ConQuest 2026 |FMS | GradNext Consulting Prep Growth Strategy

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1. About the Case Competition

ConQuest 2026 is the flagship case competition jointly hosted by FMS Delhi and IIM Rohtak, attracting top B-school teams across strategy, marketing, and product domains. This deck is the submission of Team Centurions from IIM Rohtak, competing in what is one of the most analytically demanding inter-B-school competitions in the country. The case challenged participants to design a credible, scalable growth strategy for GradNext, a real, early-stage consulting prep platform targeting India’s MBA and undergraduate aspirant base.

2. Problem Statement Overview

GradNext operates in India’s consulting prep space, a structurally underserved market despite India’s test prep industry serving 20 million students annually at 15% YoY growth. The platform faced four interconnected problems: a website lacking conversion optimisation and clear value differentiation, an SEO gap on high-intent keywords like “how to become a consultant,” absent gamified progress tracking reducing retention, and limited visibility beyond its existing community slowing new user acquisition. Competitors like PrepLounge and CaseCoach each had distinct weaknesses in India-localised mentorship, live feedback, and UX, leaving a clear market gap for a structured, outcome-driven, India-first consulting prep platform at an accessible price point.

3. What This Winning Deck Covers

The deck opens with a clean TAM-SAM-SOM framework: 600,000+ total addressable users (MBA students, consulting firms, and undergraduates), a SAM of 200,000 comprising high-intent candidates actively preparing within a 12-month window, and a conservative SOM of 10,000, driven by 5% TAM capture. A competitor matrix mapping PrepLounge, CaseCoach, and Management Consulted across availability, innovation, and reliability anchors the market gap before any recommendation is made.

The product strategy section redesigns GradNext’s end-to-end user experience, from website conversion optimisation (single persistent CTA, outcome proof above the fold, clear Zero → Shortlist → Offer journey mapping) to a structured learning ecosystem with self-paced consulting fundamentals, peer practice circles, and a journey-based conversion strategy across three stages: Shortlisted → Offer, Skill Polish → Interview Differentiation, and Offer → Career Transition. Case mock pricing is set at ₹399 for the starter pack and ₹599 for the advanced pack with AI feedback and benchmarking.

The GTM section applies the AIDA framework across four acquisition stages, Awareness via SEO and social reels, Interest via MBB mentor content and free resources, Desire via diagnostic readiness tests and campus ambassador recommendations, and Action via cohort trials and placement-season bundles. A channel prioritisation matrix ranks SEO Content highest on impact and scalability, followed by Campus Ambassadors and Social Media. The “Con-fluencer Campus Takeover” and “Wellness-Fest Case War Zones” are particularly creative offline activation ideas that drive community-led growth at low cost. This kind of community-led, product-led growth architecture is also central to the strategy in Aanvikshiki 8.0 – IIM Nagpur.

Key Takeaways:

  • TAM-SAM-SOM sizing is most credible when the SOM is derived from a conservative, behaviour-based capture assumption, not a top-down percentage
  • Website conversion optimisation (single CTA, social proof above the fold, journey mapping) is a growth lever that EdTech decks routinely underweight
  • The AIDA framework works best when each stage has distinct, channel-specific tactics, not generic content
  • Tiered pricing with clear feature differentiation (₹399 starter vs ₹599 advanced) reduces decision fatigue and improves conversion
  • KPI design should tie directly to the funnel stage it validates, this deck’s four KPIs map precisely to conversion, engagement, referral, and outcome

4. The Numbers

The deck targets 10,010 users across 14 pricing plans, generating gross revenue of ₹1,96,47,808 and net proceeds of ₹1,89,58,374 after referral and early bird discounts. Total costs are ₹1,69,56,257, yielding a Benefit-Cost Ratio of 1.12, indicating a 12% return on investment. Team salaries account for 44.2% of costs, marketing for 20.6%, and tech and platform for 11.8%. KPI targets include conversion efficiency above 25% and referral-driven enrolments above 20%.

5. Who Should Study This Deck

This deck is essential for MBA and undergraduate students preparing for EdTech, consulting strategy, or product growth cases, particularly those targeting competitions where a real startup is the client. The combination of TAM-SAM-SOM sizing, competitor mapping, product UX redesign, AIDA GTM, and a fully modelled P&L in one coherent deck makes it a rare end-to-end template. Students preparing for their own consulting interviews will also find GradNext’s prep ecosystem architecture directly useful. Explore more such decks at CaseBuzz.

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