What It Really Takes to Build a $3 Billion Business

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

May 13, 2025

Duration

36m

Channel

Silicon Valley Girl

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

📌 Sound like a native: https://clck.ru/3LxyVu 🗣 Get 100 or above on TOEFL: https://clck.ru/3LxyXX In this episode, we talk to Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, the founders of Unacademy — a $3B edtech giant that started as a simple YouTube channel. They share how they scaled to 100+ channels, built an AI-powered English learning app disrupting the industry, and grew without spending on ads. We dive into the highs and lows: layoffs, panic attacks, going public, and what it really takes to build a billion-dollar startup in the age of AI. 00:00 – Teaser 00:42 – From YouTube blog to $3B edtech unicorn 02:35 – Why they focused on YouTube for education 06:20 – How their AI app is disrupting Duolingo in just one year 09:20 – The depressing phase: no sleep and panic attacks 10:17 – How they earned $2M/year with zero ad spend 11:35 – IPO prep while losing $150M/year? 13:33 – Did they consider shutting down? 14:19 – Men don’t talk about it 16:02 – Are they replacing teachers with AI? 19:14 – How they started 21:52 – Decline in viewership when Roman stopped posting; 1000 teachers creating instead 22:40 – Netflix for education: managing 100+ channels 23:55 – How much it costs to run a single YouTube channel 25:42 – Their marketing strategy 26:50 – Why videos now get only 200–300 views 28:00 – Laid off teachers 29:27 – Advice for YouTubes 30:12 – Leave your ego behind: let others do the work too 31:35 – Moving to the U.S. 33:50 – What will happen in 5 years with AI 34:50 – Advice for first-time founders in 2025 Links: 📩 Follow my Newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/subscribe 🔗 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ 📌 My Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co 📹 Video brainstorming, research, and project planning - all in one place - https://partner.spotterstudio.com/ideas-with-marina 💻 Resources that helps my team and me grow the business:

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⭐ Download my English language workbook - https://bit.ly/3hH7xFm I use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using my affiliate links, I will get a bonus). #podcast #unacademy #ai

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Marina Mogilko

  host

• Gaurav Munjal

  guest

• Roman Saini

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Silicon Valley Girl, featuring Marina Mogilko and Gaurav Munjal, What It Really Takes to Build a $3 Billion Business explores unacademy founders on scaling YouTube education into a $3B edtech powerhouse Unacademy began as a YouTube education channel in 2010, built by founders who were content creators first and later became platform and product builders.

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