Byju’s: The Road to Disaster

Byju’s, the extended arm of an ed-tech decacorn “Think and Learn Private Ltd”, was founded by a teacher cum engineer Byju Raveendran in 2015. Raveendran transformed the education sector from physical to digital space, enabling learning to occur anywhere and at any time. The Byju’s App gave students a user-friendly interface and access to pre-recorded lectures on domains ranging from K-12 to competitive exams. Byju’s growth trajectory took off thanks to numerous acquisitions, celebrity endorsements, and advertising, which allowed the company to flourish and spread from regional to international markets. However, a few improper practices, such as pressure on employees to achieve targets, lack of research and development, inappropriate operational planning, aggressive marketing strategies, and delay in financial reporting, drifted Byju’s success towards its downfall. Byju’s had to face several lawsuits by the consortium of foreign lenders and the prominent venture capitalist that invested in the company. The final blow came when the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) initiated insolvency proceedings with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Byju’s due to the company’s failure to pay $19 million. The case teaches students how progressive initiatives of a company, if implemented without proper planning and due ethical consideration, might result in the collapse of a company. Students will also learn what start-up firms should consider for scaling up.