Piyush Pankaj led AskMe Technologies Private Limited, which was incorporated in 1998 in Mumbai. He had over 19 years of experience in finance and media industries. However, AskMe struggled due to Piyush's needless acquisitions of start-ups without consistency, weak technology that couldn't support diverse businesses, and inconsistent strategies that changed every three months without exhausting any single strategy. This document provides background on Piyush Pankaj and AskMe Technologies and analyzes reasons for its struggles.

2. INTRODUCTION
• AskMe Technologies Private Limited is a Private incorporated on 01
April 1998. It is classified as Non-government company and is
registered at Registrar of Companies, Mumbai. Its authorized share
capital is Rs. 100,000 and its paid up capital is Rs. 100,000. It is
involved in activities auxiliary to financial intermediation, except
insurance and pension funding.
• Directors of AskMe Technologies Private Limited are Gautam Dilip
Bhatt and Gopal Bhattad.

3. Piyush Pankaj
• He is a go-getter, dedicated and enthusiastic leader with 19+ Years of
Finance professional experience in Indian Media & Entertainment,
Internet and E-commerce Industry- traditional as well as New Media
and strategy spanning over GTPL Hathway Limited, Astro Group,
Malaysia (including Askme) and Zee TV Group, India - DTH – Dish TV,
Sun Direct ; Radio – Red FM, Aamar FM; Broadcasting & Distribution–
Zee Network, NDTV Lifestyle, FoodFood ; New Media – Zeenext.com,
Mogae Digital, Askme.com, Askme Ewallet, Freeads.com ; Ecommerce
– Askmebazaar, Askme Grocery, Askme Furniture-Mebelkart)

4. • Needless acquisitions: According to experts, Piyush Pankaj possibly
tripped as he went about buying start-ups, minions in their segments,
to build a mega start-up. First, he bought BestAtLowest, an online
grocery business, and launched AskmeGrocery in May 2015. It was
followed by the acquisition of online furniture website MebelKart.
Back in 2014, investors were falling over each other to fund e-
commerce start-ups, and so acquisitions were easy to fund. But, this
is not the case in 2016.

5. • Weak technology: Piyush Pankaj had weak technology. Managing
such diverse businesses requires a great deal of management
bandwidth and expertise, both in technology and logistics. Multiple
sellers, customers and former employees whom Business Today
contacted for the story Walking the Tightrope said technology was
the weakest link in AskMe.

6. • Inconsistent strategy: Piyush Pankaj had a lot of strategies in mind.
He went on doing them without any consistency. Harminder Sahni,
Founder, Wazir Advisors told Business Today before the website had
shut down that AskMe was like JustDial, and then it decided to be like
Flipkart, and then like BigBasket. "They have lost the plot. Their
strategy is changing every three months. In an ideal situation, you
change the strategy when you are exhausted. If they are adding new
verticals, it shows that the previous strategy has not worked," he said.

7. Conclusion