Nimish Gopal is a name that has been steadily on the rise in Gujarat’s ed-tech landscape. His brainchild, CareerNaksha, a Vadodara (Gujarat) based startup, is breaking stereotypes and changing how people perceive career choices.
Eyeing at the national ed-tech scenario, a very confident Nimish Gopal has some serious plans to be the next big thing in the Indian ed-tech industry.
This is the story of an IITian who gave up his American dream to transform the Indian education system.
When were you founded & What is the product/service you provide?
We incepted CareerNaksha back in 2018 to provide students with a clear career roadmap, hence the name.
We began with psychometric analysis and have become a full-stack career platform.
We offer 1-on-1 career counseling, admission assistance, profile building, stream selection counseling, and beyond.
What is the Company’s long and short-term vision? Where do you see your industry going in the next five years?
Our next goal is to become the largest full stack career platform in Gujarat.
We have created a rapidly growing network of 5,000 counselors who leave no stone unturned. In the bigger scheme of things, our goal is to serve 10 million students in the next 7 to 8 years.
We are creating a cohesive ecosystem of more than 10000 schools where every student will experience 1-on-1 counseling and psychometric analysis to understand various career prospects clearly.
How did you get inspiration for the Company? How did you go about researching and validating the idea?
In the 21st century, dynamics are shapeshifting, and you can no longer pick a career in the traditional way. Career choice is the most crucial decision in one’s life, and hence, it has to be a well-informed choice.
This was the underlining idea behind CareerNaksha. India needs successful professionals more than ever, and that can only happen when they pick the right career option.
Validation came from the initial success that we enjoyed. It was a great boost to our confidence.
Is the company funded? If yes, how many rounds & how much funding, If No, then are you open to funding?
CareerNaksha has been a completely bootstrapped entity ever since its inception. We were building the business model and the network.
Since we have established ourselves, we are open to funding and are looking for angel investors.
How does the product work & What problems does it solve?
During my transition back to India from the US, I conducted multiple pilot studies in various schools all across Vadodara.
I identified that a lack of awareness of career options is a major hindrance.
CareerNaksha was incepted to help students and their parents make more informed career decisions and facilitate them further.
What are your USP and innovation? How are you different from others?
We start with a student’s assessment such as psychometric analysis, 1-on-1 counseling, and other forms of evaluation as well.
We brief them about the latest education policy updates. Each student gets individual attention to work their options out.
Our network of more than 5000 counselors is registered with the Counsellor Council of India.
What differentiates CareerNaksha from our competitors is students’ approach and concerns.
We are proud to enjoy the highest student retention rate in the industry.
Most of our students are year-long subscribers, which speaks volumes about your quality of service.
Since we understand the nature of business, we make every possible effort to ensure that our entire clientele is satisfied.
What are some of your competitors & what advantage do you have over them? & Briefly explain your revenue model?
Our forte lies in our simplicity and customer experience. At CareerNaksha, students can choose many options to decide their careers.
We have subscription models where students can take up assessments and then opt for either a summary report or a detailed report. They can also go for 1-on-1 career counseling with an expert on an hourly basis.
On the path of becoming a full-stack career platform, CareerNaksha has diversified into multiple verticals. We provide admission assistance for foreign institutions.
Our team of experts also helps students secure internships, extracurricular courses, and beyond. Along with that, we are focusing heavily on skill development, and hence, various skill development courses are also on offer.
What difficulties did you encounter when you started the Company & Were you impacted by the Covid outbreak?
The most challenging part was making people aware of the right way to make career choices. At first, they were surprised by our precision, but it’s the results that eventually made them smile.
It’s an understatement to say that the pandemic has affected business.
The Indian education industry was amongst the worst-hit sectors. However, it’s great to see our agility in bouncing back.
Our team turned towards technology and started reaching out via online mediums. It’s quite inspiring to see how ed-tech has become the next wave in the Indian startup ecosystem.
What are your future plans & launches?
From the current standpoint, the ed-tech revolution has just begun in India.
We see CareerNaksha be at the forefront of bringing the change Indian students need. We are setting up to be the torchbearer in the modern career counseling landscape, which, unfortunately, hardly exists in the Indian context.
At the organisational level, we are in the process of expanding our portfolio and network.
Every counseling begins with assessment, and therefore, we are deploying a new step-wise Action Plan to help counselors and students better understand their viable options.
A state of the art recommendation engine is in the works to provide the students with the advice they can rely on.
CareerNaksha is now pivoting to become a full-stack career platform for students to seek counseling, recommendations, admission assistance, and much more.
We are constantly expanding our consultant network that stands at 5000 members today. Our Centre Enablement Program is at the main stage in the expansion strategy.
Under the program, we provide Mini Franchise powered by CareerNaksha. This strategy will help us reach out to the current unexplored territories and make the change to a deeper level.
We are all set to take things to the next level and working towards growing 10X in terms of sales and in terms of network expansion as well.
Current company size, work culture, Hiring Funda
We have around 30 people, including six positions in the management team. Along with that, we are driven by an ever-growing network of more than 5,000 councilors.
We are quite adaptable in our approach. Hence, we have also deployed freelancers in our various roles. We believe that sheer passion can move mountains.
The desire to bring a change in society is what we look for while adding a new team member.
How did you launch your Company when you had just 0 users. Which channels/ tools/strategies worked the most for acquiring the first 100 users?
Well, I believe if you have the right intent and product, word of mouth marketing will do wonders for you in the initial days.
I was lucky to have a very supportive group of friends and family who recommended my venture in their circles. Once a client contacted us, there was no looking back.
The initial focus was prominently on building the product and providing an impeccable customer experience. Right from the beginning, we have created a very loyal and vocal clientele that has catalysed our growth trajectory.
Even though we are well beyond the 100 customers mark, these values are still instilled in the DNA of CareerNaksha.
A piece of advice for the readers
CareerNaksha is a small effort to make a big impact on the Indian education system. We are passion-driven people and take pride in whatever we do.
Right from our potential investors to our team members, every individual is aligned to make an impact. So, the next time you come across anyone struggling to make a career choice, you know whom to contact.