'Byju Raveendran put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening': Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal

Gaurav Munjal, the CEO of Unacademy recently shared what he feels were the reasons behind edtech company Biju’s’ downfall. Byju's was once the world's leading edtech unicorn and India's most valuable startup. Until its dramatic fall.

Munjal, who is the co-founder of edtech firm Unacademy said said, “Byju failed because he didn’t listen to anyone. He put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening. Don’t do that. Never do that.”

Munjal shared some of his learnings on X, positioning Byju’s as an example of what could have been done differently. “Don’t listen to everyone but have people who can give you blunt feedback,” he said.

Sharing his learnings before arriving on Byju’s, the CEO emphasised on the importance of understanding the business’s unit economics on day one itself. He shared that it’s the best thing one can do.

Byju failed because he didn’t listen to anyone. He put himself on a pedestal and stopped listening. Don’t do that. Never do that. Don’t listen to everyone but have people who can give you blunt feedback.

— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) June 27, 2024

Munjal also shed light on the current investor landscape. "Some Investors are assets, some are liabilities. Trick is to figure out the ones who are assets and listen to them,” he said.

He elaborated saying that not all investors provide equal value beyond their financial contributions. It is important for a founder to have the ability to take into account the advice given by beneficial investors. This can be the deciding factor of a startup’s success or failure, he said.

There have been mutiple exits at Byju's over the past few months, from employees, to the CEO and other prominent board members. Additionally, founder Byju Raveendran too recently lost his billionaire status, as it was revealed that his net-worth plummeted from a staggering Rs. 17545 crore to Zero.