Interview with Mr. Praveen, Founder of Tutecircle

We have with us the founder of Tutecircle, Mr. Praveen Kumar ,a B.E. Electronics from Madras University, an ex-employee at Infosys and currently busy with his startup – Tutecircle, a Chennai based portal dedicated  for the preparation of Aptitude Skills for students preparing for competitive exams or interviews. Tutecircle was officially launched in Feb this yr and already has large number of registered users. Here are few questions he answered for us.

http://www.tutecircle.com/

Describe ‘Tutecircle’ project in 50 words.

Tutecircle.com is an online learning platform currently offering course on Fundamental Aptitude essential for any competitive exam. The course has more 100+ video lectures , 200+ Tests and 2000+ Solved Video Solutions with Performance Analytics and Discussions.

What were you doing before ‘Tutecircle’?

Before Tutecircle, I started a Skill Development company www.skillpro.co.in which continues to deliver employability training programs to educational institutions across Tamilnadu . Prior to that, I worked in Infosys close to 5 years.

How did you come up with the name ‘TuteCircle’??

Frankly, It took 3-4 brains, 100s of mail trails, 1000s of names and about a year to freeze the name., Once the name was 90% frozen, Google came out with ‘Circles’ , which made us not to give any second thought.

 Is your site focused on a particular exam like CAT or students preparing for job interviews? how old is your site? how many registered users do you have already?

The course that is available currently suits someone who is preparing for Placements, Bank Exams or for anyone who desires to enhance their Fundamental Aptitude. The course may also be a testing ground for someone to know how good is one before actually starting to prepare for higher level competitive exams like CAT, GMAT, CSAT, etc. The website has been beta live for more than 6 months; serious marketing is started only in July 2013. We are getting a significant number of users everyday.

How did this idea of launching a site based on preparing a user for aptitude come into your mind..?

A combination of reasons

1. Knowing the big opportunity in Education for the next decade
2. Existing startup www.skillpro.co.in that is primarily in Placement Training handling physical workshops where Aptitude is one of our key deliverables.
3. Focused Target  – College crowd
4. Market size of Aptitude Learning being larger

Are the courses paid on your site? if yes, then which ones and what do you charge for these?

We have both free and paid version. Currently we have opened all the tests free with few demo video lectures and solutions.  The paid version allows the student to view Concept Videos and Video Solutions for all the tests that one takes up.

Why do you think that students should visit your site when many free sources are available..’ indiabix’ being the best example. What is that extra factor/privilege at  your site which will attract users..?

There are several free sources where anyone can post any question and answers. But,It’s not a mandate for the free websites to post lectures, solutions or offer any structured course, etc.
Features that will attract users to Tutecircle.

1. Video Lectures & Video Solutions for tests from best tutors.
2. Structured Learning Platform
3. Flexibility of Learning – any time, anywhere , any pace
4. Performance Improvement Analytics

What are your future goals about this site..?? any new feature launching soon??

We are a startup and hence we keep improving our features. We listen to users and add features that will give value proposition. We are also targeting a mobile app release end of this year. Tutecircle’s long term goal is to be the best platform out of India where various content providers can deliver both structured and un-structured courses to their respective audience.

What does a typical day as a CEO consist of?

Since I know only about being a startup CEO, I can tell my own experience which other startupers will agree.  A startup CEO’s role keep changes everyday right from being a product thinker, Salesman, Customer service agent, project manager, finance guy and sometimes Office Boy. Should be ready for Crisis management anytime.

What is the 1 mistake you made in life(or at Tutecircle), which you want others to avoid..?? what are your hobbies?

No, not 1 mistake.  Must have made many small and medium size. Generally decent in cricket and dance at school/college level, never took a serious plunge when I was below 25. Now Cricket, Dance and Marathon remain my hobbies.
At Tutecircle, One mistake we did is that we built the minimum viable product in the initial 3-4 months and then only to spend another 4-5 months in terms of UI Design/Look and Feel to get our alpha version out. We could have saved at least 3 months had we worked in parallel both in terms of functionality & UI Design.  I guess that’s how most of the start-ups learn.

How is the work culture at Tutecircle?

We are a total of 10 people and the average age should be around 23.  Work culture is like any other startup where learning is plenty. Though each one has a primary role, everyone is allowed to contribute towards the betterment of the product and user experience.  We receive applications for internships round the year and we have now launched a Campus Leader Program

https://www.facebook.com/tutecircleleaders

What advice do you want to give for the students preparing for CAT, interviews and Government jobs where aptitude, mental ability are tested heavily?

Before I start, Don’t blindly take anyone’s advice
More than advice, my sincere requests are

• Read Newspapers – to improve your vocabulary, verbal and general knowledge especially economics
• Spend quality time in understanding fundamental aptitude in all the aspects ( Quant, Verbal & Reasoning).
• Enhance your abilities in subjects that involves more thinking than mere solving ; such as Data Interpretation , Data Sufficiency, Logical Deductions, Critical Reasoning, Analytical Reasoning
• Don’t seek for shortcuts; Keep your EYES OPEN to skip steps while solving problems.
• Use approximation techniques and save time for the remaining questions.
• Keep practicing! 10000 hours of focused effort on anything you will yield you good result! Remember Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest batsmen ever; yet he goes for nets practice before every match.

This was Mr. Praveen Kumar from Tutecircle sharing his experience with us. We wish Tutecircle all the success in the coming yrs. Students preparing for interviews and competitive must checkout this website and especially the videos explaining various concepts.