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Entiepieneuiship Repoit
1 | 9 a g e

Table of Contents

1. Industry Overview............................. 2
a. The Opportunity........................... 2
b. Growth oI Industry......................... 3
c. Challenges inherent to the Industry.................. 3
2. Motivation Ior the Venture......................... 4
a. Backgrounds oI the Founders..................... 4
3. Business Model................................ 6
4. Business Growth.............................. 8
a. Key breakthroughs / Milestone.......................... 8
i. Initial Phase.......................... 8
ii. Growth Phase.......................... 9
Business Issues Iaced.................... 9
iii. Current Position...................... 10
5. Key Segments/Focus Areas......................... 11
a. Transtutors........................... 11
b. askIITians............................ 11
c. eMedicalPrep.......................... 12
d. Mycollegeabroad.......................... 12
6. Way Forward............................. 13
a. Short term............................ 13
b. Long Term........................... 14
c. Exit Options........................... 14
7. ReIlection on Ideas............................ 15
8. Bibliography.............................. 17

2 | 9 a g e

ndustry Overview - Online Tutoring

Outsourcing has been the buzzword Ior many Indian companies in the past decade and rightIully
so. Inexpensive, intelligent and plentiIul labour in this country has presented an arbitrage
opportunity, like none other to developed countries in the West. One particular segment that
seems to have piqued the curiosity oI venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike, and that is
online tutoring Irom India Ior students across the globe.

The Opportunity
O Glaring gap between industry expectations oI students and their proIiciency levels and
thus the need Ior additional tutoring services.
O Schools in USA, and in a Iew other developed countries, are Iinding it increasingly
diIIicult to recruit quality instructors and thereIore indirectly began to depend on
supplementary sources oI education.
O Many schools and students began partnering with American e-tutoring companies and
libraries Ior tutoring services. The Bush administration`s No child left behind act that
held schools responsible Ior student`s poor grades, only Iuelled this Iurther.
O Firms in USA, trying to leverage cost arbitrage and good communication skills in India
with costs oI USD 10-15 per hour per tutor.
O Technological advancements in the Iorm oI online audio-video chat sessions, virtual
whiteboards have online tutoring very easy to setup and access.

Growth of ndustry
The trend began with US e-tutoring Iirms subcontracting various jobs to Indian start-ups like
ducomp Solutions and Transtutors. While the start ups were responsible Ior hiring and training
tutors in India and providing assistance with projects and assignments to students, the American
companies were responsible Ior the marketing, brand building and student acquisition angle oI
the business.
As the industry matured, some companies realized the value oI reaching out to students directly
and began engaging with students directly. This allowed them a higher revenue margin (up to
30), but this requires high upIront capital expenditure in brand building and system setup. The
initial business model however allowed even mom and pop establishments to compete with
established names due to the low investment levels required.
Industry experts agree that we have only explored the tip oI the iceberg that this industry
represents. Any statistics pertaining to this segment are irrelevant due to the exponential growths
expected in the coming decade and the disruptive strategies being employed by the players.
While outsourcing oI educational services is one revenue stream, there is also a huge potential
Ior online education in Indian market since the education industry in India is growing very Iast
and the online concept has not even captured a Iraction oI the market. hibit 10]


Source Study by Organization Ior Economic Cooperation and Development, America 2011
3 | 9 a g e

Challenges inherent to the industry
i) There`s an anti outsourcing sentiment building up in America, especially when it`s related to
as sensitive a topic as the education oI their children.
ii) Another concern is that the only way to turn proIitable in this sector is by employing the
economies oI scale. There is thereIore, a need to scale up very quickly that many Iirst movers
were unable to achieve and thus led to their decay.
iii) There are presently close to a hundred small and large Iirms and counting involved in this
space. Hence competition is quite high with low barriers to entry, yet high revenue possibilities.

Motivation For The Venture

Transwebturors was conceptualized by two individuals, co-founders Nishant Sinha and Aditya
Shrivastava, who leIt their well-paid jobs and decided to start a venture oI their own where they
could have complete autonomy on all the strategic as well as operational decisions. To
understand the venture Iurther, it will be insightIul to understand the background oI these
individuals who decided to take up a signiIicantly bigger and riskier challenge in liIe than they
were handling in their jobs.

Background Of The Founders
ishant Sinha (Co-Iounder and Promoter, Transwebtutors)
ishant comes Irom a non metro city in the northern part oI India and belongs to a middle class
Iamily, hence one would expect him to have a stereotypical thinking about a proIessional career.
He did inherit this Irom his lineage but he also had a very intuitive mind and an action-oriented
personality right Irom the beginning. He graduated Irom Indian Institute oI Technology in 2005
and was amongst the top rankers in his stream.
During his studies, ishant had a lot promising ideas, most oI which he executed as well which
took his classmates by surprise. A simple example is He got clothing apparels printed with
customized designs and innovatively printed college logos. He Iound out a reasonably priced
vendor Ior printing T-shirts and sold at a premium to the students. He did multiple international
internships which exposed him to multiple cultures and enriched his human knowledge.
ishant was very keen on starting something in education field right Irom his early years oI
Engineering. Since ishant had himselI been through Joint Entrance Examination (Ior entry to
IITs, India`s premier engineering institutions), he saw a tremendous potential market and a lack
oI good educational service providers, especially in smaller cities in India.
While he joined KSA Technopak, a consulting Iirm, he always longed Ior starting up a coaching
institute or a venture oI his own. It`s this longing Ior a venture; supplemented by the client
consulting exposure he got at Technopak that led him to Iinally co-start Transwebtutors.

4 | 9 a g e

Nishant worked with me on several profects, his efficiency is something worthwhile to mention.
And he has displayed this efficiency in setting up his own successful business in no time. He is
very sharp, focused professional with very accurate understanding of work expected out of him.`
Vishesh Singh, Senior Consultant, Technopak Advisors

a person who thinks very logically and with a great sense of humor. Further, he is great at
convincing people.He really encourages his colleagues and funiors to work harder and better,
and shows a lot of faith in their ability. I still remember my 1st session which was a disaster.
After the session, I had thought of leaving my fob but Nishant said I can do it and he showed his
confidence in me. The next session was like great.`
umar Satyam, friend and co-worker

Aditya Singhal (Co-Iounder and Promoter, Transwebtutors)
Aditya Singhal also came Irom a non-metro city Irom the northern part oI India but unlike
ishant, he came Irom a business Iamily. This essentially inculcated in him an inclination
towards taking risks that are more than reasonable and calculated. He was a batch mate oI
ishant and also graduated Irom Indian Institute oI Technology in 2005.
Right Irom the initial years oI college, Aditya had ambitious plans Ior Iuture. While he was not
as aIIluent in ideas as ishant was, he was a perIectionist in preparing and executing plans. His
international exposure during his internship and his varied experiences in diIIerent roles in
organizing cultural events at college helped him develop as a craIted executioner. Moreover, his
higher risk appetite was actually a key driver Ior the conceptualization oI the idea Ior
Transwebtutors.
Aditya joined KSA Technopak and worked with multiple clients. This helped him gain
conIidence Iurther and helped him channelize his ideas well. Around 2005-2006 India was a
growth story, a lot oI which involved outsourcing oI services Irom all parts oI the world to India.
Aditya was very attracted towards the enormous cost arbitrage opportunity Ior diIIerent services
being oIIered in India. He wanted to do something in this outsourcing space.
A friend, a great supporter and ofcourse a very ambitious person. dreams very BIG and do
reali:e that those dreams will come true. Likes to take risk and and works really really hard. He
can work for continuous 3-4 days without sleeping. You can imagine his callibre.`
Kumar Satyam, Friend and Co-worker

Since ishant and Aditya were working in the same company aIter college, they shared their
accommodation in an apartment in Gurgaon. During their Irequent discussions at breakIast,
lunches, and dinner they shared their views and ideas with each other and gradually saw a
connect.
While ishant brought the idea oI starting something in education Iield, Aditya brought in the
angle oI outsourcing. It was an amalgamation oI two highly motivated proIessionals with similar
entrepreneurial aspirations and complementary ideas/thought process that led to the launch of a
new venture, in 2006, called Transwebtutors an online offshore tutoring venture.

S | 9 a g e

Business Model



How does online tutoring work?
The classes are held online through a virtual classroom environment, using a whiteboard, voice
and chat service under the guidance oI an expert and proIessional tutor. hibit 2] One can
subscribe Ior anytime help or schedule tutoring sessions or email Ior help.


Typical financial model for a dedicated tutor:
TransWebTutors will provide InIrastructure & Training to tutors to provide the tutoring service.
The tutors will work Ior Client Ior hours a day *25 days approx 200 hours per month).
The company will charge Client $1500 per tutor per month that includes tutor remunerations and
other overheads.
The company will monitor the quality and share Ieedback to the tutor time and again in order to
ensure quality. hibit 5]
Gamut of Serv|ces
Source Company Website
| 9 a g e

Client will be required to pay one month payment oI the tutor in advance as a security amount
prior to inducting them to the system. 10 escalation in price will be added every year so as to
match the tutor`s pay increment every year. Payment schedule is monthly.

A typical hourly charge sheet Ior diIIerent services is available in the exhibits. hibit 4]

Technology Used For Online Sessions:


ey Differentiators for Transwebtutors


#edlcaLed and Cuallfled 1uLors Lo
Lake care of SLudenLs"
#CenLrallzed sLaLeofarL LuLorlng
lab Lo dellver servlces
professlonally"
#CuallLy analysLs Lo ensure servlce
quallLy"
#8lgorous recrulLmenL process and
Lhlrd parLy background check"
Source Company Website, Interviews
| 9 a g e

Business Growth

While the venture started oII with oIIering online teaching lessons in non-technical education, it
gradually grew to oIIer packages and services in a lot more segments.

Even though the venture has been able to divest in more than one area, they initially spent almost
all their time in the areas that generated heavy cash.

ey Breakthroughs/Milestones

Initial phase: [Revenues - USD 10K to 20K | Employees - 5-6 Full
Time and 15-20 Contracted]

As per Aditya, initially they cold-called businesses explaining them the existence oI
Transwebtutors trying to get a Iew projects. Businesses in the US who were into the same
segment, were under tremendous pressure oI cutting costs and hence were also looking Ior
partners in India to whom they could outsource some oI the projects. The small team oI Aditya,
ishant and a Iew others even ran a lot oI sample tutoring sessions to convince the businesses in
US oI the quality oI tutoring. The eIIorts paid oII and one organization started sending projects
to the group.

Effective Bootstrapping ishant recalls, 'It is very important for a start up to avoid as much of
fixed costs as possible. A start up should not spend anything on a resource that does not
contribute to selling. The two Iounders Iollowed all possible methods Ior bootstrapping, thereby
managing with as little cash as possible. They saved a lot oI costs

a) They did not hire Iull time employees initially and approached 2
nd
or 3
rd
year IIT Delhi
students with short term tutoring assignments. It was a win-win Ior both, since the venture got
high quality tutors and the IIT students made quick yet decent money.

b) They rented out space in the basement oI a building very close to Qutub institutional area (an
area that has IITD, JU, IMI and a lot other educational institutions in very close vicinity), and
hence were able to get a good talent pool of tutors at a reasonable price.

c) EIIectively used rented space by running the sessions in all three shifts, since the students
were Irom diIIerent time zones. Both the Iounders worked 12 hrs each. ishant mentions 'For
about a year or so, we were literally living out oI a basement and didn`t see sunlight Ior almost
12 hours continuously. We didn`t sleep Ior more than 4 hours Ior almost a year.

d) For any technical glitches, they took help oI their college juniors who were experts with
computers. This helped them save a lot oI money.

The team included the two Iounders slogging 16-18 hours a day, and around 15-20 contracted
tutors.


Source Interviews with Founder
| 9 a g e

Growth Phase: [Revenues - USD 100K to 200K | Employees - 30-35 Full Time
and 100-150 Contracted]

For about a year the venture relied heavily on one single company in the US Ior projects. Even
though the number oI projects had increased, 90 oI them were sourced by the same company.
That worried ishant and Aditya a lot since they didn`t want to really on one source Ior their
cash Ilow. Moreover, they were still in the business-to-business mode and were not reaching out
to individual students who could be potential customers.

Gradually the reputation oI the venture improved and with continued and proactive eIIorts, they
were able to reach out to the customers directly. Through word-oI-mouth, a lot more students
started approaching them directly and availing their service. hibit 6 & 7]



While business was growing, a whole lot of issues started coming in, most oI which the Iounders
were able to sort out but it required a lot oI their eIIorts.
1. Infrastructure Since a lot oI tutoring requests were in the US time zone, the Iounders had to
get more systems Ior employees. Moreover, a segregated space Ior all the tutors was also
required, but most importantly the service required a reliable soItware that could be used Ior the
sessions. |hibit 1]

This all required huge initial investment and the Iounders had to spend a lot oI costs out-oI-
pocket to get the inIrastructure ready. ishant recalls, 'Had it not been for our familys support
financially and mentally, this venture would not have been as successful. We thought about JC
funding and were able to convince a few JCs for some funds as well but we were not happy with
the amount of ownership dilutions JCs were asking for. So that was ruled out. It was a difficult
phase and I am glad we are through that now.

2. Cost of maintaining customer expectations - Students increasingly expected that online
services will continue to evolve and maximize the Iunctionality available. While the connectivity
in India is not very high hibit 9], this required ongoing Iunding and up to date knowledge oI
Moteovet wltb qtowloq slze
tbe foooJets olso set fottb to
llst Jowo tbe Objectives of
tbe veotote wblcb woolJ oct
os tbe qolJloq ptloclples fot
tbe compooys Jltectloo qoloq
fotwotJ
Source Interviews with Founder
Source Company Website Interviews
| 9 a g e

web trends and user behavior. Moreover, it required Ior the venture to hire or contract technical
teams as well Ior supporting the technological glitches.
Again, the Iounders were innovative in getting Computer Science students Irom IIT to handle
these glitches at much lower costs.

3. Team morale They came to realize with time that getting business is not the biggest thing in
a venture. The service or the product has to be diIIerentiated as well. It was very important Ior
the Iounders to keep the tutors motivated because they were delivering almost the same content
day-in-day-out. Moreover, many teachers lacked the conIidence to lead their students into online
learning because they were unsure how the inIrastructure would work and where to get the
support they needed.

4. Tracking Orders - They had to keep a constant track oI the projects and the commitments to
deliver those projects. They didn`t want to take up too less orders but at the same time they
didn`t want to take up too many and be short oI resources later. Amazingly the demand Ior
tutoring services was Iast growing and is still continuing to grow, which made sure that the
company was never short on session requests. hibit 3]

Around 2008-2009, when recession hit the US, US companies were more under pressure oI
cutting costs which motivated them to outsource more oI their work to low cost countries like
India. And Transwebtutors was there at the right time. The venture had never looked back on
growth and grew Irom modest 5-6 employee strength to 30-40 Iull time employees within 18
months oI start.

Current position: [Revenues - USD 1 - 1.2 Million | Emp - 90-95 Full Time &
800-850 Contracted]

The organization currently makes its educational resources available to students Irom primary
education level to university level, through two key - askTians.com, Transtutors.com, and a
Iew other domains/segments - Mycollegeabroad.com, and eMedicalPrep.com



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source Interviews with Founder
10 | 9 a g e


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source - http.//www.checkyourrankings.com
11 | 9 a g e

ey Segments/Focus Areas

Transtutors
This segment oIIers a wide spectrum oI educational services Irom K-12 segment to college level
courses, as well as preparation Ior competitive and standardized tests. Their key educational
services comprise:-

Standardized Tests preparation

Online Tutoring

O For SAT, GRE, GMAT, AP, CLEP,AS/A
levels, GCSE
O Classroom and Private tuitions
O Test Assessment Services
O Chat and Voice Support Outsourcing
Services
O Content Development
O Essay Writing/Assessment and Homework-
help
O Email Assignment Solutions





askTians
This oIIering oI the company covers online, interactive and real time resources and video
solutions Ior preparation oI entrance examinations. It mainly services students

* Preparing Ior IIT-JEE/other engineering/medical entrance exams
* Wanting to study Math, Physics, or Chemistry at any level
ates snapshot
cbeJoleJ 1ototloq kotes
(pet boot)
DpLo Crade 12 (any sub[ecL) $22
College Level (any sub[ecL) $24
Lxam 9rep
(eg SA1 C8L AC1 CMA1 eLc)
$22
ostoot 1ototloq kotes
(pet mootb)
DpLo Crade 12 (any sub[ecL) $99
Samp|e Snapshot of tutor|ng operat|on

Source http.//www.sharenator.com
12 | 9 a g e


At askiitians, any student can schedule a session with an IITian Ior various subjects via Video
solutions/video tutorials, video lectures, or Remote Instructional Program Ior one and two
years both.

Their differentiation over competition is through:
Best Faculty-interaction (IITians only)
Recording oI each session and past 10
years JEE paper available to every student
Flexible time schedule as per the
convenience oI the student with weekly
Iollow up
A FIAL PUCH program to assure
your success in IIT JEE
One to one interaction helps a shy
student to open up and learn with
conIidence
24X7 availability oI tutors (subject to prior scheduling)

Other Domains
eMedicalPrep

eMedicalPrep oIIers online coaching and tutoring packages Ior medical exam preparation
(CPMT, AIIMS, PMT, CBSE) course material, online tests and other resources Ior medical exam
preparation.
With Iirst-hand experiences oI cracking medical examinations in India and constant eye on
medical exams conducted at college, state and national levels across India, Emedicalprep`s
Iaculty has a Iair idea oI how to help students gain conceptual understanding oI a topic and tips
to optimize score in particular medical entrance exams.
!er day hit rate
Mycollegeabroad

It is the company`s arm that deals with college admissions consulting. It assists students gain
admission to colleges and universities in orth America (USA & Canada) and Europe. To
accomplish this, the mentors work with students in selecting right colleges and suitable
programs, and coach them on writing productive and eIIective applications.

Over the years, their team has consistently placed students with a success rate over 90 in
diIIerent colleges and universities in orth America (USA & Canada) and Europe.

!er day hit rate




Source www.sharenator.com
13 | 9 a g e

ay Forward

Short Term [IPO in 4-5
Yrs]

While the venture has stabilized now in terms oI cash Ilow, ishant and Aditya have diIIerent set
oI challenges to Iace now. When asked about the challenges they are Iacing now, ishant says,
'Over time we have come to reali:e that it is not as difficult to get students as it is to get good
quality teachers. And that is not the only challenge we are facing, but that is certainly the biggest
one.
In a direct interview, ishant and Aditya mentioned the challenges they are facing currently.

1. It is diIIicult to manage the salary expectations oI the staII. The venture has moderate to high
attrition, but not necessarily to competitors but to the soItware industry and other services
industry.
2. There are HR issues at times wherein Aditya and ishant both have to deal with issues like a
Iew employees not co-operating, a Iew slacking employees and keeping them motivated Ior their
work.
3. Aditya mentioned that when a venture grows in size,
it`s not just projects that the company has to worry
about. With growing size, HR policies need to be in
place, mid level managers need to be hired and
perIormance appraisals have to be done.
4. They need to think about a career plan Ior the
employees, designing and deIining which takes a lot oI
time and eIIort.
5. Training programs have to be designed and the
employees need to be up-skilled to give them a growth
perception.

These are a Iew oI the key challenges that the Iounders
are Iacing currently and a lot oI their time and energy goes to overcoming these.

When asked Has this kept you from thinking about future plans of the venture?`; ishant
answers in a Iirm negative. He says that they are now able to hire mid-level managers assigned
Ior deIinite roles in the venture. They have hired people Ior sales, people management and Ior
content development. This has lessened their work load a bit.

ishant says 'Now things are looking a bit stable and we dont have to work out of a basement
for 15 hours. We put in around 10-11 hours most of which goes towards defining the strategies
of the company. We intend to go for an I!O in about 4-5 years.

With a million dollar turnover, a Iull time employee strength oI over 100, and part time
employee strength oI over 800, an IPO looks quite achievable Ior the venture.

Source Transtutors.com
14 | 9 a g e


ong Term

TransWeb currently serves learners and educators across India, US and UK. The Iirm plans to
train and induct, and increase the size oI its tutoring team to around 2000. TransWeb has a strong
client base in US and UK, and has plans oI expanding its operations in Australia and Middle
East.

When we asked ishant and Aditya about the long term Iuture oI the company, they mentioned
that their key Iocus Ior now is to grow the company at a reasonable pace. Aditya says, We dont
want to bite more than we can chew''` They are taking a very cautious approach and don`t want
to expand so huge that it goes out oI manageable limits. ishant said, If our short term goals
keep working for a significant period of time, we might not even need a long term goal. And then
theres always an exit option. Who knows whats gonna happen ''`

it Option?

The Iounders are in talks with U.S. Iirms Ior both investment and possible partnerships. They
are talking to investors Ior $5 million to $10 million in Iunding to take the company to the next
level. &ntil now we have been focused on getting our back-end operations in place and on
customer retention, Iounder ishant Sinha says. We are now ready to grow exponentially. The
funding will be for marketing and building our brand.
Aditya mentioned that they were approached by a Iirm two years back Ior an acquisition but the
evaluation was too low, and he and ishant didn`t want to give away all their signiIicant eIIorts
without giving a Iull shot to the company. Aditya says, 'When we look back, that refusing the
acquisition) was one of the best decisions we have ever made. However, they are not
completely averse to getting acquired by another organization but they want to Iirst grow this
venture to a respectable level.

When asked what that level is, he said, ..we dont have a level in mind but we will continue it to
the level that gives us intellectual and entrepreneurial satisfaction..` Certainly a noble thought!!

Venture valuation

Can the Venture be called a Success?

When we looked at diIIerent parameters to judge whether the venture can be called successIul or
not, we Iound that it ticked almost all the criteria one could think oI Ior success.

1. By Revenue The revenue oI the organization grew Irom a modest ten thousand dollars to a
million dollars in less than 5 years, which shows that the company grew at a good pace and
created regular sources oI revenue.
1S | 9 a g e

2. By Si:e The Company started with just 4-5 employees and has now grown up to a Iull time
employee size oI around a hundred and a contracted tutor pool oI more than 600. Hence the
venture has generated employment opportunities Ior people as well and hence can certainly be
called a success.
3. By Cash flows - The venture survived till now and has grown without any angel or VC
Iunding; and more importantly it did not Iell into cash shortage problem and maintained a regular
Ilow oI cash even during the time oI recession. This shows that the venture has a sustainable
model and will grow irrespective oI market conditions.
4. By Responsibility Sharing - There were two Iounders oI the organization but the sharing oI
responsibilities was so well that they never Iaced a directional issue as to which direction the
company should grown in. II we look at other cases with two or more Iounders, e.g. Law School
Tutorials, there`s mostly a conIlict oI thought process amongst the co-Iounders. Hence by
allaying these issues, the venture was a success to have grown so well.
5. By !ublicity and Recognition The venture got a lot oI coverage in the news. There were
interviews oI the duo on television in DTV, Money Control; interviews and stories in The
Washington Post, The Tribune hibit 8]; and the duo also gave a lecture on entrepreneurship
in IIM Indore (one oI the premier management institutes in Inda)

Moreover, the duo has also started to reach out to the non-metro cities with their tutoring
services which enables students in these cities to access quality preparation Ior entrance
examinations, hence they have started IulIilling social responsibility as well.

Hindsight: Things They Could Have Done Better

In one oI the interviews ishant told us that the biggest thing they could have done diIIerently iI
they get a chance would be to include a third partner in the business who has a superior
technology experience. He mentioned that since their business depends primarily on e-
commerce, they needed an expert in technology and that too speciIically in Search Engine
Optimization" (SEO).

When considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site, SEO can ensure that the site
is designed to be search engine-Iriendly Irom the bottom up. In general, the earlier (or higher on
the page), and more Irequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will
receive Irom the search engine's users. ishant says 'If only we had a SO expert in the early
stages of the company, we would have been in todays position two years earlier.
While the duo regrets this, they have started working on it by hiring a strong 10 member IT team
whose primary Iocus is SEO. ishant told us that the company`s revenue increased by at least
1.5 times in last 5 months due to SEO.

1 | 9 a g e

#eflection on deas

hy be an ntrepreneur?

One oI the Iirst things we learnt was that why is a very important question Ior an entrepreneur.
The question Why comes Iirst and then What and How. II there is a strong answer to why`
then despite the initial Iailures and criticism, the entrepreneur will continue to move Iorward
until he succeeds. II the individual is himselI not convinced with his own idea he will not be able
to convince anyone else.

Both the co-Iounders ishant and Aditya always had that intrinsic answer to Why. Despite their
engineering background they knew within that they wanted to start their own venture that will
allow them autonomy in making key decisions in their work. In an interview ishant says,
When we started Transwebtutors, there were times when people laughed at us and no one
believed in our idea, we had a hard time convincing clients. But we believed in ourselves and
knew what we wanted.`

Bootstrapping

Start business with nothing?? Sounds unlikely but it is possible with bootstrapping. We learnt in
our Entrepreneurship class that one can start a business with very little capital and may not
always need a venture capitalist or an angel investor. o cash means there in no employees
available and no equipment available. ThereIore, bootstrapping Iorces the business owner to
Iocus on selling and generate cash inIlows Irom the very beginning. So, the bootstrapping
technique is also a validity test Ior any business beIore the business ends up losing larges
amounts oI venture capitalistic Iunding, bootstrapping will allows the owner to Iind out iI the
business is real or iI it is just a Iancy plan on a piece oI paper.

The Iounders oI Transwebtutors also Iollowed an eIIective bootstrapping technique when the
business was launched. The capital was limited and the owners wasted to start the business with
as little Iixed cost as possible. They wanted to spend only to the cash generating activities, at
least in the short-run until the business comes sustainable.

There were no Iull-time employees in the beginning. Both the owners were working alternative
shiIts oI 16-18 hours everyday to provide 24/7 services, catering the students to diIIerent time
zones. As an alternative to hiring Iull time employees they approached college students and
oIIered them short tutoring assignments. This worked well because the students were looking to
make some quick money and the business obtained quality cheap and quality tutors. The initial
oIIice setup was in a basement closed to the various college campuses. The initial oIIice space
included 4 tables and 4 computers. They continued to have this basement oIIice Ior almost a
year.

Business Plan is a Continuously volving Process

We heard one oI the guest speakers said that the initial business plan, is almost never what ends
up being executed. The initially plan is reIormed multiple times beIore it goes into execution and
1 | 9 a g e

it continues to change. Similar instances can be reIlected upon Transwebtutors. The company
initially oIIered only online teaching in non-technical education but has now grown into various
business segments proving a array oI service in technical education, entrance exams and
admission consulting.

Scalability

Once the Iirst business center is successIul and is operating smoothly, the next step is to open
another center. The biggest issue is scalability. Can you open one more? Two more? How about
100 more? Where to stop? This is one oI the biggest and
most Iundamental problems that most businesses Iace.

A business model that can tackle this problem is Franchise
model. We have seen Iood chain restaurants Iollow this
model successIully. In one oI the case studies Ior Goli
Jada !ao we saw that in order to expand the business to
the next level the company used the Iranchise model and
opened around 80 stores throughout Maharashtra.

Transwebtutors is also currently considering the Franchise
model Ior its expansion plan. One oI its business divisions
askIITians has already successIully opened 6 Iranchises
and is looking to open 60-70 more Iranchises in the next 2
to 3 years.


They have setup six Iranchises in India and the Iounders are planning to expand the Iranchisee
base across India. The current ones include Begusarai, Guwahati, Gurgaon, Bhagalpur,
JasundharaGha:iabad), and Kolkata.

In this model the revenue is not necessarily generated Irom providing the core services directly
but through proIit sharing oI the Iranchise operated by the individual who manages the Irachisee.

Source askiitians.com
1 | 9 a g e

#eferences

1. http.//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1552315/A-virtual-solution-to-homework-
problems.html
2. http.//www.webstata:.com/site/transwebtutors.com-transwebtutors-best-online-tutors-
live-tutoring-exam-preparation-free-worksheets-essay-writingAlexa.com
3. http.//www.checkyourrankings.com/transwebtutors.com
4. http.//www.moneycontrol.com/news/special-videos/young-turks-changing-
futureeducationindia475631.html
5. Top 10 Reasons Businesses Shouldnt &se Daily Deal Sites Like Groupon to Advertise
Locally by Kevin klund
http.//www.markosweb.com/www/transtutors.com/

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1nMA I cAklN

. Access to ducation with Online Learning and Open ducational Resources. Can they Close the
Gap?- BY Dr. Christine Geith & Karen Jignare

. Transwebtutors.com
10. Transtutors.com
11. MyCollegeAbroad.com
12. askIITians.com
13. eMedical!rep.com
14. http.//www.sharenator.com