Technology Product Entrepreneurship
CS9.424Ramesh Loganathan + Prakash Yalla•Monsoon 2025-26•4 credits
TPE Mock End-Sem Paper 4 (PYQ format — Spring Mock Set 4)
Duration: 180 min • Max marks: 100
Part 1 — Higher-Order Concepts (5 × 5 = 20 marks; Q5 bonus)
20 marks- 1.**Customer Development — Ed-tech for non-English-medium students.** A startup is building bilingual STEM content for non-English-medium high-school students in Tier-2 cities. (a) Apply the *Detective Phase* — write four customer-interview questions that find needs WITHOUT mentioning the solution. (b) State the rule the four questions follow.5 m
- 2.**Earlyvangelist Pyramid — Mental-health platform for college students.** Place each of the following customer cohorts on the Earlyvangelist Pyramid: (a) Students who downloaded a meditation app last year. (b) Students whose university already has an active mental-health budget. (c) Students who have actively tried 2+ approaches (therapy + journaling) without satisfaction. (d) Students who don't yet recognise they're stressed. Then state which tier the founder should sell to *first* and why.5 m
- 3.**Lean Canvas vs BMC — Sustainable apparel marketplace.** A founder has 6 weeks of pilot data, no validated channel, and is still uncertain about pricing. Which canvas should she use and why? Name the four substitutions Lean Canvas makes vs the standard BMC, and explain operationally what each substitution forces the founder to confront.5 m
- 4.**Value Proposition — Climate-data API.** A startup is building a climate-data API for insurance companies underwriting agricultural insurance. (a) Apply Clayton Christensen's three-adjective definition (*more effectively, affordably, conveniently a job they've been trying to do*) and identify which of the three adjectives the VP nudges hardest. (b) State one Pain that has no Pain Reliever in the current product description — and recommend what the founder should build.5 m
- 5.**(Bonus, 5 marks) Your TPE startup idea.** Apply STP (Segmentation → Targeting → Positioning). Identify five segments via the segmentation flower. Pick one target. Articulate a positioning concept in one sentence that names the target's emotional pain.5 m
Part 2 — Advanced Framework Application (2 × 20 = 40 marks)
40 marks- 1.**Case: Cocoon — Premium parenting platform (20 marks).** Cocoon offers an end-to-end child-development tracking + activity-recommendation platform for urban Indian parents (children aged 0-5). The app combines paediatric milestone tracking, age-appropriate activity feeds, and curated educational toys (subscription box). Pilot shows 65% month-3 retention. The founders are deciding between three positioning strategies: 'premium parenting' (₹2,500/month), 'developmental safety' (₹1,200/month), or 'free + e-commerce monetisation'. (a) Apply the Experience Economy ladder — which rung does each positioning target? (5) (b) Apply the Find-Your-USP four-zone Venn against Mamaearth, FirstCry, Healofy. Populate Winning / Risky / Losing / Who Cares zones (8). (c) Recommend a pricing strategy, citing the Next Best Alternative principle (4). (d) Identify the Defensibility Tier of the platform's primary moat and state what could climb it (3).20 m
- 2.**Case: AgriCredit — MSME loan platform for small farmers (20 marks).** AgriCredit offers AI-underwritten loans of ₹50K-₹5L to small farmers based on satellite-imagery + bank-statement signals. Three months in, ₹1.2 cr deployed, 3% default rate. The founders need to choose: continue direct lending (NBFC model) OR pivot to a SaaS that sells the underwriting model to existing rural banks. (a) Apply the AHA Grid — plot direct-lending NBFCs vs traditional rural banks vs AgriCredit-as-SaaS. Identify which quadrant each occupies (5). (b) Draw the SWOT 2×2 with at least one explicit SO/ST/WO/WT connection (8). (c) Reference Steve Blank's *Search vs Execute* distinction — is AgriCredit ready to execute (scale) or still searching (pivot)? Justify (4). (d) State one *Painkiller* lens and one *Vitamin* lens on the same idea (3).20 m
Part 3 — Deep-Dive Case (40 marks: 15 + 10 + 10 + 5)
40 marks- 1.**Case: Foundry — Manufacturing-as-a-Service for hardware startups.** Foundry runs a contract-manufacturing platform for early-stage hardware startups in Bangalore. Customer: hardware founders (10-1000 units per order). Pilots show 4× faster time-to-prototype + 30% cost reduction vs incumbent contract manufacturers. Foundry has built a network of 15 SME contract manufacturers in Karnataka, an inventory-pooling hub, and a quality-control digital twin. Three growth paths: (i) double down on hardware-startup customers (low ARPU, high volume, evangelism), (ii) move upmarket to mid-size Indian electronics OEMs (high ARPU, slow sales cycle), (iii) license the digital-twin software to incumbent contract manufacturers (SaaS-only, no hardware operations). Runway: 14 months. A competitor (TomBolt) has just raised a Series A and is poaching Foundry's SME network. **(a) Strategic Evaluation (15 marks).** Evaluate the three paths on PMF evidence, capital efficiency, defensibility, runway compatibility. Apply the Painkiller × Contenders × Tier 1-2 cross-phase connection — which path produces all three? **(b) Pivot Decision (10 marks).** TomBolt's entry forces a pivot decision. Draw the Validation Board with the existing customer/problem/solution hypotheses in 'Start' column and the proposed pivots in '1st Pivot' column. Identify the Riskiest Assumption that any pivot must validate first. **(c) Investor Pitch (10 marks).** Structure a two-act pitch for a Series A. Act I ignites FOMO — name the three numbers/proof points. Act II calms FOLS — name the three defensibility / team / unit-economics points. Close with a specific ask (amount + milestone + runway + equity). **(d) Synthesis (5 marks).** Sketch the four-phase pipeline (Idea→Hypothesis → Problem-Solution Fit → PMF → Go-To-Market) and show where Foundry is on it. State which two frameworks from your sketch are most relevant to the pivot decision and why.40 m
Track your attempt locally — score and time are recorded in your browser. (Coming soon: timed-attempt mode.)