Learn to write with Ruskin Bond or act with Manoj Bajpayee – Unluclass shows you how

The pandemic may have brought life around us to a standstill in many ways, but it has ensured learning goes on – in every form imaginable, thanks to the focus shifting online. While it has taken off big academically, many people have also found the time to upskill themselves, pivot in their careers, or simply learn something they didn’t have time for before.

While online courses are dime a dozen, it’s important to sift through those that are helpful and promise long-lasting impact. If you are looking for something creative to learn and practice, what better way than to follow a celebrity in the field?

Unluclass, the latest offering by Unlu, is an online learning platform that provides in-depth masterclasses from celebrities from different fields. With downloadable workbooks and step-by-step video content, learners can benefit from the insights, experiences, and success stories of their favourite celebrities.

So, you learn the art of writing from Ruskin Bond, acting from Manoj Bajpayee, the nuances of singing from Monali Thakur or explore what goes into becoming a successful comedian from Johnny Lever. That’s as diverse a range as you can get.

Unlu, which means famous in Turkish, was started by four serial entrepreneurs Vipul Agarwal, Akshay Pruthi, Anurag Dali, and Himanshu Periwal last year. It aims to make celebrities more accessible to their fans, and helps small and medium brands get endorsements from leading celebrities.

As an off-shoot, Unluclass, launched this year, provides non-academic learning, with lifetime access from celebrities who are at the top of their game.

Creative learning the celebrity way

Explaining the pain point behind their venture, Vipul says, “During the pandemic, we noticed that a lot of people, for the first time, utilised and consumed content, and eventually created it as well. More than that, the whole trend of doing something creative has taken off in a big way. If we had 50 million creators back in 2019, the number is set to grow to 500 million by 2025 with people relying on the internet to make money.”

Also, job losses during the pandemic have led people to start searching for a basic income that can earned creatively during the internet. That’s where the idea of Unluclass took root.

At Unluclass, the celebrities are the draw.

Vipul says that in learning, it’s always important to get someone to teach you who have applied that learning in their lives and have achieved success.

“When it comes to creative learning, you don’t have big names who back you and say whatever you are learning is good. So, we thought why not have the users learn things from someone who made it on their own and what they make their living from?”

“The market has been extremely fragmented and two years back we had offline schools on writing music, acting classes and the like and most of them were not very credible or feasible to working professionals to pursue,” says Himanshu.

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High traction

When the celebrity classes were launched, the founders saw significantly high conversion rate as compared to any tech company in the academic or non-academic sector.

“The completion rate was more than 85 percent, which proved that if you have credible sources, you will be able to motivate people to pursue their passion in a better manner. And people would like to listen to these celebrities compared to any of the instructors,” he adds.

He cites the example of tennis player Sania Mirza who could use Unluclass to impart learning to millions of students even though she runs her own academy.

Vipul says their top directive to their celebrity instructors is that the intent is one of “pure learning”.

“Celebrities understand the impact their content can create because it’s not just about the classes, it comes with other things like assignments, a community of learners, and a feedback loop where mentors can provide them with feedback,” he adds.

The online learning market in India is currently worth $5 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 30 percent.

Anurag says Unluclass, which was launched early this year, has been growing 50 percent month-on-month consistently and there are more than 250,000 active users on its platform. The completion rate at 85 percent continues to be high and the repeat rate stands at more than two bookings per user.

Some of the users have gone on to publish their own books on Kindle Direct Publishing and some people have been cast in upcoming web shows.

Vipul believes they are still in a niche category with most users from Tier II and Tier III cities, and therefore have priced their courses in the affordable range averaging between Rs 900 and Rs 2,000.

Unluclass offers seven courses at present and seven are in production and will be launched soon. The founders’ aim to reach one million active users soon.