As part of our endeavour to share some of the unique and compelling startup stories from the ecosystem, we spoke to Team MillionCenters to understand more about their vision and the way forward.
MillionCenters is an online learning discovery platform to help people find and connect with the best hobby classes, tuition centres, coaching institutes and trainers near them.
MillionCenters, provides an organised online platform (web and app), is the ultimate one-stop source to find the best teachers, trainers and learning centres near you.
Anyone interested in learning a new hobby or finding a coaching academy can easily register with MillionCenters. Users can also post their learning requirements and MillionCenters will help them match with the best tutors and trainers using technology.
By bridging the gap between ‘learners’ and ‘trainers/tutors’, MillionCenters aim to become India’s favourite online platform for discovering learning and teaching opportunities.
More about the startup idea and its founding team members:
Captain Surinder Singh is the CEO and Founder of MillionCenters.com and brings with him extensive experience from marketing, sales and information technology industries. After serving in the Indian Army, Capt. Surinder decided to follow his personal and professional pursuits and have since contributed immensely to both Indian as well as multi-national corporations throughout his career spanning more than four decades.
The idea for MillionCenters came when Captain Surinder could not find a verified and trustworthy language teacher for his son. It was then when he decided to solve this problem and come up with a unified, trustworthy online community backed by authentic reviews and genuine user feedback.
Our founding team consists of experts from management, consulting and technology backgrounds from multi-national companies with more than 50+ years of cumulative experience in launching products, scaling businesses and driving growth.
Its journey so far –
Since its inception in 2016, MillionCenters has become the leading online discovery platform for classes and coaching in Delhi-NCR. It is bridging the gap between students and teachers by helping them connect with each other seamlessly and confidently.
Presently, the community is growing every day and has more than 10,000 tutors and learning centres registered already. Plus, it covers more than 30+ unique categories from academics and tuition to hobbies and vocational courses.
How does MillionCenters add value to the lives of people? What problem is it solving?
The market for learning and hobby in India is highly fragmented and when one of the founders was unable to find a verified and suitable place to learn a foreign language, the seed for this idea was sown.
Due to lack of authentic information, credibility and a one-to-one connection between learners and teachers, there is no reliable platform or source to discover an ideal teacher, trainer or academy as per your interest, age, or personal preferences.
After realizing how difficult it was to learn a skill or a hobby from an authentic teacher or academy, MillionCenters was started as a simple, unified platform to discover the joy of learning something new that is perfect for your personal or professional growth and fulfilment. People today are stressed and constantly looking for recreational outlets, with MillionCenters, we are making it easier and simpler for them to learn a new hobby or pursue their passion.
We believe people are happiest (and healthiest) when they follow their curiosity and interests in life. MillionCenters helps them to easily search, discover and connect with verified hobby classes, tutors, trainers and learning centres to match their needs.
Additionally, to help tutors and trainers, MillionCenters is offering a digital platform that can help them build a unique online presence, advertise their services smartly and use software tools to manage their classroom easily.
The technology-based platform of MillionCenters is helping tutors and teachers become ready for the future of education by giving them an online identity that they can use to promote themselves among students and learners.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
India’s education sector is highly fragmented and there is a general lack of trust between teacher students and parents-teachers. To solve this huge challenge, we had to face many obstacles and initial resistance from both tutors and parents who were apprehensive about the idea of using a common platform for their learning and teaching needs.
With enough persistence and focus, MillionCenters have on-boarded more than 10,000 tutors on our online platform already. More than 8000+ learners have used MillionCenters to find verified tutors and learning centres near them.
Tutor training has been a challenge for us as most teachers in India still have a conventional mindset about promoting themselves. MillionCenters solved this problem by educating and informing them with specialized resources, hands-on training on how to use software tools and giving them focused leads to build trust.
Even learners were hesitant in trying a new platform, especially as they usually rely on word-of-mouth reviews and feedback to make decisions. MillionCenters solved this challenge by giving verified, authentic information about tutors, teachers and institutes.
Our team painstakingly ensured every little detail and every important aspect of their journey was being supported. Thanks to our relentless efforts, more learners are now using our platform (website + app) to find verified learning centres near them.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Stress and pressure is an inevitable part of building a start-up, especially when we are trying to solve a problem on PAN India level. Thankfully, we have our ways of dealing with stress by organizing team outings, fun Friday activities and outdoor events that help us break the monotony of everyday work.
MillionCenters have also organized meet-ups inviting hobby enthusiasts and teachers to give talks and share their thoughts about pursuing a passion and making a career out of it.
Additionally, we encourage our team members to pick up a hobby or recreational activity themselves to stay stress—free and relaxed in their free time.
Tell our audience about your failures? How should one bounce back?
Despite having a stellar team of experienced and dedicated professionals, failures have been a part of our journey so far. Team MillionCenters have always faced failures head-on and have tried to learn from them.
For example – in our initial stage, we were too aggressive in reaching out to teachers, trainers and institutes. Since we had built a product with passion, it was natural for us to go out and get maximum tutors to join our platform. However, that did not work out because we were not able to communicate our value proposition and benefits to these teachers and tutors effectively.
When we approached the problem with a new perspective, we realized what went wrong and admitted our failure. It was then we started to rethink the problem at hand from a different perspective. Team MillionCenters changed the focus from getting teachers to join our platform to help them understand the importance of having an online identity in today’s competitive world. This way, we started giving out value to tutors and teachers without asking or expecting anything in return.
As mentioned, failures are a stepping stone to success. If one fails at something, it simply means there can be many other ways to solve the same problem. So, everyone should look at failure as an opportunity to think again, to try again and to give it one more shot with a different perspective.
Have you raised any investment yet? Are you looking to raise any further rounds?
So far, we are a bootstrapped startup working out and functioning on our own funds. However, we do plan to raise money and scale our operations and services for other parts of India, especially with a focus on Tier-1 cities.
What are your expansion plans/breakeven projections?
Presently, MillionCenters has emerged as the leading online platform for learners and tutors in Delhi-NCR. We are aiming to expand in Tier-1 metro cities by the end of 2019 and soon spread our wings to Tier-2 cities where the demand for learning and recreation activities is picking up rapidly. MillionCenters expects to break-even by Q1 2020. MillionCenters also aims to expand its footprint on a global level and has countries like Canada and Singapore on its roadmap. We believe the problem we are solving is a global one, so there is definitely scope for growth and profitability in other parts of the world too.
You may also like ~ Interview with Nitan Jain | Co-founder And Chief Product Officer at Vaizle