Another edtech bites the dust alongside Eduvanz (my ex co)

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

AlmaBetter has been struggling for the past few months. The edtech space is facing another massive dying off, I suppose, but what about this one? Upskilling will still be relevant.

Was interviewing at one of the acquisitions of a major edtech player for a design role in Bangalore roughly 2 years ago. 🚩 Didn't share agreement on email unless I came to office for a day's worth of work (after completing interview assignment). 🚩 Exit clause in agreement mentioned company can terminate contract any time with a few days notice, no provision for me ending contract (never in my life did I see such a one-sided contract). 🚩 Was asked to reuse free resources available online to repurpose content for them (why fucking raise funds if that's all you want to do). 🚩 Overheard - "Who cares about quality, just bring in teachers who are influencers that can bring more students behind them". Boiled my blood. 🚩 Was tweeting all of this in a discussion about edtech on some thread without naming the company. Got asked to chat with founder's office guy while I was leaving at the end of day. They either stalked my socials or somehow came across my tweets and wanted me to bring my concerns to seniors instead of sharing them publicly. Excuses that were given - "We are a growing company, not everyone here is on our payroll, there's a mismatch in our teams internally, will take time to fix" etc etc. "You seem very passionate about education, you know how bad it is in India and we're trying our best to make a dent". Balls making a dent. I was even more furious by the time he was done talking. Politely asked me to delete the tweets (which I later did because I believe in second chances and not burning bridges). Did not sign agreement or return to work. Came to know later of more toxic stories coming out of edtech companies. Avoid edtech in India like the plague if you're still considering applying anywhere, this shit is not worth any amount of money. They are literally destroying our future and care more about their investors and VCs rather than their students or even the larger startup ecosystem. I hope these shitshows shut down soon.

What's the future of Edtech in India? Kids are back to school, why would anyone want to use such apps?

Got to know through my network that Brainly india has asked the entire team from their MD to all junior folks to go. Reason - sudden change in strategy.. they didn’t let the product even launch.. the team was in full swing prepping.. impacted folks 30+ or around that number.. within 6 months of hiring everyone.. while in the interviews they promised 5 years runway.. long term strategy for india.. ceo didn’t even apologise.. they come hire Indians and let go at the drop of a hat.. the employment contract said that either party have to give 3 months notice to resign.. so that’s what they did they are giving 3 months pay not in one go but month on month and after that nothing. No severance pay, no bonus paid to eligible employees, no help in finding jobs , no mental health support, medical finishes in 3 months.. in this time when hiring is on global freeze they have treated Indians like puppets come hire and fire when you want, they have money in bank account a runway for 18-24 months.. still they couldn’t hold on to india team.. heartless way of dealing with junior folks how will we find jobs

Graphy has forced a 30% salary cut on each employee to achieve profitability this year. This cut will be applicable from February onwards until 7-8 months. Truly a sad time for the Edtech ecosystem.

This EduTech company based Hyderabad managed by a School Group of south India, the CEO is smart fooling the founders he has been burning 4 Cr every month without earning single revenue.. it’s only matter of time this company will collapse and all the employees will be fired..