---
title: "Prem Chikode - Category Manager in Bengaluru | Tal"
description: "Meet Prem Chikode, Building FirstClub | Category Management | Business Analysis | PICT’25 based in Bengaluru. AI stack includes antigravity, claude code, and claude."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/prem-chikode/share-image"
---

# Prem Chikode on Tal

## Headline

Building FirstClub \| Category Management \| Business Analysis \| PICT’25

## About

Hi, I’m Prem, someone who loves solving meaningful problems\. The kind that improve efficiency, simplify decisions, and make everyday experiences smoother for teams and customers\. I enjoy working with tools that elevate business processes and unlock clarity, whether through Excel, SQL, Power BI, or automation frameworks\. Turning raw data into insights that inform strategy is where I find both challenge and purpose\. Over the years, I’ve learned that true effectiveness goes beyond technical expertise\. It’s rooted in empathy, clear communication, and strong collaboration\. I take pride in being the connector between business goals and data\-driven execution working with teams to bring ideas to life through structured thinking and actionable solutions\. Outside of work, I’m deeply passionate about music and cricket\. Weekends often mean a quick game of pickleball or exploring new watches and sneakers\.

## Location

Bengaluru

## AI stack

antigravity

claude code

claude

gemini

lovable

Framer AI

## Work experience

Category Manager at FirstClub, Oct 2025 \- Present · 10 mo, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, \- Owned end\-to\-end category strategy for Tea & Coffee, driving 26% GMV growth through assortment expansion, pricing, demand analytics and category growth initiatives \- Managed commercial relationships with leading national and D2C brands, including HUL, Nestlé, ITC, P&G, Blue Tokai, Sleepy Owl, Third Wave Coffee, Chaayos,etc\. driving assortment expansion, commercial partnerships and category growth \- Expanded selection by \~57% on a demand\-weighted basis, adding high\-margin emerging brands to deepen assortment and improve the overall category mix \- Managed performance across 64\+ Coffee & Tea brands, using MoM/WoW sales, impressions, CTR and ATC analytics to identify growth opportunities and drive 38% GMV growth across underperforming brands \- Built Puja Store and Baking Essentials categories from 0→1, owning research, assortment selection, vendor onboarding, brand partnerships and GTM execution \- Reduced Out\-of\-Stock incidents by 30% through demand forecasting, inventory optimization and SKU\-level root\-cause analysis, improving availability across high\-performing products \- Automated category MIS and reporting using SQL, Google sheets & Apps Script, saving 20\+ hours/week and improving reporting efficiency by 50%

Junior Business Analyst at RhythmFlows Solutions Pvt\. Ltd\., Jun 2025 \- Oct 2025 · 4 mo, Pune District, Maharashtra, India, \- Partnered with business and engineering teams to translate business problems into scalable technology solutions, aligning product requirements with strategic business objectives \- Owned requirements gathering and documentation across business workflows, translating stakeholder requirements into BRDs and FSDs and improving delivery turnaround by 20% \- Developed KPI reporting and business analysis frameworks to identify performance gaps, support stakeholder decision\-making and improve visibility into business outcomes \- Conducted data validation, risk analysis and process improvement initiatives, improving data accuracy and operational reliability across business processes \- Acted as the bridge between business stakeholders and engineering teams, converting ambiguous business requirements into structured, executable product specifications

Business Analyst Trainee at RhythmFlows Solutions Pvt\. Ltd\., Jan 2025 \- Jun 2025 · 6 mos, Pune District, Maharashtra, India

AI Intern at First Insight Corporation, Sep 2024 \- Nov 2024 · 3 mos, Pune District, Maharashtra, India

## Education

Bachelor of Engineering \- BE, Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, Pune Institute of Computer Technology

Higher Secondary School, HSC, Private Junior College, Kolhapur\.

[View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/prem-chikode)

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