What It Really Takes to Build a $3 Billion Business — Silicon Valley Girl Podcast

Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini May 13, 2025 36 MIN

About the Guest

Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini

Co-founders, Unacademy

Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini are the co-founders of Unacademy, one of India's largest edtech platforms valued at $3 billion. Roman Saini, a former IAS officer and medical doctor, co-founded the company after gaining a massive following teaching competitive exam content on YouTube. Together, they transformed that grassroots content operation into a venture-backed unicorn with over 100 channels, thousands of educators, and an expanding AI product suite.

In this episode of the Silicon Valley Girl Podcast, Marina Mogilko interviews Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, Co-founders, Unacademy. Marina Mogilko sits down with Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, the co-founders of Unacademy, a $3 billion edtech unicorn that began as a simple YouTube channel. They discuss how they scaled to over 100 channels, launched an AI-powered English learning app challenging Duolingo, and navigated brutal lows including layoffs, panic attacks, and losing $150 million per year while preparing for an IPO. The conversation covers the mental and operational realities of building a billion-dollar startup in the AI era.

Key Takeaways

Unacademy grew from a single YouTube channel to a $3B valuation without spending on paid advertising, generating $2M per year through organic content alone.
Their AI-powered English learning app reached competitive scale against Duolingo within just one year of launch, signaling how quickly AI can disrupt established edtech players.
The company scaled to 100+ YouTube channels with 1,000+ teachers creating content, essentially building a 'Netflix for education' model.
Despite losing $150 million per year at one point, the founders pressed forward with IPO preparations rather than shutting down — a high-stakes bet on long-term viability.
Roman Saini opened up about the personal cost of building at scale, including severe sleep deprivation and panic attacks, and why founders — especially men — rarely talk about these struggles publicly.

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

Transcript not available for this episode.