E119: Saurabh Saxena (Co-founder, Vedantu & Power Club)

The Desi VC with Akash Bhat

Saurabh Saxena is a serial edtech entrepreneur who has co-founded Lakshya, Vedantu and Power Club (previously known as Uable). He has been an educator and Edtech entrepreneur for 15 years now. After graduating from IIT Roorkee in 2005 he started Lakshya, a chain of offline learning centres. After a successful exit, Saurabh then co-founded Vedantu in 2012 which then went on to become one of the leading online test prep companies. Shortly after becoming a parent himself, Saurabh realised that our current education system does not prepare our children with real-world life skills required to lead a happy and successful life. That led him to found his third edtech venture, Power Club, aimed at preserving and nurturing our children’s creative intelligence and preparing them for an uncertain future.

Links to topics discussed: Poistive Intelligence and Letter to younger self by Salman Khan (Khan Academy)

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Episode Notes:

1. Intro (1:43)
2. Why entrepreneurship? (2:32)
3. Why is Saurabh passionate about education (6:32)
4. Takeways from building three companies in edtech (9:35)
5. Aha-moments while building Vedantu and Lakshya (22:00)
6. How should founders think about scale (27:50)
7. How has Saurabh matured and evolved as a founder (31:50)
8. How to build mission-driven businesses (39:50)
9. Frameworks for decision-making and navigating tough days as a founder (43:35)
10. How does Saurabh leverage his success to motivate him further (51:52)
11. Advice to his younger self (55:55)

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Social Links:

Powerclub on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/join.power.club/

Saurabh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/saurabh_learn

Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc

Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash

Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc

Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash