Physics Wallah, an EdTech platform founded by Alakh Pandey (CEO of PW) in 2014. Their passion for teaching has pushed him to start his own YouTube channel which today become the 101st Unicorn startup in India. Physics Wallah raised $100 million from WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures and reached a valuation of $1.1 billion. In this article, we will discuss the story of Alakh Pandey the guy behind Physics Wallah.
Early Life of Alakh Pandey
Alakh Pandey was born and brought up in Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh). He was excellent in his studies since childhood to support his family he started giving private tuition when he was in 8th standard. He wanted to go to IIT but could not crack JEE and later was admitted to Harcourt Butler Technical Institute (HBTI) in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh in Mechanical Engineering. His family had to sell their house to pay the college fees. Alakh developed an interest in acting and want to become an actor in his college days.
In the third year, he chose to drop out of college, went back to Prayagraj, and started teaching physics in a coaching institute at Rs 5,000 per month. His love for acting was even reflected in his teaching style and later students started liking the teaching style of Alakh Pandey and he became the favorite of many students. However, he knew that he could not teach a huge number of students and create an impact just by teaching in a small institute. That’s when he decided to start his Channel on YouTube.
Youtube Channel of Alakh Pandey
In 2016, Alakh Pandey started his YouTube channel Physics Wallah. He thought of doing something different from other channels and he noticed a gap that no one was teaching ICSE board class 10th students then he started to help them by making videos and gaining ten thousand subscribers. Later, he quit the coaching institute to focus on growing his YouTube channel, and in just two years channel grew to 2 million subscribers.
Journey from a YouTube channel to a Unicorn Startup
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a challenging task for Alakh to handle all the work individually as the number of subscribers was increasing. So in 2020, Alakh Pandey joined hands with Prateek Maheshwari to scale up the Business. Prateek joined as the Co-founder of PW, he has 14 years of experience in establishing tech-based companies like NightPanda, PenPencil, and Moon2Noon.
He transformed his YouTube channel into an EdTech Business. Alakh Pandey manages education and branding matters, and Prateek Maheshwari leads the charge on the product and technology of Physics Wallah. After live classes, they also work on features like doubts, revision, and tests and then add more teachers. On student demand, they also launched their offline institute in Kota, Rajasthan.
In just a few years, Physics Wallah raised $100 million from GSV ventures and WestBridge capital reached a valuation of $1.1 billion (equal to over Rs 9,000 crore today), and became the 101st unicorn startup in India. Currently, Physics Wallah has 6.9 million subscribers on YouTube and 5.2 million downloads on Play Store.
Future Plans
Physics Wallah always listens to his student’s feedback and demands. However, due to the demands of many students to open one-on-one coaching at a reasonable price, they are working on it. They are also planning to open their offline centers in every corner of India. Also, they are planning to launch courses for PG students to prepare for exams like the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and the National Exit Test (NEXT).
Conclusion
Started with a YouTube channel with a vision to provide quality education for students and now became the 101st unicorn startup in India. Success Story of Physics Wallah inspires all of us to believe in ourselves no matter what happens, what you make out of it is up to you. May this story of Physics Wallah inspire you to achieve your goals.
