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UNSTARTUP: How Unacademy Ignored Conventional Advice to Become a 3x Unicorn
How did a nondescript YouTube channel become a unicorn startup?
The journey started when Gaurav Munjal and Hemesh Singh quit their jobs at CommonFloor and Roman Saini quit the Indian Administrative Service to start a YouTube channel that helped students prepare for competitive exams. Six years and 49 million users later, Unacademy has changed the way Indians learn and also democratized access to high-quality education.
If COVID-19 was a trial by fire for every industry, edtech was one of the sectors perfectly poised for a boom. Many online education startups were in the fray but only a few survived. Unacademy not only outsmarted the competition, but also surpassed every projection and created a new yardstick of success, becoming a $3.5 billion valued edtech startup.
In Unstartup, bestselling startup author Nistha Tripathi traces the gravity-defying ascent of Unacademy. Drawing on numerous conversations with people in and around Unacademy including its founders, board members, advisors, current and ex-employees, Nistha takes the reader through a page-turning rhapsody of startup strategies and lessons. These insider accounts and anecdotes reveal the day-to-day thinking, decisions and discipline of a unique (un)startup.
Reams have been written about the glitz surrounding startups, but it is the daily grind, small choices and critical pivots that no one tells you about. Unstartup offers a ringside view of how Unacademy ignored conventional advice and created its own playbook for success.
The journey started when Gaurav Munjal and Hemesh Singh quit their jobs at CommonFloor and Roman Saini quit the Indian Administrative Service to start a YouTube channel that helped students prepare for competitive exams. Six years and 49 million users later, Unacademy has changed the way Indians learn and also democratized access to high-quality education.
If COVID-19 was a trial by fire for every industry, edtech was one of the sectors perfectly poised for a boom. Many online education startups were in the fray but only a few survived. Unacademy not only outsmarted the competition, but also surpassed every projection and created a new yardstick of success, becoming a $3.5 billion valued edtech startup.
In Unstartup, bestselling startup author Nistha Tripathi traces the gravity-defying ascent of Unacademy. Drawing on numerous conversations with people in and around Unacademy including its founders, board members, advisors, current and ex-employees, Nistha takes the reader through a page-turning rhapsody of startup strategies and lessons. These insider accounts and anecdotes reveal the day-to-day thinking, decisions and discipline of a unique (un)startup.
Reams have been written about the glitz surrounding startups, but it is the daily grind, small choices and critical pivots that no one tells you about. Unstartup offers a ringside view of how Unacademy ignored conventional advice and created its own playbook for success.
- GenresBusiness
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2022
14 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Nistha Tripathi
4 books71 followersA successful Wall Street professional and early employee in Manhattan startups, Nistha returned to India in 2012 to start her own Indian entrepreneurial journey. After a couple of attempts, she found success in Scholar Strategy, an education counseling company that prides itself in helping 100s of students getting into top universities across the world including Harvard and MIT. This unique lifestyle business allows Nistha to work only 6 months a year, spending the remaining time traveling and writing.
Her first novel, Seven Conversations, interpreted Bhagvad Gita in a modern context and gathered rave reviews. With 35,000+ followers, and 6M+ views on her answers on the popular American QnA based website, Quora, Nistha writes extensively on careers, entrepreneurship and pursuing one’s passion. Her articles have appeared on Entrepreneur, Times, DailyO, DNA, Tribune and other leading media outlets.
Her first novel, Seven Conversations, interpreted Bhagvad Gita in a modern context and gathered rave reviews. With 35,000+ followers, and 6M+ views on her answers on the popular American QnA based website, Quora, Nistha writes extensively on careers, entrepreneurship and pursuing one’s passion. Her articles have appeared on Entrepreneur, Times, DailyO, DNA, Tribune and other leading media outlets.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 25, 2023
Very few books in non-fiction go down in my head as bad as there is always something to learn.
This one on the other hand seems like a vendor who has been given money to advertise the greatness of Unacademy. It keeps going on in circles about how great unacademy and its founders are. Going by the ebook it seems unacademy is the best unicorn out there without any flaws and each decision has been the best.
You get to know nothing about business, nothing about how the company came to be in terms of money and what the actual vision is. At one point in time, it will become a broken record that keeps glorifying the founders and the staff with no facts or numbers to add to their credentials.
Please skip this book and don't spend the money on a company's branding leaflet.
This one on the other hand seems like a vendor who has been given money to advertise the greatness of Unacademy. It keeps going on in circles about how great unacademy and its founders are. Going by the ebook it seems unacademy is the best unicorn out there without any flaws and each decision has been the best.
You get to know nothing about business, nothing about how the company came to be in terms of money and what the actual vision is. At one point in time, it will become a broken record that keeps glorifying the founders and the staff with no facts or numbers to add to their credentials.
Please skip this book and don't spend the money on a company's branding leaflet.
August 13, 2022
UNSTARTUP, a biography on unacedmy. While reading this book, I felt I watched the journey of unacedmy as a baby startup to a 3x unicorn.
Truth to be told, I am a proud member of Unacedmy(student) since January 2021, I came across this platform while I was looking for an online platform to help me prepare for a competitive exam. This educational app was recommended to me by one of the bookstagram buddie, she was also a member of this app and was happy with the services they provided. What I love about this platform is that they have multiple educators on this app, so if you don't understand the concept from someone x then you can switch to y without any extra cost. The freedom to choose my own educator and decide my own syllabus is a piece of the cake.
Offline coaching centres charge 1L to 3.5L for a course like UPSC in Delhi, People from small towns come to study in the capital with a big dream to clear exams like UPSC Children from all over India visit, Kota, a hub for IIT-JEE and NEET aspirants, in hope to just clear the exams. These offline institutes have promised Indian parents to help their kids with NEET and IIT-JEE. (On a side note Indian parents are willing to spend lakhs and lakhs on a preparatory exams like IIT and NEET, Kids from class 6th have already started preparing for IIT. like are you kidding me?)
I know this because my parents enrolled me in an institute owned by a very prominent newspaper at that time, they promised us (my parents) during the time of enrollment that "their" daughter will score 95+ in her board exam and charged a hefty fee, but the subject that I chose was beyond my capability. Coaching institutes put me through a lot of pressure, Self Doubt and feeling low were common. I just wanted to get through those days because I was not good at the subjects. I hated it plus the coaching institute made us work like crazy, giving us an indefinite number of assignments, Class Test on every second day. The chapters that we taught in school were different from what we used to learn in the coaching centre and most of the time I felt stuck because if I focus on school I lag behind my coaching classes and if I focused on coaching classes I lagged behind my school. It was much later I realize, I am good with Self Study and this is what Unacedmy gave me the option (i just wish these all platforms exists when I was in 12th )
This book is divided into 8 superpowers of unacedmy that what made unacedmy today, I liked how the author started the problem first and then found the solution. I also love the zeal and enthusiasm of Unacedmy founders and co-founders who in spite of everything did not give up. They believed in this mission and vision of the ed-tech. The company started blooming during the pandemic when every student who was either in his/her hometown or because of lack of financial constraints joined this platform. No one would have taught the offline centres that charge up to 1.5L to 3L for a course that could be just covered in between 34k to 80k Unacedmy spent their cash on improving their tech with unconventional marketing ideas, I feel this book is for someone who wants to be inspired by reading a phenomenal biography or recommended to a marketing professional.
Truth to be told, I am a proud member of Unacedmy(student) since January 2021, I came across this platform while I was looking for an online platform to help me prepare for a competitive exam. This educational app was recommended to me by one of the bookstagram buddie, she was also a member of this app and was happy with the services they provided. What I love about this platform is that they have multiple educators on this app, so if you don't understand the concept from someone x then you can switch to y without any extra cost. The freedom to choose my own educator and decide my own syllabus is a piece of the cake.
Offline coaching centres charge 1L to 3.5L for a course like UPSC in Delhi, People from small towns come to study in the capital with a big dream to clear exams like UPSC Children from all over India visit, Kota, a hub for IIT-JEE and NEET aspirants, in hope to just clear the exams. These offline institutes have promised Indian parents to help their kids with NEET and IIT-JEE. (On a side note Indian parents are willing to spend lakhs and lakhs on a preparatory exams like IIT and NEET, Kids from class 6th have already started preparing for IIT. like are you kidding me?)
I know this because my parents enrolled me in an institute owned by a very prominent newspaper at that time, they promised us (my parents) during the time of enrollment that "their" daughter will score 95+ in her board exam and charged a hefty fee, but the subject that I chose was beyond my capability. Coaching institutes put me through a lot of pressure, Self Doubt and feeling low were common. I just wanted to get through those days because I was not good at the subjects. I hated it plus the coaching institute made us work like crazy, giving us an indefinite number of assignments, Class Test on every second day. The chapters that we taught in school were different from what we used to learn in the coaching centre and most of the time I felt stuck because if I focus on school I lag behind my coaching classes and if I focused on coaching classes I lagged behind my school. It was much later I realize, I am good with Self Study and this is what Unacedmy gave me the option (i just wish these all platforms exists when I was in 12th )
This book is divided into 8 superpowers of unacedmy that what made unacedmy today, I liked how the author started the problem first and then found the solution. I also love the zeal and enthusiasm of Unacedmy founders and co-founders who in spite of everything did not give up. They believed in this mission and vision of the ed-tech. The company started blooming during the pandemic when every student who was either in his/her hometown or because of lack of financial constraints joined this platform. No one would have taught the offline centres that charge up to 1.5L to 3L for a course that could be just covered in between 34k to 80k Unacedmy spent their cash on improving their tech with unconventional marketing ideas, I feel this book is for someone who wants to be inspired by reading a phenomenal biography or recommended to a marketing professional.
July 4, 2022
𝙐𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙥 by 𝙉𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙝𝙖 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙞
📌The recent COVID Lockdown served as a dawn to countless opportunities, moreover it brought a boost to the digital media. And the terms like startup & entrepreneur influenced the majority of the population on a deeper level. I guess we all agree with that. Let's discuss startups.
📌Have you ever wondered that why only some startups make it to the top, while the the others can't ⁉️
The answer is so simple that you think it is. All those successful startups and businesses have these things in common an executing model for a particular time period and a growth mindset to implement the model & take necessary decisions.
📌This book also talks about one of the Biggest startups in India which had an remarkable influence over the people in some way or the other. The book is a brief analytical and factually researched study of the Unacademy - India's Largest Learning Platform.
📌The book felt more like a narration to me. I really loved the way real-life challenges faced, startup fundamentals and techniques are blended together. If you've watched "The Social Network", you're going to love this one.
📌The book offer a variety of tips, techniques, facts, methods and practical examples about businesses and startups. It was an intense read & quite an amusing experience. I'm curious to learn more about these startups.
📌If you're looking to learn about buisness models, startups challenges, enterpreneurship, ground realities & real life senerios then it's must read for you. Always remember real-life scenarios and experience serves as a great teacher. I'm looking forward to reading more of the author's work.
📌The recent COVID Lockdown served as a dawn to countless opportunities, moreover it brought a boost to the digital media. And the terms like startup & entrepreneur influenced the majority of the population on a deeper level. I guess we all agree with that. Let's discuss startups.
📌Have you ever wondered that why only some startups make it to the top, while the the others can't ⁉️
The answer is so simple that you think it is. All those successful startups and businesses have these things in common an executing model for a particular time period and a growth mindset to implement the model & take necessary decisions.
📌This book also talks about one of the Biggest startups in India which had an remarkable influence over the people in some way or the other. The book is a brief analytical and factually researched study of the Unacademy - India's Largest Learning Platform.
📌The book felt more like a narration to me. I really loved the way real-life challenges faced, startup fundamentals and techniques are blended together. If you've watched "The Social Network", you're going to love this one.
📌The book offer a variety of tips, techniques, facts, methods and practical examples about businesses and startups. It was an intense read & quite an amusing experience. I'm curious to learn more about these startups.
📌If you're looking to learn about buisness models, startups challenges, enterpreneurship, ground realities & real life senerios then it's must read for you. Always remember real-life scenarios and experience serves as a great teacher. I'm looking forward to reading more of the author's work.
June 24, 2022
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. It may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it”.
The aspect of perseverance does surface in one’s life and most of the time when push comes to the shove the outcomes can be very uncertain when added into the equation the COVID-19, uncertainty boomed but also laid down a road of opportunities for certain sectors and ed-tech was one of them. The 280 pages long book at hand primarily deals with the story of 2 individuals who were verily well placed in their lives and changed the course of it to make education more inclusive. The book has been divided into several chapters and as one would expect, the book begins by laying down the historical perspective of the unacademy and how it all started and to lay specific stress on the same, leads the readers to the life of the founding members and further reflects upon how it all come about. As the chapters progress, they tend to follow a cohesive approach and present the whole of the information in a rather structured format throughout the book.
The writing style of the book has been kept simple and easy to understand and the most striking aspect of the book is the detailed nature of the description which leads the readers to the underlying context of all the information provided to them. Thus, the book becomes a must-read for someone willing to learn the dynamics of building a startup.
The aspect of perseverance does surface in one’s life and most of the time when push comes to the shove the outcomes can be very uncertain when added into the equation the COVID-19, uncertainty boomed but also laid down a road of opportunities for certain sectors and ed-tech was one of them. The 280 pages long book at hand primarily deals with the story of 2 individuals who were verily well placed in their lives and changed the course of it to make education more inclusive. The book has been divided into several chapters and as one would expect, the book begins by laying down the historical perspective of the unacademy and how it all started and to lay specific stress on the same, leads the readers to the life of the founding members and further reflects upon how it all come about. As the chapters progress, they tend to follow a cohesive approach and present the whole of the information in a rather structured format throughout the book.
The writing style of the book has been kept simple and easy to understand and the most striking aspect of the book is the detailed nature of the description which leads the readers to the underlying context of all the information provided to them. Thus, the book becomes a must-read for someone willing to learn the dynamics of building a startup.
September 17, 2022
The story is about unacademy, its more like an autobiography of the three founders Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh & Roman Saini. Indians can now access high-quality education through Unacademy, which has changed the way they learn. Unacademy offers a wide variety of courses and features that can entice candidates to subscribe to it, making it a popular choice among aspiring students.
There are several chapters in the book in which one can sense how diligently people strive to achieve their goals. And they don't give up until they accomplish their goals.
Several sacrifices were made so that they could reach such heights and achieve their goals. Every character in the book is described in extensive detail by the author.
Knowing the backstory of every successful entrepreneur's journey not only brings happiness but also a sense of accomplishment. In addition to the author's detailed description of events, I really appreciate how she provided the opinion of co-workers and entrepreneurs as well.
Here the author has also exposed us to concepts like blitz scaling and growth which would be useful for the budding businessman. I recommend this book to future entrepreneurs who are looking for steps and strategies to begin a start-up. This can be a guide to help one realize their dreams.
July 20, 2022
we didn't know about the struggles and sacrifices it's founders had made to take it to the top.
the story behind the coming up of a start-up
the equation the COVID-19, uncertainty boomed but also laid down a road of opportunities for certain sectors and ed-tech was one of them. The 280 pages long book at hand primarily deals with the story of 2 individuals who were verily well placed in their lives .
All those successful startups and businesses have these things in common an executing model.
I obsessed with the title so i choice this book ..the author explain beautiful and the book is quite interesting.the writting style is beautiful and the language is easy and understand.
The writing style was effortless and it seemed as if the author is directly conversing with the readers which is why I felt like I am 'reading his act' while sitting on the front row seat of his show.I really enjoyed reading these engaging . The language is kept simple which help the readers to conect with the book easily.
the story behind the coming up of a start-up
the equation the COVID-19, uncertainty boomed but also laid down a road of opportunities for certain sectors and ed-tech was one of them. The 280 pages long book at hand primarily deals with the story of 2 individuals who were verily well placed in their lives .
All those successful startups and businesses have these things in common an executing model.
I obsessed with the title so i choice this book ..the author explain beautiful and the book is quite interesting.the writting style is beautiful and the language is easy and understand.
The writing style was effortless and it seemed as if the author is directly conversing with the readers which is why I felt like I am 'reading his act' while sitting on the front row seat of his show.I really enjoyed reading these engaging . The language is kept simple which help the readers to conect with the book easily.
July 7, 2022
With the advent of technological advances, things are changing at a rapid pace bringing about a change in almost everything from operating to thinking to shopping to travelling etc. Unstartup is a book that brings forth the story behind the coming up of a start-up, Unacademy that started from the very scratch. What makes it all the more interesting and authentic is that it draws upon the conversations with people in and around the startup. These conversations not only provide authenticity to the narrative but also give readers an insight into day-to-day thinking, decision making, daily grind, critical pivots and much more that played a pivotal role in Unacademy's success.
Language is simple, narration is smooth and on point. The book connects very well with the readers. If you are someone looking for guidance on startups, feel free to pick this book.
Language is simple, narration is smooth and on point. The book connects very well with the readers. If you are someone looking for guidance on startups, feel free to pick this book.
January 18, 2024
Loved the way the book was outlined in general. Although I liked reading through the book, I felt like a bunch of it was sugarcoating/marketing the actual story better than the way it happened.
It is likely that the team outgrew their culture a bit after they scaled to a much bigger team than what's described in the book but that experience made me question if the rest of the story was narrated as it happened.
It is likely that the team outgrew their culture a bit after they scaled to a much bigger team than what's described in the book but that experience made me question if the rest of the story was narrated as it happened.
July 16, 2022
It’s interesting to see entrepreneurs making their mark and contributing to India’s economy. One such unicorn in the field of online education is Unacademy, the online platform that offers live as well as self-paced courses. The myriads of courses and different features that can lure the candidates to try and then subscribe to Unacademy are what have made this number one choice for many aspirants. In Unstartup, Nistha Tripathi traces the path to success and highlights the unconventional methods, mindset and means employed by the founder of Unacademy.
Read the full review here: https://www.aliveshadow.com/category-...
Read the full review here: https://www.aliveshadow.com/category-...
August 26, 2022
Do start-up stories excite you? Then here's a book that you shouldn't miss.
It's the story of Unacademy- that started with Gaurav Munjal's YouTube channel in 2010 to crossing six lakh paid subscribers on their portal in 2021.
As the subtitle reads, it's the story of 'How Unacademy Ignored Conventional Advice to Become a 3X Unicorn'.
Fast-paced, I liked the book because of the way the author has presented the events in detail along with the views of other entrepreneurs & co-workers on the same.
For any aspiring entrepreneur, this book can be very informative & enriching.
It's the story of Unacademy- that started with Gaurav Munjal's YouTube channel in 2010 to crossing six lakh paid subscribers on their portal in 2021.
As the subtitle reads, it's the story of 'How Unacademy Ignored Conventional Advice to Become a 3X Unicorn'.
Fast-paced, I liked the book because of the way the author has presented the events in detail along with the views of other entrepreneurs & co-workers on the same.
For any aspiring entrepreneur, this book can be very informative & enriching.
June 18, 2022
I really love reading books having entrepreneur mindset and the backstory behind every success is always way too interesting! This is one of those books that will not just introduce you to the other sidr of the brand but will take you on their journey from the very beginning. It's truly a must read. It's extremely power packed with secrets and strategies we wouldn't know otherwise..
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I definitely loved it and I will highly recommend it.
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Rating: 4.5⭐️
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I definitely loved it and I will highly recommend it.
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Rating: 4.5⭐️
June 14, 2022
All of have heard about the education startup 'Unacademy'. But we didn't know about the struggles and sacrifices it's founders had made to take it to the top. This book gives us insight of the efforts being made for this startup. Also it's very informative for those who are planning to set a startup.
Must read book.✨
Must read book.✨
October 29, 2023
An amazing book on the success of one of the most successful start up we know in India to this day.I enjoyed reading the journey which was written with so much detail. What I love about the book most is how every significant employee contributed to the success of the organisation.Beautifully written and very interesting throughout the book. Deserves a good 4 star.
June 14, 2022
Must read if you want to understand the concept of blitzscaling and growth.
July 26, 2022
Quite detail oriented and nuanced!
A must read for startup/business enthusiasts!
A must read for startup/business enthusiasts!
August 23, 2022
Rarely do I learn so much from a single book.
If you got intrest in anything business related, you know what to pick...
If you got intrest in anything business related, you know what to pick...
October 13, 2022
From a YouTube channel to a start up. From SoftBank investing the 3 billion dollar company and dealing with covid. Interesting read but again a little too long book. Can get boring
March 7, 2023
Best book if you want to know the story of Unacademy. How it came to be a unicorn.
January 1, 2024
India has come a long way churning out global unicorns but somehow the gap for good quality business books remain. The writing is average, research extremely poor and the book is nothing but a broken record glorifying the founders and the startup. Almost makes you wonder if they pulled a “TVF’s Kota Factory” equivalent by sponsoring this work.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews