YouTuber Turned Unicorn: 4 Mistakes This EdTech Company Avoided to Achieve Success

• Launched a YouTube channel with a high-quality education that gained 2 million subscribers in 2-3 years, along with comprehensive free courses.
• Alakh Pandey, aka Physics Wallah, established a community and fandom of millions of students by telling stories, using memes, and teaching in a humorous environment.
• He comprehended the Indian edTech business and gradually began his teaching principles that attracted millions of minds while avoiding four mistakes that EdTech firms typically make.

Two years after its official launch as a company in 2016, Physics Wallah, initially started as a conventional YouTube channel (1), had amassed INR 350 crore in revenue and achieved unicorn status. Currently, physics wallah net worth is ₹7500 crores (2).

Who is Physics Wallah?

Alakh Pandey (3), aka Physics Wallah (4), is one of the most well-known and well-liked educators on YouTube and is currently the co-founder and CEO of "Physics Wallah," India's newest tech unicorn.

His education was set to come to an end in the eighth grade since his father couldn't afford to pay for his tuition; at that point, he began to teach elementary and secondary school children.

He applied to a local institution for higher education after failing the exam to become an IITian (5). Still, he left after the first year and began working as a physics teacher at a nearby coaching facility.

In 2016, after talking with his sister, he launched a YouTube channel to provide high-quality education at reasonable prices. Within two to three years, the channel had 2 million members, and he then launched a comprehensive course that was completely free.

Lesser Known facts about Physics wallah

He was passionate about telling stories, which allowed him to integrate his teaching, physics, and marketing skills. He is a master storyteller, which made his lessons engaging, elevated him to the status of an influencer or guru, and forged strong relationships with his students.

With the help of his witty personal tales and life experiences that were both inspiring and significant, he developed a following of ardent admirers among his students. Due to his simple and understandable teaching methods, his students refer to him as the "GOD of physics."

One of his students on Quora described his qualities in the following statements:

1. Physics principles that are simple to comprehend, together with a friendly disposition that never criticizes but instead understands everyone.
2. Every batch for boards and JEE mains/advance, which costs thousands at other institutes, is affordable.
3. They offer comprehensive, accessible, and, most importantly, high-quality education at a reasonable cost through their top-notch, intensive courses with top faculty and personal mentors.

4 Mistakes that Physics Wallah avoided to succeed

Whether used online or offline, technology should be integrated into education to aid students in tasks like review and doubt clearing, according to Alakh Pandey, founder, and CEO of PhysicsWallah.

1. Don't inspire students with guest lectures, but with personal and practical facts

The majority of EdTech businesses regularly invite guest lecturers from professionals in the sector who have more practical knowledge than teaching experience to advance their students' academic development. This makes the basic notion a little difficult for students to absorb.

Since Physics Wallah live sessions have both practical and theoretical expertise, he made it easier for students to understand by putting himself in their position and straightforwardly explaining things.

He made a special effort to comprehend how pupils could grasp a concept rather than merely imparting knowledge and hands-on experience, as it was more important that they comprehend the idea than merely pay attention.

Testimonials

To better understand how your normal instructor may affect your students by changing their teaching style and making it easier for students to understand a concept through storytelling, memes, or fun culture.

Try having a prominent person give a guest lecture. After that, ask the students how much they understood and how much they enjoyed the sessions, and who they preferred.

2. Stop handing out notes and finishing off sessions; instead, focus more on helping students understand the concept

One of the main causes of students dropping out of a course is if lecturers fall short of imparting real information and value to them clearly and understandably.

Physics Wallah helps kids learn by using a narrative style and meme-based content, making learning enjoyable and simple.

Additionally, they provide accurate, first-hand lectures that help students relate to other people's experiences. This motivates students to learn and comprehend more about a subject because, as was already mentioned, personal and practical facts are always crucial for students to relate to.

3. Don't just offer lectures; build a community

Being a solopreneur is good, and teaching and providing students with knowledge are also positive. However, teamwork and community support boost morale and provide prompt feedback on whether what you are teaching is helpful to someone.

Users of this generation enjoy interacting, and when unsure of something, they often seek a knowledgeable person who can enlighten them or act as a sounding board. This is the new trend, as introverts of this generation are much more active online than in person.

The act of building a community will attract others who share your interests. Physics Wallah created a large community that is now his fan base and supports him. The easiest way he did this was by interacting with his users, who joined as his subscribers and followed him on social media.

4. Instead of just explaining the recipes, ask the students to cook them

The easiest strategy to get industry acceptance for your credentials is to challenge your students to pass an exam or solve an equation. The Physics Wallah app, for example, combines multiple-choice and long-form writing style questions to challenge students to pass the course.

The greatest approach has always been to rate students on a leaderboard and recognizes them for their accomplishments in the real world to further push them to perform well.

Offering students the appropriate information and practical experience, together with internships and in-house working facilities, can improve platforms' success rates because students are constantly looking for internships, and it isn't easy to apply without the required abilities.

These four ideas have been crucial to the Physics Wallah success story, which is currently India's 101st unicorn.

End Notes for Students and EdTech Startups

As an ed-tech startup, it is crucial to concentrate on assisting students in achieving the best results when they choose to use your platform. You can only have a win-win situation and walk away with a sizable chunk of the pie by providing value to your users.

Physics Wallah helped students in the most important and standardized way in the Indian market: affordable learning, which began with free lectures.

Next, physics wallah established a community, developed an approach that was clear to students, and set them challenges, all of which increased student engagement and expanded its reach.