TalentSprint: Startup that aims to provide youth with dream careers

India is set to become the youngest country in the world by 2020, says data from the United Nations. To tap into the immense potential that holds, the skill sets of the youth need to be polished up to meet the demand that the industry expects. Dr Santanu Paul, through the TalentSprint platform aims to address that and create the means to maximise synergies between Digital India and Skilled India, to put it in context of on-going initiatives by the government. TalentSprint was born out of the need to use technology to create online programs that are accessible by job seekers and exam takers across the country through digital means, including web browsers, mobiles and tablets. The CEO and MD of TalentSprint, Santanu is no stranger to the world of technology. An alumnus of IIT Madras, he completed a Ph.D from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Santanu worked at Virtusa Corporation as Senior Vice President for Global Delivery Operations, and head of Indian Operations. Prior to that, Santanu worked in Boston as Chief Technology Officer of Viveca and Openpages, both venture-backed technology firms. He began his career in New York as a Research Scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Centre. His technical work spans more than 20 international papers and two United States patents. Speaking to Tech2, Santanu says he sees TalentSprint as a youth career acceleration platform. “The youth of this country aspire for high quality skills and exciting career opportunities. We are acutely aware that higher education is failing them, and this is very unfortunate. We have stepped in as an intermediary platform to help our youth realise their dreams and achieve their aspirations. We are on track to enable one million youth by 2020,” he explains. The TalentSprint team comprises of 150 professionals who come from diverse backgrounds. Their business model is consumer focused and they believe the youth is ready to pay for high quality skills and access to exciting career opportunities. “Our strength has been our ability to create a hybrid model that combines consumer funding with digital delivery,” says Santanu. Santanu believes that the future of large-scale youth career acceleration lies in extreme automation. He shares how they invest enthusiastically in digital self-learning tools such as interactive visual content, learning simulators, micro-learning apps, automated mock tests, and massively distributed live classes. Their target segment is in the age group of 20-25 - who are quite content consuming products digitally via web, mobile, and tablets. The company aims to expand and strengthen their digital platform to serve one million youth by 2020. They have decided to achieve this ambitious goal by focusing on just three career segments - information technology, banking and financial services, and education. Talking about the funding Santanu said, “We are funded by Nexus Ventures and NSDC. We have raised 30 crores of capital till date and expect to raise additional funds in the future as and when required.” Santanu believes that the appetite for scale, depth in technology, and the proximity to employers sets them apart from similar offerings. “No other training or skill provider is setting as high a bar as we are in terms of quality and quantity,” says Santanu. He shares that they plan to widen their reach through digital and social marketing. Their word-of-mouth propaganda also leads to high referrals. Santanu highlights that their reach is expanding to semi-urban and rural areas too. “Not so long ago, 60 percent of our consumers were urban. Now 60 percent are non-urban. This suggests the playing field between urban and non-urban youth will soon be leveled and we will enter a phase of equal opportunity for youth irrespective of location or background,” says Santanu signing off on a hopeful note.