How an Indian small-town boy built a 15 Million $ EdTech Start-up

When it comes to inspiring leaders, it's often those that with stand the test of time and batter the downturns to turn them around and rise again that capture our attention. Subramanyam Reddy embodies these qualities and this is his story about how he created the prospering EdTech company Knowledge Hut

We are always intrigued by stories of successful entrepreneurs & their high-flying Start-ups. Their journey to success is not as smooth as it sounds. Here is a story of how a small-town boy from India with 10k $ built a 15 Million $ business to impact more than 250,000 professionals!

About the Man himself & his incredible journey

Subramanyam Reddy, affectionately known as Subbu, was born in 1983 in a small town called Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. In 2007, he completed his MBA in HR & Marketing with the dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

In 2009, he kick-started his career in marketing with a Training start-up in Bengaluru. Within the first 6 months, he performed really well & grew the business eight times. He was promised a 5% incentive by the founder, which was not given to him. Instead he was fired for no reason.

After suffering this major set-back, he decided to pursue his vision of making up-skilling engaging, long term & accessible for professionals & students. He set up KnowledgeHut (KH) in 2011 with two of his friends. They found a rundown office & on-boarded 12 employees, starting their journey with passion and single-minded dedication. Even after a lot of efforts in the initial two months, they were not able to generate any revenue. Subbu had no more savings left to run the company. The employees wanted to leave, but Subbu convinced them to stay. By the end of the third month, leads started to fly-in & they generated a revenue of approx. 28k $.  Defying all the odds, they generated business of 280k $ by the end of that year. In the next 4 years, the small but zealous team at KH grew 10 times in revenue & expanded globally.

All was going well until 2015, when the business suddenly went down & they had no money to pay salaries. Subbu took a personal loan to pay the staff & kept the company afloat. They analysed & quickly revamped their products/services to generate a revenue of 5.7 Million $ in 2016, and 15 Million $ by 2018. They even got funded in the same year thanks to their phenomenal growth.

Subbu shares that “countless struggles & numerous challenges” made them “more resilient & even more focused”.

KH’s Milestones

Today, having trained over 250,000 professionals across 70 countries, their high-quality curriculum & pedagogy with 65 % more engagement, 95% latest content & real-world experiences; promises to be the next revolution in learning. KH is proud to have been being accredited by some of the world's best-known training bodies such as PMI®, Scaled Agile Inc., Scrum Alliance®, PeopleCert, Scrum.org. and many more as their Registered Education Provider (REP). 

KH has delivered 70% improved competency analytics & offered over 300 courses in different domains including Full Stack Development, Data Science, Cloud Computing, Future Tech, Deep Tech, Agile & Scrum, IT Service Management & Project Management.

The Road Ahead

As we embrace this New Normal triggered by the global pandemic, KH has developed an AI-powered platform PRISM to take learning to the next level. This is an Immersive Learning Approach, which at each stage becomes a virtual companion for every Learner, guiding them to explore & improve skills that differentiate them from the crowd. These programs include live instructor-led classes, self-paced learning modes & self-learning online modes. As they continue to redefine the Global Blended Model Approach (GBMA) with their Immersive Learning Experience Platform, they are moving closer to their endeavour of enabling professionals across the globe to apply their acquired skills consistently, with a shorter learning curve & significantly higher subject retention.

Let us join KnowledgeHut as they take a giant leap to take learning into a new dimension. 

Visit their website here https://www.knowledgehut.com/