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Below is our recent interview with Siddharth Ambardekar, CEO and Viraj Phanse, product management, business development and go-to-market advisor at Bhashas:
Q: Viraj, could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Bhashas?
A: Bhashas is one of the world’s first cloud and mobile based language training and learning platform/product that connects tutors to students via one-on-one live video based sessions. It is a quasi-marketplace that is disrupting the education industry with a technology product that provides a seamless experience and flexibility for both- the tutors and the students. It has a portfolio of certified online language training courses for global languages like English, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and German. At the end of each course, there is a formal assessment and feedback session so that students can make the most of it.
Q: How are you involved with Bhashas and what is your role?
A: I am passionate about designing and building products and applications that solve real-world problems and taking them to market. I am a product management, business development and go-to-market advisor at Bhashas. I have been involved with Sid as an expert advisor right from conceptualizing to developing this amazing platform/product. I am an early investor in this company and currently guiding and mentoring Sid on business development, product roadmap, product management and development, and taking it to market. Leveraging my experience in marketplaces, data & analytics and software industry, I am helping him build this innovative product.
Recommended: Q: Sid, let’s learn about your background. What were you doing before Bhashas?
A: I am an actor at heart and an entrepreneur by profession! I managed operations at a startup called Arts Gurukul, an online platform for connecting budding actors with film industry stalwarts. Prior to that, I was a software engineer at a global digital transformation services provider Persistent Systems and have done my B.Eng. in Computer Engineering in India. A fun fact- I have acted in two regional Indian films and in Seagram’s advertisement.
Q: How did you come up with the concept of Bhashas?
A: Bhashas is something that I have been thinking about for quite some time. As an actor, I was once offered a role in a film that required me to learn an Indian language called Telugu. In spite of trying hard, I did not find a tutor who would teach him based on my schedule. This tipping point was the genesis of Bhashas.
Q: What is your vision for Bhashas?
A: I envision to be part of a world wherein everyone appreciates global diversity and embraces a global culture. With AI (artificial intelligence) advancing at a pace never seen before, creativity and communication are some of the few skills that machines will find hard to emulate. Languages have an important role to play here. Through Bhashas I want to give people an opportunity to enhance their communication and problem-solving skills, basically become smarter and take advantage of global opportunities right from being an exchange student at a foreign university to working as part of a culturally diverse team.
Q: Viraj, how are you involved with Bhashas and what is your role?
A: The biggest advantage is that students will get undivided and dedicated attention from experienced teachers. It provides the flexibility to learn and teach from wherever one wants at convenience. Tired students who miss classes, fatigued teachers who lose interest in teaching, pressure on parents who drop their kids, and IT professionals who want to reach evening classes on time after work is a common sight due to traffic congestion at busy hours in most parts of the world. With Bhashas, all these problems are solved. Further, it helps students develop confidence and master the languages that they are learning through a proprietary effective learning methodology and no longer worry about asking questions or about pronouncing the words correctly.
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Q: How hard is it to learn foreign language with live video courses?
A: It was very challenging few years back due to crappy internet bandwidth. But with 4G and soon 5G network it is now easy to learn anything with live video. Having said that, even today it might be a bit challenging to learn some languages like Japanese or Arabic that rely heavily on writing.
Q: What can we expect from Bhashas in the future?
A: Sid and team is working on some interesting partnerships with international language institutions and will soon launch Bhashas on iOS.
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