ApnaCourse.com is the World’s first and only fully online training platform for Globally Recognized Certifications. The domains include Financial Management (CFA, FRM, CFP etc), Project and Quality Management (PMI-PMP, ACP etc), IT Services and Security Management (ISTQB, CISA et al) and Miscellaneous ones like Business Analysis.

Startoholics connected with Satish Rajagopalan, the man behind Apnacourse.com and here’s what he had to say.

Satish Rajagopalan

Tell us a bit about your background and the path that ultimately led you towards ApnaCourse.com

I’m a double post-graduate with an MBA in Finance and Strategy. The idea to start on my own and especially in the field of education was ignited when I was at Mumbai during the CRISIL days. My friends used to apply to the CFA and FRM classroom based coaching, but could neither find time nor quality trainers. This got me thinking on developing an online platform for such recognized certifications by roping in key faculties. The idea has grown since to what is ApnaCourse today.

What are the key milestones for the next 6 – 12 months?

Ramp up the user base. More Courses; There are 7 more courses ready for launch in the coming 6-7 weeks. We are targeting a total of 22 courses by FY15 and also providing unmatched performance by making significant developments to the current technology setup to support volumes while giving the best user experience across devices.

Has your portal got the feedback and growth you expected since launch?

It certainly has. There are more than 1000 users on our platform and growing at a significant pace every day. More and more users are spending a lot more time on our platform. There have been many success stories where users have gone through the entire training on ApnaCourse.com, appeared for the actual certification exam and cleared it successfully. There is now  a huge demand for many more courses on our platform from users globally.

Satish Rajagopalan

Do you have any new features in the pipeline?

A lot of new features will be coming up, but mainly a scheduler to help participants understand their areas of strengths and weakness, a social networking platform in-built into ApnaCourse and an uber-cool profile pages with host of customization features.

If not for ApnaCourse.com, where would you be now?

On some other startup journey. Ever since I was 21, I always wanted to start on my own. They say entrepreneurship is a passion and that somehow seems to have bitten me. So if not for ApnaCourse, it certainly would not have been for a 9-5 job in some company.

What is one startup that has recently caught your interest?

During a recent summit that I attended, there was this startup (can’t recollect the name) that had built an app to read real time images through the mobile camera and quickly give a snapshot description of that image and related wiki articles. They were planning to embed this for on-click online purchases in the months to come. This was extremely interesting and certainly caught my eye.

Who inspires you the most?

My dad (Mr. Rajagopalan). He has been an Entrepreneur himself. He started on his own 2 decades back and has been instrumental in helping me understand the nuances of Entrepreneurship and hand-holding me throughout.

What one piece of advice would you give to soon to be startup founders?

Always trust your gut feeling. There will be critics to mock you on your business model, but if you have a deep down feeling that this business has a great potential, then go for it. Don’t let the so-called experts or critics undermine you. Keep working hard and you will succeed.

Thank You Satish!

With a lot of other websites out there offering online education, ApnaCourse.com stands out for their promise of quality trainers. It certainly is a silver lining for working professionals that need quality online education.

What do you think is the future of online education? Do comment below and let us know!

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