EdTechReview has been extensively covering interesting players and cutting edge developments in Education Technology. In our quest to review every EdTech in the world, today we would like to present to you an EdTech startup called “ApnaCourse”.
Please note that the replies are exact words of Satish, CEO, ApnaCourse and they have not been edited.
1. What would be an elevator pitch for someone who does not know about your company?
ApnaCourse is India’s leading MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platform.
It is the World’s First Training Platform for Globally Recognized Certifications, fully ONLINE, absolutely FREE and delivered by Globally Renowned and Certified EXPERTS!
Domains for Training include Financial Management Certifications like CFA, FRM, CFP et al., Project and Quality Management Certifications like PMI-ACP, PMP etc., IT Services and Security Management Certifications like ISTQB, CISA, CISM etc., and certifications like Business Analysis and more.
2. What is your company’s core value proposition? What problem are you solving and for whom?
The Core value proposition is to provide Training on Globally Recognized Certifications with Quality, Comfort and Affordability. Most professionals look to get certified on certifications like CFA, PMP, ISTQB etc to propel their career paths. ApnaCourse helps these professionals get trained for those certification exams and succeed.
3. What has been the market response till now? How do you plan to check on the user (for whom you are solving problem) satisfaction?
Market response has been very positive. We have had good responses to the 3 courses that are live on our platform currently and significant interest to the other 6 courses that are planned for release in the coming 5-6 weeks. Moreover, the time each participant spends on our platform is significantly increasing each day. We have had many participants go through the entire cycle of learning at ApnaCourse, taking up the Certification exam and passing that successfully.
We provide interactive Chat, Email and Phone support to the participants. Issues both technical or otherwise are addressed spontaneously by our team to ensure complete user satisfaction. We also track participant’s progress and ensure continuous hand-holding and doubt resolutions.
4. What inspired the idea of ApnaCourse? What is the driving passion for this company? What is your vision?
ApnaCourse was born out of a real life situation. While I was at Mumbai, my friends used to appear for the CFA and FRM exams and would enrol for classroom training. Although the trainings were on weekends, work schedules caused them to miss many a classes. Moreover, the quality of faculties at these institutes were not of high standard. Students who had just passed the certification were roped in as faculties for the next batch. This triggered an idea to start and Online Platform and rope in the best faculties in that domain. The idea has evolved over time to what is ApnaCourse today.
Our driving passion is to leverage on the limitless potential of technology to make wonders happen.
Our vision is to be the leader in the e-training space very soon with our un-paralleled value proposition.
5. What is the stage of the product? Where do you see ApnaCourse in 6 or 12 or 18 months from now? (e.g. product milestones, team size, potential growth/revenue targets).
We launched ApnaCourse in August, 2013 (6 months back) and over the period we have undergone a significant learning curve with developments happening every day. Today the product caters to 1000+ users and growing rapidly. In 6 months time we expect ApnaCourse to have 20,000+ users with 12+ Courses. In 12 months, we believe we can touch 200,000+ users with the 20+ Courses that we have identified. Our team size has grown from a 3 member team in August, 2013 to 12 members today. That too would grow significantly in months to come.
