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Selfstudy is an online learning platform that bridges the gap between learning and mastering concepts

Please introduce yourself and your startup Selfstudy to our readers!
Selfstudy is an online learning platform that bridges the gap between learning and mastering concepts. Selfstudy is designed to meet the individual needs of a diverse student audience and positively impact their learning outcomes. Founded in December 2017, selfstudy came up with the idea of adaptive learning platform that is based on a competency driven model which emphasizes on the in-depth understanding concepts rather the time to completion, thus allowing each student to move at a pace that fits their learning style.

Selfstudy’s learning platform directly evaluates the need of the students.

The app uses adaptive algorithms to analyze usage and performance data to generate a direct call to action for students thus enabling them to focus their efforts on the knowledge gaps. Every touch, click and time on task spent by students is captured to truly understand and improve the learning process and positively impact the performance in exams.

Persainjit is a CEO of selfstudy, he has a B.Tech degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Bombay. After graduating in the year 2006, he worked at Schlumberger oil services for more than 1 year and moved to AT Kearney and worked as a management consultant. Persainjit founded Plaksa coaching institute with Prateek Singh in 2012 which incubated the idea of Selfstudy.

How did you get the idea to Selfstudy?
With hope in his eyes, a worried parent who had paid a hefty amount for coaching asked a very innocent question – “Sir, my kid goes to a very famous school and a well-reputed coaching but he still fails to get good marks in class. Can you do something?”

The parent was hinting at the challenges of the traditional learning model which is based on the mass production where we teach students in a fixed manner and expect them to adjust to the system. Shouldn’t it be the other way round where we could account for each student’s learning style or preferences?

This lead to the idea of creating Selfstudy which teaches students by adjusting to their need and embraces the power of technology to plug the gaps in traditional learning structure ensuring that all students get a chance to succeed.

How difficult was the start and what challenges you had to overcome?
Setting up Selfstudy brought its own unique set of challenges and difficulties that it’s founding team addressed by working together and collectively fostering a company culture that’s efficient and resilient in overcoming challenges.

* Finding the right people: Our attempt to create a unique interactive / engaging learning experience posed the biggest challenge due to the lack of desired skill sets. Setting up a team comprising of self-motivated individuals willing to go the extra mile to help students in visualizing a difficult concept.

* Product Validation: Having a great idea that no one wants to use is the perfect recipe for failure. Before creating the MVP, we spent a significant amount of time in truly understanding the requirements for creating a successful product which offers something new and different than what is available in the market.

* Thriving on Limited Resources: Selfstudy created most of its product in a bootstrapped mode which made it extremely critical to ensure that the team is focused and deliberate in their work so that it’s easy for everyone to be reactive and flexible to jump between competing priorities.

* Resistance to online learning platform: Parents are still a bit reluctant about use of technology in studies because of their prior experience of students just playing games or passing time on social media. Educating them about the benefits of technology in learning outcomes does pose a challenge in sales.

Who is your target audience?
Selfstudy is designed to meet the individual needs of a diverse student audience starting from Class 8th to 12thand the students who are preparing for medical and engineering courses for positively impact learning outcomes.

SelfStudy caters to a huge market of more than 5 million annual aspirants of JEE/NEET exams.

What is the USP of your startup?
Selfstudy is an online learning app tha bridges the gap between the learning and mastering of concepts which helps students to learn the difficult concepts easily. Selfstudy’s adaptive learning platform is based on a competency driven model which emphasizes on the in-depth understanding concepts rather than quick completion, thus allowing each student to move at a pace that fits his/her learning style.

Selfstudy is designed to meet the individual needs of a diverse student audience and positively impact learning outcomes. The idea is to teach students by adjusting to their need and use technology to plug the gaps in the traditional learning structure thereby ensuring that each one of them gets a chance to succeed.

The platform promotes the habit of self-study thus complementing the process of classroom learning in coaching institutes and schools by delivering a learning experience which is interactive, dynamic, and stimulating.
Selfstudy also empowers parents with necessary information to guide their kids and enables them to measure effort and not just outcomes.

The platform encourages parents to participate in their child’s journey to success rather than just celebrating it.

Can you describe a typical workday of yours?
A typical workday begins with a standing meeting with different teams to take stock of tasks completed yesterday and the work-plan for today.
Standing meetings are followed by reviewing the different types of content created on the previous day. This includes proof-reading scripts written, testing videos created, reviewing the theory pages or validating tests created.
Sales and business development meetings are scheduled post-lunch which are followed by the sales call.
The day ends with a sundown ritual of completing any pending deliverable for the day viz. responding to emails, drafting contracts, calling leads etc.

Where do you see yourself and your startup in the next five years?
In five years, we aim at becoming a household name for any student preparing for any and all exams. We hope to cater to 2 million students every year.

What 3 tips would you give other start-up founders on the way?
1. Conduct Research: Do ample research before taking a deep dive into creating your product.
2. Validate Product: Engage your end-user with the basic version created and incorporate their feedback to validate and finalise MVP
3. Have patience: Your journey will have many ups and downs, so founders must have faith in their product and be patient for the right time to come.

More information you will find here

Thank you James Andrews for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

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Sabine Elsässer
Sabine Elsässer
Sabine Elsaesser is an experienced entrepreneur and media/startup expert. Since 2016, she has served as the Chief Editor and CEO of StartupValley Media & Publishing. In this role, she is responsible for managing the company and providing strategic direction for its media and publishing activities. Sabine Elsaesser takes great pleasure in assisting individuals and businesses in reaching their full potential. Her expertise in establishing sales organizations and her passion for innovation make her a valuable advocate for startups and entrepreneurs.
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