ISB Alumnus Changing the B-school Admissions and GMAT Mentoring Space

With a vision to build “tech-enabled personalized mentoring for B-school aspirants”, edtech start-up Strategy4GMAT (S4G) is engaging & connecting individuals with the industry mentors and alumnus/alumna of top B-Schools worldwide.

Since 2016, the New Delhi-based company has developed a guidance process through various modules keeping personalized mentoring at its core to fully equip aspirants to crack the GMAT and secure admissions at the top B-schools across the globe.

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for digital learning, mentoring, and higher education has rapidly increased with a growing dynamism in the edtech sector. Strategy4GMAT was in the same space for some time which gave them the opportunity to tap on to the significant demand for their services as similar to other major edtech companies.

As aspirants begin to prepare to enter any B-schools, they always find it challenging to receive 1-to-1 guidance from experienced mentors. This led Manan Puri to launch S4G that solves the problem for these aspirants at large after a successful professional journey within the financial services and HR consulting space. At present, it is focusing on B-school admissions across the globe.

Manan believes when it comes to learning and cracking these admissions, it is important to have personalized mentoring from someone who has gone through the journey!

Some of the answers from him are interesting and a must-read for the professionals as well as students who aspire to be into top B-schools.

What first got you into entrepreneurship and why did you decide to start your own venture, Strategy4GMAT?

Since I graduated from the Indian School of Business (ISB), I had been mentoring ISB aspirants on their application and interview preparation. When I applied to ISB, I felt a consistent need for admissions mentoring from someone who has ‘Been There, Done That’. In addition, I realized throughout the GMAT journey that knowing the concepts is not enough; a sound strategy leads to a difference of ~50 points between mocks and the actual test!

Hence, the idea to start S4G literally started from the ISB dorm room of my Co-founder to (a) help GMAT takers improve their score without additional prep with the help of a personalized strategy, (b) mentor MBA aspirants with first-hand knowledge of the MBA admissions process, and (c) make MBA admissions consulting more affordable.

Strategy4GMAT was founded in 2016. How have your objectives and goals changed since then?

When we started, the focus was on GMAT Strategy. Then it expanded to Indian B-school admissions consulting, especially ISB since we had the context.

Since then, the team of alumni mentors and number of B-schools we cover has expanded to schools across the globe. We now have mentors from schools such as INSEAD, Columbia, HKUST, NUS, Kelley, Rotman, etc.

An MBA is one of the steps in the bigger journey towards a successful career. The real battle begins when you get to the B-school. Thus, we also started a B-school Mentorship Programme where top B-school alumni mentor the candidates through the journey to help them achieve their goals during and post the MBA.

To summarize, we have gone from just GMAT strategy to providing end-to-end career solutions to our clients.

Especially in the current scenario, a lot of mid-level professionals are aspiring for higher education at Top B-Schools. How is your team effectively helping them to achieve their dreams?

The personalized mentoring process starts with matching the client with an alum from a top B-school as a mentor. Through a series of carefully designed 1-1 mentoring sessions, the mentor is able to guide the clients through their B-school admissions journey- from shortlisting schools to writing compelling essays / SOPs and more importantly, guiding them to see the bigger picture of their goals and aspirations. For all the applications, we have a ‘4-eye review’ by another B-school alum to get a ‘first-impression decision’. There is no cap on the number of discussions or reviews. We believe in ‘owning the application’ and mentoring cannot be defined under strict time boundaries!

Our inherent value is to have a candid assessment and brutally honest advice to the clients, even if it means turning away a few.

What would be your advice to those who are debating whether to go for higher education in such times of recession?

This is the best time to go for higher education and upskill while riding the storm. The world economy will most likely bounce back in 2022 and by the time the class graduates, there would be opportunities aplenty for them to tap on to. Besides, you’d want to re-enter the workforce when things are looking up and not when we’ve peaked.

" The world economy will most likely bounce back in 2022 and by the time the class graduates, there would be opportunities aplenty for them to tap on to "

When I started my career in July 2008 with a global research and rating provider, 2 months into the role, 3 of our biggest clients went bust. Yes, there were jitters back then but, in the end, it works out if you constantly evolve and learn. So, for the recent graduates, hang in there. You would have stories to tell in the future!

What exciting things can we expect from Strategy4Gmat in the next 12-18 months?

The focus is two-fold- (a) entering the wider skill development space and (b) complementing personalized mentoring with AI-enabled solutions. I believe that tech is a strong enabler for transformation but cannot replace the human connect which mentoring requires.

How do you see the National Education Policy (NEP) which is much-hyped recently?

It is a landmark decision and as a result, I am a lot more bullish on the Indian Education & ed-tech space. The focus on technology is clear in the policy’s vision and riding on the internet & smartphone penetration in tier II & III cities in India, this would be very beneficial for students from these areas. If implemented well, the policy will bridge the gap between “India” and “Bharat”. With Coding as a new subject and the flexibility to study Humanities, Commerce & Sciences together, we’ll see well-rounded professionals in the future!

Strategy4GMAT is a fully bootstrapped startup with solid bottom-line margins and plans to focus on expanding the team, tech development and growing the client-base.

Manan says ‘ deciding to go for higher education and moving out of well-established full-time jobs or ventures is a big-step in itself. Those undertaking it should first congratulate themselves! Regardless of the outcome, the admissions preparation process will ensure at least one thing- you’d get to know yourself a lot better. This is a fun ride! ’

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