Edtech marketplace NoSchool aims to stand out in upskilling market with $1 courses
Hyderabad-based NoSchool is an edtech marketplace that connects industry experts and corporate professionals. With close to 10,000 DAUs in a month, it is relying on its differentiator – courses priced at $1 – to disrupt the e-learning market.
After finishing his engineering and working in the Bay Area for 17 years, one question bothered Venu G: why was education so theoretical? Why was there so little practical, real-life application of what we learnt in schools?
Numerous experts concur that India’s educational system does not prepare you for the industry. Having launched several startups in the Bay Area and in India across consultancy, software, and hospitality tech, Venu understood that there was a definite need to upskill students.
“Every student had to go through many subjects in the process of getting some degree or certification. Most students, after completing their graduation/post-graduation degrees, were again going for additional training programmes to secure a job,” Venu says.
This gap between education and job-ready skills led him to start NoSchool, a bootstrapped marketplace that connects industry experts and corporate professionals with learners. The edtech platform aims to provide 100 percent practical coaching to college students, professionals, startups, business communities, and entrepreneurs – with every course priced at $1.
The NoSchool Team
The workings and model
The platform works like an aggregated marketplace, where top trainers can upload their knowledge base. Every trainer’s profile background and profile are verified by the team. Each course is priced at $1and any learner can simply click on the desired course at NoSchool.app to get access. All courses are available on the website.
The experts make $0.60 for every enrol (60 percent of the $1). Since the courses are priced low, these master classes can attract a large number of learners.
“For instance, if there 50,000 enrols the expert makes $30,000 in no time. These are all recorded videos, no live sessions. So, it’s a one-time effort for the expert. We offer courses in English and regional languages,” Venu says. The team is looking to start with Hindi and Telugu.
Founded in May this year, the platform aims to offer over 250 courses, covering the IT/software, design, business development, marketing, fund raise, business analysis, project management, product management, health and wellness, career guidance, and many more areas.
The market and differentiator
A 2018 report by India Skills says around 48 percent of engineers in the country are unemployed. Pearson Research adds that 95 percent of Indian engineers are not equipped for development and coding jobs.
Verified Market Research pegged the global coding bootcamp market at $399.91 million in 2018, and projected that it would reach $889.37 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 10.70 percent from 2019 to 2026.
With demand for continued learning on the rise, several startups are focused on upskilling, including , , , , AttainU, and others.
But, Venu believes that NoSchool.app is different. He says most websites focus on certification-oriented programmes with affiliation to a few universities or educational institutes.
NoSchool.app stands apart from other e-learning platforms by offering 100 percent practical education, Venu says. The 20-member team already has close to 10,000 DAUs and paying consumers.
“NoSchool.app can be a gold mine for the corporate professionals or experts as they can make a lot of money with their content. The course content is protected - it is not downloadable.”
The edtech marketplace has on-boarded close to 100 trainers, and makes payments every two weeks, based on the number of enrols for their courses.
Into the future
Speaking of future plans, Venu says, ”If you look at Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, there is a huge demand for quality content in technology, business, and digital marketing.”
The founder says courses at NoSchool can be accessed from any part of the world, and the marketplace plans to expand in these regions, with courses in English and regional languages.
“So much content can be exchanged across countries; there’s so much to learn from each other. And, we would want to stick to $1 courses forever,” Venu says.
(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)
Edited by Teja Lele