Somehow, IIFMight in Focus just turned five. Which means we’ve now been doing this series for longer than most start-ups survive, most WhatsApp groups stay civil, and definitely longer than we expected when we published the first post on 14 July 2020, the lockdown month.
What began as a “let’s try getting someone to write something once a week” plan has quietly turned into a process with clockwork precision now. Not always perfect, not always edited well, but something that we kept coming back to. Between travel and work and life happening, the posts somehow kept appearing. One week at a time.
As of today, we’ve put up over 250 unique journeys of IIFM’ites. That’s a lot of words. The alums have always come through. Week after week, some sharp, some experimental, a few accidental, and many written dangerously close to midnight. They’ve covered climate leadership, public finance, global chaos, and the occasional policy mood swing. But also, they’ve tried to capture the texture of things that don’t always make it into formal interviews such as the moment before the pivot, the unsaid wisdom in a career choice, the small breakthroughs that show up in the margins.
It’s been personal and consistent.
IIFMight in Focus - The Numbers
- We have profiled at least one alum from PFM 1st batch to PFM 28th batch.
- We have covered alumni from all the three programs (PFM, MRM, FPM)
- The most profiled batch is PFM 2005-2007
As on 10 Sept, 2025
Of course, none of it would’ve happened without Rishi (PFM 2005-2007). For five years, Rishi has been the force that’s kept this going, part moral compass, part scheduler, part bully. He’s been relentless about spotlighting our younger colleagues, especially the ones doing phenomenal things in quiet corners. If you’ve ever read a profile and thought, “Wow, I’m glad I know this person exists,” chances are Rishi chased down their story, and reminded us that we’re not done until it’s posted. His persistence ranges from motivational to mildly threatening and it works.
And then there’s Santosh (PFM 2004-2006). Who is the reason this thing looks like it was done with care. Santosh is the last mile man…the one who fixes the weird line spacing, adds that one missing transition, and silently saves us from ourselves at 2:47 AM. He’s the reason none of our posts read the way they do. He’ll never call himself the anchor of this ship, but we all know that’s what he is. The IIFMight website is all his effort, and we just tag along.
As for me, I’ve mostly just kept showing up 
Sometimes with half a thought, sometimes deep in discussions on next steps, sometimes with the occasional punchline that survived the edits. My greatest contribution, if I’m being honest, might just be that I show up and write this when asked to.
And somewhere along the way, the series became more than just narratives. It became a catalogue of careers. People who’ve gone into forests, finance, education, climate, health, policy, coaching, and sometimes completely uncharted territory. Some of them stayed in roles you’d expect. Many didn’t. A few now run things you’ve definitely heard of. Some are leading quiet revolutions that you haven’t.
A lot of them are doing incredible work in corners that don’t make headlines and to be honest they do not care about headlines as well. That, more than anything, is what we’ve tried to capture each Sunday without fail. Not just the jobs, but the choices. The way someone picks a problem to stay with. The paths that make no sense on paper but feel right anyway. That’s where the good stuff is, in the pivots, the pauses, the stubborn clarity that comes from building your own way through.
So why are we still doing this?
Cause we have a lot of alums who are yet to be profiled. This is just a way to inspire the new generation of IIFM’ites and incoming ones to show them that it need not be perfect and there is no correct answer, when it comes to career. Each one has discovered their space in due course.
We don’t have a grand vision for the next five years. No podcast, no newsletter pivot, no flashy rebrand. Just more blogs. Maybe with more voices. But still here.
If you’ve read even one post, thank you. If you’ve ever told someone about this series, thank you. If you’ve been silently reading all along, we see you. And many thanks to over 250 alumni who took out time to share their amazing journey.
And before we go, a quick shoutout to the crew that keeps the lights on.
The latest batch of editors-in-residence, a.k.a. the ones who do all the uploading, are Dhwaj Gautam, Pragya Pandey, and Prerna Mahule from the Class of 2024-26. They’ve inherited the backend baton and are running with it like pros in between all their classes, presentations, assignments and exams
A special thank you to Rishabh Chaturvedi (PFM 2021-2023), who’s somehow been at this for three years now. He’s been coordinating, chasing, editing, and doing it all with the commitment that we saw in Rajnish Singh (PFM 2019-2021) who was our first student apprentice from where it had all started And to all the others over the years who’ve quietly stepped in, helped out, and never asked for credit…. This thing runs because you’ve helped keep it moving.
Let’s see what the next five years bring.We’ll be around, still fixing commas, still tinkering with titles, still trying to get the alignment right.
And occasionally, getting it in focus.
And here is a summary of all the Batches right from the first one which got published over the last 5 Years.
—Shrey (PFM 2006-2008)
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