How a Ukrainian Startup CodeGym Managed to Enter a New Market During the War

Our company faced enormous challenges when the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine started. But instead of cutting costs, we decided to continue actively expanding. India became one of our top-priority markets, so after research and planning, we went for it. The team is still under a lot of stress: most employees stay in Ukraine and sometimes have to work from bomb shelters, and others are spread across the globe. But expansion is going well, and I’m ready to share some insights and lessons learned.

Choosing the market: the paradise for Java developers

We help people learn Java because we know this profession can be fulfilling and well-paid simultaneously. Over the last ten years, we've gained tremendous experience in working with international students (over 30,000 people from 40 countries have already become our graduates) and entered many markets (the USA, China, and European countries). So, we weren't new to this business.

Nevertheless, India seemed like a big challenge. To name a few reasons, the huge cultural gap between Ukraine and India, and the circumstances in which our employees have to work. After the war started, some people fled the country, and some moved to other regions of Ukraine. It got harder to communicate daily and hold meetings. But we knew the potential of this market and were ready to put extra effort into this idea.

What made India so attractive to us? This country's economy is growing fast, and the share of the young population is pretty high (people between 15 and 29 years old constituted 27,2% in 2021). There are over 658 million Internet users in India, which explains the high demand for online education and the booming growth of IT companies.

India's the world's leader in IT outsourcing, and the demand for programmers here continues to increase. For example, in 2021, India witnessed the launch of 14,000 new startups. With every year, we can expect this number to get bigger, so the competition for skilled employees will get tougher. One of the top hiring websites in India, Naukri.com, offers over 100,000 job openings for IT specialists. And the salaries are appealing: Java developers here can earn up to 2 million rupees per year (the average annual salary in India is 240,000 rupees, according to AmbitionBox.com).

It's only logical that young people want to acquire a profession of a Java developer. But unfortunately, universities can't meet this demand. They aren't flexible enough to change the curriculum as fast as the market requires, and it takes too much time (several years!) to get a degree. On the other hand, online courses can offer up-to-date programs, a lot of practice, and sometimes even help with a job search.

That's why EdTech has been flourishing in India in the last few years. This market is expected to reach $10.4 billion by 2025, with 37 million paid users. Seven among 36 EdTech unicorns in the world are Indian. Moreover, the biggest EdTech unicorn is also Indian – it’s ByJu’s with a market value of $22 billion.

Some segments of the EdTech market in India are more competitive than others. For example, K-12 is quite filled compared to additional professional education. It's not a blue ocean for us, but also not a red ocean. In our segment, we see big and small companies, but the "market pie" isn't sliced yet, and the leaderboard isn't final. And what's more important, no Java learning platforms offer such a high-quality product as we do. With these considerations in mind, we decided to start our journey.

Research and preparation: better thorough than sorry

Having an idea is one thing, and transforming it into a business plan is the other. That’s why we decided to enter the Indian market only after detailed research. How did we conduct it?

First, we examined every study we could find on the Indian EdTech market, its potential, and our soon-to-be competitors. We analyzed the information, shared our conclusions with team members, and discussed our findings.

Second, we had multiple meetings with market experts. We reached out to some representatives of Indian EdTech companies and asked them questions to get a better perspective on the local market.

Third, we couldn’t proceed without talking to potential customers. So, we interviewed Indian clients of our main product – a self-paced online Java course. Also, we surveyed them. We already had several hundred users, and it was beneficial to ask for their feedback.

Moreover, we talked to Indian employers and browsed local job search websites. We wanted to understand if the requirements for Java developers differ in India compared to other countries.

Our team made everything possible – and impossible – to gather as much information as we needed. And we did it under air raid sirens which are pretty common in Ukraine, and from bomb shelters. Our employees adjusted even to these circumstances. Some of them had to catch the Internet connection to work. But their motivation remained strong despite the high level of stress and discomfort.

Eventually, this stage gave us tons of valuable insights. For example, we discovered that the main thing our potential Indian students desired was employment. It’s not enough for them to gain Java knowledge or improve their coding skills. They want to get a job offer after they complete the course. And it’s the main reason Indian customers aren’t satisfied with existing courses. Most of them last just a few months, and finding a job is impossible after such a brief study.

Also, we came to another conclusion: we really can deliver what the target audience needs. As our surveys say, 95% of our graduates find their first job within three months after completing the course. We were sure that in 12 months, we could train Java developers who were able to get job offers immediately.

The first hypothesis, first results…

Our research helped us create the first hypothesis, i.e., if we offer potential students a job guarantee, they will gladly choose us and be willing to pay for the first month or the entire course at once. To test it, we did several steps:

• Talked to employers to identify their needs and reach preliminary agreements to hire our graduates. Surprisingly, some companies wanted to start hiring our graduates immediately! It proved our point that the demand for Java developers in India is huge, and our reputation is substantial and works for us.
• Tailored the existing product (self-paced course) for the Indian market. CodeGym Java University is a 12-month course with mentors and a job offer guarantee at the end. It combines all the benefits of our online course (gamification, lots of practice, automatic verification of tasks completed, etc.) with a guided approach (live lectures and mentors’ help).
• Created a landing page for CodeGym Java University and started holding free online events about IT in general, Java, and our offer. We invited local speakers to gain more trust from the audience. Over 1,500 people visited our online events, and about 100 filled out applications for our course.

As a result, we had our first group of students in a month. They are studying now, and so far, they are satisfied with what they get. So, our first hypothesis worked, and we moved to the next challenge – growing and scaling.

… and first complications

Not everything was going as smoothly as we had hoped. The first problem became evident when the sales started. We had a sales team, but it wasn't local. Our employees live in different countries and mostly use Western approaches to communicate with potential clients. For example, go straight to business, discuss the offer, and close the deal quickly. In India, on the other hand, people prefer an entirely different approach. To close the deal here, you must establish personal communication first and talk about family, relatives, life, etc. Only then can you start discussing your offer.

Also, we discovered that the trust issue was crucial. If a potential client hears an unfamiliar accent, they immediately understand that there's a foreigner on the other end and start asking questions. The USA or European experience isn't relevant here. Therefore, potential customers may doubt your expertise.

And, of course, we didn't know much about the cultural differences between Indian states. For instance, there are many local holidays, different for different states. And selling something on these dates is pointless.

All these things created barriers to communication. As soon as we understood that, we decided to hire a local team. Now, we already have four sales managers in India, several career consultants, and Java mentors. They help us understand the cultural features, comprehend the needs of our target audience, and process applications more efficiently.

Our mentors are professional Java developers who work for companies like SalesForce, Walmart Tech, and Microsoft. We also trained them to use our teaching methods, and now they combine understanding the local culture with CodeGym's DNA.

Typically, we realize the need for a particular employee first and then start looking for them. But sometimes, we find an interesting person for a position we don't have yet. If this person can make us stronger, and we can afford them, we go for it. For example, that's how Shubham Dumbre joined our team. He's an IT entrepreneur, an author, and a speaker with immense expertise in EdTech companies. He helps us to hold our open events and communicate with potential students.

Another complication was out of our control. Russians started bombing the civil infrastructure with missiles and drones, and electricity became a luxury. Blackouts can last for several hours, even days (and we can’t complain because, in some regions, people live without electricity for months). Again, we had to adjust. We’ve bought equipment (power generators, power banks, WiFi routers that can work without electricity, etc.) and learned to keep all the devices charged. And we continue working.

Getting closer to success, iteration by iteration

As I've said before, scaling is our next big challenge. To keep the process going and fix all the problems as soon as they appear, we conduct special meetings. Every week (usually on Friday), we get together with the "Indian" team and discuss the previous week's results. We've divided the entire project into funnel stages to discuss each part's success separately. For example:

• Awareness and advertising. What experiments did we conduct last week? What else did we do? What results did we get?
• Our free webinars. How did the chatbots, emails, and SMS messages work? What was the attendance of the webinar? What questions did people ask there? What do the statistics about each webinar say? During these meetings, we analyze how the audience's interest changes and what data show.
• The sales process. What insights did we get from our leads and sales managers? What are the sales metrics? Who among the sales managers was the most efficient?
• The learning process. How are students of current groups learning? What's their performance? How many tasks per week did they solve on our platform? What feedback did students give to mentors? And what feedback did mentors give to students?

In wartime, not every employee can attend a meeting, and it's not their fault. To keep everyone on the same page, we take notes and share them with people who couldn't participate in a discussion. Our internal communications have become somewhat asynchronous, but it doesn't affect our results.

The last months were challenging for us, but also, they taught us many valuable lessons. For example, we should always be prepared for anything, both on personal and company levels. We are much stronger than we thought. People really are our main asset (that's why we've kept the whole team and are proud of this decision).

Sure, there will inevitably be other challenges as we continue to pursue our "Indian dream.” But we stay together and stay true to our mission – teach people Java and give them an in-demand profession. In this uncertain world, all we can count on is ourselves.

By Alex Yelenevych, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer at CodeGym.cc, a platform for learning Java

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