Boardroom Battles 2.0 - IIT Dharwad Exclusive

Boardroom Battles 2.0

We are back with the much-awaited second edition of Boardroom Battles—the ultimate strategy competition. Curious about what goes inside all those boardrooms in real life? Ever wondered what happens inside the boardroom when headlines read, "CEO fired"? To get a taste of a real boardroom experience, sign up for Boardroom Battles 2.0, where real-life decision-making skills matter, ambition meets integrity, and your soft skills are put to the test.

Participants will study real corporate decisions, build a long-term vision, and defend it before a board. It rewards strategic thinking, sound judgement, and the ability to make difficult decisions under uncertainty.

Rounds

Round 1 — Written Strategy Document

• This is the qualifying round.
• All registered teams submit a written strategy document (not a slide deck).
• Writing forces clarity in a way that slides do not. The best submissions read like board memos: structured, declarative, and comfortable sitting with hard tradeoffs rather than dissolving them.
• All submissions must be made through the Unstop portal.
• Submissions are evaluated online by the judging panel.
• Top teams advance to Round 2.

Format

• Strategy document (PDF only — no slide decks)
• Length: 4–6 pages (hard cap — pages beyond this will not be evaluated)
• File Naming: TeamName_BoardroomBattles.pdf
• Registration & Submission Deadline: 16th August 2026 (EOD)
• Submission: Unstop portal

Round 2 — Pitch and Rapid Fire

• The strongest teams from Round 1 advance to Round 2, held offline at E-Summit'26, IIT Dharwad.
• Shortlisted teams present and defend their strategy in a 6-minute pitch followed by a 5-minute rapid-fire Q&A to a board of judges.
• Team prizes are determined based on Round 2. Participants from the top-performing teams will then compete individually in Round 3 for special individual awards (number of teams selected may vary depending on team sizes).

Format

• Live pitch
• Duration: 6 minutes pitch + 5 minutes rapid-fire Q&A per team. The judges are not passive. They may challenge assumptions mid-presentation, demand numbers, and press on anything.

- Voting System: After each presentation, all other shortlisted teams (excluding the presenting team) cast a confidential vote indicating whether they would approve the proposed strategy as members of the company's Board of Directors. Judges cast their votes independently using the same criterion.

Bonus: +2.5 points if your vote matches the judges' majority; −0.5 points otherwise.

• Prizes: Top 3 teams (as specified in the prize pool).
• Advancement: Members of selected top-performing teams qualify for the live boardroom simulation. This will be an individual assessment and will not involve any team activity.

Round 3 — Live Boardroom Simulation

• The top teams (numbers may vary, depending on team sizes) then enter something different entirely. A live boardroom simulation.
• Each participant is assigned a role and receives a scenario an hour before the simulation begins: defending a position, fielding challenges, and making decisions in real time.
• Participants engage in a 15-minute boardroom discussion while the judging panel observes.
• At an unannounced point during the simulation, the panel may reassign roles or ask participants to defend the opposing position.

Individual Awards

• Best Persuader — most compelling case made under direct challenge
• Best Strategist — deepest strategic reasoning and cross-case logic on the live scenario
• Best Role Performance — most convincing inhabitation of an assigned boardroom role

Specifics of Round 2 and Round 3 will be shared to selected teams via email.

Guidelines & Rules

Eligibility

• Open to all IIT Dharwad students.
• Team size: 1–2 members.
• Each participant may register in only one team.

Submission

• Round 1: 4–6 pages, PDF, submitted via Unstop before 16th August 2026 (EOD).
• Font, margins, and formatting are left to the team's discretion. Readability matters.
• Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances.
• File naming convention must be followed: TeamName_BoardroomBattles.pdf.

Academic Integrity

• All work must be original and produced by the registered team.
• Plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.
• Teams remain fully responsible for every strategic recommendation submitted. Judges may question participants on any aspect of their submission.
• Judges' decisions are final.