Byju Before BYJU’s: The Making Of The World’s Most Valuable Edtech Company

Byju Before BYJU’s: The Making Of The World’s Most Valuable Edtech Company

SUMMARY

Byju Raveendran turned his idea to bring learning to every home into the world’s most recognisable edtech brand

From Orkut groups to BYJU’s, the charismatic founder has an inspiring story for every teacher with the message ‘Settle For More’

In a conversation with Inc42, Raveendran shares his journey with BYJU's and what went into making it

History tells us, great teachers didn’t travel across the globe, their teachings did. One of the greatest writers of all time, Leo Tolstoy, had been a teacher and an educationist at his core. His experiments and teachings, be it at Yasnaya Polyana or through The Kingdom of God Is Within You inspired revolutionary minds such as Vladimir Lenin and Mahatma Gandhi who even went on to set up Tolstoy Farm in Johannesburg, South Africa during his time there.The fact of the matter is that Indian education has always relied on the teacher’s cult persona, from Gurukul period to today, when a movie (Super 30) personifying a math teacher in Bihar went on to garner INR 150 Cr at the box office.“Offline education has its limits,” Raveendran recalls the realisation that struck him nearly a decade ago. In 2011, he founded the eponymous BYJU’s in Bengaluru.“Having studied at a state government school in non-English medium, I had to teach myself, first. I had to learn subjects like math and science on my own. Thanks to my interests in sports, I learnt English through listening to cricket commentary.”What was meant to be a vocational programme, soon became his full-time job. Raveendran didn’t go back to join the job.However, unlike other founders who usually start chasing investors right after the setup, Raveendran didn’t raise any funding for the first few years.“They had a choice to join the big MNCs like McKinsey, BCG etc, yet they not only chose BYJU’s but all of them are still with us. It’s a validation, a testimony for us.”

If Yasnaya Polyana, which began life back in the 19th century, was an attempt to challenge the then-existing conventional education system in Russia, in India, there has always been an alternate and supplementary educational system in since ages. The increasing reliance on edtech and online courses testify against the broken conventional educational system.

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