Traditional exam preparation has turned legions of smart people off of learning for good. Thick books, dull exercises, endless repetitions… Who says “yes” to learning this way?
Not EdPrep. This online learning platform educates and prepares relying on visual cues – memory aides easy to learn, fun to remember, and effective. Simple – surely the most beloved word in anyone’s vocabulary. Apoorv Bhargava, Founder of EdPrep, tells us more:
What’s your company about? What do you do? Who are your customers?
We provide vocabulary learning solutions for those who are preparing for competitive exams. We utilize learning technique called Mnemonics to create a visual image for all the words such that it is easier to remember the word-meanings.
What’s the greatest thing about your company/website? Why is it better than the competition?
It provides more quality content. No offensive content. The Mnemonics are presented in more visual manner.
How’d you come up with the name for your company?
Ed Prep stands for educate and prepare. We educate and prepare people to take the exams! When I was preparing for GMAT, I would come across these terms many times and hence named the startup as such.
What time do you usually start work each day? How many hours a day do you usually work?
This is a my part-time job, so I need to invest 1-2 hours on a daily basis. This happens whenever I get time during the day.
When’s the last time you went on vacation and where did you go?
I had my vacation coupled with a business trip. I went to Hague, and on the weekends I got the time to visit Amsterdam. Cool place, although crowded as if I was walking on the streets of Mumbai, India.
When do your best ideas come to you? In bed in the morning? During dinner? On your third beer?
Usually while taking a walk. It gives me a lot for free time to wander in the dream world. Although sometimes (not always) talking to people also helps; they add a new perspective to the problem or solution.
A lot of people have big ideas. What gave you the confidence to actually go after yours?
It is an opportunity for me to encase my creativity and hard work. There are challenges, which I would have never faced in my routine full-time IT work. Anyway, I hope to end up with a good motivational speech after all the experience (pun intended).
Apoorv Bhargava, Founder of EdPrep
Remember the early days of starting up? Describe the struggles you went through.
There was a lot of content to be developed, and I had to spread the word about the site. And unfortunately my FB page with more than 1500 fans got blocked! I had to move to other forums to talk about the site and had to create a new FB page. Since then I have been trying to minimize the dependency on social networks.
How do you handle frustration? What has been your biggest professional frustration?
I remind myself to keep going. It happens that no one pay any attention to the site. But that is the hard truth, which I learnt later.
What’s your office environment like? Do you listen to music? Watch movies? Play video games?
From time to time, I watch and learn magic tricks on YouTube. I perform them at local clubs.
How do you picture your company in 5 years?
I want reach out to specific segments year by year. I have already covered CAT/GMAT. But I think most of the potential still lies in schools.
Who or what inspires YOU? Role models? Quotes? Running? Video games? Snack food?
My wife! She always reminds me of my potential.
How’d you fund this venture? VC? Self-funding? Crowdfunded? Where’d you get the money, man?
My own pockets!
What other advice do you have for other entrepreneurs struggling to get started?
Always ask for feedback from your customers and adapt accordingly. It may happen that what you have created is not something that your customers want.
What is your music streaming player of choice, and what are you listening to right now?
I listen to music on youtube.com Aarambh (Gulal – bollywood flick)
Three people (other than you) we should follow on Twitter and why?
I am not active on twitter.
Please share some specific numbers (funding, revenue, visitors) that highlight your growth.
Presently I have ~50 daily unique visitors, 120+ registered users on site. I invested Rs 25,000 to start the site. No revenue inflow as of now. I am currently trying to create awareness of the site.
Visit edprep.in to start boosting your vocabulary, and like EdPrep on Facebook to keep up on all the company’s latest news.
