The birth of SkillUP Private Limited:

In one of the conversations between Mr. Alok Srivastava and another employee at Ranbaxy
during his early days, Mr. Srivastava realized that the employee had no interest in the
Pharmaceutical industry but was still working because he had no clarity of what he wanted to
do in his life, professionally. To his surprise, he was not the only one. In his corporate journey of
more than 40 years across multiple companies like Ranbaxy, Honeywell and his own APAC
Sourcing, Mr. Alok realized that many employees in and out the company lacked basic knowledge
and important set of skills required to function in a company or industry.
On the other side of the globe, Mr. Abhishek Srivastava found similar problems when mentoring
various college students during his ISB days and dealing with young professionals during his
corporate career. In his 10 years of experience across companies like Apple, Accenture and
Schneider Electric, he realized that people were working for profiles that are uninteresting for
them and industries they hardly understand. To his surprise too, this was just the tip of the
iceberg. The real problem was the lack of self-awareness and skills required to function in the
corporate world effectively and efficiently.
When both the founders shared their thoughts on the same, they realized that the existing
ecosystem needed a better mentorship, career guidance and skill framework than one that
already existed. The mentorship being offered to students and young professionals was either
limited by one’s own experience or lacked the application part. While everyone was answering
to ‘What profile, company or industry you should opt for to have better growth and a successful
career’, the much-needed question to be asked was “Are you fit for the role or the purpose of
profile? If not, can I help you identify your interest and then develop relevant skills to have organic
growth and successful career?”
January 2016, SkillUP was born.

Ideation of SkillUP Private Limited

For around 4 years, both co-founders of SkillUP Private Limited interacted with more than
20,000+ Professionals and 10,000+ HR Managers of various companies. Current Business Heads
at SkillUP Private Limited, Ashi and Akul, also joined them in the ideation phase itself. What all
four of them discussed a multiple number of times was the same lack of self-awareness, inability
to perform in profile, company, and industry fitment for oneself, and weak or ineffective support
for skill preparation and development.

Mathematically, if ‘X’ could be called the corporate skill development provided by the existing
corporate ecosystem and Y’ the set of skills expected to deliver in a corporate world from the
first day, there was a huge gap between these two variables X and Y. Obviously, the gap was quite
less for corporates given their qualitative learning atmosphere and detailed training process
backed by industry leaders/stalwarts. However, for some, it was almost infinite.
Together, they realized that today’s unprepared professional is going to be tomorrow’s
struggling employee. Hence, to provide corporate skill development, functional expertise, and
career lifecycle planning and development, the company thought of creating a solution in the
following fields:

1. Employee Engagement
2. Learning and Development
3. Performance Management
4. Career Lifecycle Development and Nurturing

Products, Services and Delivery:

To provide a solution to all the major and minor career-based problems and needs of young
professionals and employees, the company has created a diverse portfolio of its products and
services.

SkillUP Private Limited’s Premium Products:

CorpFWD: The CorpFWD program from SkillUP Private Limited focuses on building the
foundation and having the right career options to choose from during your first year of job life.
Regardless of the function/department, it is important to follow a structured and systematic
process to curate your career milestones. This package includes:

1. Understanding project scope

2. Time / Goal Management Skill Module
3. Corporate Culture and Team Dynamics
4. Functional Expertise Development

CorpPath App:
SkillUP Private Limited is soon going to launch its journey app for professionals/employees to
guide in areas of corporate culture, team dynamics, work management etc. The App will act as
an integrated and one-stop solution to all the career lifecycle guidance and support that a
professional expects out of his/her corporate journey. The aim is to develop a product that
stands on the foundation of high qualitative and quantitative experience of the founders,
employees and industry experts, and extensive research performed in the ideation phase to be
able to connect the dots and hence act as a bridge for not just job, but everything. A product that
yields a high value of making the students and professionals ‘Ready’ and ‘Relevant’.

Business Growth and Revenue:

In B2B Corporate side, SkillUP in the last three years partnered with multiple organizations, from
small and micro companies with a valuation of less than Rs. 2.5 Crore to medium-sized
companies with a valuation of up to Rs. 10 Crores. The company also worked with one of India’s
largest FinTech companies (valuation of $1.5 Billion) to upskill 5000+ entry-level and young
professionals.
In B2B Institute side, SkillUP partnered with multiple B-Schools to upskill their students. Few of
them included Amity University and DoMS, IIT Roorkee etc. SkillUP team has upskilled more than
2,000 young people through B2B collaborations till October 2020. In the first two quarters of FY
2020-21 alone, the company partnered with more than 15 institutes to provide placement
services and career guidance workshops to students, both undergraduate and postgraduate.
In FY 2019-20, the company generated revenue of approximately 1 Crore and was covered by
multiple platforms, including YourStory. This was approximately 10X increase as compared to
the revenue generated in FY 2018-19.
However, the company started noticing the demand for its products and services in the B2C
channel and launched its dedicated B2C website in January 2019. To streamline the B2C process,
the company hired more full-time employees during this period and also onboarded its first set
of Industry Experts.

Culture at SkillUP Pvt Ltd.

Currently, due to COVID 19, employees are spread in multiple locations and the hybrid working
model is the choice. SkillUP places great importance in hiring people through varied platforms
and backgrounds. The set of people hired are across:
1. Full-time employees
2. Full-time Interns (minimum 2 months to 6 months)
3. Live Project Interns (part-time)

The company believes in encouraging development and therefore implements job rotation policy
which helps employees (across all three above mentioned sets) develop their skills across
functions and activities. With this format, employees feel more valuable towards the business
objective and can visualize their contributional impact.
SkillUP places high importance on hiring the right employees and investing in their growth and
development – especially during the pandemic. It engaged new hires before their start date
successfully and also onboarded new employees during the pandemic. It focuses on virtually
demonstrating the company culture and including the new hires in the process which includes
virtual meals, team competitions, online games and many more.
In the current scenario, the employee size is growing, and a manual method of performance
assessment has been followed. Due to the administratively intensive process involved with
manual performance management systems, review frequency has typically been limited to once
annually. The company wants to automate the process and integrate Performance Management
technique with the platform for a more valuable and simplified process.
There are areas where the company has invested in:
• Simple tools and technologies for communication to help newly hired employees
embrace the culture and remain productive.
• Learning and Development for focusing on the positive employee experiences that come
their way through Learning Management Systems (LMS).

Data Era: Understanding Performance Techniques

The success of any organization is reflected by its performance which is highly dependent on the
strategy. In today's highly competitive environment it is crucial to frame the right strategy, but
without its right execution, the desired outcome cannot be achieved. Organizations create and
curate various performance metrics based on timely business objective aligned to mission and
vision. Managing and engaging talent effectively is critical to achieving organizational business
objectives regardless of industry, employee size or location. This common thread, however, does
not extend to how organizations manage, provide feedback and motivate their talent.
SkillUP Private Limited has plans for an effective and engaging Performance Management
System (PMS). It began with a discussion about why performance management efforts often fail,
the significance of performance management, and continued with evidence-based guidance for
designing and implementing that effective approach.
With changing external environment, understanding and designing PMS requires a keen ability
of handling and structuring data. The purpose of PMS has always been to gauge employees’ task
according to targets and expectation thus utilizing this information for the development of talent
and organizational decisions. Important elements of PMS should include:
1. Flexible goal setting that allows for format and timing to be tailored to the work;
alignment to organizational goals by linking up instead of cascading down.
2. It should be an ongoing evaluation within a simplified set-up

SkillUP Pvt Ltd.: Team Classification

The Founders had visualized of a team that understands and believes in:

• Doing whatever it takes to truly transform and make a long-term impact on their careers.
We help in building careers, not just finding jobs!
• We win and lose together as a team. No success or failure is one person’s burden. In most
cases, processes are broken not people!
• Whether it’s our partners, customers, and vendors, we keep all our commitments, both
monetary and non-monetary to everyone in the ecosystem.
• There is always a hard way to do things and yes, speed is critical, but we will sacrifice
speed for the sake of doing the “Right Way”.
Hence, the teams of SkillUP Private Limited are divided across as:

A. Business Development and Sales Team

Head of Busines
Collaborations

Senior Manager -
Business
Collaborations

BD Executive BD Executive
(B2C) (B2B)

No of employees: 20
They lead efforts to establish and retain business growth opportunities, primarily obtaining new
clients and fostering business relationships to increase revenue from sales. The classification of
profiles in the start-up does have a hierarchical look but culture always maintains organic
growth:

1. Head of Business Collaborations:

• Maintains relationships with at least 1000 clients/customers on both B2C and B2B
according to the programs they have availed and fosters future opportunities.

2. Senior Manager Business Collaborations:

• Attracts new clients on both B2C and B2B sphere for various solutions as provided by the
organization according to their requirement.
• Maintains relationships with at least 500 clients/customers on both B2C and B2B
according to the programs they have availed and fosters future opportunities.
• Runs campaign for both B2C and B2B clients/customers.

3. Business Development Executive (B2C)

• Attracts new clients on the B2C sphere across different zones (North, South, East, West)
of India, ensuring direct-to-customer sales.
• Writes reports and analyzing relevant business data.
• Creates campaigns for B2C customers according to season/time/occasion etc.

4. Business Development Executive (B2B)

• Attracts new clients on B2B sphere across corporates of Industries such as
Manufacturing, FinTech, E-commerce etc.
• Writes reports and analyzing relevant business data
• Creates campaigns for B2B customers according to work style/employees/other
stakeholders etc.
The team focuses on utilizing tools for Sales productivity and Customer Relationship
Management.

Current KPI consideration includes: Lead Generation and No. of Cold Calls.
Challenges in the mentioned KPI include: Converting good leads, Managing Website.

B. Graphic Designing Team

Lead of
Business
Designs

Graphic
Graphic
Designer
Designer(B2C)
(B2B)

No of employees: 10
Communicating with clients about layout and design and creating a wide range of graphics and
layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and websites with software such as Photoshop,
Adobe Studio, and Data visualization tools. The classification of profiles is as:

1. Lead of Business Designs

• Illustrating concepts by designing examples of art arrangement, size, type size and style
and submitting them for approval.
• Preparing finished art by operating the necessary equipment and software.
• Coordinating with outside agencies, art services, web designer, marketing, printers, and
colleagues, as necessary.

2. Graphic Designer (B2C)

• Understanding clients on B2C sphere across different zones (North, South, East, West) of
India, ensuring specific design strategy
• Creating campaign designs for B2C customers according to season/time/occasion etc.

3. Graphic Designer (B2B)

• Understanding clients on B2B sphere across corporates of various Industry as
Manufacturing, FinTech, E-commerce etc.
• Creating campaign designs for B2B customers according to work style/employees/other
stakeholders etc.

Current KPI consideration includes: No. of designs and types of design.

Challenges in the mentioned KPI include: Adapting to technological change
C. Service Delivery Team

Head People
Advisor

People
Advisor

Senior People
Analyst

People
Analyst

No. of employees: 15
They deliver efforts to retain business growth opportunities, primarily ensuring a great
experience for new clients and fostering business relationships to increase revenue from client
retention. The classification of profiles in this team varies depends on the nature of work and
exposure to clients thus maintaining organic growth:

1. Head People Advisor

• Analyzing career path according to the organization process for both B2C and B2B clients.
• Handling clients across industries like Manufacturing, FinTech, E-commerce etc. and
different zones of India.

2. People Advisor
• Analyzing the skills and competencies from the B2C client’s background.
• Training clients according to competency analysis for the future career path.

3. Senior People Analyst

• Conduct detailed behavioural analysis to understand key personality triggers.
• Handle organization-specific customer tools to provide the solution.

4. People Analyst
• Ensuring service delivery at every touchpoint for all the products/packages/programs.
• Creating the progress and efficiency report for management understanding.

The team focuses on utilizing in-house tools and tools through collaboration for Skill and
Competency analysis and mapping, Focus group discussions, and comprehensive people
development.
Current KPI consideration includes: Weekly calls and On-time Delivery.
Challenges in the mentioned KPI include: Customer escalation, Tightening Deadlines, unrealistic
client expectations

D. Research and Development Team

Head of Learning
& Development

Lead Content &

Learning

Senior Content
Specialist

Content
Specialist

No. of employees: 15
They deliver efforts in the creation of assessments for the client-specific requirement. Primarily
ensuring a great experience for new clients and detailed analysis for both B2C and B2B clients
across each level. The classification of profiles in this team varies depends on the nature of work
and exposure to clients thus maintaining organic growth:

1. Head of Learning and Development

• Undertake validation and development of courses and training material as well as being
involved in training evaluation and assessing effectiveness.
• Ensure the creation and validation of Psychometric assessments according to the
product’s requirement availed by either B2C or B2B client.

2. Lead Content and Learning

• Help product teams develop various media-specific content based on the modules for the
web, knowledge portal and social media for both B2C and B2B clients.

3. Senior Content Specialist

• Identify training needs for both B2B clients across Industries like Manufacturing,
FinTech, E-commerce etc. and different zones of India through gap analysis.

4. Content Specialist
• Create learning and development modules that are tailored to the requirements
of customers.
The team focuses on utilizing in-house tools and tools through the collaboration for Skill and
Competency analysis and mapping, organizational development, learning and development,
employee engagement etc.

Current KPI consideration includes: No. of modules and no. of assessments.

Challenges in the mentioned KPI include: Quality of Content, Making Interactive Content,
Personalized learning, Engaging Learners, Tracking Skills Application etc.

Solving for SKillUP Private Limited

A thorough and complete performance management system at SKillUP would include attracting
the right employees, retaining those employees, executing performance planning, performance
assessment, motivating and/or creating conditions that motivate employees, offering feedback,
and reviewing performance.

Implementation of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as their Performance Assessment tool to identify,

improve, and control its business' various functions and resulting outcomes has been a question
for SkillUP. Adages such as “what gets measured gets done” or “what cannot be measured, cannot
be improved” describe the implementation of actions aligned to the business strategies and
objectives, which is the basis to assess and improve performance of each vertical.
 Part – 1
You are our IPO. You have understood who we are, what we do and what we want to achieve.
You know that we cater to clients on both B2C and B2B sphere. You know that we want to build
the Performance Management System and bring a connected growth transformation in the
careers of our employees and organization. An exercise that would help:
1. List the metrics/parameters that SkillUP Private Limited would identify across each
department/team.
2. Understand the roles and responsibilities mentioned for employees of all the levels and how
they achieve their goals.
3. Evaluate and quantify/qualify the metrics that would help you measure whether it is
significant in the BSC or not.

Based on this exercise, pick any two teams/departments out of four and answer the following:
1. Provide excel sheets/spreadsheets to describe the various metrics considered across BSC
parameters and create the best possible no. of detailed metrics. You can use MS Excel tool.

2. The Performance Management analysis of teams/departments must revolve around

following spheres – Financial, Customer, Internal Process and Learning & Growth
perspectives. Design the KRA and KPI chart for these two teams/departments. You are
open to add any metrics/parameters under each sphere of BSC.

Brownie Points
This is a bonus question. Attempting this question is optional. The best solution to this answer has
a surprise element associated with it.
Design the KPI and KRA chart in MS Excel, across each profile mentioned in the two
teams/departments which you have already selected in previous question. Also, according to the
analysis provide suggestions for the following:
1. Expansion of roles and responsibilities in each profile (mention in pointer format).
2. Reason of suggestion.
 Part – 2
As provided in the Career Path Builder task, ensure that the results of the following assessments
of each member have been recorded:
i. Industry Suggestor (https://www.mbatrek.com/industry-suggestor)
ii. Right Type of Organization (https://www.mbatrek.com/the-right-type-of-
organization)
iii. HR Simulator (https://www.mbatrek.com/hr-simulator )
iv. Finance Qualifier (https://www.mbatrek.com/finance-qualifier-assessment)
According to the below sample result matrix, list out the interest and abilities of each member
by metrics. SkillUP is looking for professionals who will add value to the organization across
their teams (Graphic Design, Sales and Business Development, Research & Development, and
Service Delivery)
Sample Example of Assessment Result (flexible according to the number of members in your
team):

Name of the
Assessment / Result of Member 1 Result of Member 2 Result of Member 3
Members of the
Team
Industry Media and Education and NGOs Hospitality and
Suggestor (IS) Entertainment, BFSI Tourism
IT/ITES, Digital / Pharmaceutical and Transportation
Technology, HealthCare (Aviation, Railways)
Telecommunications Food & Beverages
Right Type of Start-ups and Early- Non-profit or Not for Start-ups and Early-
Organization Stage ventures, profit Organizations Stage ventures,
(RTO) New Age Technology New Age Technology
Companies Think-tanks Companies
HR Simulator 80 / 100 60 / 100 60 / 100
(HRS)
Finance 30 / 50 40 / 50 20 / 50
Qualifier (FQ)

Provide the solution to the following problem in PPT format:

1. From the assessment scores/result pattern, please suggest any one candidate from your
team who would be fit to join in any of the four teams as mentioned in the case study above.
State your reason.
2. Create the career path for the candidate you have selected in the above question for the next
3 years that he/she will follow through.
 Submission Guidelines
1. The solution needs to be submitted in the form of a PPT.
2. The link to submit the solutions shall be shared with you.
3. There is no limit to the number of slides.
4. Any excel, word or video file should be embedded in the PPT itself.
5. The PPT shall also include the details of the exercise conducted to recommend the solution.
6. Only one submission per team will be accepted.
7. No submission post the deadline shall be considered.
8. Any team which fails to submit shall be considered disqualified from the competition.
9. All your ideas/solutions submitted for IPO will be the property of MBAtrek Pvt. Ltd.
10. Disputes, if any, will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts at Gurugram only.