Conversations with Mamta Kumari & Aditya Verma, Co-Founders, Prepbytes

What do you do when you’re not at work? 

M: When I’m not at work, I like to paint 

A: I am a big foodie, and I like to spend time cooking when I’m taking a break from work 

What is unique about your business? 

M&A: We understand our target audience really well, and in this domain, one size does not fit all. This understanding has given us the ability to personalise our offering to each student’s needs and even mentor them and help them land jobs.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

M&A: Entrepreneurs are passionate people. They expect results for the work they put in. Unfortunately, results do not come overnight. It’s important to talk to as many people as possible and get an objective sounding board for your thoughts and ideas. This will help keep you motivated through the rough patches and in the game for longer. 

How do you define success?

M&A: Success is not an isolated definition. It is the function of many small achievements that come through trying to achieve a goal. It is about realising dreams, no matter what they may be. For some, it may be traction numbers for their startup, while it may be something far more internal focused for others.

What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?

M&A: Entrepreneurship changes a person. The constant learning that comes from solving problems every day makes you believe you have the power to make a change. Moreover, as entrepreneurs, we have the chance to try new things and be more experimental in our approach at work compared to a large behemoth organisation that is set in its ways.

What is your favourite book?

M: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

A: Productivity Superhero by Dan Luca

If you had the chance to start your career again, what would you do differently?

M&A: Started Prepbytes much earlier. 

Where do you see yourself and your business in the next 5-10 years? 

M&A: We want to make Prepbytes the best personalised coding platform globally. To do this, we plan on working with tier 2/3 educational institutions and aim to bring them up to the level of tier 1 colleges and help India churn out the best software engineers in the world.

How has COVID impacted your business? How did you deal with it?

M&A: COVID, thankfully, did not impact our business model since we were always subscribed to the online delivery framework. Internally, our team faced some challenges with remote work, but we were able to nip it in the bud and come out stronger through the crisis.

Share a story/experience about the impact of Prepbytes that brought a smile to your face.

M&A: There are many such stories, but one sticks out more than others. We had a student who enrolled in our course three months before her placements were about to begin during our early days. She was very anxious and succumbed to pressure, giving up on coding every other day. We had to work with her, motivate her and help her through the rough patches. At the end of it all, she got a job at Microsoft! We were even invited to a workshop at her college, with faculty and 200 people present there. She stood up and advocated for us in front of the audience. This was very special and heartwarming for us.