How Adaptability became by Strength?

A story about adaptability 🌱

When I started IDALS in 2020, the world was in lockdown. It was the perfect time for an ed-tech platform. Subscriptions grew faster than I had imagined, and I was really happy with the response towards our platform.

But by mid-2021, things changed. As things started opening up post lockdown, our online numbers dropped. I was close to shutting it down when I saw an opportunity to start an offline model. Drawing from my past experience of running an offline training center, I thought of starting the same with IDALS. Slowly, students started coming in because of the value we had built through our ed-tech platform and by 2023, our offline center was doing well alongside the online platform.

Then came 2024, and things got tough again. Many students couldn’t travel to Mumbai. We tried everything like marketing campaigns, student feedback, and experiments, but it was clear we had to adapt again as many of them wanted it in online format as they were finding it difficult to travel to Mumbai due to financial constraints. I made a difficult decision to shut the offline center and move everything online.

In January 2025, we launched our courses fully online, live classes along with our subscription model which was already going on. We gave it six months, but revenue stayed low. After much thought, I decided to close operations last month, taking the website down by 31st August and move all content to YouTube, keeping the value alive in a new form.

Looking back, what I see is not failure but a series of lessons in adaptability. Every shift taught me how to analyze, experiment, make hard calls and keep moving forward. These are not just business lessons but transferable skills that will stay with me in any role I take up next.

I am grateful for this journey, even with its uncertainties, because it taught me that adaptability is not just about surviving - it’s about finding new ways to create value. Just some of my journey snippets which I thought of sharing it here.

You all may also check our YouTube channels shared below

IDALS Online: https://www.youtube.com/@THEIDALS

IDALS Offline: https://www.youtube.com/@IDALSLive