Want a career boost without a formal MBA? This online B-school, backed by India's biggest start-up gurus, is coming for you

The Stoa School, an online business school that came up in 2020, has roped in founders of more than 15 top start-up founders and initial funding of $1.5 million to scale up and introduce more courses. The list of start-up founders backing them is quite long and includes big names like Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED), Gagan Biyani (Co-Founder, Udemy), Richa Kar (Co-Founder, Zivame), Raveen Sastry (Co-Founder, Myntra) and Phanindra Sama (Co-Founder, RedBus) among others. At present they have a 24-month cohort-based course where industry leaders participate.

The Stoa School claims that the mode of delivery that they are following is the future and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear. "Our course is cohort-based. There are four cohorts of 100 fellows, each aged between 22 to 42 years. Online education for adults is very different. Adults do not learn the same way as children or youngsters," said Co-Founder Aditya Kulkarni. "We have a 24-week course and it is 10 per cent the cost of a traditional MBA — it costs Rs 2.5 lakhs. Our curriculum is revised regularly and is taught by mid to top-level industry experts. We have 24 blocks of courses which is taught each week," he added.

The year 2021 has seen Indian startups raise more than $25 billion across funding rounds and this is the high tide of start-ups, said Raj Kunkolienkar, a Co-Founder of Stoa School. "This infusion of capital has led to a talent crunch and a subsequent spike in salaries across the startup ecosystem. According to the latest reports, while the headcount at startups has gone up by 30 per cent in April-Sept, startups' salary expenses saw a 43 per cent jump. By imparting business professionals with start-up relevant skills and experience, Stoa School is helping them capitalise on India’s fledgling startup ecosystem," said Raj.  “We started Stoa to help people join startups, but saw strong interest in the program and community from senior professionals at MNCs and startups as well. We’re committed to building the best business school on the internet, helping people think beyond traditional two-year MBAs” he added.