Designing an app that guides Indian students through career decisions

You are a product manager asked to design an app that gives career guidance to students in India. Choose which students and which decision you are designing for, identify what they need, propose and prioritize features for a first version, and explain how you would measure whether the app is helping. ```hint Map the whole decision For the students you choose, list who actually shapes the decision, such as parents, teachers, relatives and peers, and what information each of them is missing today. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Which students: those picking a stream after Class 10, those choosing a degree and entrance exams after Class 12, or graduates weighing a job against further study? - Is the core app free, and should it connect students with human counselors, possibly as a paid option? - Should it serve students in smaller towns and rural areas, in regional languages and on low-cost phones, or start with urban English-medium students? - What does success mean for the business: reach, revenue, or students making better-informed choices? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A chosen student segment and decision point, with the reason, and how parents and other influencers fit in - The student's decision journey and its pain points, grounded in how career choices are made in India and ranked - Features prioritized against explicit criteria, with a clear first version and what is deliberately left out - A distribution and business model that fits what students and families can and will pay - Success metrics that reflect the quality of decisions over time, with guardrails and the main risks ### Follow-up Questions - How would you find out, years later, whether the app's guidance led students to better outcomes? - How would you keep recommendations from being bent by colleges or coaching institutes that want to pay for placement? - What should the app do when a student's interests clash with what their parents expect?