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Gagan Biyani
Professional based in Oakland
Gagan Biyani is the co-founder and CEO of Maven, a platform specializing in cohort-based learning. He has a notable background in the education technology sector, having previously co-founded Udemy, one of the largest online learning platforms, and Sprig, a food delivery service.
Early Life and Education
Biyani grew up in an environment that emphasized education, which fostered his lifelong passion for learning. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied from 2005 to 2008.
Career Highlights
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Maven: Founded in September 2020, Maven focuses on providing live online courses that emphasize community and interactive learning experiences. The platform aims to empower experts to teach directly to their audiences, promoting a more engaging learning environment compared to traditional online courses.34
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Udemy: Biyani co-founded Udemy in 2009, which has grown to become a significant player in the online education space, eventually going public in 2021.56
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Sprig: He served as CEO of Sprig from 2013 until its closure in 2017. This venture was centered on delivering fresh meals to consumers.35
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Growth Advisor for Lyft: Biyani also contributed to Lyft as an advisor, helping to launch the service in new markets.3
Personal Insights and Philosophy
Biyani describes himself as a global citizen, having spent three years living nomadically across various continents, which has influenced his perspective on education and entrepreneurship. He emphasizes the importance of active learning and community in educational settings, which reflects in Maven's approach to cohort-based courses.124
Current Focus
Currently, Biyani is dedicated to scaling Maven and realizing his vision of creating a transformative educational platform that rivals traditional universities in terms of accessibility and quality of learning.26
Highlights
A timeline takeover promoting a fellowship to teach you how to do it yourself.
Genius. 😆
The dirty little secret of edtech: the biggest names don’t actually care if you learn anything.
As co-founder of Udemy, it is something I reckon with every day…
Duolingo - edtech’s only decacorn, worth $14B. Brilliant app, addictive product, and great for motivation. But let’s be honest: most users can’t hold a basic conversation in their chosen language. It’s a game, not an education.
Masterclass - it’s called “edutainment” for a reason. Great brand and team. But not useful for serious learning.
Udemy/Coursera opened access to millions, but video courses have a fatal flaw: they only work for the most motivated. 4-10% completion rates! I still get DMs about their positive impact, but still average person doesn’t view them as mainstream solutions to education.
Kajabi/Teachable nailed creator monetization. But many (not all) creators don’t prioritize outcomes — just sales. Too many $5,000 “get rich quick” courses with spammy marketing. There are gems, of course, but still not enough quality for mainstream acceptance.
Then there’s University of Phoenix, the worst offender. It proved you could tap federal student loans, deliver poor outcomes, and keep billions in revenue.
Ironically, the best education models — coding bootcamps like App Academy, BloomTech, General Assembly, Galvanize — actually drove real outcomes. But they didn’t quite reach scale. In large part due to unfair (and immoral, imho) practices by the higher education cartel.
Here’s the thing: everyone in this space starts with good intentions.
I know the teams at Duolingo, Udemy, and others. They care. But the incentives of Edtech 1.0 pushed everyone toward engagement and monetization instead of real learning.
Public investors eventually caught on. Consumer growth stalled, B2B slowed, and valuations dropped. Coursera/Udemy are each ~$700M (!!) in annual revenue, but trade at 1.5-2.5x multiples (!!). It is a hard time in edtech.
We need Edtech 2.0.
The next generation needs to deliver real learning outcomes AND high engagement.
There’s a number of companies trying - of course I believe Maven is one of them.
To build multiple $10B+ companies in education, we need to care deeply about whether people actually learn. American competitiveness is literally reliant on rebuilding our education system.
AI is about to trigger the largest upskilling need in modern history. The opportunity is massive — and this time, we can get it right.
It may not seem like it, but I’m optimistic. Out from the ashes of Edtech 1.0 will rise Edtech 2.0. The new generation is going to deliver value, and make people believe again.
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Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
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