Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Work Hours
Monday to Friday: 7AM - 7PM
Weekend: 10AM - 5PM
Gagan Biyani: The EduTech Visionary Reshaping Digital Learning
When most entrepreneurs face failure, they retreat. When Gagan Biyani was fired from his own company—a startup that would later become worth $4 billion—he turned it into his greatest learning experience. This bold mindset has defined Biyani’s remarkable journey through the EduTech landscape, from co-founding Udemy to revolutionizing online education with Maven. Born on May 30, 1987, to Indian parents in Fremont, California, Biyani has emerged as one of the most influential figures in educational technology, consistently pushing the boundaries of how people learn and teach online.
The EduTech industry has witnessed explosive growth, particularly following the global shift toward digital learning during the pandemic. Yet few have shaped this transformation as profoundly as Biyani, whose ventures have democratized access to education for millions worldwide. His story is one of resilience, innovation, and an unwavering belief that quality education should be accessible to everyone, regardless of geography or economic background.
From Strategy Consultant to EduTech Pioneer
Biyani attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Economics. His journey into entrepreneurship began in the corporate world, where he started his career working at Accenture before transitioning into technology entrepreneurship and journalism. This traditional path provided him with analytical skills and business acumen that would prove invaluable in his later ventures.
As a journalist, he covered mobile applications and technology at TechCrunch, where he honed his investigative instincts and developed a deep understanding of the tech ecosystem. He wrote a number of investigative journalism pieces, including one about a PR firm that was writing fake reviews on the App Store. This work demonstrated his commitment to transparency and integrity—values that would later influence his approach to building educational platforms.
The turning point came when Biyani realized his potential for greater impact. He admitted, “I just got bored. I was working at Accenture as a Strategy Consultant and didn’t feel like my work was as impactful or challenging as it could be”. This restlessness led him to co-found Udemy in 2009, marking his entry into the EduTech revolution.
Revolutionary Achievements in Educational Technology
In 2009, Biyani co-founded Udemy, one of the first MOOC platforms, alongside Eren Bali and Oktay Caglar. The timing was perfect—online education was in its infancy, and traditional learning models were ripe for disruption. Udemy’s mission was ambitious: to make quality education accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.
The platform’s growth under Biyani’s leadership was extraordinary. By the time he left the company in 2012, Udemy had grown its funding to $16 million, with 400,000 registered students using the platform. Today, the platform has a client base of over 44 million learners in more than 180 countries and offers over 183,000 courses in 75 languages.
Biyani’s innovative approach to building the instructor marketplace became legendary in Silicon Valley. When Udemy struggled to get instructors initially, Biyani spent the first 6 months cold calling instructors. When that failed, he created the company’s first course himself, generating around $30,000 in revenue and proving the platform’s potential to skeptical educators.
In 2016, Biyani and his co-founder Neeraj Berry were named by Forbes in its 30 Under 30 list for Consumer Tech entrepreneurs. The same year, Gagan was also part of the Fast Company’s Most Creative People list, cementing his reputation as an innovative leader in EduTech.
The ultimate validation came in 2021 when Udemy completed its IPO on October 29, 2021, raising $421 million and achieving a market value of about $3.8 billion. This represented one of the largest EduTech IPOs in history, demonstrating the massive value creation Biyani had initiated over a decade earlier.
Maven: Pioneering the Future of Cohort-Based Learning
After his experiences with Udemy and the food delivery startup Sprig, Biyani identified a new gap in the EduTech market. Traditional online courses had completion rates of just 5-15%, while students craved more interactive, community-driven learning experiences. This insight led to the creation of Maven, a marketplace where subject matter experts teach live, cohort-based courses to professionals seeking to level up.
Co-founded with Wes Kao (co-founder of altMBA) and Shreyans Bhansali (co-founder of Socratic), Maven represents Biyani’s vision for the next evolution of online education. Maven’s cohort-based courses have significantly higher engagement rates (80-90%) compared to traditional video-based courses (5-15%), solving one of the fundamental problems plaguing the EduTech industry.
The platform quickly gained traction with top-tier investors and creators. Maven raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, following earlier funding rounds that brought total investment to over $25 million. In just the first three months after launch, four Maven courses each earned over $100,000, demonstrating the platform’s ability to create sustainable income streams for educators.
What sets Maven apart is its focus on live, interactive learning experiences. The platform empowers instructors with tools to build, market, and teach engaging courses while maintaining 80-90% profit margins. This model has attracted leading industry experts including Li Jin, Lenny Rachitsky, and Sahil Lavingia, who use Maven to share their expertise with global audiences.
Current Vision and Impact on EduTech
Biyani’s current work with Maven addresses critical challenges in the educational technology sector. As Biyani notes, “There are thousands of experts, creators, and practitioners around the world who have valuable knowledge to share but aren’t traditional professors”. Maven bridges this gap by providing a platform where industry practitioners can monetize their expertise while delivering transformative learning experiences.
The platform has evolved based on market feedback. Initially focused on creators and influencers, Maven pivoted to emphasize courses built by subject matter experts within tech organizations. This strategic shift reflects Biyani’s ability to adapt quickly to market signals and optimize for sustainable success.
The initial wave of cohort-based courses featured high-cost models that were unsustainable for the long-term. Maven represents the next phase, focusing on more scalable solutions that make quality education accessible while ensuring instructor profitability.
Biyani’s impact extends beyond his companies. His transparent sharing of failures and lessons learned has made him a respected voice in the startup community. As one observer noted, “Nobody talks about failure in Silicon Valley, yet 90 percent of startups fail”—yet Biyani has courageously shared his setbacks, including being fired from Udemy, to help other entrepreneurs learn from his experiences.
Legacy of Educational Innovation
Gagan Biyani’s influence on EduTech extends far beyond financial metrics or user numbers. He has fundamentally changed how people think about online education, proving that technology can create more engaging, effective, and accessible learning experiences than traditional methods. From Udemy’s massive scale to Maven’s innovative cohort-based approach, Biyani continues to shape the future of how knowledge is shared and acquired in the digital age, cementing his position as a true visionary in educational technology.
