VAIBHAV PAREKH

EDUCATION
Indian School of Business | PGP in Management, Intended Majors in Strategy & Marketing Apr’19-Present
• National Winner, P&G Emerging Leader - awarded PPI (top 4% in 2000); formulated steps to increase online sales of Herbal Essences
• National Finalist (top 13/1500 teams), IIMA Armageddon; proposed a gaming startup for HNI investment with ~3X exit
• Secured a scholarship of ₹1 lakh by admission via ISB’s Young Leaders Program; amongst top 3% of 2500+ applicants
• Pro-bono consultant to Google-funded Million Sparks Foundation – identifying levers to improve usage for a teacher-training product
IIT (BHU), Varanasi | B.Tech., Electrical Engineering | CGPA: 8.02/10.0 | IIT-JEE: 2382 (top 0.5%) Jul’12-May’16
• Internship, KPMG: Established intra-company transfer price margins for ~₹35 Cr. worth of transactions for 5 companies
• Internship, Oyo: Improved time to market in 2 cities by prioritizing clusters based on demand & supply side assessment
Other Academic Achievements
• Int’l Rank 74 in NSO (10K Asian schools), 2012 | Full waiver (top 5/1000+ in city) to study in Singapore till K-12 by A*STAR, 2008
WORK EXPERIENCE
Airblack - SAIF Partners portfolio (social travel startup) | Pre-MBA Internship Mar’19–Apr’19
Received an offer to join the founding team for leading strategy & operations; supported founders in SAIF’s $1.5M seed fund raise
• Expedited development of first product beta by leading 20+ marketplace experiments; prioritized top 3 travel markets for launch
Ernst & Young LLP| Consultant-2, Performance Improvement, Advisory Services Jul’16-Feb’19
Recruited into a fast-tracked cohort (20/400) with promotion in 1 year vs. 2 years, within Advisory Services; worked across industries on
commercial due-diligence, market assessment, growth, deal advisory, cost reduction and client development & thought leaderships
Key Achievements
• Won performance award - ‘Individual Spotlight’ (top 5%) for leading diligence of an IPL transaction for a North Indian franchise
• Handpicked (1/25) by Partner to work in CFO’s office of a Western IPL team as the single EY resource for a potential ~50% stake sale
• Enabled EY to win India’s first mandate from YouTube’s $25M Innovation Fund by developing pitch for YouTube APAC leadership
- Qualified the opportunity to increase regional ad revenue by improving engagement with vernacular print publishers
TMT Practice – Digital Media, Entertainment & Sports
Commercial Due-Diligence of a ₹2000 Cr.+ equity value IPL franchise
• Led diligence in a 3-member team with a ‘go’ recommendation; assessed financial viability, sensitivity of P&L drivers and 15+ risks
- Established ~50% growth headroom in IPL’s viewership on TV & digital by evaluating penetration and broadcaster strategy
- Identified ~35% growth in ad revenue by assessing pricing uplift of ad inventory and trends in advertiser mix
Commercial Due-Diligence of a new theatrical technology for the US/Canada Market for a Joint Venture (JV)
• Advised no-go decision by culling ~40% of ~$180M projected topline - assessed scale of adoption by movie studios & screens
- Influenced client’s JV discussions by preparing customer ROI based alternate pricing models; suggested expansion in Asian markets
Growth Advisory for a corporate venture-backed OTT Video company
• Devised 6-month growth plans by leveraging content assets with a lower cost (~60%) of customer acquisition and faster scaling
- Drove 80% growth in monthly views (base 1.2M) with 3 partnerships in social media & utilities apps; scoped 250+ partners
• Restrained ₹48 Cr. potential cash burn by advising CXOs against building a user-generated content (UGC) product
- Identified growth barriers by market analysis and modeling user funnels; proposed alternate innovations in content & product
Healthcare Practice
Procurement transformation for a leading Eastern India-based healthcare group
• Reduced costs by ~25% on a cost base of ~₹25 Cr. and beat savings targets by 30% in consumables across 3 hospital units
- Drove 50+ vendor negotiations with client teams by price discovery of 450 formulations and supplier selection from ~100 RFQs
- Standardized spends of ₹30 Cr. by collaborating with CCO in a brand selection workshop; secured buy-in from 10+ clinicians
Firm Contribution (client development & knowledge base)
• Diagnosed incremental profit opportunities of ~₹30 Cr. for 2 API molecules for a pharma major; 1/4 workstreams awarded a project
• Enabled discussions with top media groups by co-developing digital solutions based on consumer interactivity & engagement
• Recognized as ‘Sports Lead’; assisted in rollout of 3 sports leagues and held industry knowledge sessions for Senior Managers
Startup Experience (part-time) – Qrius (VC-backed digital publication) | Vice-President Jul’15–Feb’17
First and fastest promotion to VP from Associate (1/20), worked directly with founder on multiple strategic projects
• Built and led 50+ member teams to drive 80% growth in content inflow - developed scalable processes to onboard 800+ contributors
• Developed a ‘leadership pool’ by reorganizing roles & hierarchies; initiated social & placement help committees for 200+ resources
EXTRA CURRICULAR & LEADERSHIP
L&D Lead, Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club, ISB Jun’19–Present
• Initiated P2P sessions on life in early stage startups, organized 6 speaker sessions across online dating, fintech and angel investing
Vice President & Founding member, Business Development & External Relations, AIESEC Varanasi Apr’14–Mar‘15
• Led a team of 15 to facilitate international exchanges worth ₹4 lacs for 32 students in Varanasi region
Student Organizer, Prastuti’15, Departmental fest of Electrical Engineering, IIT BHU Oct’14-Jan’15
• Led a team of 40 event coordinators to generate a footfall of 1500+ (25% increase) and doubled the sponsorship value (₹6 lacs)
Other Interests - Avidly follow and pursue side projects in technology-based products
• 1 productivity concept showcased in Top 10 in Makers Festival by Product Hunt; developed projects across 5 market segments