Why we created Listpapa

 

I did my MBA back in 1999. Remember 1999? Hotmail and ICQ were the biggest things on the web, Enron was still around making a lot of (imaginary) money, Shania Twain and Nirvana ruled the radio waves. And there was no Google or Facebook :)

I have fond memories of my MBA days, and of all the various aspects of the MBA, my fondest memories are those that revolve around case-studies. Our MBA was based on the case-study approach - like almost every MBA, case studies formed the axis on which our MBA program revolved. We enjoyed case-studies - there was something magical about simulated 'board-room strategy meetings', where teams of students, in our carefully ironed pin-stripe suits, delivered presentations to the academic community, competing to deliver the best business strategy and make our own teams win. Several man-hours of painstaking preparation, arguments, ego-battles, coffee, research, sandwiches, beer, more research, calculations, projections.....all turning into twenty well-crafted powerpoint slides that detailed corporate strategy!

Seven years later, in 2006, I qualified as a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). Just like the MBA, the CMA heavily relied on the case-study approach to train us in accounting and finance related aspects of business and management. Just like the MBA, we delved deep into several industry sectors including construction, sugar, electronics, media, automobiles, cosmetics, banking, internet.... and often at least one member of any team had some direct or indirect experience in one of these industries.

While both the MBA and the CMA case-study frameworks were fun and good educational training, one thing always lingered in my mind - case-studies were based on 'simulated' data rather than being based on reality. It was not the 'real-deal', but simulation. I felt perhaps there was room for more 'realism' in the case-study approach. I also felt that rather than the audience for case study presentations being academia, perhaps the best audience for case study work ought to be managers and decision makers in REAL corporations. I spent a year researching how case studies were made, the various intricacies of the case-study manufacturing business, and so on, and eventually realized that the only way to achieve my vision would be to build a direct channel between MBA students and corporations - where business problems flowed from corporation to student, and solutions flowed back from student to corporation.

Today, widespread use of social media provides us with a tremendous opportunity to make this vision a reality. We envision a scenario where B-School students solve case-studies that are put out there by real corporations. Analysis, problem solving, judgement, lead generation, insight....businesses have so much to gain by crowdsourcing knowledge directly from MBA students, and students have so much to gain by interacting with real industry people while working on case-studies. This way everyone wins. Our little team of three people has spent the last 2 years chatting enthusiastically with various universities AND corporations. We feel we are now ready to jump off and swim. So we would like YOU (the students) to get on board and be a part of this direct channel that will make the entire case-study approach as fun as before, but more releveant.

The incentive? Your work gets noticed by not only academia but also senior corporate managers. And you and your team can get paid to work on the real case-studies.

We're currently in stealth mode and are slowly handing out invites one university at a time. Get on board early, and bring your friends along to be a part of this. Contact us at tellusmore@Listpapa.com if you want more info about what we're doing.

Rajeev Sharma, ceo, Listpapa.