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- Опубликовано: 29 июл 2024
- Byju Raveendran dipped his toes in edtech as early as 2009 with his business's first website, Noesis. Noesis is a philosophical term in Greek philosophy referring to the activity of the intellect. On this site, Byju Raveendran describes himself as zealous, extraordinary, and peerless.
In August 2009, Noesis partnered with Times of India to offer a one-day computer-based mock CAT in major cities across India. The financial success of this experiment was formative for Byju, whose eyes were opened to the massive scope of edtech for the first time.
In the midst of all of this, peerless Byju Raveendran had found an equal in one of his students: Divya Gokulnath. In her personal blog, she describes herself as a fearless rebel who lives life spontaneously. They were married in 2009 and Divya Gokulnath became a BYJU'S co-founder in 2011. Today, Divya Gokulnath is an essential part of the company.
Realising that Noesis didn't roll off the tongue, in 2011 Byju Raveendran rebranded the company to WE Global, WE standing for Winning Edge. By this point he had adopted a freemium model - students could take mock tests for free and if they were impressed, they could pay for classes.
The freemium model extended to classes themselves, too. Students could take one free workshop before deciding whether or not to join, and even after joining Byju promised a full refund if the student wasn't satisfied - which had never happened, apparently.
In December of 2011, Byju made the pivot from WE Global to Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd. which is the parent company of BYJU'S today. A year later, in December of 2012, BYJU'S made the fateful decision to raise their first round of venture capital: $10M from Manipal Group.
By 2013, BYJU'S truly came into their own as an edtech company. They had already scaled their class' reach via VSAT streaming, but in 2013 they began offering their students tablets in partnership with Samsung. They charged ₹6,000-50,000 annually for their courses.
They were charging ₹6,000-50,000 annually for their courses back then, and had brought in gross revenue of ₹14 crore.
In 2015 with the launch of their app, the company's brand name finally changed from BYJU'S Classes to the monolithic BYJU'S that it is today.
In August of 2020, BYJU'S acquired WhiteHat Jr and all hell broke loose, because WhiteHat Jr was notorious for using misleading, FOMO-centric advertising to manipulate parents into buying their courses. Anyone who spoke out about them was sued by the company including Pradeep Poonia and Aniruddha Malpani. Their social media accounts were blocked, videos were taken down, and to this day, Dhruv Rathee’s video on WhiteHat Jr is censored to avoid a take down. And yet in spite of all of this, Byu Raveendran seemed pretty confident that this was going to be a solid acquisition, that WhiteHat Jr would be beneficial to BYJU’S. His tone has changed in recent months though, as WhiteHat Jr appears to be a loss-leader for the company.
Today, BYJU'S is in a debt crisis, and they're looking at Aakash to solve this problem for them via an IPO. They are planning to raise $1 billion from Aakash’s IPO and would use that money to repay their loans. And the reason why they think this IPO will go well is because Aakash has a great reputation, they’ve been around for a long time, and Indians know that brand. Their focus is entirely on this now. Aakash is an offline business, which is the complete opposite of what they’ve been building for many years. And we’re seeing Unacademy and PhysicsWallah doing the same thing here, moving into the offline space. The only difference between them and BYJU’S is that they grew way too fast in the online direction, and ended up with customers who couldn’t pay EMIs, banks who expect those EMIs to be repaid, leading to huge losses. They didn’t want those losses published because that would destroy their credibility, but they seem to be doing that anyways by withholding that info from lenders who expect BYJU’S to give them an audit of their financials.
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The student shaming tactic is such a disgusting sales method but it is highly prevalent. Kudos to you guys for talking about it!
That actually even happened to me but I was able to see through the obvious ploy.
@@SUPRFCexactly same thing happened with me
even the same happened with me 2 times
@@SUPRFC i did but my parents didn't
I was in High School, 2015-16, preparing for my 10th ICSE, Byju's approached my mom and said after you pay x amount of money, they will give a pendrive which has all the course material. I said no and learnt PCM from Khan Academy for free. As a high school student I knew it was not worth the money, they were just creating FOMO for my parents and trying to make me feel dumb xD
Khan Academy has Indian courses?
Khan Academy is goated 🔥
@@krishnannarayanan8819yep
IKR! Khan academy has everything this slime ball offers at a premium. Why would anyone pay such exorbitant sums of money?!
@@krishnannarayanan8819Bait comment to get likes.
It is so satisfying to see a company going bankrupt from which you were fired 😍
Was it really that toxic? How are the founders? Have you met them in person?
@@rimadas1910 work environment was really good at least for folks in tech team environment it was great but layoffs were happening every 2-3 months interval
@@rimadas1910 It was really toxic, You always had to reach unimaginable tight schedule goals with no rests whatsoever. Also the cuckold culture in the office was pretty noticeable too
@@omega1945what’s the cuckold culture?
Lol
One incident happened with me in 2015. Byjus used to take aptitude test and then offer some scholarship. I was given some scholarship and they called my father and asked him to come to one of their office just for talking. So me and my father went there and we were made to go into a small room. In few minutes their counsellor/sales person came and as soon as she entered she asked me question and I wasn't able to answer it. I was feeling ashamed in front of my father. But father supported me in front of her saying that the answer was right😂😂. She said what if I called one of their teachers and ask them to take my test. I said on her face that I won't be able to answer .
Then she started demotivating me saying things like how will you compete with others. You have no future etc if you don't start preparation for engineering.
Then she started talking good things about company. That they give tablet to their students.
Father had a Nokia keypad phone during that time. She looked at it and said that you father has a keypad phone but they will give a tablet which will be very helpful. After that we were going to leave and she asked us o contact them if we want to enrol there.
I was completely embarrassed as we left for home. But my father wasn't 😂😂. Saying it happens and it's fine. And one or two questions doesn't prove my inability to excel in life.
Father asked me if I want to join and I replied no.
It was a nice experience and I laugh whenever I remember that.
That's how a father should be. He is a hero.❤
Kudos to your dad. And good on you not to give in!
Career launcher did the exact same thing and i understand it after so many years, i completed 12 th in 2014 :P. Your father and you are way smarter than i was back then :)
Your father is gem 💎
This is beautiful and all parents should be supportive of their kids
Sister's marriage: 🧍♂️
Byju's downfall: ⚰️🕴
lmao so true
What is that 🤔?
@@frzxv2213coffin dance ⚰️ 🕺
🤣🤣👌🏻
@@frzxv2213casual clothes for sis' marriage
,tuxedo for byjus funeral
Victims of byjus shaming raise the hand ✋🏻i am also was the part byjus sharing program. they humiliated me infront of everyone that I was just average student and broke my self confidence. it was so traumatic in my childhood that I couldn't focus onto my studies.
Do you mean when the Byjus salesmen come to your home and ask you questions?
Back in 2020 (10th std) my dad got influenced by Byjus and inquired about it. The salesmen came next day, started asking questions from 10th, I answered easily, three questions later they started asking from further topics 😂 but since I'd covered basic lessons after my 9th finals, I answered even those. Final 2 questions were of Olympiad level. 🤡 Ofc couldn't answer those.
They be like: "Ladka achha hai, par thodi aur mehnat krni padegi, aap iska Byjus mei lagao ham sab sambhal denge"
@@iam.mystic even though every questions very well but still the result shows in their tablet(they carry tablet in which they conduct test you know) an average! You know I was suffering dyslexia and barely managing my psychiatric sessions and pain in the ass this byjus ponzi scheme came to me like a candyman kidnapping children.
@@iam.mysticif you listen to their internal sales meetings, you'd probably feel better how moronic and abusive their bosses were.
They came to our house as well lol
A person who helped so many students get into India's best B-schools, is today a case study for how not to run a business.
Well said. And the irony 😂😂
Greed got to him I guess. 😊
There are better teachers than him who made students come out with flying colors.
Yes then he should not blow money 1200 cores per year to Sponsor Indian cricket team jersey....................If you are in study field.....................invest in Study not stupidity..............
He got greedy and forgot about human ethics
I appreciate how you talked about shaming kids in front of their parents, to get them to enroll in a Byjus program. I have been engaged in UPSC coaching sector for a long time, probably one of the largest coaching areas in all of India, and making students feel dumb is a very common part of their strategy. Ask students questions that they cannot answer, and then make them feel bad for having such a poor academic level of achievement. While it is a horrid practice, it works really well as it undermines the confidence of the students. Overall, if you want to talk about the coaching sector and the tricks that they pull off, you should do a deep study on these marketing tactics that they use, i.e., destroying confidence, asking people questions they cant answer, assessing people publicly in front of their peers, creating FOMO, conducting mock tests where few know the answer to any question, showing how only they possess the silver bullet etc. I would love to interact with you and talk about these tactics. My 8 year experience with the UPSC coaching sector will definitely help in shedding light on some of these shady practices.
Hi, good to see some one from the UPSC Coaching tribe. What you said is right.
Absolutely right bro, this happened with me also, thank God I didn't become one their victim (*_*)
Atleast u should leave it,if u find it unethical !
Are you real or is this a new marketing strategy
@@menakadorothy9832 nothing new, very old strategy
My friend worked for Byjus as a BDE. He would tell me that the core part of their job is deception. They would set up meetings in community centres where they invite target parents and kids, then they start pitching their product by giving kids a small test and they rig these tests create low results and basically make the kids look dumb infront of their parents. They would even force the parents to take a loan from the bank to buy their products. My friend quit after a month when he was forced to make a very poor family buy the products.
er
Good grace to your friend. Dude did the right thing
Nothing but respect for Pradeep Poonia....❤️
Yes the guy that sold his shitty course to poor
Yes but I think at that time WhiteHatJr was not a part of byjus. Or was it?
@@atulkumar943 umm.. I think Whitehatjr. withdrawn the defamation case against Pradeep in 2020. And in the same year, Byju's acquired Whitehatjr. And many more such as Great Learning & all.
Don't know the chronology but yes they both happened in the same year, for sure.
And intersting part was Karan bajaj... who was then founder & CEO of Whitehatjr. Resigned after just one year of Byju's Acquisition.
@@atulkumar943 it was part of Byjus only. Just checked Byjus bought WhiteHatJr in August 2020 and the whole pradeep poonia WhiteHatJr saga started in September 2020. So Byjus only filed the case on him and took down all his social media accounts
@@rohanranjan616 case was withdrawn in 2021 I think
I got in touch with Byju's in 2016, when I was in 9th. First call in, as cool as their app was, going by the call it was definitely more business minded than student minded. Never opted for Byjus even though my brother, an IIM grad, said it's the next best thing going by its investments and bsuiness aspects. I feel if the core of the business, as perceived by the customer, i.e., the student, is bad, then it is going to go down pretty quick. In contrast to Alakh Pandey as a person himself, who was so personally involved.
Alakh pandey was in initial years just like byjus no idea what happens in future
@@silenceplease5904alecc daddy is just a future byju’s
It is very likely that the K-12 market Byju’s has been chasing is not as big as they thought. There are two reasons. First while schools in big Indian cities have reputation issues, the situation is different in smaller towns and villages. The schools there are usually considered adequate by parents, who may also not be as competitive about their kid’s schooling. Second, the vast majority of Indian families dont have lakhs of rupees to augment their kid’s education. That money is better spent on coaching for competitive exams, where returns are greater. This is why Aakash and Unacademy are doing better.
exactly - parents focus on coaching rather than schooling , since it makes more economic sense
Akash is owned by Byju's tho
also school fees inflation has gone up by like 500% or more, so a cheap alternative for 1 to 10 is always sort of alternative by such middle and low income parents
1) Fraudulent accounting
2) Toxic (& unethical) sales tactics
3) Toxic marketing strategies & expenditure
4) Ruthless clamp down of dissent (read free speech)
5) Questionable board composition and shareholding patterns
6) Mindless acquisitions (are they a victim or perpetrator of the ZIRP regime - Zero Interest rates?)
7) Debt defaulting
8) Crazy valuation
9) .....Maybe I am missing half a dozen more
If you have a resume like the above, who will want to root for these guys? Shameful! I sincerely hope Entrepreneurs are not taking any pages from that playbook - here, in India or anywhere else.
Wolf gupta is the main villain
Who the fuck in india names there kid “Wolf”.
They have to pay WOLF GUPTA 😂😂😂
Really apt title in this situation.
Amazing discussion. Not a debate. Lot of nuance information about the company.
38 mins of awesome Morning Podcast! Really love what you guys are doing here.. Thank you Guys :-)
34 minutes
@@varunshahvo-tv9854 ha true, I must have seen the seconds there..
Must watch video for everyone, I used to think Byju's was money focused from the start, but it started on a humble note. Well researched❤
All companies have humble beginnings. Duh. Only after maturity the down roll begins.
I was a Music teacher at Whitehat Jr and the moment it was overtaken by Byjus 70% of Whitehat teachers resigned within 2 months because of new toxic management, unethical practices to get students, and lies that were told to the parents just to get sales.
DM me on Twitter, @caleb_friesen2 ik curious to know more about your experience. -Caleb
As someone who faced the student shaming in front of parents, they asked questions that seemed easy but then if you got it right they would twist the question on some dumb technicality and really went hard on trying to convince my parents that I was dumb even though I got the questions right.
What a great discussion! Thanks a lot.
If he can appoint a capable CEO who can solve these crucial business problems in a year or two, then Byjus can be back on track. Most important irrespective of the Captain of the ship (CEO), a drastic change in their product marketing to be done to change the negative perception.
No killllll then plzzz
He should Hire Wolf Gupta who got Microsoft VP job at 12 in 2020, that boy is 15 now and ready to lead a multi billion dollhair company.
The video really helped me understand what the actual drama is going on. Will be interesting to see how this unfolds in the coming months. The founders' have some really difficult decisions to make. That's why it's so important to not forget a company's values and what they stand for.
BYJUS must fall and set an example for Indian startups. Some of my friends have worked in BYJUS the work culture is too toxic for anyone to even function properly.
What a insightful discussion, please assess more companies.
This was really good discussion. Keep them coming Caleb.
What an amazing video it was. Enjoyed every bit of it. Very well researched.
I am happy that wretched company went down, eventhough they are from my home state.
Respect to Pradeep Poonia and Aniruddha Malpani for fighting for those parents.
I prefer your channel to shark tank india, keep educating people
the real downfall of byjus is the curses of many indian parents who are from poor family background.
Well researched video and nice discussion between you both. It cheers up my mood to see the downfall.... a catastrophic downfall of some company that forced poor parents to pay money to get their children admitted to some fraud online coaching. At such an age only school education should be given priority and fomo mentality of byju's make them think that "students cannot become successful without BYJU's". Not a Physicswallah fan but I can make an open challenge that this Byjus cant become as big as PW or other offline coaching. Most people know about this scam and the growth bubble has already burst.
My prediction is that this company is going to shut down within next 3 to 4 years. All of this PR and marketing stunts have exposed them for good and only fools will be going to take up classes from them.
Byju’s ridiculous sales tactics is unfortunately a common practice in many private educational institutes in India. “Do anything but ye customer haath je jaana nahi chahiye..”
government isn’t doing anything in the space of affordable and good quality public schools which results into many desperate private institutions and desperate parents.
loved this video....keep such deep case study podcasts coming!!!
Education is a sector based on trust. Once trust is gone, you are finished. That’s my prediction.
great video caleb...so much info...need more like this!
I think another important point to look at was the toxic work culture they had. I don't know how it is currently. When my sister worked there, it was highly toxic. She quit within one year.
Great discussion- well researched.
This tells you why MBA will only help you so long, ethics is needed.
I like your chemistry seeing an indian talking confidently. Feeling very proud. Jai hind.
Awesome research
Want more such flaw case studies
Subscribed
Love from india
This was a great summary of everything that happened with BYJUs.
Yes it’s a great summary
From giving quality education to just selling quality education, Byjus came long way from being a star in the edtech space to sinking in a blackiest black hole.
The mistakes which they did are so textbook based, that even a 1st year MBA grad understand, what they are doing wrong.
Hope now the startup world understand and plan for long term sustainance rather than short term billionaristic gains
great summary without sensationalising
Thank you for making this video! Please also look into the horror stories from the city called Kota, Rajasthan
I wonder when he last seen a class of students.
May be he should start teaching again, just to feel his roots back again. And start from there.
Your content is highly knowledgeable.May God bless you🎉🎉🎉
Kudos for making a detailed video. I see a PMF of such videos on YT
Good luck!
Probably God created Wolf Gupta to destroy the evil forces of BYJU's!
Well , it's almost 5L subs now.. good going Caleb.
this in a nutshell is a perfect depiction of how the education sector operates in India
Couple of points for feedback:
1. If it's a long conversation, the constant bgm is distracting.
2. The to and fro between both of you look rehersed and doesn't come of as a free flowing conversation.
3.
What are schools for anymore?
India works on Trust. Without trust, it would be difficult to come back.
Indian startup culture is all about payment service apps, ed-tech, etc nothing serious
Now only hope is our space startups, i had my hopes high for our defence startups too but Indian govt and army crushed them.
Hope you bring more startups in light instead of these same old edtech ones.
Corporate side of Byjus is worst. from bad content to sales made on false promise to vulture like targeting of students. it was bound to come to end someday.
When you loot poor families by booking EMIs without their knowledge, then karma comes back and bites you !!
Well presented 👍
I still believe if they had bootstrapped and stayed private without VC's, would have been in great place like more than Physics Wallah today.
Great work Caleb, In a time where all Indians are moving to Canada you are coming to India
People should sell their business...When it's at its peak !
I am an ex employee of byjus, and i can say byjus is a fraud
Damn, I thought I was the only one who had some Byjus employee come to my house and shatter my world asking a bunch of questions in front of my parents
Except for Aakash none of their companies make money. And FYI Aakash is not just profitable but it's always been cash flow positive
Byju is not an education start up, but a marketing company masquerading as a education provider.
Sounds like Biju’s is an example of a company that turned into making money for its shareholders rather than shareholders investing in a company that aims to change the education of kids. Profits, greed…the bane and enemy of focus and good
I remember vividly how this guy came to our school in 2009 while we were in 10th to canvass us for his new launched noesis. At that time byju was just a top level genius who could ace CAT.
Then byju's rise was shocking. To sponsorship of cricket teams to ads featuring top tier stars like srk. They even came to nit and iit for campus placements. Now look at the condition.
good analysis 👍
My predictions:-
1)BYJUs would survive!
2)They would be successful in raising funds once again after they resolve their controversies.
3)They MIGHT sell some of their companies.
4)Byjus stake would decrease rapidly while funding losing control of the company.
And yeah everyone is criticising cause beheti ganga me sab haat dho lete hai😂
Nobody can out-market this bad name in the market.
They will survive if they step out of K-12 education services. They should focus more on providing competitive exam teaching services. But already they broke the trust and winning the people again is bit tricky. And I don’t see any hope for this.
Yeah, after they resolve controversies....lets see how that goes😂
Perhaps in another universe lmao
Let's hope they won't deplete the cash cow, "Akkash." It's a common sight in Indian households where one person becomes the sole earner, and everyone else starts depending on them, leading to their life becoming miserable.
I worked in byjus for 2months as a trainee ,
They wanted me to sell the course of 65000 where there is no father only mother who is earning 4000per month that too only for 10 months. I was shocked when my team lead told why I didn't sell the course even they are ready to buy but I told they won't cross 2EMI Since they are already struggling then My training is over and never replied to their mail after they told I am selected for the BDE.
They need a business CEO
not a founder CEO.
but byju is adamant, he won't loosen his grip and rather drown with the ship than getting help and let anyone else have the limelight
Excellent name of this video
You are really good in pronouncing indian names
Such a good researched neutral opinion
Keep it up❤
Nowadays his name is everywhere on RUclips as a doomed company
First time I am happy for random RUclips recommendation. Great video
There will definitely be a movie on it.
Or a series. Is Hansal Mehta listening?
I don't think BYJU'S will survive. It will be acquired by some other company for less than 500 million dollars. By the way, I have worked for BYJU'S before and I can say for sure that some of their products don't even have a market fit.
do they even know what's a product?
@@shivam_nagar69maybe parents?
My doubt over here is regarding the loan defaults from parents, I mean when the parents are not continuing the course then how come they even had a expense for the same, I mean say a person didn't pay emi won't they stop the classes to that connection , thus rendering no additional cost for that account. Then in that case what's that70k- 3lac loan per parent as you mentioned
2012-13 was the time professional relationship begun. When they were new to Hyderabad market. We took to schools on their behalf from TOI. outstanding response received around 25000 students participated in 1st year. Remember the company was called Think & Learn Pvt ltd. however over a period of time there were complaints from students, parents & Schools the way use to call parents.over a period of time they are fed up with Byjus sales approach... offlate market resistance went to peak in Tier1 or key markets.. Scaling went well however this wasn't a product like Google to global scaling so quickly.. I feel they didn't get a chance retrospect on key factors like Price, Target Audience etc.. Other missed strategies lead to their downfall beginning. Still remembering closely working with founding team
With Time Business Model Changes
The thumbnail concept is really smart and impactful.
Can't take credit, we copied it from Dodford 😅 -Caleb
@@backstagewithmillionaires Already knew that. I appreciated it because it's perfectly applied. Always Steal like an Artist 😉
The first time when I heard the name Byju I thought it was a stupid name. It makes more sense now...
Over aggressive marketing and poor treatment of employees created negative outllook for the company and resulted in downfall.
The "E" in Byju's stands for education. (updated 2023)
What is the background music?
Man this thumbnail looks so amazing.....😍🤯💯💥👏🏻
Credit where credit is due, we copied Dodford on this one 😅🙄 -Caleb
The education and health sectors should be absolutely free for all its citizens. The 50 rupees govt is collecting huge extra tax on petrol from its citizen should be considered as payment for free education and health care benefits. if required collect extra 10 rupees from petrol and spent that on education and health.
Education and health are not business, There are basic rights for all citizens. Imagine what people with 100% literacy/skill/Talent/Learning and Good health can do for the country. Within the next 20 years, we will be developed countries like US and Europe.
The person who designed the thumbnail should get a raise.
Great video…. Man the background music is killing the video…
This pretty good discussion
i think they should focus on their product, because that the thing that is going to pay. in my believe if there is lack of product market fit, then there the product is on the dependency of heavy marketing.
My father actually made me attend a zoom meeting with a clown after falling for all the stupid ads on social media.
Lol same😭
I understand your pain bro 🫂
Karma returns
His knowledge 💯
Here's a bit of feedback: Perhaps you could aim for fewer edits. At times, the conversation seems to lack a natural flow, feeling a bit artificial instead. But, I must say, the content and reserach is excellent!
I remember in 2019, they called my parents and said that I am a bright student and they will take an interview and consider taking me in their study program. Now this is so shady, but I was in 9th class that time and didn't know much about these things and nor did my parents. Luckily I was out of city and didn't fell into their trap. Their tactic is to call the parents and tell them that their kid just needs a little push to crack competitive exams. These people came to every city and were recruiting students like wtf is that😶
Companies r failing due to valuation greed. They want to become billionaires quickly... Tats where aquisition cost sales cost forced selling and fraud occur...
true ... only greed everywhere
I remember i had taken one year subscription or something and I think they had come home in between for some sort of interaction. Initially they were talking about me but slowly he started talking about my brother and how he should take the course and I think they even offered some discounts. He was barely in 2nd grade. My father immediately caught onto him and confronted him about it. He obviously started fumbling as to how he was just suggesting and that they can continue talking about me. We dint take the subscription again😂
This guys are scammers and still running after 4 months to process my cancellation request. Every month they are trying to steal money from my bank account even after multiple requests to not to do that as they aren't processing my subscription Cancellation. You guys deserved this more than anything.
I clicked on this video hearing NOESIS which now is an mid pipeline for game design interface ...who would have thought Byju's was noesis back then ...daymmmm,............