Mukund Kulur Portfolio

muku. portfolio.

muku. portfolio. muku.

WHO AM I

Design with purpose.

Innovation that matters.

I’m obsessed with people and through past experiences I have acquired the skills to distill people's motivations, beliefs, and

behavior to build product & service propositions that delight customers, and create advantage in the market..

I champion human-centric approach and value-driven innovation at the strategic level to drive business growth.

Interested in future of things, I am eager to what new technologies and discourses will evolve.

muku.

WHAT I DO

My business is to navigate uncertainty and ambiguity creating impact through design and innovation.

With over 8+ years of experience in accelerating business growth through human centered design and value-driven innovation, I evangalise design and innovation at the strategic levels of an organization to help enterprises innovate better and faster.

I do this through a combination of agile, lean, and design methods derived from innovation management, lean startup methods, and open innovation practices.

For more information :

(see attached CV or LinkedIn profile) https://www.linkedin.com/in/mukundkulur/

Sr. INNOVATION MANAGER QGLUE

BUSINESS DESIGN STRATEGIST DMA Yellow Works (DY Works) INNOVATION MANAGER FORGE Accelerator STRATEGY & INNOVATION CONSULTANT Rohrbeck Heger Gmbh INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER (Remote) StepCharge FOUNDER, COO ThirdEye STRATEGY CONSULTANT Robit Plc PRODUCT DESIGNER Shelv Oy SERVICE STRATEGIST Wärtsilä ASSOCIATE ENGINEER Cameron Manufacturing DESIGN ENGINEER Cyient

muku.

WHAT I DID

A multi-disciplinary education focused on to creating and capture value.

I pursued studies that blended design, technology and business, with an emphasis on people and creating meaningful and sustainable value for them.

This journey from industrial design and engineering into strategic design and innovation management empowered me to blend and bring together different perspectives to help enterprises solve complex wicked business problems.

MSC. INT’L DESIGN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Aalto University 2013-17 CERTIFICATE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Summer of Startups, Startup Sauna 2015 INNOVATION MANAGEMENT European Innovation Academy 2015 B.E. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Anna University 2006-10

muku.

Publications • State of Innovation 2021 • Trends & Innovations 2021 • Experience Goals in Packaging Research • Packaging Value Cycle • Tools for Creating and Measuring the Value in Packaging • Desirability Testing

muku.

Innovation Report 2021

•

Project Lead

•

Managed a team of 6

•

Research Design

•

Analysis & Insights

•

Report Writing

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

A report on the State of Innovation in the Corporate India – captures the changing focuses and priorities for innovation within the Corporate India. A highly relevant study that captures the key areas of Innovation – the past, during the disruption, and post the disruption

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Trends Report 2021 A snapshot into trends & innovations curated during COVID-19.

This report explores 3 featured trends illustrated by 4-5 innovations and a round-up of 15 innovations from India.

•

Project Assistant

•

Analysis & Insights

•

Report Writing

•

Marketing & Publishing

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

They are spotted by the participants of the Trend-Driven Innovation Program, and top ones were compiled together with an introduction to our mega trends, our framework and methodology.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Experience Goals in Packaging Research

•

Research Assistant

•

Research Design

•

Analysis & Insights

•

Report Writing

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Consumer experiences are an increasingly important driving force for commerce, affecting also packaging design. Yet, experience design for packages is rarely studied. Specifically, there is a gap in research regarding the integration of experiential goals, Xgoals, into the packaging design process.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Packaging Value Cycle A Framework for Evaluating Packaging Investments

•

Project Advisor (team of 8)

•

Research Design

•

Analysis & Insights

•

Workshop Design & Facilitation

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The Packaging Value Cycle Framework aids companies in evaluating and making decisions on packaging investments. It can be applied in identifying new business opportunities and value chain members, evaluating returns on distinct packaging, and building well advised & informed packaging solutions for customers.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Tools for Creating and Measuring the Value in Packaging

•

Research Assistant

•

Research Design

•

Analysis & Insights

•

Report Writing

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The project was composed of five work modules providing a holistic perspective into value formation by applying theory and research methods from various fields of sciences. The aggregate knowledge of the multidisciplinary research team, in combination with international cooperation constituted a streamlined project with almost twenty case studies.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Desirability testing for packaging By taking a desirability driven approach, brands can develop packages that exceed consumer expectations, by catering to the needs across all the touchpoints covering the whole purchase journey.

•

Master thesis

•

Research Design

•

Framework Development

•

Analysis & Insights

•

Report Writing

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

I explore the desirability-driven design methodology to assess HoviRuoka’s ready-meal package, and to bring accountability to design elements.

Through this methodology I look to empower brands to accurately measure consumer desire and purchase decisions.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Projects • Bacardi

• SugarFree • Everyuth • NYKD by NYKKA

• Reconnect – Nokia & Aalto • Robit Oy • Wartsila • Future of Airport Services • Packaging ROI • Hovi Ruoka

muku.

Bacardi The brief was to design an Indian SIngle Malt for Bacardi Limited that celebrates the heritage of India using design thinking approach.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Apart from design research, strategy and project management, my role was to lead the design thinking process through design sprints, running experiments involving prototyping and user testing.

•

New Product Development

•

Design Thinking

•

Design Research

•

Design Sprints

•

User Testing

•

Packaging Design & Development

muku.

Project Logistics

Competition, Package & Flavour Study Single Malt from India

Retail Study

Consumer Research

Evolving Codes defining whisky and its consumption NEW CODES

OLD CODES

Celebrating Pop Culture

The drink for the elite, to be consumed in serious setting

Mumbai (expats)

London

Consumer preferences

Singapore

Common themes for Indian Single Malt - Heritage and traditions are strong narratives - Indian ingredients and distillery origin stories are highlighted - No age statement

A drink for the special moments

As a category traditional codes and being shed and newer codes that resonate with the younger audiences are adopted

Playful and fun,

Malts made for mixing

More approachable

muku.

Design Thinking Process

Concept Testing & User Testing Jharokha outperforms other concepts in the tests performed. It resonates with Indian identity and garners good interest among participants.

FEEDBACK

First impressions → good for gifting

Truly Indian, ties back to India.

Triggers interest and curiosity about India

Colourful, rich/exotic, elaborate, handcrafted

Concept Story

Visual Appeal

3.8

3.5

muku.

Design & Development Process

Final Design JHAROKHA Celebrates the maharaja (royalty) Golden Era of India It welcomes the world to experience the mystical India

It offers experiences associated with food, design, décor, hospitality, spices, flowers, Poetry, theater, essentially brining alive India via sensorial experiences as well as Old world charm and Indian hospitality “Slow whisky over rich conversations”

Sensory Testing & Results

muku.

SugarFree Brief was to embed codes of gifting for the ecommerce distribution of their new line of SugarFree chocolates.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Functioned in the capacity to demystify the codes of gifting, semiotics of chocolate and gifting, and also worked as the design project manager to coordinate with the clients to take concepts from models to prototyping and to production.

•

Design Research

•

Ecommerce Flow

•

Project Management

•

Packaging Design & Development

muku.

muku.

1

2 3

4

muku.

Final Concept

muku.

EverYuth To rejuvenate the brand and reflect it in its new line of natural products focused on millennial young women and girls.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Functioned as design researcher to decode the meaning of naturals among TG, and work with the designers and clients to take concepts from conception to delivery.

•

Design Research

•

Package Decoding

•

Semiotics

•

Packaging Design & Development

muku.

Competitors & Positioning

Package structure decode

Opportunit y lies here

Messaging Hierarchy

muku.

Brand Decoding

muku.

Semiotics study

Survey – What represents Natural?

muku.

muku.

Design Directions

muku.

Nykd by Nykka The brief involved creating a new brand and manifest the brand and its essence across its packaging for retail and ecommerce, and their website.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

While I was not involved in the brand definition, I was involved in creating the packaging, and the web app. I lea the team from the initial conception to its manifestation and taking it for production.

•

Web app service

•

Ecommerce Straegy

•

Packaging Design & Development

muku.

Kinetic Metamorphosis

A change from one state of being to another. The ability to move forward exponentially, without giving up on who we are today. It takes the best of the past, adds to it all the necessary ingredients and makes it relevant to today and ready for the future

muku.

NYKD – immersive Experience

PRE PURCHASE

PURCHASE

POST PURCHASE

PRE USE

USE

POST USE

muku.

Transformative, immersive, sustainable as they also serve as brand and user manual

Each piece of lingerie is fluid → evolves to allow experiencing each moment fully Customizable elements of bras Front/back

Customizable straps

Convertible fabric patches: sporty-> all day-> sensual

Recycling & Upcycling

Create product range made from recycled bras

Locking mechanism Front / Back

Sustainable Materials

PRE PURCHASE

PURCHASE

Measurement tools

POST PURCHASE

PRE USE

USE

POST USE

Material Fabrics

Social media campaigns - #RealMoments Home Delivery

Traditional & Slower

Fit kit box

Addon samples

muku.

Pickup at stores / Returns For faster & easier Delivery

Retail Packaging

muku.

Ecommerce Packaging

REGULAR

LUXE

muku.

Website Template

muku.

Reconnect

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The project was focused on improving the partnership and collaboration between PublicPrivate organisations (Nokia & Aalto) and provide recommendations across5 different verticals -education, employment, research, innovation, and branding.

•

Open Innovation

•

Strategic Design

•

Organisational Culture

•

Research & Interviews

•

Workshops

muku.

Talking to various experts and executives in both organisation we were able to decode the strategic objectives of both organisations and identify mutually beneficial areas for growth and collaboration.

muku.

Supported by executives and managers from all levels of the organisations (Aalto and Nokia), the final recommendations were focused on five areas of collaboration activities. The solutions were to be implemented over a period of 3 months with various departments across both organisations collaborating to execute the vision.

muku.

Robit

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Enhancing the brand’s service experience by decoding the expectation of customers and mapping them with the service process, and then redesigning the business offerings for ensuring customer retention and loyalty.

•

Design Thinking

•

Branding

•

Innovation Management

•

Service Design

•

Experience Design

muku.

OBJECTIVES 1. DISTILL BRAND ESSENCE There’ is a need to develop a clear, unified brand message.

2. DESIGN BRAND STRATEGY Strategize ways to communicate a cohesive brand message via tangible examples.

muku.

Desired values

Based on Interviews with 23 personnel, 13 thematic areas were identified.

Existing values

muku.

A workshop with the key stakeholders was organised to evaluate their brand value and develop right brand strategies that covered their sales and service lifecycle

muku.

muku.

Brand Core Values

muku.

Wartsila Decode the existing service journey and key issues in the existing marine service businesses.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Building scenarios on how the future of marines services look like, and develop a transformation roadmap to help the organization realise that future.

•

Design Thinking

•

Futures Thinking

•

Trend-Driven Innovation

•

Innovation Management

muku.

… to map trends and technology developments into service scenarios and strong business cases, …

Role playing and user research to identify possible pain points and gain creators …

Trend Mapping

Idea Cards

muku.

Engaging with ethnographic and design research to decode the customer needs and their key problems across the whole service process and their journey.

FLEET MANAGER

ACCOUNT MANAGER

ENGINEERING SUPERVISOR

CUSTOMER

ENGINEER

muku.

Current Technology

Service Scenario for each time

Problem identification

Technology in 5 years

Quotation planning

Preparation

Technology in 10 years

period

Through workshops and prototypes visualise the future scenarios and validate it with users.

Handover Meeting

Onsite work

Digitalization roadmaps for each phase, over 10 year period

Service Operations

Reporting & Invoicing

muku.

Scenarios presented in storyboards to compare and layout the transformation roadmap for the company to compare, contrast and strategise across the lifecycle and across different scenarios.

muku.

Future of Airport Services Research into the customer and service experience of Finavia’s airport.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

With support from Finnair and Finavia (Helsinki airport) this project was carried out to cover the whole service experience within the airport. Using service design tools and integrating the trending technologies, the final concept was presented.

•

Ethnography

•

Customer Research

•

User Testing

•

User Interviews

•

Journey Mapping

•

Service Blueprints

muku.

The whole customer boarding experience is built upon internal communication, utilisation of spaces and communication with the customers.

Service blueprint and system map were used to decode the service operation, while the customer journey map helps provide actual feedback on the whole service experience.

muku.

Decoding the journey, the touchpoints and the key experience points across the whole airport and travel journey.

muku.

The different touchpoints that impact the boarding process at the airport.

Together these define the value proposition for the airport and the experience provided to the customer.

Breaking down the service into key touchpoints and the various data and its management based on which the final concept was built upon.

muku.

Packaging ROI

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Helping PTR to create a framework to assess the viability of a packaging concept early in the development process and evaluating the investments required and ROI to increase the value created and delivered by the package.

•

Strategic Design

•

Stakeholder research

•

Tools & Framework Design

•

Workshops & Facilitation

•

User Testing

muku.

From the standard packaging process and the stakeholders, through iterations and literature research, a value network defining the goals of different participants was built. Integrating the result with the innovation framework and taking a cyclic approach, we obtained our initial framework.

A workshop bringing key stakeholders of packaging was organised to validate the framework concept and determine the key values, attributes and benefits used to measure the package.

muku.

muku.

Based on initial research and workshop, the second version was refined and taken for testing with the larger team of stakeholders.

This was a full fledged framework that captures all the KPI’s for a package success and used for assessing the returns and investments.

muku.

Hovi Ruoka A project to design an experiential package for Hovi Ruoka’s new line of ready-to-eat meals. The objective was to create an innovative packaging that is fresh, sustainable and conveys the key values of the brand.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

My master thesis was a continuation of this project.

•

Design Thinker

•

Strategist

•

Project Manager

•

Prototyping

•

Feasibility & Production Coordinator

muku.

Old Package

The brand and the packaging process

Decoding the Shelves - The visibility of products - - the colours present & absent - Materials & shades used.

muku.

New package

Values designed for

User Testing

muku.

The Package Value Toolkit was used to assess the values communicated by the package.

This test was used to identify the intrinsic values of the package and the messages communicated to the consumer, and was contrasted with their direct competitor products.

muku.

The eye tracking was done at thress stages to identify the consumer purchase behaviour.

1)

In a controlled digital environment where the shopper was shown a variety of products and their eye movements were captures.

2) A comparison between the older and newer packaging was done, and the journey of eye movements were mapped.

3) In a real super market, shoppers were asked to were special glasses equipped with eye tracking, and told to shop for the ready-meal products.

muku.

Understanding the consumer shopping behaviour and decoding their purchase decisions and how they determine the desirability of a product across the various touchpoints in the consumer journey.

Linking the the consumer decision process with the product lifecycle to identify metrics and evaluation criteria…

muku.

breaking down the consumer decisions process to specific measurable elements

muku.

Design Research • Ingredient Brand Innovation • Future of Packaging • Ethnic Wear

• Retail Decode • Oral hygiene • Mens grooming

• ThirdEye • Invalidilitto • Industrial IoT

• Viable Cities • Chez Marius

muku.

Ingredient Brand Innovation The brief was to help conglomerates create successful ingredient brands. In this case help Aditya Birla repeat the success of Liva across all their verticals, by capturing learnings and recreating it for each vertical.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

My role was to decode the ingredient brand innovation process and help devise a mechanism for monitoring, educating and training employees in managing innovation through a value innovation management system

•

Value Innovation

•

Innovation Management

•

Systems Thinking

•

Mockup

muku.

muku.

muku.

muku.

Prototyping a digital innovation management platform

muku.

Future of Packaging An exploration to understand emerging trends and create a strategic framework for guiding clients to assess and position their packaging at a strategic level.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic research and building the framework based on industry insights, bringing all the research together and visualising it into a framework that is communicable and can be intergrated into a workflow for clients and designers.

•

Strategic Design

•

Tools & Methodology design

•

Research

muku.

Decoding the role of packaging for consumers and businesses

muku.

https://issuu.com/nosywiz/docs/future_of_packaging_-_final • Origin Story • Transparency • Localisation • Safety • Environmental Friendly

• Functional • Smart & Active • Aesthetic

• Low-touch offline • Omni-channel • E-commerce & Delivery

Creating Value • Lifecycle • Touchpoints • Packaging Metrics & KPIs

• Brand Essence • Material DNA

muku.

Strategic Focus

Tools & Methods across the Packaging Lifecycle

muku.

Design DNA

muku.

Ethnic Wear A consumer study on how ethnic wear is evolving as a category. In recent years affordable ethnic design wear has emerged as a category and we wanted to study and understand it, a number of ethnic brands are being launched.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Looking into the category, the competition, emerging lifestyle brands, semiotics and consumer preferences.

•

Category Research

•

Market study

•

Semiotics

•

Cultural Study

•

Consumer Research

muku.

Category scan

Emerging modern, and affordable designer brands

muku.

Evolving Codes on ethinic wear

muku.

muku.

Retail Decode

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Decoming the retail navigation and journeys through secondary and first hand research. Identify and assess the impact and implications of Covid-19 on the retail shopping behaviour.

•

Wayfinding

•

Customer Journey Mapping

•

Secondary Research

•

Market Scan

•

Trend Mapping

muku.

Retail Touchpoints

In Branded Stores

In Multi-Brand Stores

muku.

Emergence of digital shopping assitants to guide and aid you in your shopping process

muku.

muku.

muku.

Emerging consumer discourses and tensions

muku.

Oral Hygiene A research study focused on evolving oral hygiene landscape in India.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Semiotic study on oral hygiene, that started on decoding toothbrushes, which later expanded to cover the oral hygiene landscape.

•

Design Research

muku.

Oral Care products are designed to enhance the efficiency of cleaning

Oral Care products are evolving to go beyond cleaning and convenience to become lifestyle choices

muku.

muku.

Mens Grooming Men’s grooming has seen a surge in the recent years, and there are numerous brands now catering to this sector

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

A quick study on the background intentions and motivations behind the rise of men’s grooming products.

•

Category study

•

Semiotics

•

Consumer Research

muku.

Stores having dedicated to meet male grooming needs

Online Retailers Join the Battle

Pop-Up Store aimed to Capture Male Customers

Grooming Experience at a Retail Outlet

muku.

muku.

muku.

Men were focused on being assertive, hegemonic, and dominate, following codes of patriarchy.

muku.

Men are focused on being approachable, romantic, groomed, confident, pampered.

muku.

Men are aiming to define themselves through their lifestyle, activities, relationships.

More fluid and non-conforming behaviour.

muku.

Changing interests as seen in the content being consumed Past

Now

muku.

Aspirations to be seen as a well groomed, upper-class, modern man.

Smart, sophisticated, well puttogether

Grooming process

Why grooming is important?

Grooming gives you more confidence. You put on that constume and you start believing you are more invincible.

The world is now different, when it comes to men taking care of themselves. I think more men are spending a lot of time looking in the mirror than women do.

I spend time on my appearance because it helps me attract others. As simple as that.

It is a form of politeness to look good when meeting friends, especially if women are among them.

Its therapeutic, Shaving with a razor after a hot shower at the end of the day is a great feeling

Pampered, preened and polished

I was taught that “dressing well and giving a good impression is very important”. That’s kind of stuck with me. I think if you dress sharp, you perform better.

muku.

Third Eye I founded a startup with my friends and focused on developing smart tablet devices for the visuallyimpairted. In the smart world, visually impaired people suffer greatly to engage with their peers in work or schools to access digital content. They face problemds due to existing solutions being hacks, expensive and not focusing on solving existing issues.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Outcome: We built product prototypes to decode user insights and test ideas with prototypes (digital and physical).

•

Product Management

•

User Testing

•

Consumer study

muku.

Invalidiitto Invalidiitto is the Finnish association for the disabled people. The members make use of assisting dogs in their daily lives. They approached us to decode the needs and requirements for the disabled members of the society.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Outcome: Identify the different needs and issues faced by the members of Invalidiliitto, and provide concepts for helping them live and move better.

•

Consumer study

•

Ethonography

•

Concept development

muku.

Industrial IoT Benchmark cutting edge solutions in Industrial IoT solutions, and identify, analyse and assess the potential of various technologies for client’s needs.

•

Industrial IoT

•

Trends Mapping

•

Startup Scouting

•

Framework Model

•

Process Design

•

Evaluation Framework

•

Dashboard and automation

600 items of interest 300+ respondents RECOMMENDED ACTION

MARKET MATURITY

(images for reference)

V.HIGH

HIGH

MID

LOW

MATURITY

SPEEDUP

MAXIMISE

DIVEST

RETHINK

INDUSTRY POTENTIAL

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Overall objective is to bring together the various insights to develop a cutting edge new Industrial IoT Solution.

17 Sectors,

IMPORTANCE

Build a framework model for Smart factory to understand the interrelations between the various systems, functions, verticals and levels.

CLIENT MATURITY

muku.

Viable Cities Open innovation to capture ideas, innovations, research activities across industry, academia, and individual research that lie within the scope of smart cities.

Conducted 3 workshops bringing together stakeholders from across 5 domains. Overall we captured more than 300 responses that covered different types of innovations across different SDG.

SCOUT

PROFILE Detailed documentation for assessment

GOVERN Evaluate the innovations along predefined criteria.

ASSESS

Oversee and direct the innovation activities within the organisation

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Identify innovations that are attractive to the organisation.

•

Build a framework for discovery, profiling, assessing and governing innovations.

muku.

Chez Marius Chez Marius is a popular retail and online store for kitchen tools and equipments. They approached us to improve their instore and online store experience .

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Through research methods and ethnographic studies we decoded the customer preferences and behaviour within the store and provided recommendations for improving the store navigation.

•

Ethnography

•

Customer Research

•

User Testing

•

User Interviews

•

Customer Journeys

•

Omni Channel Service Blueprints

•

Shopping Behaviour

muku.

muku.

Target Consumers, their motivations, preferred shopping mediums

Typical paths taken by consumers to navigate the store

Store Assistant Consumer

muku.

muku.

Results and data analysed based on the consumer study done.

muku.

Programs QGLUE •

IDEAS 2021

•

byDesign

•

Design-led Entrepreneurship Awards 2021

•

Playbook for Startups & Corporates

•

Design & Innovation Programs

Forge Accelerator •

iTOOLS & iSTUDIO

•

Sandbox

•

iDEX

•

Protosem

•

STARTegies

muku.

IDEAS 2021

There was a high registration count of 1200+ for the 2 half-day programme.

•

Strategic Coordinator

•

Scheduler & Agenda Creator

•

Outreach & Partnership Manager

•

Community Manager

We brought together 32 esteemed speakers and 18 partners for this event.

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

This is a flagship initiative by TiE Delhi-NCR and QGLUE (Strategic Design and Innovation firm of QAI) to incite, inform and inspire design and innovation-driven entrepreneurship within the country. The 2 half day virtual summit brought together organizations, experts, speakers, and leaders from across the country to facilitate discussions and to collaborate on design, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Community Engagement Programmes (IDEAS 2021) Creating the byDesign programme to complement the IDEAS 2021 and Design-led Entrepreneurship Awards 2021 – in promoting design and innovation in entrepren

•

Program design

•

Topic and agenda scheduler

•

Facilitator

From initial response of 120 participants at the start, to over 900+ participants for the closure.

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Conceptualising new modes, and mediums of engagement with the community and devising new partnerships through this activity.

Strategy, concept, design, marketing led by myself.

muku.

Design-led Entrepreneurship Awards 2021

•

Program Coordinator

•

Jury & Event Facilitator

•

Organiser

•

Outreach & Partner Coordinator

Application across 18 different sectors, where founders uniquely apply and leverage design for their strategic growth.

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

This is a flagship initiative by TiE Delhi-NCR and QGLUE (Strategic Design and Innovation firm of QAI) to incite, inform and inspire design and innovation-driven entrepreneurship within the country. The 2 half day virtual summit brings together organizations, experts, speakers, and leaders from across the country to facilitate discussions and to collaborate on design, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

50% increased applications for the awards compared to previous years

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Playbook for startups Design thinking is not just about thinking and building. It about building to think by pursuing a human-centered design to rapidly create and deliver value.

•

Research

•

Benchmarking

•

Report Design

•

Strategy & Framework

•

Process Design

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

These tools are provided to guide you in taking up a design-driven approach to your startup journey.

You need to use these tools increase the possibilities of your startup success.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Playbook for Corporates A playbook for corporate executives to find creative solutions to tough business challenges by using customercentric approach and multidisciplinary skills.

•

Research

•

Benchmarking

•

Report Design

•

Strategy & Framework

•

Process Design

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Benchmarked tools and methods used in the innovation practices and focused on making it an engaging and self-sufficient manual, I put together this playbook.

LINK TO DOCUMENT

muku.

Design & Innovation Programs End to end program management for existing programs and to identify new programs that address corporate needs.

LINK TO WEBSITE

List of Programs I managed: • Certificate Programme for Design Thinking • Trend Driven Innovaiton

•

Programme Manager

•

Marketing

•

Content Strategist

•

Report Design

•

Workshop Facilitation

•

Partnership Manager

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design Fiction

LINK TO WEBSITE

LINK TO WEBSITE

muku.

QGLUE Website design

Empower Innovation Workforce - QGLUE (q-glue.com)

Created a new layout format to engage website visitors and to server as the nexus for all digital activities.

Get certified in Trend-Driven Innovation. Become a trendspotter! (q-glue.com)

Enable Enterprise Innovation - Design Thinking Training India (q-glue.com)

Design Fiction - QGLUE (q-glue.com)

List of items: • QGLUE main website • QGLUE Category offerings

•

Architecture

•

Wireframes

•

Mockups & design layouts

•

Developer Coordinator

CLIENT

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Programme pages

muku.

As the Innovation Manager, my role was to manage and enable repeatable and scalable innovation outcomes within the accelerator by creating and managing Forge’s internal and external innovation activities..

Apart from this I mentored the incubated startups, managed the FMPI program, and facilitating thought leadership

muku.

iTOOLS & iSTUDIO iTOOLs – Innovation Toolkit A compendium of tools to help problem solvers to go from problems to prototypes.

iSTUDIO – Innovation Studio

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Set of tools to help go from prototype to setting up an enterprise.

•

Tools & Framework Design

•

Process Design

•

Innovation Management

•

Mentoring & Training

muku.

Problem validation & customer discovery canvas

MUP (Minimum Usable Product) Challenge Brief

Helps founders and problem solvers understand the problem at a deeper level and identify the scope of the problem based on which they can identify the potential of the opportunity.

Helps the team to collate insights together to identify the problem, the opportunity, and what goes into making a usable product that can be rapidly validated with customers.

Value Proposition Activity Guide Helps the team to decode the Strategyzer’s value proposition canvas and dig deeper into specific customer jobs, their pains, and gains to be created.

muku.

A pitch canvas that acts as a guide for budding entrepreneurships to draft their own attractive and appealing pitch decks.

This additional canvase helps teams devise an elevator pitch that can be tested with the target audience and assess the desirability and viability of the proposition.

muku.

Product Innovation Rubric Helps teams assess their progress in their innovation journey and identify potential pitfalls or gaps to overcome.

Its purpose is to bring gaps to the forefront and help founders track their growth.

Product Innovation Hypothesis Helps teams define and run their experiments across the 5 defined areas of enquiries that are essential to an product innovation.

Product Innovation Canvas Innovation brief helps the founder build a case around this innovation and that identifies the key elements that define the potential of the innovation.

Helps teams define the requires for the product innovation and what metrics and unique advantages it would have to become a successful product.

muku.

Sandbox A compendium of Open Innovation challenges to connect those experiencing problems with problem solvers.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The Sandbox challenge statements covered 12 sectors, and accessible to all.

•

Product Manager

•

Partnership Manager

•

Marketing

muku.

iDEX 2019 FORGE4Fauj is the allencompassing mission from Forge Accelerator to activate & accelerate innovative tech enterprises in Aerospace & Defence.

Forge partners with iDEX Department of Defence Production, MoD to promote startup ecosystem in Defence.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The first step is the initiation of DISC (Defence India Startup Challenge)

•

Program Manager

•

Startup Engagement

•

Outreach & Marketing

•

Challenge Curation

•

Event Organiser

muku.

ProtoSem An academic Innovation Program focused on empowering aspiring students with innovation management skills and equipping them employability, entrepreneurship, and excellence.

A 6-month long program that

•

Program Manager

•

Design Thinking Mentoring

•

User & Design Research

•

Idea validation

•

iTOOLS Training

muku.

Partner Organisations

muku.

Design Thinking Program

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Conducted workshops and mentored startups and innovators in Design Thinking, Agile Processes and Lean startup methods as part of the Smart India Hackathon 2019 and Bosch Corporate Acceleration Program in Forge Accelerator.

•

Design Thinking Workshops

•

Facilitator

•

Mentoring

muku.

STARTegies

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

STARTegies is a 6-month managed incubation program for startup founders to rapidly go from problem identification to validated prototypes, building products that are desirable and proven in the market, and finally scale their business model

•

Concept

•

Strategic Design

•

Program Manager

•

Facilitator

muku.

muku.

muku.

muku.

Startups • GloveiT • Mentoralley • StepCharge • Shelv • iSpine

muku.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Helping the startup to validate their ideas rapidly and go from idea to prototypes and then run experiments to test their hypothesis.

•

Startup Mentoring

•

Product Management

•

Consumer Research

•

Experiment Design

•

Strategy

•

Prototyping & Testing

muku.

Problem Definition

Gap Analysis

Concept Exploration

Concept Development

Paper Prototyping

Proof of Concept (Phase I)

Proof of Concept (Phase II)

Prototype

Pilot Testing

Market Launch

Proof-of-Concept

muku.

muku.

MENTORALLEY

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Helping a startup conduct experiments and research the market opportunity for a global mentoring service that brings in many international mentors.

•

Product Management

•

Marketing

•

Consumer Research

•

Strategy

muku.

Stepcharge

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Helping the startup research, assess, and design solutions for energy production through insoles and heels.

•

Research

•

Concept Development

•

Design

•

Production Support

muku.

SHELV Shelv is a app focused on digital reselling of books and literary works in the used product segment.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

My role was to create a desirable product that is experiential and engages the users.

•

User Researach

•

Wireframing

•

Prototyping

•

User Testing

•

Design

•

Marketing Content

muku.

Mentoring the women empowerment startup in their early stage activities. Their product dispenses sanitary napkins and uses intelligent and mobile technologies to track the inventory.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Their product is installed across 15 schools and public institutions in and around Coimbatore.

•

Startup Mentoring

•

Product Management

•

Consumer Research

•

Experiment Design

•

Strategy

•

Prototyping & Testing

muku.

Hobbies & Other interests • Photography • Sketching and Illustration • Business Comic Strips

muku.

I enjoy capturing candid moments from people’s lives to eternity, as I believe that each person has a story to tell and each moment reveals a small part of that story.

muku.

Sketching, (apart from reading) is my go to activity for relaxation, and I enjoy the aspect of recreating visuals from imagingation to pencil.

I prefer BW over colour as there is something intrinsically appealing and mysterious about the classic monochrome.

muku.

Humour has always been a medium for inciting ideas and change among society, and I look to dabble in that with my newest activity.

I look to communicate serious messages through humour as it increase appeal and is thought provoking.

Here I look to combine doodling, humour to convey deep insights on real issues / tensions / conflicts in the field of design, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

To see more, follow my social media handles (see closing page) muku.

Thanks for viewing my work You can reach me at :

Mukundhan Kulur +91 9566724681 Mukund.Kulur@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/mukundkulur

muku.