Asha Bineesh, an entrepreneur from Kakanad, Kerala launched her successful YouTube channel few years ago named as ‘Competitive Cracker’, where she coaches aspirants for various competitive examinations.
Asha was working as a software programmer in a company during the time of her wedding. However, she quit her job after giving birth to her first child. Asha decided to start online coaching classes from home as she wished to be with her young child and working at the same time. She began by posting the video of a training session for PSC exam in YouTube. After the video became a hit, Asha began to concentrate more on online classes. Meanwhile, she also opened a coaching centre in Ernakulam.
While the channel took time to gain traction, the videos soon struck a chord with young aspirants; and grew to 100,000 subscribers in 2017 and more than 200,000 subscribers in the following year.
As the channel was picking up pace, Asha set up a “physical” coaching class in her hometown, Kakkanad in Kochi, Kerala. That way, the video sharing platform had become a good testing ground as she ventured on a new career path.
Asha had started with only one laptop, a basic model smartphone along with an investment of Rs 30,000. “It was after the third video that I started receiving phone calls from potential students urging me to take classes for them,” she says.
This was the signal she was waiting for, and Asha rented a small place in Ernakulam to launch her coaching classes. “At first, there were only three students, but slowly by word-of-mouth, more students joined me,” she recollects. Competitive Cracker was thus born and has since grown to become a multi-channel learning platform — with contact classes, online materials and even a mobile app.
Over the years, Competitive Cracker has grown into a successful business with 27 employees including IIT graduates and expanded to an exclusive website and mobile application in 2017. The teachers, Asha says, are masters in their field of studies and have passed competitive exams with flying colours.
Currently, the platform offers courses for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Kerala PSC, Kerala Teacher Eligibility Test (K-TET), and for cooperative bank tests, among others. Priced between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 based on the number of sessions, it has enrolled more than 5,000 students through its website, mobile application, and physical coaching class.
Additionally, Asha and her team also maintain a blog where exam dates, syllabus, and other relevant information is updated frequently.