Board Infinity short skilling courses delivered by industry experts
Please introduce yourself and your start-up Board Infinity to our readers!
I am Sumesh Nair,co-founder of Board Infinity.
Board Infinity is an ed-tech start-up that provides short skilling courses delivered by industry experts in live class format across emerging technologies and management roles. The start-up aims to impact the entire skilling ecosystem using its unique expert-led model and live classes across domains.
I am responsible for developing and maintaining the culture, strategic partnerships, sales & business development and investor relations.
How did you get the idea of Board Infinity?
During my 1.5 years of true introspection and research on identifying which sectors and activities that i should start my venture in, I was fascinated with education technology space that offered tremendous opportunities. I have been a trainer myself in all the organizations I have worked for. The challenge of building great careers is real, and somehow, I got attracted to the complexity of the problem being solved. EdTech has a direct impact and outcome on the future of the individual and in India, a great education means a better future. The direct impact on lives combined with the large markets in education motivated me to pursue EdTech primarily.
Along this journey, I met Abhay, my friend from SPJIMR who was planning out his second venture, and that too incidentally in the field of education on similar lines. We had similar ideologies in building a company; had a common view on the problem that exists in the market and really wanted to solve the problem at scale. This lead us to joining hands in 2017 to start Board Infinity
Why did you decide to start with Board Infinity?
We decided to start with Board infinity as we observed that people lack vision, clarity and focus when it comes to planning their own career. No one focuses on career planning and continuously upgrading themselves. We envisioned a system of career coaches who could get every person on the planet to reach their peak performance in careers starting from higher education.
What is the vision behind Board Infinity?
Our core vision is to be an inspiring & innovative career coach for every individual
It is a one-stop solution to all career needs. And it connects career aspirants with industry experts for focused learning, guidance, mentoring and support. It also prepares and connects people to relevant opportunities and helps them to realize their career dreams.
How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?
Initially, it was challenging but venturing into the unknown of solving a problem was exciting. The initial support was, of course, some money saved from previous jobs. But most critical was finding the right business model and go to market. We started initially B2B, but with the eventual aim of going B2C. Once we started B2C, things scaled rapidly.
Who is your target audience?
Students/working professionals
What is the USP of your start-up?
Unlimited opportunities are given to learners for employment, only practitioners in the industry teach in the mode of live online classes. Live classes lead to 90% engagement rates among learners. Moreover, 3/4th of training fees charged post-employment.
Can you describe your typical workday?
I split my time into 5 buckets – managerial and leadership responsibilities, financial safety of company, being the face of the company to outside world, administrative tasks, thinking about 24 months from now
Where do you see yourself and your start-up Board Infinity in five years?
A million paid customers. Today, we are the fastest growing in our segment, we envision that our name will be in the global space in the next 2 years. We want to create the largest system of experts in the world ready to solve career problems on tap across various domains and sectors. We will scale through intelligence created through learner-expert interactions and technology at the backbone of our operations.
What 3 tips would you give other Start-up founders on the way?
Focus on the problem, lose ego, and never ever be complacent.
Think extremely large, and go all-in
Have reason and logic while being passionate
Give every ounce for your venture, and magic may happen
More information you will find here
Thank you Sumesh Nair for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.