At this point it should be called a finishup instead

Intern

Why is it still open.. when r they going kingfisher?

Consultant

Software Engineer

Unless it does an IPO I feel it can be called startup. Running on vc money..

I mean, call a company a startup when it's in the early stage of its operations and the business is still being set up. Once a startup achieves scale and has existed for over a decade, it's no longer a startup... it's a full-fledged corporation, imo.

Growth Manager

Getting pretty annoyed with Byju's being reffered to as an edtech startup in 2023. Byju's started in 2011, more than a decade ago. Stop calling it a start up 😑  What are your thoughts on this?

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Getting pretty annoyed with Byju's being reffered to as an edtech startup in 2023.
Byju's started in 2011, more than a decade ago. Stop calling it a start up 😑

What are your thoughts on this?

How long does a startup remain a 'startup'?

How long does a startup remain a 'startup'?- Grapevine

Feedback letter from employee to Founders, CEO & CTO

Heartwarming message from ex-Byjus employee to founders.

For details just reply to this email. I will email an excel sheet of all of your failures 
 😂Lmao, that was🔥

Product Manager

https://thearcweb.com/article/byju-raveendran-1-billion-agm-8SWZHKi0REGjA6g4

Byju’s has faced consolidated losses of nearly Rs 8,300 crore ($1 billion) in FY22... Reminds me of "जितने का बबुआ नहीं उतने का झुनझुना"

Welcome to News Discussion's Private Community

First the audit report got delayed. Now they’ve reported a loss of over 4.5k cr. And I believe they’re like a mothership of edtech, if they gone down then the entire category goes down from an investment perspective

What’s happening with byjus?

Software Developer

"she was obsessed with her own celebrity, doing little to stem the slide" 
They would never say this about a man. It's a woman, somehow make it about her being hungry for fame.

Typical. 
Do not support anything that Byju's cofounders did.
But this is shameful too. Not befitting.

Listen, everything is wrong with Byju's. It's true. I do not support Divya Gokulnath. But this headline is being run ONLY because she is a woman.

Product Owner

I hear tales about how at their peak, BYJU's used to deal with investors. 
They would not share financials. If you wanted to invest, they'd ask you to come down to office, and only for that time, see whatever you want to see. 

Investors obliged. It was the shining star of Edtech India, nobody wanted to miss out. 

Now those same investors are ousting the founder, fair enough.

But I hope enough people look back and realize they created the problem. They allowed it to exist.

BYJU's: Wasn't it always gonna happen?

Analyst

I want to start a world’s biggest ed-tech startup? How much money and manpower do i need to start?

Most of us are curious of how decisions are made in major VC funds, as these funds are private and only share this information with their Limited Partners (LPs).

For the unknown, there are VC funds known as Corporate Venture Capital funds, which are the venture arms of corporate firms; they are required to disclose the performance of their CVC funds to the general public.

Prosus, one of the largest funds in this category, has just released its 2024 Annual Report, so thought it would be helpful to share the key takeaways with you all. So, here we go:

1/ Swiggy: On the Launchpad
Swiggy continues to impress with a 26% surge in its gross order value and a robust user base that's grown to 104 million. The food delivery giant isn't just expanding—it's preparing to soar with a confidential IPO filing. Swiggy's blend of core deliveries and quick-commerce ventures positions it as a frontrunner in the food-tech race.

2/ Byju's: A Reality Check
The tides have turned for Byju’s, once a darling of the edtech world, now facing a stark reality with a $493 million valuation write-down by Prosus. This significant markdown is a wake-up call to the high-flying valuations in the edtech sector, spotlighting the need for sustainable financial health over speculative growth.

3/ PayU: Quietly Confident
While specific updates on PayU were sparse, its role in Prosus’s fintech ambitions remains pivotal. PayU continues to weave through Prosus's strategy, likely focusing on enlarging its digital payment solutions and tapping into burgeoning financial service opportunities in emerging markets.

4/ PharmEasy: Unsung Potential
PharmEasy's story remains under the radar in this year’s dispatch. However, as a component of Prosus's health tech ventures, it’s poised to play a crucial role in expanding accessible digital healthcare solutions, streamlining services from prescriptions to doorstep delivery.

The Bigger Picture? Prosus's strategy paints a vivid portrait of India's evolving startup ecosystem. It's no longer just about rapid growth and sky-high valuations. The game has changed:

1/ Sustainability is king: Byju's fall from grace is a stark reminder that financial health trumps speculative growth.
2/ IPO readiness matters: Swiggy's preparations show the market's appetite for well-prepared tech giants.
3/ Quiet expansion: PayU and PharmEasy's low-key presence suggests strategic focus on steady growth over flashy headlines.
4/ Diversification is key: Prosus's varied portfolio highlights the importance of spreading bets across sectors.

Checkout their annual report at https://www.prosus.com/~/media/Files/P/Prosus-CORP/AR2024/1latestfinancialresults/04annualreport/fy2024annualreport.pdf - happy reading!

Would you like more breakdowns of such reports and documents? Let us know in comments below 👇🏽

Key takeaways from Prosus 2024 Annual Report

Journalist

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

I'll go first. 

Narcissistic AF, named a whole product after his name!

Awkward things about Byju's. Let's do a thread!

Just last week he was giving gyan on why BYJUs failed. Welcome BYJUs 2.0..

Another one bites the dust...

Sales

Name of company
Months left according to you
Reason

For me:

Byjus
7-8 months max
Selling tabs and doing fraud with poor parents 
In name of edtech doesn't work

Which indian startup do you believe will die soon and why do you believe it

This will be taken down from reddit by mass reporting in some time. So sharing it here before that. Ps: not my post

🚨 EdTech scam

Investor

Byju's now valued at $0 🙈

Apart from unethical sales practices, toxic work culture and mindless accusations, what do you think went wring with Byju’s.

Why do you think Byju’s is falling?

Mukesh Ambani and Reliance are planning to buy out BYJU'S liabilities in the Bankruptcy process at throw away valuations.

Since existing investors have lost interest in the company, now their say won't matter. The highest bidder will be able to buy out BYJU'S. 

Great opportunity for Ambani's, Tata's and Adani's of the worst. The infra, IP and tech that BYJU'S has is easily worth more than a Billion dollars cakewalk. This is way lesser than their liabilities.

Looks like the employees and ex employees are after all safe.

Ambani - BYJU'S

Interesting. That means Jio and Mota bhai will have a pie in every aspect of the Indian economy from the government to the infrastructure to the education that is imparted. Good good

Year is ending in another 1 month.
A rough year for many startups winding off
Which startups do you think will wind off in next, 6 months?
Which startup should be saved and get VC fundings for continuing operations as Dhandha mode

Belly up startups

Founder

Lately, I have been thinking very deeply about my college days when the Flipkart story had inspired the entire lot of my batch at IIT-D. We were starry eyed college kids who wanted to do something innovative in India and break away from the "three" most popular moves after IIT:

1. UPSC
2. MBA
3. MS/PhD abroad

I proceeded to then work in various Indian startups and noticed an alarming thing. I began to realise a pattern across all my stints:

The initial founding team does exceptional work innovating, they excel at what Thiel calls "Zero to One", the act of creation. I will concede that although most founders fail to innovate by often copying what worked in the west but the initial founding team usually excels in execution. It allows for initial traction as it breathes a fresh breath in the\ space that they are operating in.

Almost always, when Product Market Fit is "achieved"(whatever that means), the founders begin to deploy insane amounts of funds into growth. 

By definition, Growth is not a bad thing. But, I have been noticing that across all startups I have worked at( all raised funds from the largest global funds) that it comes at the expense of product building. And during this era of hypergrowth, the product starts to stagnate while focus becomes marketing and sales. 

I often felt that this was temporary. That once we reach enough scale, we would start to innovate again. 
But time and time again, the ability to innovate atrophies over time.
Rather than building something that has enduring value by executing faster than anyone, the focus becomes achieving growth at all costs. 

This ultimately leads to two outcomes:
1. The startup cannot sustain this growth and retention begins to look dire. The churn becomes unbearable and the startup goes out of business.

2. The startup gets acquired by someone bigger, allowing founders and investors to believe that they created value where none existed in the first place.

I am completely dejected at this.

The Death of Indian Innovation: Why Indian Start Ups are failing to Innovate?

A lot of people at Unacademy have already resigned, and they are unable to hire replacements from the market( for who knows what reasons). Now as we all know people who are left in the organisation are going to have a tough time. 

Leaves not being approved, longer hours at work, mental harassment in the name of being available 24*7  is becoming a day to day thing. Now they are forcing people to take up sections of business one has never dealt with and are threatening to fire them if they are denying those roles. 

People who left the organisation in 2022 are the luckiest and well a bunch of well informed individuals who saw the end of this company before anyone else could have. 

What a time to be in edtech, indeed

Major Shakeup at Unacademy

The offline coaching industry in India is one of the most profitable and lucrative businesses so why does Edtech giants like Byju's, unacademy fail to replicate the in profitability terms.

Why are Indian Edtech failing?

worst startup to work for in india.

To all the people who blindly criticize the product, I think product is good. You should look into some videos on how science concepts are explained by Byjus Team on YouTube 

ROI- Cost of Byjus is about Rs 15 a Day, or about Rs 1600 per month..( Rs80,000 course of 5 years)
Education as per UN as the highest ROI compared to any other investment.

Bring up your questions and blind criticism.
Remember if Byjus fails startup ecosystem will break down.

How long does a startup remain a 'startup'?

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