When the pandemic arrived, educational institutions closed, and many turned to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). But MOOCs do not grant special attention to students, and no one will clear doubts when thousands enrol in a single class. 

WorldWise, an online education platform, is everything your average MOOC failed to be. Qrious Creative interns Diya Isha and Neha Madhusudan got on a call with the founders of WorldWise, Saahil Dama and Sanjay Krishna, to talk about their journey with WorldWise. 

Neha: “Tell us a bit about WorldWise. What is it all about?”

Sanjay: “We started with a simple idea of a program for school kids. At school, we didn't learn things we wanted to learn: mental health, financial literacy, etc. We realised that the college education space had the same problems.”

“Saahil and I went to arguably one of the best law schools in the country, but when we entered our law firms, we realised our curriculum, although useful, was devoid of context. It was outdated. So, we began with a program that bridged the gap between law schools and law firms. We wanted to produce programs across disciplines and verticals of the law. The current education system doesn't inspire you, it’s outdated and boring. For inspiration, you need to learn from people who are truly at the top of the game.”

“But let's face it, only elite universities have such faculty. An average kid in Aurangabad or Jamshedpur can't access the greatest minds in the country. But the internet allows us to change this. Anyone from anywhere can listen to the best. The best lawyer in the country can now remotely teach 1000 kids at once, instead of 40 people in a classroom at a law school. That was the vision that we have taken with WorldWise.”

Saahil: “WorldWise is a platform that will bring together some of the finest lawyers in India, senior advocates, senior partners—the finest minds in the field to teach everyone in the country. We aim to move beyond the law too.”

Diya: “Thank you for your response. I'm glad Worldwise is contributing to India’s academic infrastructure. Unfortunately, the pandemic takes a toll on most start-ups. How is WorldWise responding?”

Sanjay: “We didn't always deal with it well. We've had delays. Our launch is a month later than we originally planned, but those are the facts of reality. With the shift to online classes, no one is learning anything because the skills you need to teach online are not the same as offline teaching. Juniors from my college say they haven't learnt anything in the last year.”

Saahil: “Our courses are shot in person so we have to travel. When cases had subsided, we shot 4 courses between March and December. We thought everything was going to go back to normal, but ours is a first world problem. People are facing far worse issues.”

Neha: “You mentioned working at prestigious law firms in the country. How has this experience shaped WorldWise?”

Sanjay: “Both Saahil and I spent two years working in law firms. We became far more technically capable as lawyers. It was entirely transformative. We have this competence and credentials only because we worked there.”

“We quickly learnt to write, work under high pressure, and with deadlines. We cold-emailed some of the best people in the country to be an instructor with WorldWise. They were intrigued. They felt we were serious and meant business, and they gave us a shot. This is how we created the first program!”

Saahil: “When you decide to do something unconventional, a part of you always wonders whether it's a risk, and if it's better to pursue the safer path. It's a legitimate fear. After quitting, I was a person with yellow hair and a backpack going wherever I felt like. I went from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, from Bhutan to Dubai. My peers are making Senior Associate this year, which is a big deal owing to the money and prestige attached to the designation. But I don't regret that we're still trying to figure out where this is going. However, the networks that we built working at the law firms, the fact that people take us more seriously because we worked on the ground for two years is something we're very grateful for.”

Diya: “As partners, what do you both bring to the table together?”

Saahil: “Sanjay recently put up an article about our trip to Ladakh. WorldWise wasn't a thing at the time of the trip. Sanjay was working in Bangalore; I had quit by then. We decided to travel to Ladakh to run a marathon. In Ladakh, we decided to cycle about 40 odd kilometres to explore the countryside. We found some people playing cricket, and Sanjay and I decided, "Let's stop and ask them if we can play cricket with them!". Enough hasn’t been said about the founding team. We have this deep connection independent of WorldWise. If we disagree on something, we will argue about it like a married couple for 30 minutes and conclude. This connection makes a difference when you take on a project as challenging as a start-up.”

Neha: “It’s really wonderful to see how your friendship has impacted WorldWise. Could you tell us how you decided to collaborate with Qrious?” 

Sanjay: “Kunal’s brother, Neil, was a close friend of mine . I reported to Neil when I worked at Khaitan. I hadn’t seen Kunal’s work until a New Year's party in 2019. We were checking out his show reel on his new computer. I thought it was really cool! But at that point, I was just a transactional lawyer, I didn’t give it too much thought.”

“Later, when our first instructor said yes and asked to shoot 12 days later, we didn’t have a filmmaker. The first person that came to mind was Kunal. We reviewed three or four other portfolios; Qrious’ profile seemed like a perfect fit. It sounds like a dramatic story and it is, but that's kind of how start-ups stories are.” 

Saahil: “Working with Kunal has been really good. Two of our shoots were in Bangalore, two others had to be shot in Delhi. He stayed with a friend for about 10 days because the shoots were on two consecutive weekends. No complaints at all.  He shot professionally, got people editing...they’ve all been far too kind to us.”

Diya: “The video lectures are pivotal for WorldWise. What kind of production possibilities will you explore with Qrious?”

Sanjay: “Our long-term vision is to create many brilliant courses, and video lectures and live sessions are at the heart of this. Our collaboration with Qrious is driven by this. We spend a lot of time conceptualizing beautiful trailers with them. Traditional education is not entertaining. 48 out of 50 students in a class won’t pay attention to a teacher reading out of a textbook. Qrious brings entertainment into the equation. We shoot in person—two cameras, high quality editing, brilliant trailers, inspiring music. WorldWise makes this combination of education and entertainment possible with Qrious.”

Neha: “The work sounds incredibly stimulating. What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?”

Saahil: “For us, the plunge into entrepreneurship was much easier. We had a safety net, both in terms of financial savings, and work experience from reputable companies, making it easier to return to the legal industry. Zuckerberg dropped out of college to build a successful start-up, but people forget that there are 10,000 people who dropped out of college and made nothing of themselves. In terms of challenges, you don’t see a lot of lawyers who are founders, so access to direct mentorship was difficult. But again, we hustle our way around that!”

Sanjay: “I think all your life, you’re told to do X and you do X. In our case, we had to question everything. Should we take more courses, or just double down on creating courses in different fields? Our goals, and our solutions to our problems, change every week. We might have to try five different things, out of which only one may work out. Traditional jobs don't prepare you for such uncertainty. There definitely isn’t one magic fix-all solution.”

Saahil: “Justin Kan sold Twitch for a billion dollars, but his next start-up failed terribly. If successful second-time founders fail, who are we to offer advice?” 

Diya: “As someone who has been remotely learning for over a year, this conversation makes me question things. Your journey inspires us. All the best. Thank you, Saahil and Sanjay, for joining us today.”