How a 15-Year-Old Indian Entrepreneur Built a Profitable Edtech Startup: Shreyaan Daga, OLL

Shreyaan Daga was just 15 years old when he started an edtech startup called Online Live Learning (OLL) – which is a marketplace for teachers to offer live courses to students on everything from graphic designing to yoga to guitar to astrology to astronomy.  In this video, Shreyaan talks about discovering his passion, starting up as a young entrepreneur and building a profitable edtech startup.

Introduction

From selling paintings in 4th grade to lending money in 7th grade

Journey of self-discovery and entrepreneurship

Turning pandemic into an opportunity

Moving from free courses to a paid business model

Shreyaan on the importance of learning

Future of Online Live Learning

From selling paintings in 4th grade to lending money in 7th grade: Before Shreyaans even started his latest venture Online Live Learning, he had been on a path to entrepreneurship since he was 10 years old. He started selling paintings online to his friends and family when he was in 4th grade. It grew into an online marketplace for paintings when his friends using the platform to sell their paintings as well. Later in 7th grade, he started lending money to his schoolmates at high-interest rates and he even learnt about investing in the stock market on his own.

Journey of self-discovery and entrepreneurship: Fascinated by the story of Gautam Buddha, Shreyaan went on his own journey of self-discovery when he decided to leave everything he owned behind. He got on his bicycle and started donating everything he owned until he was left with just his bicycle, which he gave to a kid on the street. Fortunately, he was discovered by his friend and was taken home. But this experience made him realise that instead of focusing on materialistic things, people should focus on dreaming big and spending their lives in the pursuit of those dreams. The only way he thought we can do that is through education. That’s why he decided to start Online Live Learning.

Turning pandemic into an opportunity: He discussed the idea for Online Live Learning with his parents and hired a team of IIM graduates to help him build the platform. During the pandemic, teachers were finding it hard to make money, students had a lot of time on their hand and schools were still figuring things out. That’s when Shreyaan launched Online Live Learning to help teachers make some money through courses and provide a platform for students to continue their learning.

Moving from free courses to a paid business model: Initially, they were offering the courses for free but with their initial investment of Rs 2 lakh running out, they realised that it wasn’t a sustainable model and people don’t really value free courses. So, they started charging money for the classes and started building a stable revenue source. Their growth has been organic from the beginning but things started to slow down when schools were opening up once again.

Shreyaan on the importance of learning and dreaming big: He believes that the first time we are introduced to a subject, it’s called awareness. But learning happens when you start connecting and applying those concepts in the real world.

Future of Online Live Learning: Their platform is already offering courses ranging across multiple fields ranging from graphic designing to astronomy to astrology to machine learning. But he and his team want to build Online Live Learning into a school for the world where students can learn any skill they chose. They now have an ambitious goal of getting 1 billion students on their platform by 2025.