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AURORA 2026 - RESULTS ARE IN! ๐ŸŽ‰A stellar close to our Case Competition on Product Management: 662 registrations, 10 fina...
09/08/2026

AURORA 2026 - RESULTS ARE IN! ๐ŸŽ‰
A stellar close to our Case Competition on Product Management: 662 registrations, 10 finalists, 3 winners.
๐Ÿ† Winner: Team Brand Managers โ€” Shantanu Roy, Upanshu Agarwal & Anukalp Srivastava (IIM Sirmaur)
๐Ÿฅˆ Runner-up: Team Panchajanya โ€” Sanjay S E, Shreeniwas Patil & Misha Saxena (Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai)
๐Ÿฅˆ Runner-up: Team ProdWomen โ€” Mounil Garg, Supriya Karmakar & Charchit Gupta (IIM Shillong)
Huge congratulations to our winners for their sharp strategic thinking and standout case solutions! ๐Ÿ‘
Sincere thanks to our sponsor, Central Bank of India ๐Ÿฆ, for powering this event with a prize pool of โ‚น20,000, to Coursera for their generous sponsorship and to Prof. Giridhar Ramachandran (Marketing, XLRI Jamshedpur) for crafting the case and quiz content and evaluating every submission. Grateful to Haripriya maโ€™am and Kanakraj sir for their support!
And to every participant โ€” your energy, ideas, and rigor made this competition a success. Take a bow! โœจ
CCC PGDMGM

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 4Five product leaders closed out Aurora 4.0 with a conversation that w...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 4

Five product leaders closed out Aurora 4.0 with a conversation that went far beyond frameworks and tools, diving into what it truly means to build a career that gets stronger through disruption: โ€œ๐—˜๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜†๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐— : ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—จ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—›๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป-๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—”๐—œ-๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜โ€

The panel reframed the narrative from the start. Polycrisis, they argued, should be read as polyopportunity. One panelist traced 17 years of career pivots, from the 2008 financial crisis to COVID to AI, and noted that every meaningful lesson came not from a classroom but from navigating disruption firsthand. The consensus was clear: resilience alone is not enough. Resilience brings you back to where you were. Antifragility means using every shock to become something better.

A central thread was the idea of becoming a learning machine. With AI learning faster than any individual, tying your identity to a single role or skill set is a vulnerability, not a strength. The panelists urged the room to pursue curiosity-driven learning rather than short-term ROI-driven upskilling, and to invest in understanding users at a deeply human level, through first-hand conversations, not just AI-generated summaries of support tickets.

The discussion also surfaced habits that future PMs should build early: developing cognitive intuition by doing things manually at least once before automating, building networks and information channels from day one rather than waiting for seniority, learning to identify problems at their root rather than jumping to solutions, and investing in negotiation as a foundational skill that underpins everything from stakeholder alignment to customer discovery.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership Antifragile Upskilling

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 4The final panel of Aurora 4.0 turned the lens inward, from the produc...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 4

The final panel of Aurora 4.0 turned the lens inward, from the product to the product manager themselves: โ€œ๐—˜๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜†๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐— : ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—จ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—›๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป-๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—”๐—œ-๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜โ€

For the first time, a technology is coming for knowledge work. AI is not replacing assembly lines or manual processes, it is reshaping the very thinking, analysis, and decision-making that defined white-collar careers. In a world where the ground keeps shifting, what makes a product manager genuinely valuable, and how do you grow stronger through disruption rather than simply endure it?

We are proud to welcome five product leaders to close out the day:
Setu Shah, Zelda Kolah, Mathew Joy, Karthik Dinne, and Teja Kancherla

Moderated by Vipul Kapur

Stay tuned for the key insights from this conversation.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership Antifragile Upskilling

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 3Panel 3 of Aurora 4.0 concluded with a felicitation ceremony honourin...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 3

Panel 3 of Aurora 4.0 concluded with a felicitation ceremony honouring the leaders who shared their perspectives on โ€œ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐Ÿฏ.๐Ÿฌ: ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต-๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜€โ€

We extend our sincere gratitude to our esteemed panelists:
Shankar Kutty, Shivdas Madham, Chirashree Ghosh and Aditya Dasika

A special note of thanks to our moderator Ali Mizaj for anchoring the discussion and keeping the conversation grounded in real-world experience.

If there was one takeaway from this panel, it was this: at population scale, perfection is not the goal, preparedness is. The best product managers donโ€™t just plan for success. They plan for the punch in the face, as one panelist memorably put it, and they make sure the customer never feels the impact alone.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership IndiaStack DigitalInfrastructure

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 3Four product leaders sat down to discuss what it takes to build high-...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 3

Four product leaders sat down to discuss what it takes to build high-availability products at population scale in โ€œ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐Ÿฏ.๐Ÿฌ: ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต-๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜€โ€, and the conversation quickly moved from theory to real war stories from the trenches.

One panellist shared a vivid account of a launch gone wrong at JP Morgan, where a payments system processing 14 million checks a day had to be pulled back within hours of going live after external banks rejected the new format. The lesson was clear: donโ€™t chase the date. Product management is about quality, not deadlines, and being ready to go back to the whiteboard is not failure; it is discipline.

A strong theme across the panel was that ownership cannot stop at the boundary of your own system. When a UPI transaction fails, the customer does not care whether the fault lies with the payment gateway, the bank, or the merchant. They care that it did not work. Product managers must own the entire customer experience, including the parts they do not directly control, and communicate transparently about what is covered and what is not.

The discussion also surfaced practical frameworks for designing against the unknown. From Netflixโ€™s Chaos Monkey suite that deliberately breaks systems to test resilience, to staged rollouts that scale from 1% to 100% of users, the panellists emphasised that building for unpredictable failure is not optional; it is foundational. And when things do break, the quality of your communication matters as much as the speed of your fix.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership IndiaStack DigitalInfrastructure

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 3What happens when the infrastructure you build on is not yours to con...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 3

What happens when the infrastructure you build on is not yours to control, but the trust still rests with you? Panel 3 of Aurora 4.0 explored exactly this with โ€œBuilding on India Stack 3.0: High-availability Products for Mass Shocks.โ€

With Indiaโ€™s digital infrastructure serving a population at unprecedented scale, product managers face a unique challenge: designing systems that hold up under enormous load, recover gracefully from failure, and maintain customer trust even when the fault lies outside their ownership.

We are proud to welcome four industry leaders to this conversation:
Shankar Kutty, Shivdas Madham, Chirashree Ghosh and Aditya Dasika

Moderated by Ali Mizaj

Stay tuned for the key insights from this discussion.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership IndiaStack DigitalInfrastructure

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 2Panel 2 of Aurora 4.0 concluded with a felicitation ceremony honourin...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 2

Panel 2 of Aurora 4.0 concluded with a felicitation ceremony honouring the distinguished leaders who shared their perspectives on โ€œ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†โ€

We extend our sincere gratitude to our esteemed panelists:
Sakshi Goswami, Varun Goswami, Abhilash Rao Salvaji, Lakshay I., Akhil Sai Valluri

A special note of thanks to our moderator Samantha Mascarenhas for guiding a rich and practical conversation that kept the room engaged throughout.

As we wrapped up the second panel, one message stood out: in a market shaped by inflation and rising costs, the product managers who win are not the ones chasing tier upgrades or inflating margins. They are the ones who build trust through transparency, measure success through the customerโ€™s eyes, and design for retention over transaction. Accessibility is the entry point, but value is what makes people stay.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership SachetEconomy Monetisation

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 2The second panel of Aurora 4.0 sparked a sharp conversation on what i...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 2

The second panel of Aurora 4.0 sparked a sharp conversation on what it really takes to build profitable products in cost-sensitive markets, as five industry leaders came together to discuss โ€œ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜† ๐Ÿฎ.๐Ÿฌ: ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต-๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€โ€

The panel opened with a powerful reframing: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†. Whether in FMCG, banking, insurance, or SaaS, the principle remains the same. Lower the entry barrier, but design the product journey so that accessibility also translates into profitability. The real skill of a product manager lies in making the product both usable and sustainable as a business.

A recurring theme was the danger of obsessing over tier upgrades. The panelists argued that different tiers are different markets altogether, each with its own persona, needs, and life context. The metric that matters most is not how many customers climb from a basic to a premium plan, but how long they stay and how deeply they engage. Retention and engagement, not migration, are the true indicators of value delivery. As one panelist put it: value is not what you perceive as a creator, it is what is perceived in the receiverโ€™s eyes.

The discussion also emphasized trust and transparency as the foundation of pricing resilience. In a high-inflation environment, customers anticipate price increases. What they do not forgive is silent changes or dark patterns. Upfront communication about why prices are changing, paired with demonstrable value, protects both the relationship and the margin. The best product companies donโ€™t just track financial metrics; they measure how much value they are delivering across every customer segment.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership SachetEconomy Monetisation

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 2The second panel of Aurora 4.0 took on a question rooted in Indiaโ€™s m...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 2

The second panel of Aurora 4.0 took on a question rooted in Indiaโ€™s most enduring product innovation: โ€œ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜† ๐Ÿฎ.๐Ÿฌ: ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต-๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€โ€

The sachet model transformed how India consumes everything from shampoo to financial services. But in a world of rising costs, digital-first products, and inflation-squeezed customers, how do product managers design for accessibility without sacrificing profitability? And what metrics actually matter when your users live at the bottom of the pricing pyramid?

We are honoured to have an exceptional panel of industry leaders join us for this discussion:
Sakshi Goswami, Varun Goswami, Abhilash Rao Salvaji, Lakshay I., Akhil Sai Valluri

Moderated by Samantha Mascarenhas

Stay tuned for the key insights from this conversation.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership SachetEconomy Monetisation

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 1Panel 1 of Aurora 4.0 concluded with a felicitation ceremony honourin...
08/08/2026

Aurora 4.0 | Product Management Symposium | Panel 1

Panel 1 of Aurora 4.0 concluded with a felicitation ceremony honouring the distinguished leaders who shared their perspectives on โ€œNavigating Shocks: Building Resilient Products in a Polycrisis Era.โ€

We extend our sincere gratitude to our esteemed panelists:
Rabindra Sah, Nupur Jaiswal, Sapan Behera, Nikhil Choudhari, Ram Sevak

A special note of thanks to our moderator Ash*ta Saboo for keeping the conversation grounded, interactive, and engaging.

As we wrapped up the opening panel, one message echoed across the discussion: in a polycrisis era, the businesses that last are not the ones that predict every disruption, but the ones that stay relentlessly close to their customers and respond with clarity, conviction, and speed. AI levels the playing field, but the thoughtfulness behind its application is what creates the edge.

Prodzion Polycrisis ProductLeadership Resilience

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