Gagan Biyani, Founder, Udemy

Udemy enables anyone to create online courses on any subject. On Udemy, users can create an online course using text, video, pictures or any other media form available on the web. YourStory spoke to Gagan Biyani from Udemy

Tell us more about Udemy

Our goal is to democratize online education and enable anyone to become an online instructor. Examples of things you can currently learn on Udemy: photoshop, engineering, entrepreneurship and poker. We're most proud of our long list of Academic courses from institutions like Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Yale.

What are the differentiators of your business? Can you explain the business model?

Udemy differentiates in two major ways. First, students can learn on their own time. Many other services provide the ability to host live learning with teachers, but it is critical for students to learn via recorded content (videos and written articles) as well. Second, Udemy develops a community around the course. We provide features so students can easily interact amongst each other and their instructor.Why did you choose to be an entrepreneur rather than stick to a regular 9-to-5 job?

Honestly, I just got bored. I was working at Accenture as a Strategy Consultant and didn't feel like my work was as impactful or challenging as it could be. When I decided to start my own company, I was working in the US government and was extremely bored with work. I started reading blogs like TechCrunch and got absolutely sucked into the startup culture.

Where did you find the seed capital for your company?

We bootstrapped the whole thing! So far, Udemy has been funded by the blood, sweat and tears of the 3 cofounders. I am the only one who is full-time on Udemy; the other guys are still working other jobs. It is challenging at times, but I feel like we've made a tremendous amount of progress.

Have you, or your organization, been recognized in any way for your great work?

We've been fortunate enough to win awards at major competitions such as VatorSplash and the ASU Education Innovation Summit. Also, blogs such as TechCrunch, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb,!