Kopal Jaiswal
Pavan Preetham
Sambhaji Sawant
ProductHood Group Assignment - ‘Co-Learn’
Cohort based courses platform for experts and students
Apekshit Moudgil
Dheeraj Tiwari
Team -5 || Cohorts
Problem Statement
Develop an easy-to-use learning platform for educators and learners that helps educators to create and launch learner-centric courses quickly and provide learners an environment of social and active learning.
For educators who are looking for tools, assistance, and on-demand support to achieve their goal of a seamless teaching and mentoring experience, we envision the platform to be a one-stop solution.
For students who are looking to boost their learning experience by connecting to instructors and building a community of fellow enthusiasts, we envision the platform to provide all the necessary means.
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Market Analysis - E-learning & Cohorts
E-learning, or electronic learning, refers to a modern education solution used to gain knowledge through digital technologies and devices. It helps in delivering various courses, programs and degrees through online media.
The India e-learning market is primarily driven by the favorable initiatives undertaken by the Government of India to initiate distance education programs to provide easy access to education. It has adopted integrated e-learning solutions in the education system and developed internet infrastructure. With the ongoing spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), various e-learning schemes have been introduced for balancing the education sector.
The e-learning market that stood at $247 million in 2016 is now expected to reach $1.96 billion by the end of 2021 with a CAGR of 52%
Indian E-learning market is one of the fastest growing ones in the world
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Market Analysis - E-learning & Cohorts
A cohort-based course is simply an online course where a group of students (the cohort) start learning at same time, and progress through the course with a mix of live classes from the teacher, peer-based learning and collaboration, projects and outcomes (like a final exam) and graduation, which is the end of the cohort. After the cohort ends, students become part of the course’s alumni network, much like when you graduate from college. As part of the alumni network, you help out your younger (not in age) peers, as well as learn from them, share opportunities, find avenues to collaborate, and ultimately grow together to achieve your individual and collective goals.
So what has really made CBC a phenomenon in the e-learning industry?
What are Cohort-Based Courses (CBC) ?
Target Customers
III
The target customers are divided into 3 user groups of students, instructors and small & medium scale organizations.
Students
Instructors
Organizations
UG Students
PG Students/Early Career Professionals
Middle Managers/Experienced Professionals
Experienced Professionals
Varied Proficiency levels based on Subject Matter Knowledge and Work Expereince
Small and Medium level organizations which unlike large scale organizations do not have in-house Learning Management Systems
The target customers are divided into 2 groups of Paying and Non-Paying Customers
Experienced Professionals
Students/Early Career Professionals
Paying
Non-Paying
The TG identified is done basis market segmentation by analyzing industry trends, and market and competitor research
IV
Competitor Research
Direct Competitors
GrowthSchool
Maven
The soaring number of ed-tech startups in India has brought a healthy competition to a market which currently is too big a pie. We have divided our competitors in two distinct segments viz. ‘same offerings as ours’ (Direct competitors) and ‘different offerings to reach the same goal’ (Indirect competitors)
Indirect Competitors
Upraised
Teachfloor
GrowthSchool - Overview
About - GrowthSchool is an ed-tech startup that partners with the top 1% of instructors to create high-impact cohort-based courses on personal and professional growth for learners all over the world.
Goal - To partner with the top 1% of instructors to create high-impact cohort-based courses on personal and professional growth for learners all over the world.
Founder - Vaibhav Sisinty
Funding - Pre-seeded
Business Model - Marketplace for Cohort-based courses. Currently, Revenue is generated from course Buyers only and 3rd party vendors who partner with GS to promote their products.
Team -
Management team - 10 members
Mentors including the likes of Sarvesh Shashi (Founder – Sarva), Ajeet Khurana (Founder – ZebPay), Raj Shamani (Digital Content creator & Investor), and Devaiah Bopanna (Co-Founder All Things Small)
Revenue - Out of 1.8 lakh learners, 75k is paid, customers. Estimated revenue - FY22 - $4.5million
Total no. of students - 180000 || Total no. of Mentors -50 || Average Rating - 9.1
Maven - Overview
Product Description: Maven’s vision is to build a “ university of the future” that will empower creators to offer cohort-based courses directly to their audiences focusing on community-driven active learning that can be availed from anywhere around the world.
Business Model: Maven meets the demands of both creators and learners by offering a suite of services to assist creators in developing and managing cohort-based courses, as well as providing learners with high-quality courses and social ways to learn and stay motivated. Maven charges a 10% fee from the creator’s revenue
Revenue & Market Share: Jan-May 2020 revenue ~1M$ in revenue
Founders: Maven is a cohort-based learning platform founded in Jan 2020 by Gagan Biyani (Co-founder Udemy), Wes Kao (Co-founder altMBA), and Shreyans Bhansali (co-founder Socratic).
Investors: Maven has raised $25million from incredible investors including Andreessen Horowitz, First Round, Naval, and Arlan Hamilton and has launched sold-out courses with instructors like Li Jin, Anthony Pompliano, Lenny Rachitsky, and Sahil Lavingia.
Team: 51 (as per LinkedIn)
Maven - Overview
How does Maven serve customers?
Upraised-Overview
About - Upraised is a full-stack candidate-oriented job platform that facilitates job searching, upskilling, application, and interview preparations.
Goal - To partner with the top instructors to create high-impact courses on product management for learners all over the world.
Founder - Mona Gandhi
Funding - Seed
Business Model - Marketplace for Cohort based courses. Currently, Revenue is generated from course Buyers.
Team - 63 members
Its seed stage company founded by mona Gandhi and backed by Kunal Shah & Vijay Shekhar and investors like lightspeed India and south park commons from Silicon Valley.
Revenue - $ 100 million in 18 months
70 + colleges partnered in 2020
300 + Companies
95% + Placement rate
Teachfloor - Overview
Product Description: Teachfloor is the software infrastructure to build the school of the future. With Teachfloor organizations and individual instructions can build and scale their cohort-based courses. Started in early 2021 it is providing services in 50+ countries & 3k+ customers
Business Model: Currently offers two plans( Pro and business) on a monthly and yearly basis.
Prices for monthly and yearly subscriptions for the Pro version are $99 and $79 respectively. The pricing for a business subscription is customized. Teachfloor also offers a 15-day free trial for all plans.
Revenue & Market Share: $155.0K in 2021
Founders: Filippo Schiano di Pepe, Federico Schiano di Pepe
Investors: Recently got accepted into On Deck Accelerator(ODX) program in partnership with Village Global.
Team: 5 (as per LinkedIn)
Feature Table Analysis
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Platform Features | Maven | GrowthSchool | Teachfloor | Upraised |
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Application based shortlist | Y | Y | N |
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Resume Builder | N | N | N | N |
Job assistance/portals | N | Y | N | Y |
Creator Suite of Services Conf call integrations (zoom, teams) Payment Integrations E-mail Automation Courses landing page Calendar Scheduling Assignments + Grading | Y Y Y Y Y Y Y | N Y N Y N Y and N N | Y Y Y Y Y Y (incentivized learning) Y | � Y Y Y Y Y Y Y |
Feature Table Analysis
Platform Features | Maven | GrowthSchool | Teachfloor | Upraised |
| | | | |
On-demand Videos | Y | Y | Y | N |
Community + msg+ peer review, networking, jobs | Y | N | N | Y � |
Multi Instructor | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Analytics + personalized learning | | N | Y | Y |
Student records & reports | Y | | Y | Y |
Course Creator academy | Y | N | N | N |
Courses Marketplace | Y | Y | N | N |
Tech Support | Y | Y | Y | Y |
VI
Customer Discovery
Surveys were conducted for 3 user groups – Students, Instructors and Organizations:
Survey Insights - Students
Demographic Makeup
E-Learning Behaviour
The large majority uses e-learning platforms as tools for career acceleration followed by in depth learning
Although close to 60% people spend between 5 and 15 hrs per month, the completion rate of courses above 60% is a paltry 28%
The prime reason for this low completion rate has been an inability to connect with instructors/peers in self-paced courses coupled with dwindling motivation and distractions
MOOCs came out to be the preferred mode of learning while cohort based platforms found few users
Survey Insights - Students
Cohort Based Platforms
More than 90% people are open to idea of cohort based courses though for interactive group based learning
People are willing to pay for cohort based courses for a better standard of learning
The propensity to pay is also good with more than 50% of people willing to spend more than 5000 rupees at a chance to upskill
The vast majority is unaware about cohort based platforms and even if aware the adoption rate has been low
Survey Insights - Students
Major Pain Points - Students
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On the basis of the insights collected from our survey, we were able to collect the major pain points students are facing with structured learning. We were also able to understand their expectations and come up with potential solutions for the pain points
The instructors were subject to in-depth interviews to gauge their preferences towards online course creation and delivery
Motivations
Mode of Creation
Desired Outcome
Preferred mode of delivery
Revenue Sharing
Survey Insights - Instructors
Pain Points | Solutions |
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Instructors
Organizations
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Major Pain Points - Solutions
User Personas
User Personas
User Personas
User Personas
‘Co-learn’ - Feature Prioritization for MVP
VII
On the basis of the user research, we were able to prioritize the problems we need to solve. We used the impact vs effort exercise to understand what we need to solve first and how.
To start off with the cohort based learning and to address the pain points of lack of interaction, engagement and expert’s time, we proposed to launch the absolute lean version of ‘Co-Learn’ by using as many third party tools as possible. We believe that this model would help us establish the quality of the courses and the community.
In terms of product, we have identified the following features to be part of MVP -
(Rationale : Course marketplace is the first place learners and new instructors visit in order to know more about the courses and instructors. Therefore, we want this feature to be a part of the MVP)
Key Product Features
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| Features | Detailed Description |
MVP Feature Set | ||
Course Marketplace |
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| Tech Support |
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| Feedback |
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Future Features | ||
Community | Login and profile |
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| Spaces |
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| Live classes |
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Key Product Features
IX
| Features | Detailed Description |
Community | Assignments |
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Instructor Control and Tools | Creator landing page |
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Product Roadmap - ‘Co-learn’
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Wireframes
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The website homepage which introduces ‘Co-learn’ and our offerings.
The course Course Library which displays all the available courses with filters and tags.
Apply as mentor would enable the interested mentors/instructors contact ‘Co-learn’ by filling a form. Refer to student application form for wireframe.
As the courses increase, the filters would make it easy for users to find the relevant courses.
The course library page appears either by scrolling down the homepage OR by clicking explore courses
Wireframes
Course Application form asking for basic user information viz. email, current role, current company and the rationale for joining the cohort
Course Landing Page with
Apply button leads to application form
Number of seats left - part of incremental product development
The application form would lead to a system generated email for user to enroll by making a payment through ‘Co-Learn’s’ payment gateway
Community Homepage accessible to instructors and students.
Wireframes
Post Dialog
The spaces are created according to the relevance of the content and the structure of the course. This wireframe displays ‘Assignment’ Space.
The post button enables users to initiate a ‘Create Post’ action which leads to the following wireframe.
User controls viz. Attaching a media with the post, adding a reaction to the post (Like, smile, clap) and embed a file in the post.
All the created posts appear in within the spaces.
Wireframes
My profile page to Edit/Add basic profile information viz. email, contact number, bio, profile image, profession, current company etc.
Notification window with timestamp of recent activities relevant to the user.
By default the user will only be able to see the notifications where their name is mentioned
The password edit would require the user to enter the current password first.
Wireframes
On Demand Video space for recorded content
Integrated VC App
Integrated Video Player
XII
Product Metrics:
Since we have started with our MVP and we are trying to find our product market fit, the metrics we are going to focus on are:
XII
Product Metrics:
Other metrics as we progress with the Product
XIII
Product Requirement Document