Markus Aurelius said that the first stepof understanding anything is simplicity; he proposed that one should understand the nature of something before dwelling on it. So going by the words of one of the most renowned philosophers in the world, let us understand what is ed-tech or educational technology.
Breaking it down to its simplest form educational technology usually involves the use of computer software and hardware along with teaching pedagogies to facilitate and enhance the learning experience. The ed-tech industry is quite a niche market and its demand has been rising in recent years. so if you are someone who wants to build your own edtech company here’s how you can get started.
While I was researching this topic, I understood that many renowned personalities in this field have suggested first understanding the ed-tech market. For example, before the pandemic started, the US ed-tech sector received 1.66 billion in investments, which is the highest in 5 years.
While many industries were at a disadvantage due to the pandemic, ed-tech companies raised an astonishing 16.1 billion USD. Knowing the market, its demands, and other things like that would ensure any suitor in this sector scale the evidence and weigh the facts.
Narrow Down and Validate Your Idea
You need to understand the concept of divide and conquer when it comes to ed-tech. The ed-tech market is too vast and ever-changing for a single entity to rule over.
The first step is to critically and objectively view your own idea. Find out whether your idea serves the customer’s needs and itself is unique. This will also go on to indirectly help you predict the market, discover the trend of your niche, and identify your competitive advantages.
It may look tempting to start your own ed-tech company when I put it across in such simple terms but we need to understand the problem of validity because before you propose any idea you have to ask yourself these 3 questions,
Does your idea solve a problem that is troubling a lot of people or improve a system that is quite essential in this specific area?
How do you know that you are solving a problem?
Do you have enough data and research backup to support and pitch your idea?
Define Your UVP and Choose the Right Business Model
Any business requires a UVP or a unique value proposition. What can you offer that other companies can’t? Your unique value proposition can be constructed by 3 crucial things,
The value that is delivered by your product.
The customer base that you would like to target.
What is the approach you are adopting to sell your product in this highly competitive market?
The right business model must follow your UVP. A business model usually entails how your ed-tech startup will achieve its goals and earn its revenue. It also describes the main highlights of your product and how it is going to create value for your customers.
You can experiment with a number of business models. Certain business models usually are taken up with the intention of rapid growth and the capture of large market shares, whereas certain others would usually involve selling products to institutions and monetizing your customer base from the beginning.
My advice to anyone who is interested in this area would be to choose a business model that helps you build a sustainable and independent business around a challenge or problem that you are trying to solve.
Build the Perfect Team
Building the Right Team
The right team is necessary for any business to succeed. In the highly competitive ed-tech industry, one needs to have the right team for even his/her idea to even come into consideration in front of investors. The best way to address this problem is to hire a group of professionals who are passionate and have an experienced background in education, which acts as their primary motive and the monetary benefits as their second priority.
Try to build a team that can help you create a scalable monetization model and a go-to-market strategy for your product. Being an ed-tech company’s CEO is definitely a different experience. You should start engaging in educational conventions, start visiting your local schools and understanding their learning demands and start talking to other individuals who are involved in the same business.
Being a startup in the initial stages would usually mean that you would have to work with minimum revenue. It is always better to work with an outsourcing company than pay an in-house team of engineers.
The need to have a skilled CTO – an individual who has the experience and expertise to work on the design of your product and oversee your development team is key to progress.
Have a Proof of Concept/MVP
Theoretically, it is easy to pitch any business idea. Practically every aspect of the product will find it difficult to serve and deliver to different demands of the real world. The best way to resolve this issue would be to build a proof of concept.
By building a proof of concept, you would have a strong base to validate your idea on a minimal budget. This application would usually involve the most important functionality or risky features of your product. Fancy design should not be used here to dazzle users.
Minimum viable product (MVP) works on similar lines with proof of concept. Proof of concept usually involves proving that your product will work in real life but whereas an MVP ensures that your customers are satisfied and pleased with your product.
Finally, in conclusion, we can say that by following these steps, you may have the perfect start for your company, but we should all remember consistency is key for any business to become better. With thorough research and strategy, any business can become successful and so is the case with ed-tech.
FAQs
How does EdTech make money?
Usually, edtech companies make money by selling their courses to students or schools. There are also companies that provide their courses for free but charge a small fee for the certificate.
How do you get funding for EdTech startups?
First, you need to prepare a solid business plan and then you can approach angel investors or VCs to pitch your idea and receive funding.
What is the future of EdTech in India?
India’s EdTech industry is growing at a really fast pace and is expected to reach $30 billion in the next 10 years.
Being an entrepreneur and beginning with your dream startup may seem like a cool idea and in reality, it is an amazing idea. However, it also comes up with lots of responsibility. Among all those, there is also the responsibility of taking all the decisions alone. Whatever you ma
While in a startup we always need to make tough decisions. It can be hiring a team member or choosing the right marketing strategy. The decision is a termination of the thought process of a problem that exists in order to overcome a problem by selecting alternatives. Decisions made must refer to the existing problems and a reality surrounding them that allows the problem to quickly get resolved.
Decisions can be made by groups within a team or individually crafted. Decision-making by a team usually takes a long time for each team member to express an opinion regarding the alternatives to their problems. If you are working in a startup, decision-making requires an analysis of the results of the thoughts or opinions of all team members for a better outcome.
To make a decision, we need to know what problems we are facing and what alternatives we have. Thinking about it, we will gain a lot of thought and alternatives to it. In this article, we will talk about some tips that can help you to make a tough decision in your startup. So, let’s get started.
The first tip in making a difficult decisionis to make a list of what is causing the obstacle. Gather all the information about the problem and what impact will it have on the company. This list will make you focus on thinking about alternatives that can be taken to overcome the hurdle. This way, making decisions regarding any situation related to your startup becomes easier.
Reevaluate Your Decision
Consider what a barrier for us in the process of making decisions that will be taken in order to resolve the problem, we must be careful and think logically about this. Reevaluate your decision, check the whole situation from to bottom again, analyse different perspectives and think about what can be the outcome of your decision. It is better to recheck it again and again instead of crying over a bad decision.
Ask for Advice
It is highly recommended to take advice from someone who is an expert in this field. Don’t shy away from asking for a piece of advice. Ask for advice from friends, family or your seniors who belong to this industry, who already know the problems that you have and have faced the same. Being seniors, they will be able to make you see the bigger picture which will be a benefit for you.
Take Feedback From Your Team Members
Feedback from team members and employees is necessary because it can help you in improving your performance and also decreases the chances of errors that can happen. Now, while making a decision taking feedback from them helps you as they are working for the company as much as you are. If you do not agree with them, give them time to explain why they think so and if you agree, you can immediately think of a suitable alternative for your problem.
Logical Thinking
While making the tough decision, use logic and common sense. You should not use emotions, it affect your productivity and thinking. With clear thinking, you can find a wide range of alternatives in accordance with the problems you face. Too much of emotions can be a hinder and may make you confused about the whole situation. Logical thinking also includes in the situation of hiring and firing.
Purpose of the Decision
Before making the decision, find the purpose. Realise why you are making the decision and what will be its outcome. In the process of making tough decisions don’t try to fasten the process. Take time and find out what can be the outcome, if the said decision is taken and if making that decision will help you in achieving the desired results.
Avoid Being Subjective
You as the team leader must not be subjective in the decision-making process. Choose the alternative which you think is right and logical. Do not choose an alternative from the person you love or from the person you fear. Be open to other choices and choose the one that can benefit you and your business.
Have a Backup Plan Ready
Make a backup plan, and consider all the alternative decisions that you have thought of before regarding the said issue. By any chance, if your first plan fails and doesn’t work properly and there are difficulties in the implementation of that plan, so you can have another option. It’s just a precaution, if your plan doesn’t go well, then you can turn to the next better option so that your problem can be resolved as soon as possible.
Conclusion
It is never easy to make decision especially when you have just begun with your startup, one needs to be very careful before taking any step. Analysing the situation, consulting with a senior or taking feedbacks from your team, through these you can take a tough decision quickly which will benifit you and your business.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Next Education.
Technology is the core of the present economic world. Every domain of study ranging from the health to the service sector is evolving with the regularly updated technology. Similarly, educational sectors have gone through a major transformation in recent times due to technology. Once the rigid 2D notions of learning in classrooms equipped with a Blackboard are now replaced with digital 3D projections to enable a better understanding of the concepts among the students.
Next Education is one of the startup companies that pioneered the ed-tech sector way back in 2007, founded by Beas Dev Ralhan and Raveendranath Kamath. It is a K-12-focused technology-based education solution provider. Know about the Company Profile of Next Education, Founders, Funding, Revenue, Competitors, Business Model, Growth, Acquisitions, How it started, etc., in the article ahead.
Let’s go through the Journey of Next Education along with knowing Next Education Founder, Funding, Business Model, Competitors, Revenue & more…
Founded in 2007, Next Education is an optimal education solutions provider, based out of Hyderabad. Touching the lives of 12,000,000+ students and 240,000+ teachers across 12,000+ schools, their solutions serve multiple purposes of both academic and administrative domains.
Ranging from academic solutions such as TeachNext – a digital classroom solution and NextBooks – a complete textbook series to administrative solutions such as NextERP – a cloud-based school management system, Next Education is an end-to-end education solutions provider for the K–12 sector.
Next Education’s products aim to meet all the academic needs of a learner and make quality education affordable and accessible for every child. While doing so, their belief lies in partnerships with their employees, customers, vendors, governing bodies, and other stakeholders to strengthen the ecosystem over an extended period.
Every step Next Education takes ensures to bring quality education within the grasp of every learner so that younger generation mainly become life-ready.
“Entrepreneurship in the education sector was never about money-making. Keeping an organic approach towards academics to make learners future-ready and not just well equipped for competitive exams, was what we aimed for, which later became the core USP of Next Education.”, says Raveendranath Kamath, co-founder of Next Education.
Next Education rightfully understands that education is all about the holistic development of children pertaining to creativity, adaptability, and critical reasoning. It is about instilling the joy of learning and a hunger for knowledge in every young mind. This is the reason their academic solutions are well equipped with visually intriguing content and tools such as claymations, craftmations, and AR cards.
Next Education – Target Market
India’s education sector offers a great opportunity with approximately 29% of India’s population being between the age group of 0-14 years; is estimated at USD 91.7 billion in FY18 and is expected to reach USD 101.1 billion in FY20. India’s higher education segment is is expected to increase to USD 35.03 billion by 2025.
Seamless integration of content for effective learning and instruction, and smart administrative solutions for improved planning and reporting, has made the company one of the finest end-to-end education solutions providers in the country.
Beas Dev Ralhan and Raveendranath Kamath are the founders of Next Education.
Tech aficionados and brothers working towards the same goal of creating a social impact with technology, co-founded Next Education in 2007
Raveendranath Kamath and Beas Dev Ralhan – Founders, Next Education
Beas Dev Ralhan
Beas Dev Ralhan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Next Education. Ralhan received his formal education from IIT Bombay and London Business School. As the CEO of Next Education, he brings energy, inspiration, and direction to the company’s vision.
Raveendranath Kamath
Raveendranath Kamath, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Next Education plays an integral part in financial planning, product engineering, and supply chain management of the organisation. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, Kamath has over two decades of experience in finance and operations.
Next Education has a team of around 1,000+ qualified and dedicated professionals with diverse skill sets, which have helped it establish itself as a known name amongst the academic stakeholders.
Next Education – Startup Story | How was Next Education Started?
His days at IIT Bombay made Ralhan realise that to make an impact on modern society, one has to build companies supported by the latest technologies and utilize the power of the Internet. Raveendranath Kamath, Ralhan’s friend and colleague at PartyGaming, had the same vision. Both of them desired to employ technology to make a social impact in India.
In 2007, a focused market study helped them realize that the Indian education sector was least impacted by technology. With technology as their ally, they wanted to devise innovative methods to make education accessible and affordable for all. Thus Next Education was born with a vision to transform education to suit the requirements of today’s learners.
“More than a decade ago, we had envisaged a not-too-distant future when quality education would be within the reach of every child. We had always dreamt of the day when quality education would no longer be the privilege of a few and our ardent desire to nurture and fulfill this aspiration keeps us motivated.”, recalled Raveendranath and Beas, founders of Next Education.
Next Education – Startup Launch
In 2009, Next Education launched their first product, LearnNext – a self-learning home-based solution for children. The response received for the product was overwhelming and there was no looking back for the team at Next Education thereafter. Next Education’s ecosystem has been steadily enriched with numerous solutions catering to different stakeholders belonging to the academic sector.
NextCurriculum, NextLabs, TeachNext, and NLP are the four vital parts of the Next Education ecosystem, which enhance the significance of learning by incorporating hands-on learning activities and a learner-centric approach.
Next Education’s flagship product, TeachNext, launched in 2010, has been a milestone in terms of digitization of classrooms nationwide. Recently, they have launched NLP, i.e. Next Learning Platform, which is a cloud-based solution equipped with NextERP, LMS, and adaptive learning, meeting all the requirements of academic and administrative stakeholders. The company also offers a teacher training solution for schools called NextDeeksha.
Next Education – Mission and Vision
Next Education aims to “put into practice the best teaching–learning methodologies that will help shape the lives of the torchbearers of tomorrow,” which the company underlines as its mission.
The vision of Next Education is “to bring quality education within the reach of every learner, so that they are prepared for the challenges in life.”
The company started in 2007 as Helix Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd, which was later renamed as Next Education aligning with the spirit of the brand and its products.
Next Education Logo
The name ‘Next Education’ stands for an edTech solutions provider for the next generation, capable of transforming education.
Next Education – Business Model and Revenue Model
Next Education India Pvt Ltd is an end-to-end edTech solutions provider that follows B2B and B2C business models. At Next Education, consistent effort is put to create solutions that meet all the requirements of academic stakeholders pertaining to school set-up, digitalisation of classrooms, implementation of activity-oriented education, administrative guidance and tools etc.
Next Education – Funding and Investors
Next Education raised the initial funding from Anurag Dikshit, co-founder of PartyGaming, who was ranked among the 40 richest Indians, according to ‘Forbes’ Magazine.
Next Education – Startup Challenges
Transforming education is not an easy task. A vast part of our country still follows the conventional methods of teaching and learning, which lays emphasis on teacher centered education. The slow device penetration rate, skepticism about embracing ed-tech products over traditional home tuition and lack of awareness among people regarding integrated education, were initial challenges faced by Next Education.
Hence, introducing innovative products and restoring the faith of people in the transformation formed the central approach towards meeting the challenges, and today, TeachNext is the top-selling digital classroom solution in India with a market share of 65% .
Next Education – Competitors
Next Education directly competes with companies such as BYJU’s, Extramarks, Educomp, Pearson, etc.
“At Next, we believe in healthy competition, as all of us are trying to harness the potential of the present generation of learners for a better tomorrow.”, said Beas, co-founder and CEO of Next Education.
Next Education – Advisors and Mentors
For Beas Dev Ralhan, his father is his best mentor, whose ideas, thoughts and values have inspired Ralhan to begin a startup – Next Education and work tirelessly with hope, motivation, perseverance and patience.
My father has been the most inspirational mentor throughout my life. His entrepreneurial endeavours and never-say-die attitude motivated me to start my venture and shape and nurture Next Education.
He taught me that patience is the key to run a business successfully, which I strongly believe and follow. When you are impatient, you tend to miss critical details and opportunities, which may lead to irrevocable mistakes.
Due to the fast-paced nature of today’s world, we value dynamic actions and quick solutions, but if this attitude morphs into impatience, it will cloud your judgement, ruin relationships and destroy your credibility in the market.
Next Education – Awards
Next Education received following awards and recognition:
Innovation in Teaching Pedagogy award at World Education Summit 2012
Best Multimedia Content for K–12 Education at World Education Summit 2013
Excellent Human Resource Management in Education Industry by National HRD Network
Best Digital K–12 Multimedia Content for Maharashtra State Board in English and Marathi by Wisitex World Education
Best School Books Solution Award at Global Learn Tech Conference and Awards
Best Emerging School ERP award at Digital Edge ICT Conclave on Education
Innovation in Teaching Pedagogy award at World Education Summit 2015
Innovation Excellence Award in Education by ASSOCHAM
Pre-school Pedagogy award at the World Education Summit 2016
“We, Nextians, are learners who embrace achievements with innate happiness and take failures as steps towards learning.” said the founders of Next Education.
Next Education has acquired 2 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was Xolvr on Dec 2, 2016.
Date
Acquired
About
Dec 2, 2016
Xolvr
Xolvr is a convenient & affordable community driven ‘after school study’ platform
Feb 11, 2016
InOpen
InOpen designs and develops educational content and solutions for academic institutions
Next Education – Growth
Next Education presently has an all-India presence and is headquartered in Hyderabad. Apart from Hyderabad, they have offices in Pune, Noida, Kochi, and Chennai. After establishing in the Indian education spectrum, Next Education is off to make its mark at the global level. Since 2016, they have been expanding their business in the Middle East. In early 2019, Next Education has opened a branch in Dubai.
Currently, Next Education is the largest player in the highly concentrated Indian Private K-12 digital classroom sector. The company has reached out to 60,000+ classrooms since the year of inception and has a turnover of 276 crores in FY 19.
“Our main motive is to create solutions for schools that positively impact the education system and help the next generation have a better tomorrow.”, said Raveendranath and Beas.
One of the oldest and the most successful education solutions provider, Next Education has launched Kindernext on October 16, 2019, on the completion of the twelfth year of its operations. This new initiative is launched with an aim to stand as a smart preschool and activity center for 21st-century learners, which will extend fun and interactive space to the young students, thereby advancing their development and honing their desire to be lifelong learners.
Here’s a glimpse at the highlights of the popular features of KinderNext by Next Education:
It is a smart preschool and activity center that is tailor-made with vibrant textbooks, an award-winning digital classroom, detailed mentor manuals, and smart resource kits.
It follows a research-based integrated approach towards learning, laying equal emphasis on developing the five key areas: linguistic, cognitive, physical, social, and emotional.
The curriculum of KinderNext is centred on NCF guidelines for early childhood education.
KinderNext is designed to provide young learners with the right care and attention to foster curiosity and confidence in them. Its distinct features like multimodal learning, explore-and-play technique, and age-appropriate learning approach can help students gain a rich learning experience and ensure continuous progress towards their desired goals.
Speaking on the launch of KinderNext, Next Education Co-founder and CEO, Beas Dev Ralhan said thatKinderNext, with impactful technology, best faculty, and new-age curriculum coming together, is favorable for all its stakeholders – the young students, parents, and schools.
Next Education – Future Plans
Next Education has achieved quite a growth since it started in 2007. The startup believes continuous innovation and becoming a one-stop solution are the way forward.
Next Education – FAQs
What is Next Education?
Next Education is an edtech startup launched in 2007 by Beas Ralhan, Raveendranath Kamath in Noida, UP, which believes in embracing technology to revolutionise the education system of India. All of the products and services that Next Education offers are learner-centric and classroom-friendly.
Who is the founder of Next learning platform?
Beas Ralhan and Raveendranath Kamath are the founders of Next learning or what we commonly refer to as Next Education.
How is Next Education transforming education?
Next Education is fueled by the latest technological advancements, expert teachers, and over 10,000 impactful learning modules, which greatly help the company to transform education.
Although people underestimate the value of education these days because of the “dropout” tag, education is irreplaceable. People need to upgrade their skills instead of just getting a degree.
Schools and colleges are important but the skills which schools and colleges don’t teach us are equally useful. The leading edtech companies of India are changing the scene of education in the country. They are redefining the process of learning. And this contributes towards a bright future for Indian children and youth.
India suffers from a skewed pupil-to-teacher ratio that continues to rise; it compromises the learning experience for students in schools. To counter this skewness, technology-driven learning apps are using gaming elements such as point-scoring, interaction with others, personalization, and data-driven insights to enhance the learning process for students and sharpen their basics in various subjects. These apps are known for their features that enable students to perform better in classrooms.
Edtech startups are emerging as a major business industry in India. The education sector in India was estimated at US$ 91.7 billion in FY18 and was expected to reach $101.1 Billion in FY19 and the edtech market is expected to reach $4 billion by 2025.
Counted among one of the top and biggest edtech companies in India, Byjus is an edtech startup that offers a learning app that provides coaching for competitive entrance exams like IIT-JEE, CAT, UPSC, GMAT, GRE, Engineering & Medical, and courses of grades 6th to 12th. It offers online courses and tablet classes with multi-test and assignment solutions, personal feedback, and in-depth analysis.
After using the Byju’s app, 93% of parents reported a marked improvement in their child’s performance in grades according to the company. Byju’s has 15 million registered users with 900,000 of them taking annual paid subscriptions and an 85% renewal rate. The average app engagement rate, as reported by the company, is 53 minutes per day.
Byju’s is an edtech startup in Bangalore and was founded by Byju Raveendran in 2011. Its current total equity is $5.4 billion. BYJU’S also won many awards like the CRISIL Emerging India Award and the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award. It is available on Android and iOS platforms.
2. Unacademy
Founders: Heemash Singh, Sachin Gupta, and Gaurav Munjal
Unacademy Website
Launched as a YouTube channel by Hemaash Singh in 2010, Unacademy is now a famous name in the education technology segment of India. It is a popular e-learning startup and one of the leading edtech companies in Bangalore.
Unacademy has provided lessons to more than 30,00,000 (3 million) students to date. It has tied up with some of the most experienced teachers to tutor its students. You will find over 2400 online courses. Most of the courses are free on this platform; however, you may have to pay for the certifications.
Unacademy has a goal of providing free education. And It has ventured into numerous fields like banking, CA, CAPF, UPSC, CLAT, CAT, JEE, pre-medical and more. The video tutorials are available in various languages and students can follow tutors to get directly courses from them. Unacademy’s business model is primarily based on the plus subscription feature offered on its platform.
Unacademy is an edtech company in Bangalore that serves as an online learning marketplace for courses. It was founded by Heemash Singh, Sachin Gupta, and Gaurav Munjal. The YouTube channel was shifted to an online learning platform in 2015. You can still find many videos on Unacademy’s YouTube Channel.
3. iQuanta
Founder: Indrajeet Singh
iQuanta’s website
iQuanta is India’s Largest online CAT preparation community. The founder and CEO of iQuanta Mr. Indrajeet Singh is one of the top 5 young Indian Entrepreneurs. His indigenous shortcuts and unconventional methods earned entitled him “Wizard of Quants”. iQuanta aims at offering quality education accessible to anyone willing to appear for competitive exams, along with its unique pedagogy at affordable prices. iQuanta is a bootstrap Edtech company.
iQuanta was incorporated in 2017 and today, since its inception, has built a community of 3.5 lakh+ aspirants from all over the world with 10,521 + IIM calls and 1000+ IIM converts in just 5 years.
4. TrainerCentral
Parent Company – Zoho
TrainerCentral’s website
TrainerCentral is a Zoho application, which aims to transform the way people teach online. This all-in-one online training platform empowers solopreneurs, edupreneurs, and anyone who wishes to share their expertise with learners worldwide.
The platform provides tools to help trainers build a fully equipped online training business with numerous integration capabilities. Trainers can create their own website, upload content, create course curriculum, host live classes, manage learner communications, certifications, collect learner fees, and much more, on one unified platform.
TrainerCentral strives to mitigate the inefficiencies caused by siloed tools and the technical complexities involved in building an online training business. Trainers and learners alike benefit from the built-in live classroom feature with chat and payment gateway integration options. Online trainers across the globe are thrilled with TrainerCentral, as demonstrated by its steady MOM growth of 30%.
TrainerCentral offers a 15-day free trial to help explore the platform.
5. UpGrad
Founders: Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgum Komapalli, and Ravijot Chugh
UpGrad Website
UpGrad is an online edtech platform that provides higher education programs. It provides an immersive learning experience through the latest technology that powers well-designed courses. UpGrad was founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgum Komapalli, and Ravijot Chugh.
6. Next Education
Founder: Raveendranath Kamath, Beas Dev Ralhan
Next Education Website
Next Education is a Hyderabad-based learning website founded by Beas Dev Ralhan and Raveendranath Kamath in 2007 and caters to K-12 students through its technology-based education solutions.
Next Education has leading products such as TeachNext, LearnNext, MathsLab, ScienceLab, and EnglishLab on its platform. These products are used in more than 6,000 schools across the country.
The study material and products are designed to cover the syllabus of CBSE, ICSE, and 23 state boards in 8 major Indian languages. Next Education’s technology platform is based on Linux and open-source resources.
Other technological advancements on the app include 2D and 3D graphics, interactive content of international standards, voice-overs, clear sound, and an innovative course design that is easily accessible via an inbuilt IR remote. The company has invested over Rs. 400 crores and more than Rs. 30 crores on R&D alone.
Leverage Edu started off as a college admissions platform and has now grown to be a full-stack marketplace within a year. Leverage Edu was founded by Akshay Chaturvedi and Aman Arora in 2018.
The platform uses an AI tool to help students in their careers through mentorship products, end-to-end college admission guidance, programs to help them become first-job ready, and one-to-one virtual advisory for multiple career streams.
The app has over 1500+ mentors from Ivy League Universities and individuals from organizations like Apple and Goldman Sachs. The founder was quoted saying, “The platform is in the middle of executing an inspiration product roadmap and will continue to scale and bring onboard great talent aggressively, invest in continuously bettering our experience, and doing more or what we are good at!”
8. NoPaperForms
Founder: Naveen Goyal
NoPaperForms Website
NoPaperForms is a SaaS-based enrollment automation solution startup that aims to transform the admission process in educational institutions in India and abroad.
The platform helps institutions increase their outreach capabilities, enhance recruitment efforts, expand customer service offerings, and improve end results. The entire process is 100% transparent.
NoPaperForms has partnered with more than 190 institutions and claims to have handled 350k+ queries. It has received more than 1.2 million applications and has grown by around 500% in a year’s time to Rs 100 crores. This valuation was achieved after NoPaperForms raised its Series B funding in December 2018.
9. Quizizz
Founders: Ankit Gupta, Deepak Joy Cheenath
Quizizz Website
Quizizz is an interactive teaching platform that allows its users to conduct student-paced formative assessments in an engaging manner for students of all ages. The website can be operated on any browser, PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone.
The platform combines game-design elements and helps teachers turn students’ homework and tests into self-paced games. Then there is the option of instant feedback. Teachers can use their own content or choose from millions of educator-created quizzes.
Quizizz’s aim is to motivate learners and play a part in their growth. Quizizz has over 10 million users and its solution is well-adopted in US-based schools.
10. Campk12
Founders: Anshul Bhagi, Sandeep Bhagi
Campk12 Website
Camp K12 provides entrepreneurship and app development programs to school students during their vacations and weekends. It is a K12 edtech company in India that focuses on developing kids into innovators.
CampK12 was founded by Anshul Baghi in 2010. The company started out as a coding boot camp for kids. As of today, CampK12 has catered to 50,000+ students.
Coursera is another education platform that offers a variety of courses. The USP of Coursera is the experienced professionals it hires which makes it one of the leading edtech startups in India. If you want to learn from highly experienced people from around the world, then Coursera is for you. Just like Unacademy, you can watch the videos of some courses for free but you will have to pay for the certifications and assignments.
12. Cuemath
Founder: Manan Khurma
Cuemath Website
Cuemath is a program that teaches math to children. Cuemath has more than 3000 centers in India and each session in a center has only 6 students at a time. The startup’s emphasis is not on Abacus or Vedic math; it focuses on improving the mathematical concepts of children instead of merely teaching them to calculate fast. Cuemath was founded by Manan Khurma in 2013. The fees range from Rs 2500- Rs 3000 depending on where the branch is located.
IndigoLearn is a Hyderabad-based accountancy focused edtech startup. The startup uses the latest technology and animation techniques to make finance and accountancy fun to learn. IndigoLearn was founded by Somayajula, Sathya Raghu Mokkapati, Suraj Lakhotia, and Sarat Udumari in 2017.
14. My Peegu
Founder: Chetan Jaiswal
MyPeegu Website
My Peegu provides tools that help parents and teachers monitor their kids’ well-being. A team of professional psychiatrists provides treatment to kids for mental development. My Peegu’s services are available in 6 countries including India.
15. Thinkerbell Labs
Founders: Sanskriti Dawle and Aman Srivastava, and Saif Shaikh
Starting as an independent research project named “Project Mudra”, Thinkerbell Labs is now working on a self-learning braille device. The device is named Annie and anyone can learn the braille language with it. Thinkerbell Labs was founded by Sanskriti Dawle and Aman Srivastava. The company showcased its idea on the popular business reality tv show Shark Tank India and received Rs 1crore funding.
16. MyCaptain
Founder: Ruhan Naqash, Mohammed Zeeshan
MyCaptain Website
MyCaptain provides students with a way to experience various fields of interest and test them out. Most of the time, kids choose their path according to the social norms or in the greed of tons of money. MyCaptain helps students discover their interests and indulge in a career that suits them. People can make informed decisions when they are aware of the realities associated with different career trajectories.
17. Adda247
Founders: Anil Nagar
Adda247 Website
Adda247 is one of the best edtech companies in India that assists with government job preparation and provides articles, jobs alerts, quizzes, videos, e-books, e-magazines, discussion forums, etc. The Adda 247 app offers a smooth UI and intuitive workflows that are powered by cutting-edge technologies.
The company has designed other apps like Bankersadda.com (to prepare for banking exams), SSCAdda.com (to prepare for various central government exams), and TeachersAdda.co.in to bag teaching jobs in government schools. The Adda247 YouTube channel contains videos on current affairs and upcoming government job vacancies.
Meritnation is an online education startup based in Delhi. Meritnation was founded by Pavan Chauhan in 2008. It has grown to become one of the most helpful websites for online education. Meritnation provides learning content for students for classes 1st to 12th across CBSE, ICSE, and other leading state boards.
Meritnation offers its users study material, tests, proficiency tests, and Olympiad packs via a social network like experience. The Meritnation app also tracks a student’s progress and displays personalized recommendations along with analytical data reports to point out his or her strengths and improvement areas.
19. Toppr
Founder: Zishaan Hayath, Hemanth Goteti
Toppr Website
Toppr is an online exam preparation platform for K-12 students. Toppr focuses on school curriculum syllabus and entrance examinations like JEE, UPSC, NEET, SAT, etc. It offers structured courses complemented by interactive video lectures, practise question sets, doubt clearing by professionals, and all-India test series.
Toppr is based out of Mumbai and was founded by Zishaan Hayath in 2013. The Toppr app includes goal-based learning, adaptive questions’ practice, performance reports, concept sheets, and previous year question papers. It also offers courses for medical and engineering examinations, board examinations, and Olympiads.
Conclusion
This completes the list of leading edtech companies in India. Even though the Indian education system is undergoing a seismic shift, Indians still have to deal with outdated methods of teaching and inefficient learning techniques. The system also fosters unhealthy competition among students. Edtech startups are gradually changing all of this for the better.
FAQs
Which is India’s largest edtech company?
Byju’s is India’s largest edtech company with a valuation of $21 billion. It has over 10 crore students and 65 lakh annual paid subscribers.
Which is the best edtech company in India?
Byju’s, Unacademy, UpGrad, Vedantu and Toppr are some of the best edtech companies in India.
What are some of the top edtech companies in bangalore?
Byju’s, Vedantu, Unacademy, Simplilearn, and Cuemath are some of the top edtech companies in Bangalore.
Pandemic has taught us several things and coping methods, and hybrid learning is one of them. The entire education system has been changed and adopted several methods for learning to provide a continuous and seamless learning program. The main reason behind this sudden transformation of traditional schools into hybrid schools is the worry of parents for their children.
They welcomed it with warm hugs as students’ education does not get compromised in the pandemic. Hybrid or virtual learning has surely made lives easy as children can continue their education safely at home. But even with such benefits and praises, hybrid learning could not replace the traditional physical learning method.
Traditional learning still holds great importance in the lives of students. As it provides total development of the student and prepares them for tough circumstances.
Besides academic learning, traditional learning includes social skill development, communication, ties, sharing, sensitivities, empathy and many else. And for any child, these factors are very essential for the competitive environment and development. However with safety and convenience in the virtual learning method, people are becoming entirely reliant on that and because of this a very strong question arises, Can hybrid learning replace traditional learning? And that’s what we are discussing in this article. So, let’s get started!
The pandemic has entirely changed our lives, which majorly impacted the education and marketing sector. On one hand, where the marketing sector is expanding on a wide proportion, the education sector is still processing the changes.
With the pandemic, the educational institutions entirely shifted to the online mode of education and started their classes on Zoom and Google Meet. This wasn’t very tough for the teachers and students to adapt as they instantly changed their methods of teaching, grading and learning.
The major impact of this was on higher education as people are claiming that the future of college and education is online. However, nothing can be said of the future in advance. As no one even thought that almost three years of our lives will be surrounded by such a lethal virus. That’s why what can be said of the education system is that we surely are moving towards hybrid learning which is the mixture of offline and online modes of learning.
It’s definite that as soon as the threat is gone the physical learning mode will return as it holds huge importance in students lives. But we cannot ignore the fact that there are still several options available online.
Both online and offline modes of education hold different characteristics and trades. Soon people will learn to manage both of these together. But when it comes to the experiences and benefits that a student gets from the traditional physical learning method can never be replaced by the virtual learning method. And we have mentioned the reasons for these down below.
Difference between Traditional Learning and Hybrid Learning
Beneficiary campus life, not available in virtual learning
Virtual learning may be safe and secure but it can never replace the traditional physical learning method. The reasons behind this include the beneficiary campus environment and experience that students get which develops their communication skills, help them socialize and get better field opportunities, from diverse parts of the world. This helps them live in a new culture, city or a different country smoothly.
Plus, it makes the students independent and aware of the surroundings they are living in. And the virtual learning method snatches these things from the crucial student’s lives.
In-Class learning experience
The very important aspect of the traditional physical learning method is the in-class student experience which helps the student in public speaking and building confidence.
Such as, in in-class learning, students are prepared to easily ask any doubt, discuss any point, debate on a certain topic and ask questions instead of anonymously typing questions.
Students do not get to experience post-classes discussions like being with your competitor, discussing in a friend group and many others. The virtual learning methods lack student engagement, discussion., and creating a bond with batchmates.
Opportunity to learn something new
Another crucial factor of the physical learning method is the opportunity to learn something new such as joining different clubs and societies, participating in competitions or extra-curricular activities and classes.
Those attaining the virtual classes are missing tons of such changes and experiences. As they cannot participate in any of such events that can help them develop new skills or personality traits by sitting in their houses.
With the pandemic, our day-to-day lives have changed entirely and this majorly affected the education and marketing sector. Though the education sector adapted the online mode of learning, it could never be compared to the on-campus learning experience for the students.
Although with the hybrid learning model which is a mixture of both online and offline learning; people can surely depend on it. But for the future, nothing can be claimed in advance.
For now, the best thing in hand is to try to develop as many skills as possible on your own as depending on online learning is not a practical choice. We can state that the future of the educational system can be adapted as a combination of offline and online learning methods as a few things can surely be added to that of the offline learning mode.
FAQ
Can online learning replace the traditional classroom?
No, online learning cannot replace traditional classrooms because, in traditional classrooms, students miss out on public speaking, face to face interaction and campus life. These are important factors during the growth of students that can’t be replaced by online learning.
Can hybrid classrooms help students focus better?
Yes, hybrid learning helps students focus more as it combines in-person teaching and independent learning.
Is online learning more effective than traditional learning?
Online learning is more effective as students can learn anytime and anywhere and every student can learn at their own pace.
We’ve all gone through the effort of looking for universities to apply to after completing our 12th grade. Before taking a decision, as a learner, you should have a fundamental understanding of the uni. These facets are the standard of teaching provided, prices, the opinions of former and present alums, and the institute’s rank.
However, gathering these essential details about universities is a tricky job. The notion of having all this data about institutes and tests from all over India and overseas in one spot appealed to the youth. It was created to fill this disparity, letting learners, parents, and professors find all the data they need about colleges on one page. Let’s look at its startup story and know more about it.
Collegedunia fills the disparity between institutions and learners. A learner or parent can study and gather data about multiple courses and colleges in India via its vast search tool. A user can get data on a range of topics, including college, ratings, stream, curriculum, placements, facility, costs, admissions, and extracurriculars, to make more effective career choices. All this data is provided to the learners at no fee.
Startup Name
Collegedunia
IPO Status
Private
Operating Status
Active
Company Type
For-Profit
Sector
Digital Marketing, IT, Education
Headquarters
Delhi, India
Founder
Sahil Chalana
Founded
May 8, 2010
Total Funding
$605.8k
Collegedunia – Mission and Vision
Mission
The most important option in a person’s life, the option to choose a college, shouldn’t be taken lightly. We want to be the best educational sites, with more dynamic UX and most verified data, and to facilitate learning in every way possible in making their wise choices.
Vision
CollegeDunia was founded with the goal of arming learners’ information so that they may make better decisions about their profession and alma mater.
Collegedunia – Tagline and Logo
Tagline – Transforming India by Transforming Education
Collegedunia Logo
Collegedunia – Features
The web design was recently updated, with a focus on the part of the test. The firm has witnessed a significant spike in traffic since then. The test part comprises comprehensive information on all key national and state-level admission tests. The UI is easy to use. Take a peek at the JEE Advanced 2016 page, for instance.
The organization has a one-of-a-kind 25-member consulting staff that participates in phone chats with learners to assist them in making the best educational wise choices. It also offers a feedback section with over 50,000 opinions from alumni who are presently studying or have graduated from various universities.
They added a detailed evaluation form through which people can submit their thoughts on institutes or programs. They edit, analyze, and sort these reviews periodically to identify that people receive accurate data. Rank and cut-off forecasts, as well as virtual counselling, will be included in the official app in the near term.
Collegedunia – Startup Story
Sahil Chalana, a BITS Pilani alumnus, created Collegedunia.com. The firm started operating as a specialized firm in 2014. According to him, there is a significant disparity between the facts and the accuracy of services that students search for during the pre-admission period.
As a result, he came into the concept of Collegedunia.com and assembled a group of young and ambitious people. It’s a community of over 250 young folks, with an approximate age of 25, who wish to bring value to society.
Limited knowledge can be harmful to the profession and college choices, which is where it will help. Its vast alumni network assists in providing relevant information to learners.
The amount of material on the site is fairly comprehensive. You’ll find everything here, from renowned majors like medicine and law to practical and overseas study data.
The goal of providing learners with the information they need to make better decisions about their job and alma mater set the ground for its creation. Both for guardians and learners, it serves as an effective collection of college/university data as well as professional material such as tests. Learners might look for institutions based on what alumni have said about them.
Since the beginning, it has assisted thousands of kids across India (and beyond) in making informed selections about their careers and educational institutions. It has evolved from a handful of institutes and programs to be the nation’s market leader. Currently, the platform is the nation’s top institution rating site.
Collegedunia – Business Model
The entire basis of their revenue is paid advertising, which allows universities to promote themselves on the site, boosting the exposure of their listings across the web.
Other than that, they use a Cost Per Lead (CPL) approach. They provide student data with the institution and earn money based on CPL. Learners can also enrol in those institutes, and they will obtain a CPL from the university officials for each admission to that campus.
The firm says that its dataset, handpicked content, and periodic data updates are among the features that set it apart from the intense rivalry.
Collegedunia – Funding and Expansion
Founded in July 2014 with only a few institutions and tests, it now contains comprehensive data on over 15,000 institutes and tests such as the CAT, GMAT, and others. They strive to enhance their outreach to 30,000 universities and include all national exams by the end of this year, owing to foreign funds provided by Gaadi.com CEO Umang Kumar.
The firm now receives over a lakh page views, which is lower than their rivals, but roughly 40% of their traffic is direct, which they believe is better than the rivals.
Throughout two financing rounds, it has generated a net of $605.8K. Their most recent revenue comes from a Seed round on January 18, 2016.
Date
Acquired by
Amount
Transaction Name
Nov 3, 2014
$163.8k
Angel Round
Jan 18, 2016
Umang Kumar
$443k
Seed Round
Collegedunia – Competitors
Careers360
Collegedunia’s main competitor is Careers360. In 2009, Careers360 was created in Gurugram, Haryana. It works in the education software area. It makes $3.7 million less income than Collegedunia.
Shiksha.com
Shiksha.com is Collegedunia’s 2nd main competitor. It was created in 2008 and is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Shiksha.com, like Collegedunia, competes in the education software space. Shiksha.com accounts for 72% of Collegedunia’s earnings.
CollegeDekho
CollegeDekho is the third-largest rival to Collegedunia. It was formed in Gurgaon, Haryana, in 2015. CollegeDekho, like Collegedunia, is in the Educational Software business. It brings in $2.7 million less than Collegedunia.
Collegedunia – Current and Future Plans
Currently, the site provides data on approximately 15,200 colleges, 16,000 programs, and 330 tests. On the site, one may obtain all the detailed info about universities, including rating, region, and opinions. It has also developed an app-based UI, taking into account the simplicity of use of mobile apps. Its mobile app lets learners quickly and conveniently obtain all this data.
It also works with campus fests, where learners can come up to the website and leave feedback on their universities. It intends to take its concept to another level soon, with an ever-growing knowledge base and notoriety. The firm’s goal is to provide end-to-end service for students’ entrance requirements. The aim is to engage the student tribe with the site in this way.
Collegedunia Rewards for Reviews
With its reward-based structure, it has indeed begun student collaboration. Learners that contribute valuable insights about their colleges/universities might win significant cash awards through the site. So, in the long term, Collegedunia.com will provide more institutes and mentorship.
India’s education sector is booming, and the country’s higher education system is unlikely to stagnate anytime soon. In the same way, the majority of kids seeking higher education is increasing. As a result, both students and faculty have a wide range of possibilities. It’s safe to assume that the industry is brimming with possibilities. However, India’s ed-tech industry is just beginning.
Until now, Collegedunia has taken the appropriate moves toward securing this niche but vital sector. Only time will tell whether it can play its cards correctly and fulfil its commitments.
Collegedunia – FAQ
When was Collegedunia started?
Collegedunia was started in 2014 by Sahil Chalana.
What is Collegedunia’s business model?
Collegedunia earns its revenue from paid advertising, which allows universities to promote themselves on the site. It also uses a Cost Per Lead (CPL) approach where they will obtain a CPL from the university officials for each admission to that campus.
Who started Collegedunia?
Sahil Chalana, a BITS Pilani Alumnus founded Collegedunia.
The global world has become a home where sincere and eager learners have 24-7 worldwide access to a number of personal tutors and guidance all at the same time, each professor giving expert advice to the keen minds and helping them. The virtual tutors tend to explain their subjects in simpler ways comparatively, they also teach them in a practical language and are even willing to repeat classes. And the amazing part is all this comes free or at a minimal cost. One of the overly amazing platform has been established known as Udemy.
The efforts of education entrepreneurs are revolutionizing traditional learning methods by replacing classroom instruction and fixed curricula with self-paced, online education and instruction from subject experts around the world. Online education gives freedom as sources of knowledge are free wherever they may be found.
Udemy is the world’s largest online learning platform and was founded by Eren Bali in 2010, aiming mainly to educate adults and students. Udemy has a huge student database with more than 30 million students learning worldwide. A total of 50,000 instructors teaching courses in over 65 languages covering over 245 millioncourse enrollments over a period.
Udemy is a platform where the user gets access to a database of new courses and gets wide exposure. The courses from various sectors are available and also in various languages to meet the learner’s expectations.
The founder of Udemy-Eren Bali
Udemy is based in California with $48 million in funding. The company has created a tech platform that allows new instructors to plan, create, design, and produce video instructions for almost any subject.
Udemy targets several different markets. The tutor or instructor who creates the course, the student who takes the course, and organizations that might utilize Udemy technology to create specialized courses as a branded product or for internal employee use.
This platform offers 20,000 video instruction courses divided into different categories with suitable prices. Udemy gives opportunity to more than 10,000 instructors globally. The rapid growth of the student base to acquire knowledge on Udemy is amazing and there are 4 million views for videos.
There are other competitive ed-tech companies like Coursera, Unacademy that have grown their academic institutions online. Udemy, on the other hand, has adopted the unusual path, they came up with an idea of helping candidates to become an instructor on Udemy. Udemy has also built a B2B platform for the Business offering, which targeted a completely different set of target audiences.
Instructor Fees
Udemy does not charge anything from an Instructor to make and publish content. Udemy earns when students purchase a course online. The firm charges 50% for organic purchases and paid advertising on digital media for promoting instructors.
The revenue generated is then shared with instructors. Instructor fees depend upon the mode of purchase opted by the candidate.
Three revenue streams of Udemy:
Instructor Promotion:The instructor receives 97% of the revenue generated on purchases done by using a referral code or link and the other 3% is received by the firm.
Udemy Organic: The sales are called organic when a student explores a course through the site and does not use any referral code. In this case, Udemy receives 50% and the instructor receives an equal amount of the course’s revenue. Udemy charges a 30 percent fee for any sale made through the company’s Android or iOS app.
Paid Acquisition: If any student purchases the courses through paid advertising, displayed by Udemy on channels like YouTube and Google, Udemy takes 75% of each course sale. Instructors get the choice to decide where and how many times the course advertisement should be featured.
Udemy for Business
Udemy has plans for companies as well. With this plan, employees get access to top courses on the Udemy platform.
Udemy has two subscription plans, a Team plan, and an Enterprise plan. The Team plan is aimed at learning groups of 5 to 20 users.
The enterprise plan is suitable for all teams above 21 or more users. Thereon, pricing is available upon request by contacting Udemy’s sales team. Along with access to top courses, Udemy provides custom categories and learning paths, no language limitation (the Team plan is limited to English only), custom user groups, tracking user activity, slack integration, and many more.
In any course of establishing the startup in the market or even after setting it up, marketing has to be given its importance as it attracts more attention and customer base. Udemy has got the power of attracting the target audience and making them believe in online education. In this virtual learning world, there are several marketing strategies of Udemy to count on:
Growth of Course enrolment on Udemy
Specific Goals should be set
Like all the other top businesses, Udemyhas given a sales and revenue target to achieve, to their specific team and get the plan working through online marketing.
Solving Problems of Customers
Acknowledging and solving the doubts and problems of students is a mandatory move. It gives the company an obvious and attractive marketing message and a clear reason for them to purchase the product and in this case, any course on Udemy.
Try getting 5-star reviews
Whenever a user plans to purchase something and makes a choice on which product to buy, he gets and checks all the data in detail about it. The most important thing every customer checks are the product reviews, their ratings and how well the product or its services suits him or her. The companies need to get better reviews by giving customer satisfaction for maintaining the image which will help grow the business in turn.
Choose the Right Keywords and Topics
Marketing in any business is all about hitting on the right nerve of the consumer’s demands and leaving an impact on them whenever the product or service is advertised on any platform. The marketing team needs to use appropriate keywords to get an organic search result from the consumer. The correct keywords will help the users to make a choice. The companies need to make sure the topic is in demand and frequently searched.
Following up on Customers
Following and engaging constantly with customers, in this case, students is all about building relationships with them. This method will make them more comfortable to talk to and have a positive feeling about the company.
Free content to generate leads
Even if a particular product is paid content, free content can go further. Udemy, being an education technology company that offers a variety of online courses on the consumer’s plate has recently seen an 800% growth in traffic after which they lowered down on their content marketing efforts as generating leads through free content helps. The offering of free blog content is an amazing lead generation tool for paid content.
Conclusion
All-time learning at ease is crucial to maintain a position in the world and also for personal growth. The necessary formal coaching is often unavailable or too costly to deliver the education that benefits students in their professions. Udemy is likely to maintain its lead in the online video instruction industry and marketing strongly for its tutors and learners.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cost of the Team plan?
The Team plan costs $360 (USD) per user per year. To get this plan you need a minimum of 5 users.
How does Udemy make money?
Udemy makes money per course sales. The revenue generation through per course sales depends on how the user purchases course. The percentage varies from 3 to 50 % per course sell. Also, Udemy has plans for businesses, it includes access to top Udemy courses, learning path, custom categories, and no language barrier.
The best strategy for Udemy
Understand customers and their problems. Try to solve these problems through your courses. Get good reviews and keep your customer engaged.
A business plan decides the future of a business. It’s working, profit, features, everything is provided in a business plan. But there is no universally accepted template of a business plan – it tends to differ from company to company, owner to owner, product to product, and service to service.
Steps in writing a business plan are very very important, which is why you need to learn how to write a business plan step by step. No matter what the format of the document is, certain sections and components just can’t be missed out, which is why everyone must know how to write up a business plan. Since many people don’t know how to write a business plan.
This write-up is going to present the important points of an ultimate business plan in parts ofEssential sections, business planning tips, and general tips.
How to start a business plan? The first step to write a business plan is portraying it’s Motto and Vision. Quite catchy slides or print-ups with interesting quotes and catchy vocabulary doesn’t make it an excellent business plan. Remember, the vision and mission are two important factors of an excellent business plan section, you can also check some samples of a business plan to get an idea of it and come up with your own.
One of the top business plan tips is writing a simple one-liner that exudes the vision of one’s venture, creating a formidable impression on potential investors instead of long descriptive write-ups with no mention of the vision and the motto of business.
Sales and Marketing Figure
As the sharks on “Shark Tanks” say let’s talk about numbers because business is all about numbers, isn’t it? So this section is an insight into the true potential of the business. It highlights the existing funds raised, predicted sales over the financial year, marketing costs, andROI, etc, and is an important part of any small business plan.
The key point of writing a business plan is not to exaggerate or bluff data in any way. The tip for writing a good business plan is providing data about the real sales of the business and giving a pictorial representation such as charts and graphs to elucidate the intended message. It’s better than creating a large table, spanning over several slides or pages. You can also check the best business plan template to understand how it can be written.
Also, give an estimate of the turnover that the business is planning to make in the upcoming year. This will eventually make the investor ponder about the investment portfolio. These are the main things to remember if you don’t know how to write a business proposal.
Sales and Marketing go hand in hand
Operating Strategy
The major purpose and hassle of creating a business plan is to decide the operating strategy of how the entire business will operate as this is the part of writing a great business plan. Every good business plan will describe the process flow in terms of how the entire business would operate and endeavor. After all, any execution method is best understood when one is aware of its algorithm, in other words how the execution process takes place, because that is what is the bottom line of all the hard work.
Many people don’t know how to write a business plan executive summary. The ultimate business plan is usually confined to a page or two, the executive summaryought to paint the entire picture without going into further details. The value proposition is an essential component of this summary and shouldn’t be skipped.
It’s advised to write the executive summary after drafting the entire business plan because by picking important ideas from other sections of the document, a concise crux can be formulated. You can follow many guides to writing a business plan or check for a free business plan template to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
Target Market Analysis
A no-brainer would be aiming to sell the product or service to everyone out there without any research and analysis which is why writing a business plan is important. This is the main part of how to write a business plan. A niche item would attract only a particular segment of the customers. When you write up a business plan it is necessary to let whoever is reviewing the business plan to figure out the audience that the venture is targeting.
Product or Service in Question
Imagine you are on a flight and don’t know the destination of it, will it make any sense? No of course, right? Likewise, without specifying the product and its specifications that the business intends to disseminate, it makes the entire document meaningless. Among all the steps to write a business plan, it is an important step to add specifications of the product.
Are you going to explain a chemistry experiment without specifying the substances and compounds involved? A startup business plan will always have a list of product dimensions, working, identified flaws and workarounds, usage, demand in the market, etc. A description should be mentally stimulating so that the customer can envision the entire thing before owning it.
The business plan must include a section that consists of a short profile of each member involved in the startup/company. This is the top business plan tip as it provides a parameter to evaluate the credibility of the business from the eyes of a VC or Angel Investor. It is the main part of how to do a business plan. The reasoning is clear—the ethics, personality, and various other attributes of the founder and his team are reflected in the final product.
This may seem absurd to some but pondering over it does ring a bell as it is setting up a business plan. Also, if the business is being mentored by some kind of advisory committee, it is a testament to the fact that the business can turn profitable otherwise experienced individuals would have stayed away from guiding such a venture and that is why it is an important part of business plans for any startups.
Financial Summary
Not to be confused with the sales figure section, the financial summary resembles a probable balance sheet and this is one of the top business planning tips. Revenue projections give an idea of the rewards you expect for the efforts you put in running the business because the numbers on the plan will surely speak your company’s story to the presenters because as mentioned earlier, numbers play all the game in business. A financial summary is part of a good business plan.
Future Requirements
One reason which makes a businessman work hard is the growth of itsbusiness in the future and a sample of the business plan must have this. Even if it is a small business plan, it must have future requirements as the future needs are going to vary when compared to the current ones.
For example, if the investment required at present is a six-digit figure, it may become an eight-digit one to sustain the business as time progresses. However, justification of the predicted requirements ought to be mentioned to make sense. You can check free business plan templates to see how this can be listed out.
While writing a business plan you don’t want to create a rip-off. The idea is to be unique with one or moreunique selling points to stand out from rivals in the same segment. This is among the important steps to write a business plan, an analysis with existing products with nearly the same functionality helps to bring out the USP and also gives you the scale to make your product better than the competitors. Any guide to writing a business plan will have a competitive analysis in it.
Guide to Writing A Business Plan
Some Tips and Business Plan Suggestions
Don’t make the business plan boring by leaving out graphics. Not losing the listener or reader’s attention determines the outcome is one of the best tips for writing a business plan.
The best business plans include an appendix to make traversing across the document easily.
Executive summary in the beginning or at the end won’t make much of a difference as long as the entire plan is cohesive and is part of a good business plan.
There are various types of business plans, you can figure out want you want by looking for the best business plan template. Research about them before choosing a free business plan template.
Don’t read it out like a textbook when presenting the plan somewhere. It is one of the main steps in writing a business plan and you should know the key points and themes to sound convincing.
Every startup business plan details the strengths and weaknesses of the business, and how you are going to seize the opportunity if provided.
One of the other business planning tips is using the same indentation and formatting throughout the document. The sudden transition from a times new roman 16 to comic sans 24 can be disturbing and agonizing.
While writing up a business plan, make it a story-based interactive session because no one likes to listen to lectures where you are not allowed to interact. The more people are going to interact, the more they will indulge in your business plan.
The most important tip while writing a business plan, be the master of the plan that you have created to monitor your business. Go through each point thoroughly, make sure you are aware of all the numbers, all the future expectations, and anticipations, growth, etc. Make sure you are satisfied with the small business plan you have created.
Avoid these Mistakes while drafting a Business Plan
Drafting a business plan requires intense focus and integrity as it forms the backbone of the entire business. Many people get confused about how to write a business proposal. Remember that when you are writing a business plan it should outline both the present and future strategy of the business, elucidate necessary points, facts, and stats around which it revolves.
Simply put, it can make or break everything at stake. You can check out the best business plan template to avoid making these mistakes. Here is a list of dont’s that should be kept in mind while creating your ultimate business plan:-
Worn out Phrases
Phrases like ‘disruptive’and game-changing are over-used and stale; avoid using them in the draft. These words may show what the business is but evade its idea in an actual sense. Avoiding worn-out phrases is a part of the steps to writing a good business plan.
The plan here is to make the readers/clients/investors resonate with the business plan and convey the right message when propagated to others. Moreover, cliched expressions make you sound over-ambitious and over-confident in nature and is not good for a good business plan. It might be the greatest plan on the planet but claims that are beyond your capabilities are a bummer.
Don’t use the word ‘DONE’ to Describe your Business
The theory behind the working of a business plan is that it keeps on going forever; business is a cycle ofimplement-improve-repeat. Using ‘done’may put an end to your aspirations outlined in the business plan. If you want an ultimate business plan process then you should PLAN-RUN-REVIEW-REVISE when repeated takes the business to the next level.
This is why when you are writing a great business plan, using the words finished and done makes the plan one-dimensional and less prone to getting success. Always keep it open-ended in nature and sound optimistic throughout the draft and follow all steps in writing a business plan.
Never Calculate the Sales from a Big Market
At the same time, don’t consider the segment you’re targeting as a small percentage of a large market. Forecast the details like stores, distributors, users, subscribers, click and emails, etc. Keep everything upwards, not downwards in business plans for startups.
Avoid Extreme and Unsupported Optimism
Not involving the risk factors involved can be a deranged factor for the company’s future if the words mentioned in the business plan take twice as long to make half as much as forecast.
Don’t Fill The Business Plan With The Product’s Or Service’s Technical Specification Or Characteristics. Keep it at a minimum. Emphasize more on questions like:
What problem are you going to solve for the client?
How are you going to solve the problem?
What is the product’s value proposition?
Outline the answers to these questions in your business plan. Be careful about what you put in the business plan because it’s your business canvas while setting up a business plan. Deliberate thoroughly, ponder all possibilities and points, don’t make wild claims, stick to the facts, and finally avoid the mistakes explained above!
What is the most important part of a business plan?
The executive summary is the most important part of your business plan, and perhaps the only one that will get read, so make it perfect! The executive summary has only one objective: get the investor to read the rest of your business plan.
What is in a good business plan?
A company often needs a business plan before it can borrow money from a bank. Good plans are usually highly detailed and include information on all aspects of the business, including the industry, marketing, personnel, finance, and various operating procedures.
What are the 4 types of business plans?
Business plans can be divided roughly into four distinct types:
With so many educational startups like BYJU’S, Toppr, Vedantu, Unacademy, UpGrad, etc. emerging around the corner, raising millions from the students of India, few international platforms like Brainly are also paving their way to take their bite from one of the biggest youth-oriented countries.
Let’s see how this 11-year old edtech company set to surmount the world’s e-learning market.
Brainly is an education technology company based in Krakow, Poland. Brainly provides a knowledge-sharing community where millions of students, teachers as well as parents share knowledge and solve each other’s problems. It has become the world’s largest social learning network, having reported 250 million monthly users per month across the 35 countries it serves, among which 15 million users are from India itself.
Brainly, as it describes itself, is a place for students, by students. The motto of Brainly is Smarter Together. Mainly built for high school and middle school students, all types of solutions and help can be found in this application, be it about Mathematics, History, Calculus, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Social Studies, Health, Business, Arts, World Languages, Law, Computers and Technology, Engineering, Medical Sciences, French, German, etc. and many more.
Moreover, Brainly makes its usage more interesting by granting points to its users when they answer questions posted by others. And it awards ranks to users based on their frequency and accuracy of solving problems. The website also provides teacher ranks to professional teachers. So peers can have a healthy competitive environment among themselves while also enjoying the website and learning together.
Brainly Introduction
Brainly – Foundation
Brainly was founded in 2009 by three friends Michal Borkowski, Lukasz Haluch, and Tomasz Kraus. Since then, it has set up its headquarters in New York City, United States, and Krakow, Poland; and expanded its venture over 35 countries, raising 38.5 million dollars from its seven investors, including Naspers which also fundedBYJU’s.
Brainly – Story of Startup Launch
Michal Borkowski | Co-founder and CEO of Brainly
The inspiration to start this multi-million dollar company came from Michal Borkowski, co-founder and CEO of Brainly. Before Brainly, Michal worked for Q&A networks and got to understand from it that subject-specific Q&As perform better than general Q&As. This later became the original inspiration behind Brainly.
Brainly was launched at the time when edtech companies were not much encouraged and it was difficult to find investors. So the three founders funded their company themselves and took the risk, and within a year, their decision got paid off as millions of students were starting to use Brainly to know more, and to know faster, in a click. And today Brainly claims to have built the world’s largest social learning network.
The Brains behind Brainly.Michal Borkowski, Lukasz Haluch and Tomasz Kraus.
Brainly – History
The company was initially named Zadane.pl. In 2011, just 2 years after the company’s birth, it created Znanija.com, the first international project dedicated to Russian language speakers. After that, the growth of this company had no turning back and raised several funds from large capital firms. The total funds raised by the company since its establishment is reported to be $68.5 million.
In 2017, Zadane.pl changed to Brainly. In January 2018, Brainly announced the ownership of the video education startup, Bask, to bring video technology to the Brainly platform.
Brainly – Business Model
After conquering the world, Brainly is now all set to expand in India by focusing on vernacular content. It has already created a 15 million userbase in India within 2 years, the same as India’s first and only edtech unicorn BYJU’s. Brainly conducted a survey for Indian students and found that its users comprise of 42% secondary and 39% higher secondary grade students.
However, Brainly has not yet monetized its services in India. According to Michal Borkowski, the CEO and co-founder, Brainly is giving priority to the growth of its reach to every potential user over profits. It has planned an efficient business model for rooting in India.
India offers a huge market to Bainly. People here are more willing to spend their salaries on their kid’s education than any other sectors. The building competition among students and the pressure to succeed put up by parents acts as a boon to Brainly’s market opportunities.
Moreover, students are dissatisfied with their schools, complaining that the schools are unable to prepare them for their careers. So here comes the need of an easy-to-go help source.
Unlike most other edtech companies established in India that provide competitive exam preparations and tedious learning programs, Brainly focuses on specific, curriculum-related problems and skill strengthening through connecting students together.
India’s Education Market
Brainly – Challenges Faced
Brainly’s current strategy is to build the student community and work on the content to ensure the best quality possible. But India also poses some challenges.
Lack of a unified syllabus in India also puts the company in trouble. So it does not follow a specific curriculum so that it can have a wider userbase of all school subjects.
Seeking the vernacular language is also a tough and elaborate job. India, having 22 official languages and thousands of regional ones, Brainly has to launch in languages other than English and Hindi in order to attract all types of students.
Brainly’s multifaceted community of experts encloses students who help answer other students’ questions, be it a complex calculus question, or a conceptual question about a reading based assignment, or any inquiry regarding studying strategy for any career-related goals. So it assures verified and reliable solutions and to its users and builds a sense of trust for itself.
As Brainly puts its concept in a line, “No one knows everything, but everyone knows something. With Brainly, students combine their strengths and talents to tackle problems together.”
With such great perspective and an efficient and dedicated team constantly working to refine its business model and open to new ideas; the day does not seem to be far away when Brainly will become every Indian student’s goto app.
FAQs
Is Brainly a free app?
You can always access most of the content and features available on Brainly for free. But if you wish to access all of the answers on Brainly, including Verified Answers with 100% uninterrupted access, you can purchase a Brainly Plus subscription!
When was Brainly founded?
Brainly was founded in September 2009 in Poland by founders – Michal Borkowski, Lukasz Haluch and Tomasz Kraus.
Do you get paid on Brainly?
Brainly doesn’t give you money. It works like Quora, where you answer questions to get points, and then use those points to ask questions and clear your doubts.
Is Brainly Indian?
No. Brainly is a Polish EdTech, headquartered at New York. It is available to use in India though.
As we move higher in the digital realm, education is also undergoing significant changes. Since the last decade we have seen a lot of E-learning platforms mushrooming across the world and India was not an exception. As pandemic held on to their natural course of life, digital learning platforms were an abode of hope and connectivity.
Even before the pandemic, these firms had significantly reduced the issues of physical accessibility, unequal distribution of facilities etc. Among a large variety of online learning platforms Vedantu was one platform that stood out and was committed to providing quality education to every student associated with it.
Vedantu was founded in 2011 by Vamshi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena and Anand Prakash. The firm is owned by Vedantu Innovations Private Limited. Their business model is explicated below.
The most important resource that the firm relies upon is the quality of the teachers and the skill set of the technical team. The live interaction of the teachers along with their ability to adapt and improvise depending on the requirements of the students have significantly helped in the growth of Vedantu.
Being an online platform the structure and organisation is also as important as the skill sets of the teachers. They have a very well organised website at the perusal of the students.
Vedantu Website
Key Activities of Vedantu
The major activity that drives Vedantu forward are their live classes and materials. Apart from that they also provide various free courses and free materials that are useful for classes from 6 to 12 and also for students preparing for various competitive examinations.
These free classes and materials are in fact testers which the students can use before they decide to sign up for their paid services. Their classes are mostly live and cover the syllabuses of all subjects from class 6 to 12. The price of the paid services vary depending upon the class of the student and also the courses that they wish to enroll in.
Value Proposition of Vedantu
One of the major highlights of this EdTech company is it’s personalised classes and live interaction. Unlike the pre-recorded classes of its competitors, it ensures that they hire skilled teachers who are capable of devising better learning methods based on the requirements and mindsets of the students.
This unique customisation is inclusive of white boarding technologies, video, two way audio et cetera. This startup is also a favourite choice for students who are preparing for competitive examinations.
Like most of the online classes Vedantu also records live classes for the benefit of absent students. They ensure better affordability and accessibility by providing classes and support that functions even with low internet bandwidth.
Vedantu has to incur a lot of expenses like any other offline operating firms. The company spends a large part of its revenue on the teachers, depending on their experience and their contribution of courses to the platform.
Including the teachers there are over 1300 employees working in the firm whose salaries need to be catered to. Vedantu thrives on advertisements and promotions for which they spend another large part of their revenue.
Revenue Stream of Vedantu
Vedantu has only a single revenue stream which is through their subscription model. It is safe to conclude that this start-up follows a B2C formula to connect to it the end users. B2C stands for Business to Consumer.
In the subscription model they charge students a certain amount of money depending on their class, course, duration of the course et cetera. These plans vary widely and hence his pocket friendly. You can choose one depending on your needs. So as to ensure credibility and assured quality they also have many demo classes.
The popularity of these subscriptions are accelerating over the years and in 2019 the number of subscriptions almost doubled than that of the previous year. Although they have a single revenue stream, they make sure that they make the best out of it.
Through their Unique Selling Proposition and marketing strategies, Vedantu have been successful in establishing itself as a reputed online learning platform. It has received various funding’s right from the pre-seed rounds.
Investors like Ramaswamy, Accel, Trifecta Capital Advisors, GGV capital, KB Global Platform Fund, Legend Capital et cetera are a few of them. Recently this Bangalore-based educational startup raised $100 million during its series D funding round from a US-based investment firm named Coatue.
After this, Vedantu is valued at $600 million from earlier $275 million as on February 2020. They have been able to raise nearly $200 million till now.
FAQ
What is the valuation of Vedantu?
The valuation of Vedantu is $600 million as of 2021.
Who is the founder of Vedantu?
Vamsi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Anand Prakash, and Saurabh Saxena are the founders of Vedantu.
Who are the competitors of Vedantu?
Chegg, BYJU’S, Meritnation, Toppr, Wonderschool and Simplilearn are the competitors of Vedantu.
Vibhavari Madki
