As the title says. Have worked close to 10 years now in this industry. Can answer on how sales, marketing and operations work here. Never had visibility on funding etc but have seen the ill effects of toxic VC money
I recently shifted to edtech, do you see this as a promising sector in the future or just surviving on VC money?
This currently only surviving on VC money and I think this has done more harm than good to the society. Education can’t be scaled very fast, it needs time and patience. At the end edtech can create value, but not necessarily money. Education should be a social good and shouldn’t be seen as a traditional business. Things can change if people who actually teach can start running these companies as well.
Is the impression that Edtech firms have been all about rapid scaling fair in your opinion and is there really value to be gained as an Edtech business with more gradual and organic growth
Rapid scaling is bad. Perfecting to teach for outcomes, takes time. Edtechs can move faster than universities but not at their current pace.
For most companies, why is sales more important iF EdTech is such a big need of the country?
Because they don’t perfect their product and straightaway jump into selling. Also most run on venture capital, there is an unrealistic vc greed that they need to chase. Easiest short term fix for them is to splurge on marketing and sales.
In K12 your user and buyer are different. Student, who is your primary user and engaged in your product does not have purchasing power. Parents have hardly interacted with your product and the sales person becomes in picture
Thoughts on online MBAs ?
thoughts on mastersunion/stoa?
The thought behind these ventures is not really bad, but the moment you have very traditional management running the show, things start falling apart. I don’t know the team in these two companies so can’t comment, but believe educators with managerial talent, should be running the show.
EdTech firms chase unrealistic ARPUs. Leading to high CAC, miscommitments by sales teams and low satisfaction. EdTech delivers a certain value in today's construct and if you want more money than the value it delivers, you need a sales push backed by big marketing muscle - this is not sustainable.
Exactly!!
Your thoughts on platforms like scaler?
I think now its just VC money and VC greed forcing them to grow. Interview bit was good and in general i feel they seem to know what they are doing, but the scale they are targeting is very large, its some times important to have patient investors.
Alongside Edtech boom, there was also a boom in BDA/Growth roles. Is it just a fancy word for Sales?
Yes, traditional MBA folks running the show in these places think very linearly, more sales folks more revenue, then to sustain revenues you needs leads (Growth/Marketing)
With over 10+ years of experience in Product management within the insurance and Fintech sector, I’ve realized that product management is still not understood/defined well as a role. I’m open to all sort of queries.
Very cool How is it working at PolicyBazaar? Does the product evolve a lot? How do you folks look at Acko?
Working for one of the leading EdTech platforms. Ever wondered what goes on here or want to know things from the other side AMA and I’ll try answering as much as I can.
I have been on this journey for a long time now. Lots of failure comes with loads of learning. Each step or initiative I took has helped me grow as a person, the business guy (ed-tech, media space), and also in terms of technicalities (f...
