Fin-cradle: A Substitute for Finance Courses
Today, we have with us Mr. Naman Jain, who is helping to nurture talent with experience. He co-founded FinCradle along with Mr. Savit Singhal, in 2019. Within less than a year of its inception, FinCradle has acquired a faculty with more than a decade’s worth of experience in companies like KPMG, BCG, and McKinsey.
How they managed it, what issues and challenges they faced and where are they headed are a few of the queries that we had and Naman Jain being a calm person he is, was more than happy to share. Answering about the challenges Naman faced as an entrepreneur, he candidly replied, “Being an entrepreneur is not easy.” He further added, “By being an entrepreneur, I am a YouTuber, social media marketer, a digital marketer along with a teacher and a mentor. I am doing all of those things which normally a person with a skill or two would select as a career.” Naman iterated the fact that an entrepreneur needs to take care of more than a single domain of the business. S/he is supposed to know about everything that is concerned with his/her business.
To know more, read the full interview below.
Anu Jain:
Who all were there in the founding team?
Naman Jain:
One of my friends, Savit Singhal, is there. We both started FinCradle. It was our joint effort to bring this company into reality, and we’re doing quite good with our numbers and our valuation as well.
Anu Jain:
What was your idea or motivation behind starting FinCradle?
Naman Jain:
We pursued a lot of finance courses along with our graduation. In every course, we struggled with guidance. We struggled with finding a good teacher, finding good study material, and all of those things. So, we figured out that there is a need to create a platform on which all the training requirements can be met at a single place. That is how we came up with an idea to begin something on our own, to create a platform in which we guide students from the very basic level about how they can establish a strong career in the field of finance and how we’ll assist them with all the global finance courses, all the skill development courses and even help them with placements.
Anu Jain:
What is your target market? How do you segment your target market, and how do you approach them?
Naman Jain:
Our target market is all of those who want to pursue a career in finance. Many students are there who know that they want to pursue this particular course. So, we are there to provide all the necessary resources. Some of them are confused about whether they want to pursue it or not. So, we provide them with short courses so that they can analyse the industry in a month’s or two months’ period. They can have an internship of one month so that they can get practical hands-on experience of the industry; of how things happen in the industry. They can then analyse whether this field is correct for them or not. Our basic target audience is those students who are not prepared for any particular segment of the industry or want to enter the finance field.
Anu Jain:
What is the go-to-market strategy of FinCradle? And is there any difference in your approach and the approach of other companies providing similar courses?
Naman Jain:
Yes, definitely! FRM, CFA type courses are very famous in the industry. People know when they want to do such courses. They’re very expensive. So, what other companies are doing is they are generally promoting themselves via digital marketing. They’re putting a lot of money into it. They have established their brands. But being a new company, we cannot spend a lot of money on that. So, our strategy is quite different. We want to catch up with students on a very basic level to guide them, mentor them, and bring them up to the higher-level courses.
Anu Jain:
Do you make sales only online, or are there any offline channels as well, which you follow?
Naman Jain:
No. Since the time we started, the pandemic had happened. So, everything has been online up till now.
Anu Jain:
What are your revenue streams, and what portion of it do you spend on sales and marketing?
Naman Jain:
On average, around 20 to 25% of revenues are spent on sales and marketing.
Anu Jain:
The most crucial thing in a business is the sales part. Are there any challenges that you faced in making sales?
Naman Jain:
Definitely, we’re facing challenges. Since both Savit and I are from finance backgrounds, we know little about what marketing is or how sales are made. So, we are in the process learning these things. Being an entrepreneur is not easy. By being an entrepreneur, I’m a YouTuber, a social media marketer, a digital marketer, a teacher, and a mentor. I’m doing all of those skills which a person selects as a career. Like if you want to do YouTube, you are trained for that. If you want to do digital marketing, you pursue a course, which is only for the digital marketing part. But we are doing each and everything. And we are developing ourselves daily to grasp those skills so that we can put them in our company.
Anu Jain:
Are there any other companies that you consider to be FinCradle’s major competitors?
Naman Jain:
There are many competitors for us, such as Wallstreet school, Aswini Bajaj, and Sanjay Saraf Education Institution. Apart from these many established brands are also our competitors.
Anu Jain:
Do you feel that there are any other substitutes as well for your courses? Like students can go to other substitutes instead of taking the courses which FinCradle provides?
Naman Jain:
What we are providing are the substitutes, actually. These are the substitutes to core MBA programs, like when you are pursuing an MBA (Finance), you need to put a lot of investment. A lot has changed post the pandemic, a majority of the MBA graduates are not able to find a job, or they are not getting a job, which is up to their expectations. If they did it from, say, some IIMs, they would want a job, which should pay them at least Rs. 25-30 lacs, but they are not able to get that. So, all of these things are coming up. That is how the charter courses are getting more popular.
Anu Jain:
With the increase in network coverage, we see an increase in the sale of online courses. Do you also think that any technological change has helped you in any way?
Naman Jain:
Presently, as such, not. We are not that much technology-driven as of now. But as things came up online, when we shifted from traditional classroom programs to online programs, it’s relatively cost-effective. So, that is how it has helped us or any other educational institution in the field.
Anu Jain:
What are the key resources at FinCradle, which you think, without them, it would be challenging running FinCradle?
Naman Jain:
The key resources are the mentors associated with FinCradle. The thing which we focused on at the maximum level is the right guidance. And that is what our core competency is. So, we are focused on that, and we have associated selected mentors and faculties along with us. I guarantee that no one can teach better than the faculty that we have for any particular course. They are the best teachers. And since we have done those courses, we can analyse who teaches better, who has better content. So, that is how we analyse things. First, we do it, and then we analyse whether one person is good or the other.
Anu Jain:
Are there any other key partners apart from the faculty, which you think are crucial for FinCradle to run?
Naman Jain:
As of now, there aren’t any, but we are developing our team. We are assessing the performance of the current team members and, hopefully, they’ll be the future Vice-Presidents of FinCradle.
Anu Jain:
What are your future plans for FinCradle? Are you planning to grow it in the near future? And where do you think the industry is headed in the future?
Naman Jain:
The industry is headed towards distance learning charter courses. People are getting attracted towards them more than the traditional MBA courses. The engagement is also increasing. So, what we need to do is; we need to create awareness at a very basic level. Like at the school level, students must know that they must be well-prepared if they want to enter into the finance domain. Just after their 12th, they need to begin with charter courses. This is what our aim is, and this is what we are working on.
Anu Jain:
At FinCradle, have you outsourced any vertical anytime like sales and marketing or finance?
Naman Jain:
No, we haven’t!
Insellers
’ View on FinCradle
FinCradle’s primary target customers are students pursuing MBA, BBA, B.Com., or other similar courses. The charter courses provided by FinCradle might also interest students pursuing LLB, B. Tech., or other non-commerce courses.
FinCradle can use traditional online marketing channels to create a brand presence on various social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. It can post regular updates on its pages and add a link to its website for the interested ones. The presence of FinCradle on social media would enhance its website traffic. It would also improve the overall sales for FinCradle.
FinCradle may also do student outreach programs in its target colleges. It can develop college brand ambassadors to increase awareness about its charter courses among its target customers. Free courses may also be offered to its brand ambassadors if they bring a certain number of students on board. It would encourage them to bring in more sales for FinCradle while also getting them free courses.
FinCradle may also conduct workshops and webinars in its target colleges. The details about its courses can be better explained in them. It would also increase FinCradle’s brand awareness among its target customers.
FinCradle may also develop a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section on its website, answering the students’ common queries. One-on-one or group counselling sessions can also be organised for students who have opted for finance courses or want to build a career in finance. FinCradle may also provide a registration link for these sessions on its website. It would help get more leads for its charter courses.
The strategies may be chosen based on the resources available. A mix of the above strategies would help FinCradle to increase its brand awareness, get more leads, and achieve an increase in sales for its courses.
We wish Naman Jain and Savit Singhal a very good luck for the future and hope that they reach the bar they have set for themselves.
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