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• Pankaj Seith
  IIMA, PGP, 1992. Trainer & Adviser, Ex Hindustan Lever, HDFC Group & HT Media

Dear Mithun, Business diversification is a an opportunity as well as a challenge. Hence, you must navigate this carefully and some helpful tips are as below a) Use the “Ansoff Matrix” as a framework for this. You can read about it b) Always do small pilots and learn / refine basis that and only then consider scaling up. Read up about the “FDV framework of innovation” – it will help you greatly c) Learn from the successes of companies in other geographies / sectors. This is also sometimes referred to us R&D 2.0 (=Read & Duplicate). It may sound odd but can give you good ideas. I would encourage you to use good AI tools like Perplexity, Chat GPT etc to do your basic research on the above and then read up more and apply those learnings. Take care

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• Prakash Sheshadri Nathan
  IIMB, PGP, 1993. Leadership coach and Mentor, Multiple leadership positions in privately funded infrastructure business, Climate Investment

Hello Mithun, Business Diversification can typically be thought of as a 2 by 2 matrix. Let us say you are in the business of making pencils and you are marketing these products in South India. One way to diversify is to expand the geography of operations to All India but sticking to pencils. The other way is to think of expanding your product range and say that I would like to be in the business of writing instruments, but stick to South India. The third way is to say that I would like to diversify into writing instruments but operate all over India. Thus when you think of diversification use a two by two matrix kind of thinking of expanding to more geographies or more products (initially related products) and finally do both. Hope this gives you a structured way to think about diversification.

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• Harish Doraiswamy
  IIMC, PGP, 1991. Director, Central Square Foundation

Hello Abhishek! The questions you have to answer for yourself is (i) whether your idea solves a big problem in a way that it produces big value for many customers, (ii) whether there are other players in already doing this well (iii) whether you have the staying power, resilience and commitment to manage the ups and downs of business. The app is not the business; it is just the first step of building a business. Many people think of an app, invest time and money to build it only to realise that it is difficult to build a business around it. It will be better for you to think of the business and look at the app as a channel for customers to interact. My advice would be to think of this, build the core business idea while you continue with your studies.

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• Saurabh Chopra
  IIML, PGP, 2004. Director Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives, Central Square Foundation

I don't think it is necessary for you to choose only one path right now. I will not recommend you to leave your studies aside and just focus on the app. There will be enough time to learn coding and business skills, while you pursue your graduation.

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• Mukesh Khandelwal
  IIMC, PGP, 1993.

We’re entering a period of massive disruption in the job market in the next years, as Generative AI and other emerging technologies displace humans in the performance of a broad spectrum of jobs. In this dynamic scenario, one critical capability for workforce entrants will be a far higher ability to switch jobs and professions. Education and skills across a diverse range of fields would be useful. So commerce? By all means. Also music. Courses in digital and social marketing maybe. And so on – you get the idea. Where does passion fit into all of this? A lucky few will find stable full-time professional lives in the areas of their passion. For the rest – their passion may have to co-exist with the practicality of this future of work scenario.

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• Prakash Sheshadri Nathan
  IIMB, PGP, 1993. Leadership coach and Mentor, Multiple leadership positions in privately funded infrastructure business, Climate Investment

Kunal, Congratulations on thinking about starting a business of your own. Are you of the belief that building a website would generate business? Any business is always built from the ground up, based on a value perceived by a potential customer. A website in your kind of business can only be a reference check for the prospect (Is this person genuine? Have other people used it? Does what he told me is what he is communicating? How many stars has he got for his work? What do the customers say about his work?). So my advice to you is to build credibility by taking on some work first and delivering them. Hopefully, you can complete your education also in the meantime. A degree from a good University will look good on the website too. And if possible take on some internships at some leading firms. Finally, anything meaningful takes time. Rome was not built in a day. Best wishes!

• Kakul Paul
  IIMA, PGP, 2005. Partner, Tiger Analytics

First of all Congratulations on building such an impressive website even before your course completion - shows your passion!! More than focusing on the website (since you already have a well structured one to start-off), if you have to channelize your spends, suggest focusing on the lead generation funnel. My sister is an architect herself and I have helped her a lot in this area - social media marketing is key for architects and designers as customers spend good amount of time on google and other social media websites searching for the right designs and the right designers - reels, videos and visuals create better traction - avoid renders, having live project pics and videos. Once your business establishes “word of mouth” will be an equally important lead generation stream. In due course, once you pass out, tying up with builders in their initial stages will be key - they can pass on your contacts to their customers.