I’m convinced that life will test you with the same challenge until you learn the lesson. The same fight in every relationship. The same burnout in every job. The same regret in every missed chance. Until you do the inner work, the outer world won’t change.
My journey with @gauravmunjal started long before Unacademy. At CommonFloor, I acquired his company, Flatchat. One day, Gaurav came to me with the idea of Unacademy. I wanted him to stay and continue building with us, but the idea of democratizing education was so powerful, and its potential impact so meaningful, that I couldn’t say no. Instead, I wrote the first angel cheque.
Years later, I joined the journey myself: first by building Graphy, and eventually by leading the entire Test Prep business.
One of my fondest memories is travelling in an Unacademy T-shirt. At airports, CISF personnel would recognise Unacademy just from the Glyph on my T-shirt. They would come up to me and say that they had studied on Unacademy and that it had helped them crack their exams.
Somehow, those conversations made long flights feel shorter and warmer. That was the power of the brand we had built and the impact it had created.
We built products that were loved by users and competitors alike. We probably helped our competitors hire fewer product managers because of us. :)
Over the years, we did four ESOP buybacks, including our most recent ₹50 crore buyback just a few months ago. We always tried to do right by our people. Even during layoffs, some of the hardest decisions we ever had to make, we went above and beyond when it came to severance and other benefits.
Unacademy’s Free Platform created a generation of celebrity educators, while our YouTube videos have been watched over 10 billion times. Our Live Courses Subscription model went on to become the industry norm. Graphy today empowers creators across the world and does over ₹400 crore in Annual GMV, while PrepLadder has become the go-to platform for medical students.
A heartfelt thank you to all our current team members who stood by us and didn’t abandon the ship through the toughest times; to everyone who has been part of our journey over the years; to our incredible educators; to my co-founders; and to our investors who believed in us and backed us along the way.
When I look back at where it all started, the simple idea of democratizing education, and the millions of lives we touched along the way, I think we can say one thing with a smile:
We did crack it. 🙂
Here’s a hard lesson: You can optimize the life out of your life. You can obsess over removing all friction, but somewhere along the way, you realize that the friction created meaning. That easier does not always equal better. That the hard way is often the right way.
A lesson I wish I learned earlier: Your entire life will change the moment you stop looking for more information and start acting on the information you already have.
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
We'll be hosting in-person eChai metups in 7 cities in India today.
1. Mumbai Startup Meetup at DevX Andheri East from 11 am to 1 pm
2. Pune D2C Startups Meetup at Mauji - The Time Cafe from 11 am to 1 pm
2. Pune SaaS Startups Meetup at Ideas to Impacts Hub from 4 pm to 6 pm
3. Delhi-NCR Startups Meetup at DevX Noida from 5 pm to 7 pm
4. Hyderabad Startup Meetup at DevX Hitec City from 6 pm to 8 pm
5. Bengaluru FinTech Meetup at Draper Startup House from 6 pm to 8 pm
6. Surat: Marketing for Startups at iKoVerk from 6 pm to 8 pm
7. Ahmedabad: Scaling Up Your Startupat CIIE. CO, IIM Ahmedabad from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm.
Free registration at https://t.co/iTHcPxS61N
You'll be able to see the list of some of the featured participants on the individual event links.
#eChai #Startups
Kudos to @DunzoIt🎉, emerging as the frontrunner and seizing the spotlight in the VCCircle People's Choice Awards, clinching the most votes this week.
Your preferred startup could be next in line. Stay tuned for further developments! 🚀
#StartupChangemakers#VCCircle
VC: Can you send me your five-year projections?
#SaaS Founder: Are you nuts!? We live one quarter at a time. And the only thing we know for sure is that we will survive.
I didn't make that up, I promise! 👆
Such $wagger does exist. 💯
It exists in the form of @sakshitulsian and @atulsian who have defied norms, battled innumerable odds and emerged triumphant with @Posist.
Delve into their untold story >> https://t.co/9ANhP0OFsq
#Startups #TheGritStories