Let’s trace the success story of Alakh Pandey (Physics Wallah). In his inspirational journey, he has fashioned careers and transformed teaching-learning into something interesting.
“Zindagi Me Harna Buri Baat Nahi Hai, Buri Baat Hai Apni Haar Se Na Seekhna!”
The famous Indian YouTuber and Physics teacher Alakh Pandey, the founder of Physics Wallah (PW) once famously said,
He started a YouTube channel, Physics Wallah, back in 2014 to make physics easy for students. Their passion for teaching has made it possible to turn a YouTube channel into the 101st Unicorn of India. If you are curious about the inspiring success story of Alakh Pandey, continue reading this article.
The success story of Alakh Pandey (Physics Wallah) is fraught with several highs and lows. It was definitely not easy for him to reach this height. As the saying goes, good things take time, and the same was true for him. However, Pandey did not back off despite several obstacles. His strong passion and consistent efforts are why Physics Wallah became India’s 101st Unicorn.
This blog will discuss the motivational and inspiring success story of Alakh Pandey (Physics Wallah). But before that, let us dive into his background.
Alakh Pandey (Physics Wallah) – The Inspiring Success Story
- Full Name: Alakh Pandey
- Date of Birth: 2 October 1991
- Father Name: Mr. Shatish Pandey
- Mother Name: Mrs. Rajat Pandey
- Wife Name: Mrs. Shuvani Dubey
- Famous As: Physics Wallah (YouTuber)
- Birthplace: Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India
- Hometown: Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India
- Nationality: Indian
- Religion: Hindu
- Started a YouTube Channel: 2014
Alakh Pandey’s (Physics Wallah) Career Chart Table
Career Stage |
Activities |
| Early Education |
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| Higher Education |
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| Teaching and YouTube |
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| Channel | The channel features:
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| Physics Wallah App |
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| Physics Wallah Foundation |
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| Social Media Presence | |
| Recognition and Awards |
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| Future Prospects |
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Alakh Pandey: Background
The founder and CEO of Physics Wallah, Alakh Pandey, was born and raised in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh. Hailing from a poor background, he had hardships as a teenager. He completed their schooling at Bishop Johnson School and College.
Stage play and drama always fascinated Pandey. He participated in numerous productions. As a child, he dreamt of being an actor.
Initially, Pandey wasn’t interested in tutoring, but the dire financial situation compelled him to. While Pandey was in 10th grade, he rode a bicycle 5 kilometers away to take tuition and make Rs 200. Right from school, he started tutoring younger students and helping his family earn daily wages.
Students’ parents offered the greatest accolades for Pandey’s teaching talents. His teaching style and interaction with students made him stand out from other tutors. Eventually, he became interested in teaching and discovered himself as an effective teacher.
After high school, Pandey dreamt of getting admission to IIT. However, things could not work as expected, and he did not crack the entrance exam.
Then Pandey chose to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at an institute in Kanpur but dropped out after three years. Later, he returned to his hometown, Prayagraj, and decided to teach at a coaching center.
Alakh Pandey: Teaching Career at the Coaching Institute of Kanpur
After dropping out of engineering and returning to Parayagraj, Pandey started tutoring in a coaching center, earning Rs. 5000 monthly. Though the earning was minimal, he gained much fame with his teaching style and became a favorite of many. His enthusiasm for teaching is what sparked the growth of his successful company.
Pandey began teaching Physics and Chemistry to 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade students. After working for four years, he realized that many students could not join offline classes for several reasons. This sparked the idea of launching a YouTube channel, which allowed students from different regions to have access to a great learning resource.
With this aim in mind, Pandey launched a YouTube channel in 2014.
Alakh Pandey: Beginning of The YouTube Channel
On January 28, 2014, Alakh Pandey created a YouTube channel named Physics Wallah – Alakh Pandey. His dear students have given him the pen name ‘Physics Wallah’ and continued with the same on YouTube.
Though Pandey created this channel in 2014, he uploaded the first video in 2016. All videos aimed to simplify Physics concepts for 6th to 12th-grade students. Initial years saw a slow pace of events. The channel took off when Pandey left his coaching position to devote all his time to YouTube in 2017.
There was a breakthrough between 2017 and 2019, as the channel gained 2 million subscribers from a mere 4k. Immediately the pandemic hit the world, and the channel began flourishing as online learning was only the option.
Later, Pandey shared several online courses on his YouTube channel, covering broad topics including IIT, JEE mains, JEE advance, NEET, and medical.
Alakh Pandey: Career as a Full-Time YouTuber
Pandey realized that his conventional offline teaching business could only reach a few pupils. Even though he was making a good living from the coaching institute, he decided to leave and devote all of his time to YouTube. At that time, the YouTube channel had only 10,000 subscribers.
Alakh Pandey’s mother and sister supported his decision to leave the coaching center. However, his father was unhappy and thought he could have left the center after growing the YouTube channel. Thankfully, Pandey persuaded his father afterward.
Today, Pandey holds a YouTube Gold Play Button.
Alakh Pandey: Financial Struggles at the Start of His Career
Alakh Pandey could not make a suitable living then, with just 10,000 subscribers and few video views. As a result, he began studying for the UPSC Civil Services Exam.
Further, he kept working on his YouTube channel and received lots of positive student feedback. They requested more videos. Upon overwhelming requests, Pandey uploaded more videos and gained more views and subscribers. He earned his first-ever payment of Rs. 8,000 in 2017.
Creating a Facebook Page
Before working on the YouTube channel, Alakh Pandey created a Facebook page called Physics Wallah in 2015. He made instructive memes, posted queries, held contests, and announced numerous rewards for the victors. However, the Facebook page gained a little traction at that time.
Launch of a Website
Pandey started his own website on April 11th, 2019, to assist students by offering free notes, books, and quizzes. After gaining notoriety, he gave his first interview on the Hindi news program Bharat Samachar.
Various people, coaching organizations, and institutions approached Pandey with hefty salaries but turned them down. His only goal was to make learning resources affordable to students.
Launch of Physics Wallah App
The COVID-19 pandemic snowballed at the beginning of 2020, and the demand for Pandey’s videos increased as learning shifted online. The same year, he launched the Physics Wallah app. Within four days, more than 35,000 students enrolled in the available courses.
All the courses were available at a lower price than more reputable e-learning platforms like Byju’s and Unacademy. Many rivals, like Unacademy, offered hefty pay to recruit Pandey, intending to terminate the competition. He declined those offers and remained committed to providing inexpensive coaching even with a small workforce.
Until 2022, he used the YouTube revenue for company registration, app development, etc. But in June 2022, the company went through series A funding and received $100 million from Westbridge Capital and GSV ventures. This made Physics Wallah a Unicorn, reaching $1.1 billion post-funding.
Physics Wallah – Industry and Mission & Vision
Physics Wallah falls under the Edtech industry, which started with just a YouTube channel. The company’s vision is to provide “education for all, regardless of socio-economic status.” It aims to provide affordable education to students and believes that education has the potential to change everything.
The Physics Wallah app provides more than 90% of the content for free. It includes live classes, video lectures, exercises, test series, lecture-wise notes, and more.
The Recent Wealth of Alakh Pandey
Alakh Pandey’s net worth is approximately Rs 96.8 crore as of 2023. Currently, his YouTube channel has 10.1 million subscribers. Having taught more than 6 million students offline and online with 13,700 YouTube videos, Pandey is known among the best YouTubers today. He became a favorite tutor among high school students preparing for JEE Main and NEET entrance exams.
Physics Wallah has 16 PW Pathshala centers in different Indian cities, including New Delhi, Lucknow, Pune, Kanpur, and Varanasi. Its offline centre PW Vidyapeeth in Kota, Rajasthan, provides coaching for JEE Main and NEET entrance exams.
Alakh Pandey’s Source of Income
Since starting his YouTube channel, Physics Wallah, Alakh Pandey has delivered free physics lessons. The Lakshya Batch was the first he began after the launch of the app Physics Wallah.
For science students, the goal was to offer the entire course for Rs 999. Pandey also started a fast-track class to finish the JEE component in 5 months for Rs 3,500 and a special batch to do the board portions in 4 months for Rs 2000.
Overall, Pandey’s sources of income include the YouTube channel, the Physics Wallah app, and offline coaching centers.
Future Plans
Alakh Pandey aims to establish more offline centers in the country and enhance the online platform by adding more courses. In addition, he wishes to expand the content in 9 vernacular languages, including Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.
Alakh Pandey’s Other YouTube Channels
The following are the four additional YouTube channels:
| JEE Wallah | Visit now |
| Physics Wallah Foundation – 9th & 10th | Visit now |
| NCERT Wallah | Visit now |
| Competition Wallah | Visit now |
Awards and Honors
- Teaching Excellence Award in Feb 2023 (Issued by Entrepreneur India)
- Ed-Tech CEO Of The Year in Jan 2023 (Issued by BW Businessworld)
- Times 40 under 40 in June 2022 (Issued by Times India)
- Rising Edtech Startup of IndiaRising in Nov 2021 (Issued by Zee News)
- exchange4media (Issued by D2CIssued)
Conclusion
This was an inspirational success story of Alakh Pandey (Physics Wallah). Despite going through several hardships, he achieved the goal of establishing an affordable means of education for students. Along with online classes, Pandey has established offline coaching centres providing students with a better offline educational reach.
Alakh Pandey’s distinctive and straightforward study techniques helped him establish himself as a well-known teacher (YouTuber). Due to his immense talent, he has reached the current pinnacle.
Pandey’s lectures are primarily based on NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training). Millions of students across the country watch every single video without skipping a beat.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Physics Wallah?
It is an Indian educational technology company and an e-learning platform providing affordable learning experiences to students of grades 6 to 12 and preparing for JEE Main and NEET entrance exams.
2. Who is Alakh Pandey?
Alakh Pandey is the founder and CEO of Physics Wallah, India’s 101 Unicorn valued at $1.1 billion.
3. Who funded Physics Wallah?
Westbridge Capital and GSV Ventures funded Physics Wallah in a Series A funding.