Lawpreneurz is a digital law learning platform which helps law students understand their core subjects through well defined video lectures, notes, solved questions and answers. It also conducts its lectures through Skype, where a student is directly connected with their experts. With this platform, a law student can study from any smart device, at his/her own convenient time and pace – a first of its kind digital school where a student decides what needs to be studied.
It is one of the first platforms in the country to completely focus on legal courses and help students hone their skills to the next level.
We at Bangalore Insider got in touch with Raunaq Kakkar about Lawpreneurz and talked about its future plans and actions. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Give a brief info about your startup?
Lawpreneurz is a digital law learning platform where we help law students understand their core subjects through well defined video lectures, notes, solved questions and answers and also through Skype, where a student is directly connected with our experts. With our platform, a law student can study from any smart device, at his own convenient time and pace – a first of its kind digital school where student decides what needs to be studied.
What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?
It was when I had failed my law exams, I felt the need to start a platform like Lawpreneurz. Because I failed, I had no means of going back and learning from my teachers. Even buying books for various subjects didn’t help. The biggest dilemma was understanding what to study and how to study. From this failure, Lawpreneurz was born, to not only help law students like me but also provide a platform that is easily accessible and acts as a perfect resource for conceptual learning and last minute revisions. India is home to 1300 law schools with an average of 50k students graduating every year. The problem lies in the fact that only a handful of these schools have the means to provide quality education. Lawpreneurz is solving this problem by democratising law education, making it accessible to every law student in India.
Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?
Don’t get me wrong when I said I failed, I did eventually pass. I am a law graduate from Jindal Global Law School. Post my graduation, while I was finding means to convert my idea into reality, I happened to come across “The Prahlad Kakar School of Branding and Entrepreneurship”, where I spent the next two years. During these years, I learned not just to convert an idea into reality but also learn life skills every entrepreneur needs to learn. During my stint there, I was invited to deliver my talk on the prestigious TEDx platform. Apart from handling Lawpreneurz, I also love writing, something which started as a hobby and may very soon become another feather to the cap!
Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?
While we are headquartered at Bombay, the beauty of a digital platform is that it can be carried out from any place. True, Bombay does act as a perfect blend for production of our courses but having said that, the kind of passion we have for Lawpreneurz, we would have made it work even if we were situated in a remote area.
As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?
There was a time when I used to be paranoid, I won’t lie about that. It was during the initial days when we had just started out and were still finding a way to reach out to the audience. The biggest fear I had back then was knowing that even though we have made a platform that not only adds value but is solving a major problem, what if we can’t reach out. Fortunately, in the last 8 months, things have started to look good, with students appreciating our platform, finding it the need of the hour and telling us how we have helped them do well in law. Now the only thing that keeps me awake every night is how I can better the platform. While a digital platform has its perks, the only con is you can’t let it stale. You need to keep updating, add new features so that a student continues to see value. And that is exactly what we are working at, every single day.
Who are your competitors and how are you better than them?
In all honesty, the only competitor I see are those heavy books and guides that students have been accustomed to all these years. While that has been the preferred way in law, with a younger audience, the need to shift to a digital platform like Lawpreneurz is the next step forward. That way we are better not only in terms of content but also constant availability. While you’re travelling, you can study with us straight from your phone. More than books the video lectures actually help in understanding and retaining important topics as you have an option of watching them over and over again. And, most importantly, Lawpreneurz is cost effective.
How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?
It is all about prioritising. It’s as simple as how we were when we were kids. We all had a timetable. Why can’t we do the same as entrepreneurs? If we are only working, there would be a point when we just can’t innovate anymore. We won’t be able to solve issues because our mind is so clogged with all the work we have been doing. So, I make sure I have my breaks between work. Whether it is to write a new chapter or watch an episode of my favourite show, I take out that time between work. If I am working while my mind wants to know what happened to my favourite character, would I really deliver at work? I don’t think so. So at the end, it’s all about prioritising.
Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.
At the moment, Lawpreneurz is a self funded venture but we would like to raise funds not only for the current stage we are in but more so for the future endeavour we have envisioned, which is to revolutionise the way law students appear for judiciary, which on an average, is 50k – 60k students every year. With Lawpreneurz, we plan to make it a 1:1 personalised learning approach instead of 50 students being taught by 1 teacher. This would help students to not only track their progress but also help students find their study-life balance and give him true value for money. So for this, we are definitely looking to raise funds.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?
I don’t think there are any misconceptions about me or Lawpreneurz. We have kept it as transparent as possible. I am the sole point of contact for students who have any queries and need any sort of assistance. They do find it amusing that they get to speak to the founder directly but at the same time, they feel assured knowing that they can reach out to me any time of the day. Given our legal system which may have its flaws, education can still be transparent. And that is what we are trying to achieve at Lawpreneurz.
What gets you excited about this company?
The fact that I am able to help law students and add value to their life. If I am having a bad day at work and even if one student calls me to thank me for starting this platform and how it was the need of the hour, it brightens up my day. So knowing that we are on the right track and our vision is being accepted and loved, keeps me motivated and excited to work harder and make it the best platform.
Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.
Every day is new at Lawpreneurz. From working on new features, to meeting like minded people, to reaching out to new students, to fixing issues that may arise, everyday is a new adventure and that is the beauty of setting up a company. Not knowing how the next day is going to be, that feeling of uncertainty, hands down is the best feeling in the world.
Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?
Lawpreneurz would not have been what it is today had it not been for the team we have. Straight from our faculty members who have been the key as they are the ones who the students learn from. I feel I have been blessed to have met these experts who shared the vision I had and have created such simple yet comprehensive content that is helping law students learn in a much simpler way. All the people in Lawpreneurz, right from the team which handles production, to the team involved with marketing and sales, everyone is passionate about the work they do. None of us are in it only for the money but to make Lawpreneurz a platform that every law student can access and help him/her get one step closer in becoming the game changers of our society. While Lawpreneurz started out as one man’s idea while trying to pass his exams, today it is what it is because of everyone who has supported this dream.
Know a great startup story or want to share your own? Write to us at contact.bangaloreinsider@gmail.com and we will get back to you. For more updates follow Bangalore Insider on Facebook and Instagram.
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