KE1036 March 26, 2018 MOHANB IR SAWHNEY AND PALLAV I GOODMAN VMock: Pivoting to Succeed and Scale in a Technology Startup Company In January 2017, Salil and Kiran Pande were weighing the strategic options facing their company, VMock. Salil had launched VMock in 2010 as an online platform to help job seekers about to graduate from business schools prepare for interviews. In 2014, his wife, Kiran, quit her consulting job and joined Salil to lead the product development efort for VMock. Salil and Kiran moved their family to India to get a frmer grip on product development and to build out the development team. Te move to India resulted in a product pivot, from a product that provided interview feedback to a “Smart Resume” product that provided business school students instant feedback on their resumes. Te resume product evolved further with the company’s launch of the Smart Career platform, driven by machine learning and artifcial intelligence technology. Te pivot had been well received by the market and VMock had signed on an impressive list of business school clients from the United States and Europe. But VMock had reached another crossroads as it sought to scale its business. Salil knew in his bones that VMock was at an infection point. It was time to “go big or go home.” VMock could be a reasonably successful business if it simply doubled down on its current model of selling to educational institutions. But could they scale the business faster by selling directly to consumers or by partnering with larger platform companies? Salil and Kiran were also aware that college career centers had limited budgets, so they wondered if they should create a solution for employers that would mean an additional revenue stream for VMock. Tese decisions would set the stage for the next phase in the growth and evolution of VMock. ©2018 by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Tis case was prepared by Professor Mohanbir Sawhney and Pallavi Goodman. Cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of efective or inefective management. Some details may have been fctionalized for pedagogical purposes. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 800-545-7685 (or 617-783-7600 outside the United States or Canada) or e-mail
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