The date: 28th September 2025. The time: 8:29am. The day: Sunday.
Its been 9 months to Shunya AI (operationally active). This post will capture the lessons and the future that we are looking to build.
The start
Jan 2025 – I started as a solo founder with a dream to build a global online school. A school where the youth will come to learn 3 core skills: AI, Mindset and Business.
I deeply respect and appreciate the first 50 learners that trusted Shunya AI and joined our Batch 1. And then started Batch 2,3,4,5 and 6.
Sep 2025 – we are 1300 learners from 15 countries of the world.
The secret behind the growth?
Honesty. That’s it. My videos on facebook went viral. I received 50M+ views. These views converted into sales.
In July 2025 facebook did something to its algorithm and the views started going down drastically. Our reach was stifled. This clearly reflected as a drop in number of new admissions to the AI LABS course in July, Aug and then Sep.
As a founder I of-course found this a stressful and confusing. I was doing exactly what I was doing before, nothing changed. Then why this drop? Facebook support team also found it amusing. They said “there are no restrictions on your page, we also find this strange”.
Anyway, I learnt not to panic. I calmed myself and reflected on the vision to establish one of the top 3 most trusted online schools in the world for the youth and young entrepreneurs.
I chose not to run any ads to promote our courses, even now.
Wait, before we speak of the future
The fact that we have 1300 learners from 15 countries, without any ad spend is an achievement unlocked. In the online Education industry, where every company is selling courses from INR 99 onwards, we maintained our position. AI LABS course fee started from INR 10,000. In Sep 2025 it is INR 12,500. We have improved the course content and the delivery too. With every iteration we improved, massively.
Cut to Sep 2025
We have just started Batch 6. The admissions metric is at its lowest (compared to the previous months).
Today the question that I am trying to answer:
In this noisy world of social media, how do we not run ads and still reach students, professionals and young entrepreneurs with trust.
I did meet Ed-tech entrepreneurs. These are companies that are spending anywhere from INR 20 lakhs to INR 40 lakhs every month in paid ads. They are effectively buying attention, building funnels and trying to convert those funnels with sales teams or by hosting large free offline or online events.
I am personally not tuned to this method of acquiring new customers.
The Future
- Marketing: I am going to invest a large part of my time in Educating people online – Educating is going to be our marketing. This will also attract a better quality audience. We will improve the quality of our videos to make them look like they come from a trusted online school
- Sales: With data I am pretty convinced that hiring a sales team to answer customer queries does not create an exponential impact for an Ed-tech firm. I have personally taken 250+ calls till date. The quality of calls are incredibly poor
- At the product level – AI Labs is a course that I have seen maturing from Batch 1 to Batch 6. Even my kids learn from AI Labs. Should we launch more courses? Should we re-look pricing?
- Operations: Should we start an offline center? I am personally not too inspired by this thought.
- Business Plan/ Revenue: Is there a B2B play here? Should we partner with colleges and somehow run AI Labs across colleges in India and otherwise across the world?
- People: Is this the time to hire someone really good, someone much better than ‘I’ to lead marketing?
As a founder
I am definitely enjoying this journey. This journey will create a legacy that will outlast me.
If you are someone inspired to shape the future by Educating the youth on AI, write to me: reachps001(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you for your time and gratitude folks. I wish you a great legacy.
Shunya AI 