ENTREPRENEUR/STARTUP SPECIAL...LESSON NO.7 FROM REAL EXAMPLES

ENTREPRENEUR/STARTUP SPECIAL...LESSON NO.7 FROM REAL EXAMPLES

Hi-Tech Classrooms
Sameer Buti and Rohit Pande, IIT-Delhi alumni,
launched a startup which provides student-oriented educational content to make learning sessions more exciting.
Their venture, the ClassTeacher Learning Systems, was founded in 2000 with a plan to deliver educational content through the internet. But the entrepreneurs soon realised that the idea was ahead of its time and so began providing software to schools to streamline management functions. Initially, ClassTeacher dealt with school ERP, management software to manage administration work and other content through a system of integrated applications. By 2006-end, Buti and Pande felt that the market was ready for student-oriented products. Today, the company develops and distributes interactive white boards –– a touch-screen device that projects multimedia content. Apart from this, the company also provides curriculum-linked lessons and worksheets through the cloud. In January 2012, they launched their recent innovation –– the Classpad ––an education tablet which helps teachers share classwork, distribute content, conduct tests and give individual attention to each student. The students are allowed to carry the Classpad home, facilitating the involvement of parents.
“It was an emotional decision,” recalls Pandey, who, along with Buti, didn’t think twice before quitting their comfortable jobs at large multinational companies to launch their startup.
“We never thought about Option B. We just had to do it,” says Pande, who self-funded the company with his partner initially. They invested all their savings –– Rs 50 lakh each –– to launch the venture. It took about 15-16 months to raise funds. ClassTeacher managed to raise $15 million from Fidelity Growth Partners in June 2011. The founders are now looking for strategic investors to take their business to a global level. “Now that more investments have been made, we are working hard to break-even,” says Pande.
Pande feels that entrepreneurship is a game of priorities. “One should know what to prioritise first ––proof of concept or fund-rasing,” he says. The founders found it a challenging task to attract good professionals and making them work together in the early days.
3 TIPS TO RAISE MONEY
Be Focused

Allow people to question you before the investors do

Go to investment bankers to help with the funding

Sreejoni Nag ET120629