Lakshya

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Student Business-Business Plans

Author: ijuxamster

Business Basics

Company Name	Lakshya
Founded in	2006
Headquartered in	Patiala
Company website/URL	www.lakshyainstitute.com
Industry	Education
Stage of the company	Scaling up
Source of idea	Built hobby into a business
Awards & honors	Figured in the entrepreneurial case study in Darden Business School and ISB, Hyderabad
Partnerships & Tie-ups	School Partnerships under the brand of 'i-Class'. Partnership with Thapar University for its school event 'Vedanta'

Business description

Lakshya is a dream child of four young IIT graduates, conceptualized with an aim to revolutionize the way learning is perceived and teaching is delivered. We believe that with a proper thought process given to teaching pedagogy, "Learning can be made Interesting" and hence effective.

We had initially started up in the very tangible segment of IIT-JEE, AIEEE and Medical Entrance Examinations Training (11th and 12th science standards) and have catered to over 2200 students in the last two years. This year we have ventured into 9th and 10th standard classroom training programs - 'Junior Wing'. We wish to further expand in pre-10th standard segment next year.

Lakshya operates from its main center in Patiala, Punjab and three schools in the region around with which it is under tie-ups under the brand name 'i-Class'.

Our goal is to operate and sustain in K1-K12 education training segment.

Our business proposition is our twin focus strategy:

1. Teaching Pedagogy -> Instruction methodology based on "teacher + digital content based modules". Classroom instruction by the teacher is structured and aided with these modules, which help us maintain highest quality standards across multiple delivery channels, yet at the same time giving room for creativity of teachers.

2. Teacher Training -> Our teachers are trained on these modules. This process ensures uniformity and quality of classroom delivery and eventually helps us scale faster.

How does the business make money?

Test preparation for engineering and medical entrance examinations sector is a very tangible market. Our revenue streams come from 3 sections:

1. One and two year classroom training for IIT-JEE, AIEEE and medical exams

2. Distance Learning Programs - Test Series and Correspondence Courses

3. i-Class : Where we go on a contract with a school to train its own students in its premises

4. Junior Wing: Regular classroom training programs for Pre - 10th standards

Team information

Anand Prakash (B.Tech, IIT-Roorkee), Co-Founder and Executive Director
Pulkit Jain (B.Tech, IIT-Roorkee), Co-Founder and Executive Director
Saurabh Saxena (B.Tech, IIT-Roorkee), Co-Founder and Executive Director
Vamsi Krishna (B.Tech, IIT-Bombay), Co-Founder and Executive Director
Nitish Garg (B.Tech, IIT-Bombay), Head, Soft Content Development
Mrinal Singh (B.Tech, IIT-Bombay), Technology Integration
Dr. Prabhat (PhD, IIT-Kharagpur), Head, Medical Wing
Saahil Harjai (B.Tech, Thapar University), Head, Business Development
Sandeep (B.Tech, Thapar University), Academic Coordinator

Competition

Competitors	Educomp`s Learning Hour, MBD Alchemie and Coaching Institutes: FIIT-JEE, Resonance etc
How different is your product or service? It has...	Identical or close substitutes available in India
In what way is your product or service different?	Major differentiation lies in our core instructional strategy which is "Pre-trained teacher + Digital content based modules". Our other un...> Read more..
In what way is your product or service different?	Major differentiation lies in our core instructional strategy which is "Pre-trained teacher + Digital content based modules". Our other unique propositions include: * Focus on EQ: We have an Aacharya, a spiritual counselor and a Yoga teacher (formerly working with Oberoi group), who deals with the stress aspects of preparation * Result Analytics section: Here we provide advanced result analysis and individual specific strategies which help in performance improvement. We plan to leverage this capability as an independent online product in future. * Use of technology: Every classroom is equipped with Projector to deliver digital content. Electronic Smart boards are gradually being introduced to further improve on the quality. * Other stress busters: We regularly organize movie sessions and motivational talks to take stress off and to make learning experience more interesting.

By The Numbers

	2006	2007
No. of employees	0-5	26-50
No. of locations	0-1	2-5
No. of customers	over 50	over 50
Turnover	11-50 lacs	1-5 crore
Profits	6 to 15 lacs	51 lacs - 1 crore

Primary source of initial funding	Personal savings
Primary source of additional funding
Raised institutional capital?	No

Why is this startup hot?

1. Team: Founders are all graduates from IITs. In all, the core Lakshya team comprises of 7 IITians and 2 graduates from Thapar University. This team has immense capability to leverage its strength and brand in its present field of operation.

2. Sector: Lakshya is in the educational domain with its present focus on Test Preparation segment which is very tangible and commands a clear premium. Also the number of aspirants in this domain is increasing every year.

3. Growth: In two years of its operation Lakshya has demonstrated the effectiveness of its pedagogy by producing 55 selections in IIT-JEE and 200 in AIEEE, highest from any institute in the state of Punjab. We have instructed close to 2200 students till date. This year we have started a new concept of 'i-Class' in association with three schools and a venture in Pre-10th (9th and 10th standards) training program has also been initiated under the brand - Junior Wing.

4. Scalability: Standardized teaching content and Teacher Training program enables us to scale fast.

5. Brand: Having produced considerable results, Lakshya has a strong brand presence in the northern region. Lakshya has also interacted with over 1 lac students in Punjab, Haryana, NCR and Himachal Pradesh through its concept initiative 'Vedanta', in association with Thapar University.

6. Financials: We have been able to maintain strong cash flows and profitability right from our first year of operation.

What keeps the team awake at night?

We have set for ourselves a challenge of scaling up by the use of our unique proposition and become the largest player in the northern region catering to 30,000 students by 2012 in Test Prep segment and Pre-10th segment. Every team member strives to achieve this vision.

Lakshya was started with a dream to bring about a change in the way teaching is delivered. It is this passion which keeps us up at night and motivates us to come up with innovative ways to fulfill our common motto "Learning can be Interesting".