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Founder@ Interview
Interview with Manan Khurma
“Passion is key because the journey will be hard. Have a mindset of perseverance, as there will be days when you wish you’d not taken the plunge at all, and it is at those times you can’t quit. ” – Manan Khurma
Today we feature Manan Khurma, the founder at Cuemath. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
I am the founder & CEO at Cuemath. I started my career in 2007 as the founder of Locus Education where we created math learning programs, and trained over 10,000 students preparing for the IIT-JEE entrance exam.
I founded Cuemath in 2013 to reimagine math education for young kids, with the strong belief that mathematics must be taught and learned as a life skill – not just another academic subject. My passion for mathematics is such that, even in my spare time, I build math content and programs. I have a bachelor’s degree in B.Tech, Electronics and Communications Engineering from IIT, Delhi.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
Before Cuemath, I taught math to high school students, particularly IIT-JEE aspirants. This is when I realised that, for children in higher grades, it is harder for teachers and students to have a positive impact on outcomes.
Therefore, having strong fundamentals in math from kindergarten onwards, is helpful to develop solid cognitive and reasoning skills. This was my inspiration to establish Cuemath, to provide the right exposure of math to children from a young age. On 22 December 2013, on the anniversary of Ramanujan also celebrated as National Math Day, Cuemath was founded.
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
Cuemath is a Google-backed Ed Tech Company based in Bangalore on a mission to transform children into invincible problem solvers via the power of math. We are well on our way to become a global leader in the Math market.
I have taught math to 10,000+ students personally over a span of 15+ years. We run one of the world’s largest live online math learning platforms, enabling teachers to deliver cutting-edge math instruction to students in over 20+ countries globally. We expect to expand to 50+ countries in the coming year. We have new offices and teams coming up in the US, UAE and Bangladesh.
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Our headquarters is in Bangalore, Karnataka and we have 900+ employees. We have raised US$65 million to date, with US$40 million in our last funding round. Other investors include Sequoia, CapitalG, LGT, AWI, Manta Ray, and Unitus. Initially, we were seed-funded by my personal investment.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
Deep passion for solving the math learning problem, and perseverance to deal with ups & downs, which will come in any entrepreneurial journey; lots of support & trust from family members; an effort to constantly self-upskill through reading and talking to some of the best minds in the ecosystem.
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
Compounding is the most powerful force there is, be it in work, skills or life and relationships. Incremental improvements on a continuous basis add up to huge gains ultimately.
For example, when start-ups hire, they may optimise for fast over right. That is, close the hire as fast as possible, but that it rarely is the best strategy. Instead, focus on finding the right person, their presence on the team will lead to compounding gains that ultimately become disproportionately large.
The fundamental mechanics and frameworks of building a massively scalable business. I think every child at school should be taught the fundamentals of finance and business and be encouraged to try entrepreneurial experiments, rather than teaching them outdated curriculums.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
Less is more – focus on the few things that will lead to compounding gains, rather than trying to do everything. Double down on the things you are good at; don’t be influenced by the latest fad / hype / peer pressure, and don’t do stuff you don’t enjoy.
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
Cuemath’s ‘live one-on-one class’ program empowers children to learn core math and coding concepts via visual logic to foster deep learning, and our afterschool program complements state curriculums. Our approach focuses on the why versus the how, using tangible exercises applicable in the real world.
Via Cuemath, students learn math intuitively and deeply, making challenging concepts easier and fostering independent thinking.
We offer monthly as well as annual subscriptions up till K-12 which includes:
1:1 student-to-teacher interaction to extend right help at the right time
A curriculum designed by subject matter experts, accredited by STEM.org (the leading STEM organisation in the USA)
An interactive curriculum – concepts explained through videos and simulations for better understanding.
We charge on a per-class basis (8 classes a month). Our teachers are trained and well oriented to take one-on-one or one-to-many classes – with a fixed pay out. The balance differential goes to Cuemath. Thus, we not only impart high-quality education to children, but also generate meaningful livelihood opportunities for people who have the passion to teach.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
The fundamental mechanics and frameworks of building a massively scalable business. I think every child at school should be taught the fundamentals of finance and business and be encouraged to try entrepreneurial experiments, rather than teaching them outdated curriculums.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
Cuemath’s impact on thousands of children, many of whom are on clear paths to global glory.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
With Cuemath, my goal is to win the global math market and help millions of kids fall in love with math; in parallel, create a platform that gives meaningful employment to hundreds of thousands of teachers; professionally, i want to continue my journey towards becoming a world-class expert at building products consumers love; personally, want to be strong at being calm internally despite the roller-coaster ride any entrepreneur faces.
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
Passion is key because the journey will be hard. Have a mindset of perseverance, as there will be days when you wish you’d not taken the plunge at all, and it is at those times you can’t quit.
Be very, very clear about your consumer personas and psyches and the fundamental mechanics of building a scalable business for them – like acquisition, retention, unit economics etc.
Finally, aim for as large a canvas as possible – it will take you as much time to build a 10 million business as a 10 billion business, so aim high.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Cuemath”
To learn more about Cuemath Visit https://www.cuemath.com/en-gb/
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