The hard lessons from building three startups with Maven’s Gagan Biyani | E1840

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

Technology

4.2 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. TWiST listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at www.vanta.com/twist

The Embroker Startup Program helps startups secure the most important lines of insurance, at a lower cost, and with less hassle. For guaranteed 10% off on premiums (& up to 20% depending on quote) go to www.embroker.com/twist.

Brave is an internet privacy company on a mission to protect your personal info online. Try the Brave Search API at http://www.brave.com/jason

Today’s show:

Maven Co-Founder and CEO Gagan Biyani joins Jason to break down his startup's live, cohort-based education model (2:28). Then, Gagan dives into his past journeys at Udemy, where he was eventually fired but wound up revolutionizing online learning and going public (35:08), and Sprig, a food-delivery startup that went on to raise $60M and scale to $20M in revenue, but ultimately failed (47:36).

Time stamps:

(0:00) Gagan Biyani, CEO of Maven, joins Jason to discuss the future of online learning.

(2:24) Maven: the evolution of online learning.

(3:23) Exploring Maven's elite courses offered by a diverse pool of passionate professionals.

(6:57) Analyzing who is leveraging Maven for education and the cost dynamics of online learning.

(10:30) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

(11:36) How Maven's live cohort-based learning emphasizes accountability and interactivity for higher success rates.

(13:15) Comparing the outdated cost structures of traditional education with modern alternatives.

(23:10) Embroker - Use code TWIST to get an extra 10% off insurance at https://www.Embroker.com/twist

(26:31) Unveiling the potential earnings for educators in the online learning marketplace.

28:27) The online educational landscape featuring insights on Coursera, Udemy, and others.

(30:56) Brave - Try the Brave Search API at http://www.brave.com/jason

(33:40) Jason built the “pit” at TechCrunch50, where he and Gagan first met.

(35:08) How Udemy's early days were shaped by the Founder Institute and Adeo Ressi.

(41:28) Gagan shares his personal story of being fired from Udemy and his lessons learned.

(47:33) The trials, tribulations, and ultimate closure of the food delivery startup, Sprig.

(53:39) Discussing the most effective methods for scaling and growing a product.

(55:02) The world of fundraising and understanding the power law in venture capital.

Check out Maven: https://www.maven.com

Follow Gagan:

https://twitter.com/gaganbiyani

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaganbiyani * Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply Buy ANGEL: https://www.angelthebook.com

Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow Jason:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	How much money is the top instructor making right now per year?
0:05.2	We have multiple people who are in the high six figures or crossing seven figures range.
0:11.7	You have instructors who have broken a million dollars a year.
0:15.7	Yeah, we have multiple. Really? That's unbelievable. This week in startups is brought to you by Vanta.
0:25.4	Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal breaker for startups to win new business.
0:30.6	Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a Soc2 report fast.
0:35.6	Twist listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at Vanta.com.
0:41.1	Twist.
0:42.1	And Brokers Startup insurance program helps startup secure the most important types of insurance
0:47.3	at a lower cost and with less hassle.
0:50.3	Save up to 20% off of traditional insurance today at a broker.com.
0:55.0	Swist.
0:57.0	While you're there, get an extra 10% off using offer code Twist.
1:01.0	And, Brave is an internet privacy company on a mission to protect your
1:05.7	personal info online. Try the Brave Search API at Brave.com. slash Jason. All right, everybody.com slash Jason.
1:13.0	All right everybody, we all know being a founder, it's a wild ride, especially if you want
1:17.9	to pick certain categories, you're going to get a certain amount of pain. Education, food delivery, brutal. These are two of the
1:24.8	hardest categories to crack, but our next guest has founded startups in both fields and
1:30.3	has had some great success in a couple of them.
1:34.0	And he's got some great war stories
1:35.4	that he is going to share with us today.
1:39.4	Gagin founded Utomi.
	...

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