The Background
Both of Byju's parents were teachers. In hindsight, his passion to teach and build one of the largest ed-tech company in India originates from that, without a doubt. While working at a shipping company in Singapore, he used to have frequent trips to India. During his visits back home, he used to help his friends prepare for the Common Admissions Test (CAT) by teaching them math.
The Build
In 2005, he quit his job and started to teach math, full-time, to MBA aspirants. Within six weeks, he had 1200 students. By 2009, his popularity increased across the states, and so did the number of students willing to take his class. He started to record his lessons and broadcast it to students across 45 cities in India. In 2010, a few graduates from IIM suggested Byju to conduct online sessions to reach more students. As this required a structured approach to scale, he formed the company 'Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd.' the parent company of Byju's.
The Launch
Initially, the focus of the company was to offer courses for K-12. In 2011, they launched a mobile application (named Byju's - The Learning App) which immediately caught the attention of a lot of parents and students. This was the birth of Byju's.