Hi, I am Gaurav.

I help driven Founders become world-class CEOs — so their startup ‘gets better, as it gets bigger’ & they don’t burnout. I do this through consulting, courses, writing & speaking. I started 321 Education at age 25 & scaled it over a decade to ~100 employees — impacting ~2000 schools, ~300,000 learners — and raised ₹30+ crores for it.

My journey

Pre 321 Education

From when I was 11/12 years old, I started wondering: “What is the purpose of life & what should I do with mine?”. I struggled to find good answers around me so I started reading. I read philosophy, history, poetry, biographies & anything that I felt might help me answer these questions.

But I didn’t find what I was looking for and my teenage years & early 20s were a difficult period. Post school, I got my engineering degree & started my career as a programmer at Accenture.

Then one day I saw an ad in the newspaper. It was for the first batch of Teach for India Fellowship. I immediately quit my job & joined it, incidentally as the first fellow ever.

The first day is still fresh in my memory. A 100 people, all misfits in the conventional world, all with a burning desire to do something for the country.

That’s when I realised what I had been searching for, for all these years: A sense of purpose for something bigger than me.

For 2 years I taught in low income schools across Mumbai & Pune. This experience completely changed my life trajectory.

321 Education

Immediately after the fellowship, aged 25, I started my own organization: 321 Education

First, we started our own school for children in the Mumbai slums.

Then, we scaled our programs to over 2000 schools, 25,000 educators & 300,000 students.

A 2019 independent evaluation showed: we were improving student learning 3 to 4 times compared to the control group.

Over this period our team grew to ~100 people and I raised ₹ 30+ crores for the organization through donations & revenue.

All this made 321 Education, one of the biggest & most successful education not for profits in India.

Click here for our awards & media coverage.

Post 321 Education

After a decade of leading 321 Education, in 2021, I stepped down as CEO. I am now the board chair of the organization. I work closely with the CEO, Gayatri, in taking the organization even further.

I now spend most of my time on a subject I am very passionate about: Driven Founders scaling their companies & learning to become a CEO.

Often these are 1st time founders and/or people who founded their organization in their 20s or 30s, without a long working career. They are extremely driven & have managed to creating something special out of nothing. But as their startup scales, the weight of everything starts crushing & overwhelming them.

I relate to this group a lot as I started 321 Education at age 25 & had to learn everything about being a CEO and growing the organization on the fly. My hope is to help these founders & CEOs — learn early in their journey — what I learnt late in mine.

I support them by:

• Consulting: help founders & CEOs with their organisational strategy, pitch, product development, impact measurement, leadership & team building.
• Courses & communities: building them for Founders-CEOs & New Leaders.
• Writing: lessons from starting my own firm at age 25 & scaling it over a decade.
• Speaking: regularly give talks on building great teams, running startups & education

If this resonates, let’s talk.

Me beyond work

Geography

I was born in the beautiful city of Lucknow, known for its great food & polite language. My dad died when I was 1 and my single mother brought me up. For her, the only appropriate adjective is: ‘Remarkable’. We lived with my grandparents in a 15+ person joint family. It was a unique experience.

Some Indian cities I have lived in: Solan, Hyderbad, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi & Mumbai. When I was starting 321 Education, I spent a year studying the best schools in the world. Travelled across India and also visited schools in Finland, USA, UK, Estonia, France, Chile, Malaysia & China. I finally settled down in Mumbai 15 years ago. It’s a crazy & unique city that was kind to me. It gave me some of my best friends & many great memories.

Then in the middle of the Covid pandemic I took 3 life altering decisions.

First, I decided to step down as CEO of 321 Education.

Second, I decided to get married.

Third, I decided to move to Goa.

So that’s where I am in life right now. Living in the most beautiful of places, with my amazing wife and embarking on my life’s next phase.

Hobbies

I have always loved everything water, especially water sports. The journey started with swimming (learnt it as a kid). Then I discovered the wonderful world of diving. I got my basic certificate in Andaman, advanced in Malaysia & since then have dived in various places in India, Kenya & Indonesia (Raja Ampat was out of this world). Have even dabbled in surfing but haven’t gone beyond the beginner stage.

But Goa has added a new water sport to my life: Sally ball. It’s an ancient Goan sport that people have rediscovered in the last decade. Think of it as volley ball in 12 feet deep water. Your legs don’t touch the floor & you have to catch & throw the ball with 1 hand. It’s very challenging, an incredible exercise (when I started I used to burn 1200 calories/session), is played in beautiful locations by a mad & super fun crew. I recently played my 1st Sally World championship & our team won! Wrote about the experience here.

Beyond water, Books have been a big part of my life. Childhood was fiction (mainly detective stories) & teenage onwards was only non-fiction. In the last few years I have rediscovered the joy of fiction. Currently I am on a sci-fi binge. Reading a mix of current hits & past classics (please share recommendations).

To watch, I can never get enough of shows & movies about scams. Ever since I watched the Enron documentary in college (Smartest guys in the room) I have had an odd fascination with understanding scams. Its one of the ways I unwind: reading & watching everything I can about the latest & past scams. If you know of any good ones or are planning to commit one, do let me know 😉.

On lazy Sundays, for me, few things can beat board games at a scenic Goan cafe. I love playing competitive ones with friends and co-operative ones with my wife (only way to maintain peace in the realm). I enjoy discovering new ones almost as much as mastering old ones.

Finally in the interest of full disclosure, my weakness is chocolates & ice-creams.

I am embarrassed to admit that ever since I was a young boy I have had almost zero self-control around them. If there is one in front of me, then no matter the size, I will finish it.

So if you meet me, please don’t offer me one. Actually scratch that, life is too short, bring on the sundaes.

My verse

For nearly 30 years, I have been trying to figure out, ‘what is the purpose of my life ?’. Early on, I picked an unconventional path. It took me to unexpected places, brought me novel experiences & connected me with uncommon people. Looking back, I just feel a huge sense of gratitude.

But over the last few years I have started approaching life in a different way. That approach is best captured by this Richard Feynman quote:

So for the next phase in life, my plan is to contribute my verse to this powerful play & have fun along the way.