 8-week period and our discussions always gave me the right direction.
Sprinklr’s open environment to foster learning resulted in a visible difference in me post my internship. We had sessions from different Product Managers to understand Sprinklr’s products and how AI is transforming the modern world. We also had access to resources like LinkedIn Learning to boost our knowledge of relevant concepts. Sprinklr organized online wellness sessions to keep the people healthy and fresh at home in those challenging times. An internal talk show called ‘The Daily Joe’ added to the humor and kept the company spirit alive.
Overall, it was an enriching experience to learn about various facets of a PM role, albeit virtually. The internship made me don hats of different stakeholders like developers, designers, customers, and management several times while coming up with appropriate suggestions. I learned the art of feature prioritization, research & analysis, and roadmap-oriented decision making which is important for a PM. My technical background surely helped to visualize the implementation side for well-rounded recommendations. It was truly a great first step towards a career in Product Management.
Don’t Miss This Out
Even if you missed something while reading my journey, I have listed down a few key learnings for you to take away and hold on to them:
- Never Give Up – There would be a lot of times when you feel like giving up on things, be it while making your resume, preparing for interviews, internship process itself, or working on your projects. Although there are limited resources available for PM interview preparation (unlike detailed consult case booklets), it should not stop you from chasing your dream roles.
- Stay Inquisitive – Do not hesitate from asking any sort of questions. Anything can lead to a big feature improvement or a product recommendation that you can suggest getting an edge over fellow interns.
- Keep an Open Mind – Even if whatever you have done needs to be redone, be ready to spend a night and finish it off. Staying focused on the ultimate goal is the key.
- Discuss, Think and Evolve – Don’t cling on to a particular idea or recommendation. Discuss whatever ideas come to your mind with your mentor or manager, take opinions, and evolve your ideas into that perfect mantra you were looking for to create that impact on the product.
- Internalize the Roadmap – Try to understand the company’s roadmap and business strategy as much as possible. Any ideas for the product would catch attention if they fit seamlessly to its roadmap.
- Take the Driving Seat – Completely own your projects and hold on to the bigger picture. Consider yourself as the owner of the product and you would see that difference in yourself.
- Explore yourselves – See what you like doing and what you do not. It’s the best time to see if Product Management is where you belong.
- Have Fun – Lastly, try to have fun and stay refreshed and energetic to take on new challenges that show up every day and win over them with swag!
