Behind Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's first Asian investment- Inspiring story of Byju's founder

Today is a day that Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, Byju’s will never forget, a feat because of how he approaches teaching and life.

Byju’s is India’s largest Ed-tech company and its learning app has not just inspired more than 2,50,000 student subscribers, but also Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, who have led the investment of $50million in this app, in the latest round through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Mark announced the investment some hours back, instantly making Byju’s one of the most popular teaching apps in the world.

Byju describes himself as a ‘teacher by choice, entrepreneur by chance.’ Business Insider spoke to Byju to find out what turned him into the phenomenal teacher he is.

ALSO READ: Mark Zuckerberg leads $50 million investment in Indian education startup

Byju had a very humble beginning. He started his schooling in a village called Azhikode, in Kannur district of Kerala, India. Born to a pair of teachers, he went to a Malayalam medium school where both his parents taught.

It’s rather surprising to know, however, that he missed most of his classes to play sports. He played six sports in school and pursued his interest up until the university level. His favorite sports are Football, Table Tennis, and Cricket even though he pursues multiple sports genres even now.

He believes that a lot of learning happens outside classrooms and playing sports and games are crucial for any student. ‘These helped me in real life skills that helped me succeed in life’, Byju says adding, ‘Games teach you teamwork, leadership skills, how to control aggression and perform under pressure. These scenarios you will never come across if you’re only learning in a classroom.’

While he played all day, his studies never suffered. He attributes that to the life skill that he learned on the sports field, in an unstructured environment ‘The sports schedule forced me to start ‘learning on my own’ by asking questions. It takes less amount of time if the students take an initiative, especially in the subjects they like. Parents and teachers are important, but they mostly play a supportive role.’

He laments the current educational system in place in India, where rote learning is prevalent. ‘The exams get over and you forget everything you learned. Students fear exams because they see it as an end goal. When the focus is more on marks and grades, the result is that you miss out on the learning part. Assessment is a part of learning, not just learning. The focus should be more on learning, that’s when exams get below your level.’

Byju insists that the only way to succeed is when every student is playing to his or her strengths. ‘It is important for every student to find out what they like and figure what they’re good at.’ His favorite subject was Math, a subject that most of us dread. He was a National level Math Olympiad winner in school and that same focus and dedication towards his most loved subject is what led to the creation of Byju’s.

When Byju graduated College and started working as an engineer, during a vacation break, he ended up sitting for the CAT exam (Common Aptitude Test that students appear for in order to gain entrance into the elite Indian Institute of Management colleges that provide MBA degrees), alongside his friends, just for fun. He scored a 100 percentile and was surprised that he had cracked one of India’s toughest and prestigious entrance exams on the first try, without actually having prepared thoroughly at all. He sat for it again to test himself and repeated the score. For him, the exam was another game he loved to play.

This success got the students flocking to him, first his friends, then friends of friends. He figured he quite enjoyed teaching and conducted CAT workshops for free, starting with 35-40 students, going up to a 1000 in a matter of weeks.
This overwhelming response validated his method of teaching, where he taught students how to predict questions, instead of memorizing them. This method of familiarizing students attracted students from different cities to Bangalore (India’s Silicon Valley), where he had started.

He quit his job as an engineer and took up teaching full-time, even traveling to nearby towns to reach as many students as possible.
From coffee shops to rooms to auditoriums to stadiums, there wasn’t a single place in the city where Byju’s classes weren’t running. He turned to the digital platform when he realized that he could make learning fun for many more students, simultaneously.
He’s been at it since 2007 but the company- 'Think and learn' was formed in 2011, alongside few of his best students who joined him after graduating from the elite IIMs.

The Byju’s learning app, which is making learning contextually and visually appealing, has seen over 5.5 million downloads. It was released just 12 months back and the founder is stunned by the response he has seen from school students.

In the Indian start-up ecosystem, where the biggest names are losing money, Byju’s is already profitable and popular amongst the most impressionable ones amongst us. This goes to show that sometimes children are the best judge of character perhaps they see the value and ask the fundamental questions which matter the most.

Byju’s is increasingly becoming the Ed-tech startup that is climbing steadily on a learning curve, teaching not just the students, but the start-ups too, a valuable lesson in staying grounded, yet afloat.