How did Alakh Pandey unearth his passion for teaching to build an edtech Unicorn?

Have you heard the buzz around Alakh Pandey? Yes! He is the ‘Physics Wallah’ guy. But what has Alakh done that has made him the 101st unicorn of India? Alakh grew up in dire straits, so much so that his family had to sell their house to cover expenses for his father’s medical needs. In all these hardships Alakh pushed through and started coaching students to provide for his family in return. Soon coaching students became his passion and he loved the idea of becoming a Math Professor.

Alakh dropped out of college in the third year to follow his passion for teaching. He joined a coaching institute in Kanpur to teach Physics and his students were in awe of his teaching style. This pushed Alakh to start a YouTube channel, focusing on competitive exams, in 2016 with an initial investment of ?30,000.

Without charging any fee, the YouTube channel grew to 10K in a year. By 2018 he crossed the 500K mark on YouTube and launched his website to share notes, study materials and assignments.

With the pandemic hitting in 2020 and online learning catching on, their audience grew and hence the PW app was developed. Alakh and his partner Prateek listened to their student’s needs and followed pursuit. Though tough competition tried to buy him a huge package and tried to kill his business, Alakh did not deter his belief.The business has always been profitable and today it stands at 5.2M Play Store downloads, 6.9M subscribers on its channel, 1500 employees and ?350 Cr. in revenue.?

What made Alakh an epitome in the EdTech industry? How did he go from a YouTube channel to unicorn in less than 6 years? If you’re thinking it’s exceptional marketing strategies, then you’re wrong.

It was always his content that got him his traction and made him a well-known brand. No matter how much effort you might put into marketing, the content will always be king.

?It’s astounding how the business has remained profitable since day one. So here’s the question:?What would you do if you had to replicate Physics Wallah? Here are our 5 major takeaways from Alakh’s and PW’s whole journey:

1.?Build your community before you scale.?PW started as a YouTube channel, where a community was built, trust was earned, and passion was driven. It was the community that stood as a solid backbone through PW’s journey to becoming a unicorn in less than 6 years.

2.??Be true to your journey.?PW did not change or mend their goals when the competition was trying to take away their staff, teachers or take over the company. Alakh stood his ground and let his work and goals do the talking the entire time.

3.??Listen to your audience and pivot.?PW was not shaped based solely on Alakh and his partner’s ideologies. It combined the founder’s ideas and their audience’s needs. What the student’s asked, they delivered. What the students needed, they provided.

4.??Content is always king. When content is delivered, the business always grows. That’s precisely how PW did it; their course fees are minimal (approximately 90% less) compared to competitors, and today they stand as a unicorn company. Alakh let his content build his business.

5.??Invest in educating yourself.?Alakh spent his time delivering the best content for learners. Be it tricks, concepts, doubts, notes, assignments, videos, lectures or any type of content, Alakh invested his time in educating himself to educate every student by helping them understand and learn through different formats.

Alakh built his EdTech unicorn. What’s stopping you from building yours??

At EdisonOS, our mission is to empower passionate educators with all that is required to build a successful online knowledge business. We wanted to help entrepreneurs create the next-gen online schools, academies or universities of the world, and we are here to help. Schedule a meeting with us, and we can help you resolve the challenges that hinder you in building your knowledge business.