Founded in 2021 by Neeraj Agarwal, Mumbai-based edtech startup Insciple helps students pursue their passion and make right career choices.
The last couple of years have been nothing short of revolutionary when it comes to the field of edtech. There is an educational app / website / service for any and every purpose under the sun. Hence, in order to stand apart, one must offer something truly unique. Mumbai-based edtech startup Insciple does exactly that. Founded in 2021 by Neeraj Agarwal, this platform helps students pursue their passion and make the right career choices. In a chat with Sunday Guardian, Agarwal talks about his vision and everything Insciple has to offer. Excerpts from an edited interview:
Q. Hello and congratulations on the launch of your edtech platform! We would love to know about your journey so far.
A. Hi, thank you! I have a master’s degree from the London School of Economics (LSE) and worked for 12 years in two different industries – Banking and Media, before starting Insciple. In the edtech space in India, there has been a lot of focus on e-learning, either helping students prepare for a competitive exam or learn new courses. But there’s a lot to be done to help students find their true passion and make the right career choices. This is Insciple’s focus. We attempt to solve two major problems that students face today while making career related decisions:
– Lack of access to career support – a lot of schools in India do not have career counsellors.
– Lack of access to industry perspectives – a lot of students do not have access to experienced professionals in their chosen field for career consultation and therefore lack understanding of what the industry demands. Several students also make career decisions on the basis of advice from family and friends and thus lose out on a lot of career opportunities.
By connecting teenagers to experienced industry professionals for one-on-one career consultation across fields, Insciple helps students get experienced perspectives and make well informed career decisions. The average work experience of a consultant on the Insciple platform is ten years and they are all alumni of reputed universities. Teenagers today are very sharp and have varied interests. Hence, by knowing the pros and cons of each field, they can create a well-planned career road map for themselves.
Q. How do you help your students achieve their personalised goals?
A. I believe that every student’s journey is unique. Every student has unique aspirations and unique skill sets. Therefore, Insciple offers only one-on-one consultation, which allows the concerned industry professional to assess the student’s aspiration and skillset and accordingly guide them.
Q. What are the varied fields you have covered so far?
A. We have covered traditional ones such as Medicine, Finance etc. and also more offbeat ones such as Motorsport Management, Tech Journalism, Sustainability, Public Policy, Social Impact Management etc.
We have consultants in different countries so that if students have global career aspirations, they can receive the required guidance in addition to industry perspectives.
We have also covered a lot of creative fields such as music, photography, graphic design etc. Each of the mentors are highly regarded professionals in their own fields. They have all made a name for themselves in their chosen field and many are employed with reputed companies such as Netflix, Accor Group of Hotels, Tiktok Singapore, etc.
Q. How did you come up with the name?
A. The story of the name is an interesting one – I coined it myself! At Insciple, we focus on teenagers because I strongly believe that the ages 13-19 are formative years when they need the right career guidance. This led to the name Insciple, which refers to an incipient leader, someone who shows early signs of leadership.
Q. What aspects of your platform have been most appreciated by users?
A. I believe what students like the most about Insciple is the aspect of direct consultation with an industry expert; one-on-one consultations which offers a personalised experience; as well as the sharp industry perspectives.
Students can connect better with an industry expert for career guidance because when they share their journey, it immediately resonates with the student. This is what builds confidence and reliability. In addition to big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, students from smaller cities such as Vadodara, Aligarh, and Jaipur have also tried our platform.
Q. What have been the challenges you have faced in establishing yourself in the overly competitive field of edtech?
A. We are a very new ed-tech startup. It has been a little less than five months since I started working full-time on this idea. The challenges we face are typical to an early stage start up. However, I believe even if the edtech field is overly competitive, there is enough and more space for everyone’s boat given there is such high demand. India has a very large young population. One big learning for us has been the awareness of what students and parents want. That understanding is very important, and it is going to help us in our journey of building a platform that teenagers find useful for their career.
I’ll share a recent happening with you as an interesting example. There was a psychology student, who reached out to us saying that he wanted to become a heavy metal singer or the next Metallica! But he was also keen to have a sustainable livelihood to support his family. We connected him to the music composer of a Netflix series for career counselling and he was advised to pursue a Master’s in Sound Engineering so that he could find a job at a music studio later and yet work towards his passion. The student was thrilled with this advice. At Insciple, we believe that all careers should be pursued. What is required is the right guidance.
Q. What is your vision for this platform?
A. My vision is to grow Insciple into a trustworthy career counselling platform for teenagers. Be it any career advice, a student should be able to find it on Insciple. Our platform is built on the firm belief that if guided by industry experts, students will be able to make better career decisions.
Q. How does one sign up for Insciple?
A. Students can sign up through our website insciple.com, browse through profiles of consultants, and request for an appointment. A 30-minute video consultation is priced in the range of Rs. 2000 to Rs. 4000, depending on the profile of the industry expert.
The interviewer pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her website www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.