Balkrishna Attal Product Head, Cracku
Learners don't need more features. They need to know what to do next.
I lead product for exam preparation, and I use my own time to build small tools, write down hypotheses and test my thinking in public. This site is where all of it lives.
Winner, best startup pitch, Government of Rajasthan
Good evening
Browse everything elseWhere to start
Five places, each with a different job. Pick the one that matches why you came.
Latest research
I study companies I admire, then write the product requirements document I would bring to their team.
Products
Products
Small tools I built to think through problems I keep running into. Each one works, so open it and try it. They are sorted by the job they do, from choosing what to build to how memory works.
Research
Research
I pick a company I admire, work out why it works, find where it could be better and write the PRD I would bring to the team. Each analysis is a slide deck you can step through and share.
- Read the recordFilings, results and credible reporting.
- Map the loopWhat compounds, and what would stall it.
- Trace the journeyWhere a user feels friction, step by step.
- Place the betsImpact against effort, scored honestly.
- Write the PRDProblem, hypothesis, requirements and risks.
- Design the testMetrics, guardrails and a decision rule.
How to read these. Created by Balkrishna Attal from public research. They are outside-in analyses: I have no inside data and I have not worked with any of these companies. Numbers come from public reports and each deck lists its sources. Some data may be incomplete or incorrect, although I have tried my best to get it right. The feature ideas and their targets are my hypotheses, not facts.
Company analyses
Seventeen slides each: numbers, the business loop, the user journey, opportunity map, two full PRDs, a roadmap and sources.
Feature bets
Every PRD from the decks in one list. Each one names the metric that would prove it right.
Learn
Learn product management
A directory of the terms, methods and frameworks that come up again and again in product work, written in plain language with an everyday analogy and a real example. Tap any card to flip it.
Written by Balkrishna Attal as a working reference, not a textbook. If a definition could be clearer or an example is off, tell me and I will fix it.
Theory is not the same as execution
Knowing what RICE stands for and actually deciding what to build next are two different skills. These walkthroughs put you inside one invented app, called Nudge, and take you through a real product problem, one honest step at a time: what a PM would ask, what they'd write, and what they'd do next. Try each step yourself before reading how I'd approach it.
Nudge is a hypothetical learning app, built for these walkthroughs. The conversations, numbers and decisions are invented to be realistic, not reported from a real company.
Thinking
Thinking
Half-finished ideas, tested in the open. Hypotheses I am willing to be wrong about, the loop I follow, how I break a metric apart, a few teardowns and short notes.
Hypotheses on my board
Beliefs I hold about how people learn and use learning products. Each one says how I would test it and what would prove me wrong.
Confidence is my belief before any test. None of these are proven, and I'm happy to be wrong about all of them.
My product loop
The steps I follow between noticing a problem and deciding what to do about it. Pick a step to see what I produce there and what I watch out for.
How I'd measure a learning product
A metrics tree for an exam-prep product. The top number is what I want to move. Each branch below it is something a team can own.
Activation
First practice set finished within 24 hours of signupLeading
Goal and exam date set during onboardingLeading
Habit
Practice sessions per learner per weekLeading
Days active out of sevenLeading
Depth
Accuracy trend on repeated topicsLeading
Share of wrong answers reviewedLeading
Retention
Return on day 7 and day 30Lagging
Weeks until a first lapseLagging
Revenue
Trial to paid conversionLagging
Renewal at the end of a planLagging
Retention is a shape
Day 1 tells me about onboarding. Day 7 tells me whether a habit formed. Day 30 tells me whether the product delivered value. I read all three together, not one average.
Averages hide cohorts
A flat overall number can hide one group that is thriving and one that is leaving. I split learners by what they did in week one before drawing conclusions.
Spacing is a product feature
When revision timing changes recall this much, the schedule belongs in the product, not in a study tip. Try the recall lab.
Teardowns
Three learning products I admire, read from the outside. I have no inside data, so these are opinions, and I'd like to be corrected where I'm wrong.
Notes
Short notes on product thinking. I write them to work out what I believe, not to keep a posting schedule.
About
Hello, I am Balkrishna
A civil engineer who moved into product.
I build learning products for competitive-exam aspirants. In my spare time, I build small tools, test ideas, write product hypotheses, and dissect companies I admire. This site is my space to share what I'm building, what I'm learning, and what I'm curious about.
- Role
- Product Head, Cracku
- Based in
- Hyderabad
- Background
- Civil engineering
Building for learnersI'm Balkrishna, a civil engineer who found his way into product.
I spent my first two years on construction sites, planning schedules, tracking budgets, and coordinating teams. It taught me to value clear specifications, realistic estimates, and plans that actually work in the real world.
I've now spent 3+ years building learning products for competitive-exam aspirants, working across product strategy, experimentation, and execution.
My interest in building started even earlier. In college, I was part of the startup cell and worked on a small venture of my own.
Today, I'm interested in products, technology, education, and entrepreneurship. This site is where I share what I'm building, learning, and exploring.
- Coordinator, startup cell, MBM Engineering College
- Strategy & Leadership
- Product vision and strategy, roadmapping, go-to-market, P&L ownership, cross-functional leadership across engineering, design, marketing and content
- Growth & Data
- Growth strategy, product analytics, experimentation and A/B testing, retention and monetisation, SQL (basic)
- Craft & Tools
- User research, agile delivery, stakeholder and vendor management, hiring, Jira, Figma, Notion
- On my mind
- How a home screen picks the right next task, whether small groups keep learners accountable, and how to build revision spacing into a product
B.E. in Civil Engineering, Jodhpur
MBM Engineering College. Startup cell coordinator, pitch competition winner and founder of a small startup.
Project Engineer, Jaipur
Lahoty Buildcon. Work plans, schedules, documentation and budget tracking, in direct contact with a state government department.
Product Manager, Cracku
MBA and OMET exam prep. Owned courses, mock tests, analytics and learning experiences from discovery to launch. Worked with the founders on user experience and monetization.
Product Head, Cracku
MBA and OMET exam prep. Lead product, engineering, design, marketing and content. Built a feedback and resolution system for recurring student issues and lead engagement strategy.
How I work
Five habits that shape every product decision I make.
Start from the learner's next step
Before adding anything, I ask what the learner should do in the next five minutes and whether the screen makes that obvious.
Write the bet down first
Every idea gets a hypothesis, a metric and a number I can miss. It keeps arguments about opinions short.
Measure the behavior that predicts the outcome
Visits are easy to count. Finished practice sets say far more about whether someone is learning.
Ship small, review honestly
Small releases show what worked. I would rather retire a weak feature early than defend it for a year.
Fix the boring thing
Login problems, slow pages and confusing error messages cost more learners than any missing feature.
Connect with me
Questions people ask before they write. If yours is not here, write to me anyway.
What is this site?
My personal workshop. It holds working tools, research on companies I admire and ideas I am still testing. Everything here is my own work and my own opinion, made in my own time.
How does a civil engineering background show up in your product work?
I like clear specifications, honest estimates and a plan that survives contact with reality. Two years of planning schedules and tracking budgets on site taught me to write down the assumptions early and check them before they get expensive.
Are the tools on this site real products?
They are working prototypes, built to think with. They run in your browser, and the example numbers in them are made up. They are not products with users.
Can I trust the numbers in the research decks?
Treat them as a starting point. The decks are based on public research and each one lists its sources. Some data may be incomplete or incorrect, although I have tried my best to get it right. Please check a figure at its source before you rely on it, and tell me if you find a mistake.
Why analyse companies you do not work for?
Writing a PRD for a product you did not build forces you to state your assumptions. You cannot lean on inside data, so every claim needs a source or a clear label as a hypothesis. It is the fastest way I know to sharpen product thinking.
How do you choose which companies to study?
I look for companies in different fields that make visible product decisions and publish enough numbers to reason about. Each one tests a different question: what speed costs, how many products one app can carry, how to guide a beginner, how to build trust before a price, and how to keep a shared network busy.
I want to move from engineering into product. Where should I start?
Pick one product you use and write one hypothesis about it, with a metric and a number. Then size a test for it. The hypothesis writer and the A/B test sizer are built for exactly that. When you are comfortable, write it up the way the research decks do.
Where am I not the right person?
My experience is in consumer learning products. Outside that world, in enterprise sales tools or hardware for example, I can think alongside you, but I would be learning at the same time.
What is the best way to reach me?
Message me on LinkedIn with what you are building and what is stuck. A few specific lines help me reply well.
Building something for learners? Let's connect.
I'm glad to talk about learning products, growth, experimentation, or how to move from engineering into product.