Building a Terrific EdTech Venture in India: Pallav Pandey, CEO of Uolo (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: I have coached and mentored hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs. As a rule, I advise people not to follow this principle of releasing a free app or any kind of free service thinking that we will figure it out later. I want you to hypothesize that you are going to do a free app and it’s going to get a number of users. What is your premium service?

I don’t actually like freemium. I like free trial. Something you use for three months for free and then you pay for it. If that is a viable go-to-market strategy, do this business. Otherwise, don’t do this business. This is my mantra.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped Multiple Education Software Companies

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Lane Rankin, Founder at Illuminate Education, was first a teacher, then a school and school district administrator. His background is not of a typical tech entrepreneur. However, his deep domain knowledge and relationships in the education field have propelled him to become a very successful EdTech entrepreneur. Great story!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Lane Rankin: I’m currently in California. I was born in Seattle, Washington. I have a Bachelors degree in Applied Mathematics and went on to get a Masters in Leadership. I started my first company back in 1999.

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The Paradigm Shift in EdTech: Why Online Learning Startups Are the Future

Online learning has exploded in popularity over the last decade. In Covid, the field has found a tremendous force multiplier.

Many founders are now turning to online education for startup ideas. Here’s why: it can be extremely profitable because online courses do not require physical classrooms, startup costs are more affordable, and startup time frames are shorter. The ability to scale fast makes this space very attractive for new ventures.

The education world has made a shift in the last decade from a sage-on-stage model to a guide-on-side model. In the former, teachers lectured to students in an auditorium format. In the latter, kids were assigned YouTube or Khan Academy videos as homework, and they did exercises in class with the teacher assisting as needed.

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Best of Bootstrapping: EdTech Unicorn First Bootstrapped from Canada

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

In 2020, D2L CEO John Baker shared this terrific story of bootstrapped entrepreneurship in EdTech.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

John Baker: I’m based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I was born in a fishing village on the northeast coast of Newfoundland. When I was 22 years and in my third year of engineering at the University of Waterloo, I started a company with the mission of transforming the way the world learns. 

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Building a European EdTech Unicorn from Vienna, Austria: Felix Ohswald, CEO of GoStudent (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Talk about financing. Before the pivot, you raised $3 million. What happens after the pivot?

Felix Ohswald: We raised $600 million in all.

Sramana Mitra: What was the next round immediately after the pivot?

Felix Ohswald: We pivoted in 2019. We had 12 months where we tested out a couple of things. At the beginning of 2020, we raised our Series A round of €8 million from a VC firm in New York and London. With that money, we pushed in our international expansion.

Building a European EdTech Unicorn from Vienna, Austria: Felix Ohswald, CEO of GoStudent (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You said you talk to parents to map out a journey. Can you double-click down on that a bit? How much tutoring does a family require?

Felix Ohswald: On average, a family consumes eight sessions per month. That’s two sessions per week. One session is about 50 minutes in our case. On average, one kid has about two teachers. Over the whole learning journey of the kid, the child uses up to two teachers. Most of the time, this is in one particular subject. In a market like Germany, the number one reason why families take tutoring is that a kid struggles in a subject.

Building a European EdTech Unicorn from Vienna, Austria: Felix Ohswald, CEO of GoStudent (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What about Indian companies? There are a whole bunch of players that are doing really well like CueMath.

Felix Ohswald: Two markets that have always been quite advanced when it comes to education businesses are India and China. China had some regulation changes last year that made it difficult for these businesses to operate. In India, you have about 10,000 active EdTech companies. The thing is a lot of the players are focused on their core market. India is already so big that there is enough room for the companies to operate.

Building a European EdTech Unicorn from Vienna, Austria: Felix Ohswald, CEO of GoStudent (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: For those three years, you ran this site of letting students ask questions and answering those questions?

Felix Ohswald: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: Was there financing involved?

Felix Ohswald: Yes, we raised about €3 million.

Sramana Mitra: From whom?