FinCradle, Online Institute for Finance Courses

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FinCradle, Online Institute 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 decades 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 were 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
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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 well 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 months 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. Theyre very expensive. So, what
other companies are doing is they are generally
promoting themselves via digital marketing.
Theyre 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
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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 r evenue 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, were 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, Im a
YouTuber, a social media marketer, a digital
marketer, a teacher, and a mentor. Im 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
FinCradles major competitors?
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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, its 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?
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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 arent any, but we are
developing our team. We are assessing the
performance of the current team members and,
hopefully, theyll 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
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At FinCradle, have you outsourced any vertical
anytime like sales and marketing or
finance? Naman Jain No, we havent! Insellers
View on FinCradle FinCradles 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. FinCradl
e 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
FinCradles 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.
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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.