One question we hear a lot is, "How do you prepare to launch a startup?"
Or, "Where can I get the skills I need?" Truth be told, we are starting to think it's a classic case of asking the wrong question. The real answer? Just do it!
Gagan Biyani, this week's live chat host (RSVP here -- if you missed the last live chat, you can watch previous chats on demand here) and former Udemy Co-Founder/President, is living proof that execution is 9/10 of the law. He's super-smart, of course -- no surprise there -- but as an Econ grad from UC Berkeley, he first went the traditional (some would say "safe") route, working for Accenture and Microsoft.
Great jobs for a top-shelf Econ grad.
...Boring jobs for an entrepreneur at heart. Gagan got SO bored, in fact, that he started reading about tech companies whenever he had a spare minute. He loved what he read so much so that he wanted to start his own tech company.
Not only that, but he convinced TechCrunch to let him write about tech. (Yeah, THAT TechCrunch.) And he applied to a startup incubator to learn everything he possibly could about execution, which is where he met his co-founders. They were already building Udemy, a marketplace to revolutionize online education, under another name in Turkey; Gagan saw a major opportunity to disrupt education as we know it -- and hopped on board.
In other words, Gagan prepared by diving in headfirst and taking every available opportunity to learn, read and even write about his own future.
As a first-time founder, Gagan has successfully led investor relations, finance, business development, public relations, operations and oh yeah, user acquisition, too.
He's raised the company's $4 million in venture capital. He hired 10 of Udemy's 20 employees. AND he managed the team that would create over $2 million in sales during the platform's first 18 months, garnering enthusiastic shout-outs in Bill Gates' annual letter and The New York Times. Now, he's hard at work on new projects, including the Growth Hackers Conference.
Bottom line? Never, ever say you can't get what you want if you try. The knowledge is out there. It's up to you to find it!
This Thursday, October 25th at 3 PM EST, during an hour-long, interactive live chat presented by Citi, #StartupLab invites you to ask Gagan Biyani questions about every tech startup-related topic you can think of (after all, he's pretty much THE expert), from the future of edutech to venture capital to tips for driving sales on a brand-new platform.
We're REALLY excited to pick Gagan's brain, and can't wait to "see" you there.
Click here to RSVP to the live chat with Gagan Biyani of Udemy this Thursday