March 9, 2024 • 14 mins
Nishant Malhotra interviews Dr. Sathyeshwar Subbakrishna, Principal of Jyothy Institute of Commerce and Management. The Middle Road briefly interacted with the institute for the paid inaugural roll-out of the corporate subscription package. The interview follows the "Jobs to Be Done" methodology and uncovers the utility desired by the academic institute. In this thrilling conversation, Dr. Sathyeshwar shares his experience with Middle Road, an online educational platform. As the Principal of the Institute of Commerce and Management, he discusses how his institution integrates Middle Road to better align with its educational objectives and ultimate aspirations. The conversation reveals how Middle Road, with its targeted course offering, meets the unique needs of commerce and management students, providing the much-needed solution to enhance their learning capabilities.
Examining the pedagogical gap experienced by students in accessing online platforms, the conversation underscores the potential of Middle Road in delivering specialized, affordable, and high-value courses. A major highlight is the discussion around students' career progression and Middle Road's potential role as a 'finishing school'- bridging the gap between academic learning and practical job-sensitive skills.
Dr. Sathyeshwar's frank, insightful perspective showcases the effectiveness of Middle Road not just as an online course platform, but a significant partner in revolutionizing commerce and management education. Tune into this inspiring conversation to explore the intersection of commerce and education, and the transformative role of digital learning platforms like Middle Road.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Thanks a lot, Dr. Sathesha, for joining. Thank you for your feedback.
This is Jobs to be Done framework.
I just wanted to know that if it could be used for a podcast or a video,
is it fine sometime later on? Are you okay?
Are you comfortable with that?
Well, Namaste, Shant. Thank you for this. Yes, definitely you can.
(00:21):
Okay, thank you. So it will depend at a later date whenever I use it,
you know, as a sort of an educational purpose also for how to conduct the interview.
Now, first, let me start, you know, thank you. You signed a memorandum of understanding.
Actually, I signed on behalf of my startup, the Middle Road,
Middle Road OPC Private Limited for subscription basis.
(00:43):
I will just walk you through the process. So, the whole idea of the interview
is to understand the aspirations as you as the principal of the Institute of
Commerce and Management.
What exactly is your ultimate aspiration from, you know, by purchasing the product or service?
It's more to do, it's not to do with any product or service,
(01:06):
but it's more to do with your ultimately aspirations.
Let's start first. First, when did the first thought of, you know,
going into a sort of using the middle road services come?
Because I've been with you for a very long period of time.
What did that first passive thought came?
Okay, let's go ahead. Or you found the middle road to be a sort of a need for
(01:29):
any solution or for to any problem which you have?
Well to be very precise i found
middle road is one such platform which is
not you know offering too many courses but exactly
targeting the need and requirements of a commerce and a management student especially
when i say the learning aspect you know you have other multiple online courses
(01:52):
platforms which offers you know various courses but you know there are too much
of courses courses to choose from.
You know, people, rather students are left spoiled for choices.
So now that, you know, the kind of mindset what these students have,
and especially they are brought up in such kind of a situation where they have
(02:14):
been told to pick up from, say, three to four choices.
So when this being the offering, it would be easy for them to give a kind of
a course or rather pick up such
a kind of a course it would be of their interest which would be probably.
You know, in line with their syllabus and learning, which can enhance their
(02:37):
learning capabilities and understand the conceptual clarities with regards to a particular concept.
See, these things I found very, very influential when I was going through the
the middle road platform and the videos, what you had shared and the testimonials
given by various experts.
Experts and of course I saw myself these courses would definitely serve the
(03:01):
purpose and that is when we decided that you know we will give a try.
I mean there are more than three to four courses on the middle road and of course
there's a lot of publications a lot of other offerings.
I wanted to also ask you you know I
also gave a demo did that make a
difference did that help you your active decision making
(03:21):
from passive to active would that have
happened yes uh definitely you
know the some very important courses like the
economics thing and the statistic statistics thing the investment thing these
are all the ones which actually of my liking and the students interests also
because you know we come from commerce and management background and they are
(03:44):
all from finance marketing hr economic statistics background they are the ones which actually.
Made my thinking from passive to active and we started to get to go and we are
here today thank you the member and i mean this is about like about a couple of months back.
(04:05):
Yes, two months back is what we have, you know, the MOU. And at that point of
time, I was, you know, also calling you up.
I was, you know, so would you associate something extraordinary on that day
or something which made, nudged you to make that decision?
Or was it like, as I recall, it was during the daytime is when I sent you the
(04:28):
memorandum of understanding of the MOU form.
Anything which you would remember on that day, anything which you think could
be associated the day was good and you know we wanted to go on that particular
day and found that you know that we have so much of time left for the semester
to end so that you know students can start using this particular platform effectively.
(04:51):
And that was the you know only intention otherwise you
know otherwise we were good to go and the timing was good
actually in the sense like we had say three months
since we have to wind up the semester
we are literally winding up in the month of
between also i had come and visited bangalore you think that
had an effect that helped you in terms
(05:12):
of decision making and ultimately the sort
of specialized package which i gave yeah definitely
i mean your visit was you know very important one because
we got to know you in person and all this while
you know we were you know conversing on the e-platforms
and things like that and once you came and met
us discussed in length that probably you
(05:35):
know maybe doubled up our aspirations to take up
the middle road and go ahead with designing formalities i'll
also again continue here i want you to
know did you try any of those solutions before i go to the solution you know
we are at a demo also do you try out any other solutions which you thought might
help you immediately with the problem which you are looking solutions like you
(05:59):
know we were seeking uh maybe you know two or three three more vendors.
And incidentally, you know, we found Middle Road would give us the best solution
in terms of the courses, what we wanted, or rather, you know, students wanted.
So that's it. One of the things which I also wanted to know that there's a time
(06:21):
you first thought that you needed a solution. What made you think about it?
What was the sort of, did you see a gap analysis?
Analysis how did you come to know or that
you needed a solution for your university or
for your academic institute see see these
students are not exposed to these kind
of online platforms especially certification courses
(06:45):
these are all the ones which definitely you know help them in their career as
such and we are confident about it but when we started to see the knowledge
of the student in terms of accessing various other platforms it was absolutely not encouraging,
that is when we decided that you know yes we have to give something to the students
(07:07):
fraternity so that you know they would come out better and they would be ready for the job market,
and probably equip themselves with that kind
of domain knowledge and if not in detail you know At least the nuances should
definitely help them to get an entry into the job market and they should stand
(07:29):
probably better in terms of seeking jobs and definitely they will shine better.
This is the sole idea of having this middle road.
Understand, you know, I reached out to you through a referral about the middle road.
So when you tried the middle road as a demo, what was it feeling? Did you find...
(07:53):
I started to log into a particular course and found it very interesting in terms
of the learning capabilities in bits and pieces and immediately a test which need to be taken.
These are all important things, you know, which will probably enhance our learning
and probably upgrade ourselves.
(08:14):
Cells and i found it at my level very
very interesting and i thought you know students
would definitely benefit from this and once we
were ready for the trial versions and once we probably completed the trial versions
we were convinced would you rank any other factor which made you decision to
(08:37):
make you make your decision rank any other factors as i said you in the beginning,
see there were not too many you know the choice was limited,
and that is what I believe in actually you know you need not have to have too
many things in the platter you just need to have that particular thing which
would definitely help you in your career you know progression.
(09:01):
That's it okay or maybe also the price factor
affordability the way it is oh definitely definitely pricing
factor is another important thing you know definitely it
comes very economical you know the cost is
very very you know probably rock bottom you're so
you know generous to offer us such a very
valid course with such a less pricing and of
(09:23):
course yes you know we wanted to give it to the entire second year
and third year students of ug programs so we
found pricing factor also very very important and
it does price that a very lesser not denominations
yeah that's the promo pricing which
is right now going on and now want to understand now you
use the product of course and it'll be rolled off well but
(09:47):
are your aspirations on the using the middle
road what ultimately you feel is you would
like to be your final aspiration what you're
looking for in the solution from the middle road see
few things you know let me put it across this way the
first and foremost i would want my students to probably
understand the platform better and
(10:11):
leverage on the learning which happens on this
particular platform because i am very sure once they go through these particular.
Courses offered by middle road i'm very confident that they would definitely
go to the next level of learning and also it would help them in their career prospects.
(10:33):
This is one important thing the second important thing is you know as an institution
there is a satisfaction that you know we have given some good online course
to the students fraternity,
and as you are aware ours is a very economically priced institution like your
product though the offering is of high level,
(10:56):
Our parents, our stakeholders comes at a very lesser economical backgrounds.
We give them, accommodate them, all of them. And as an institution,
Jyoti group is for serving the society at large.
And as our vision and mission is also to make the education system free in next.
(11:23):
Say, 10 years down the line.
If earlier it is welcome
but we are in sync with this thought
process these are all the ones which probably envisioned
thoughts which we actually found
you know very important yeah sure
the middle road of course is a for-profit my ultimately
(11:45):
aim is to make money from the vote initially of
course it still remains highly whenever the pricing is
reset it's priced affordably no doubt for the value which
it gives as you progress of would you.
Feel that maybe career progression also of
your students could be a part of offering from the middle
road that you know they're upskilling a
(12:08):
knowledge building and how it's going to be applied in jobs could
help a lot yeah why not why not you know see
career progression is always there and we
have offered the platform to the second year and
third year students maybe third year students would
be be the immediate beneficiaries of this career progression from middle
road maybe your expertise in the job market in
(12:29):
career planning maybe this could act as
a finishing school you know that is what my belief is
had anything anything which i could have missed
out so you would definitely you are really
in terms of let's say as a as a part of
the solution when you wanted to enhance the learning
of the students you found the middle road to be a very apt
(12:49):
and a very appropriate platform a lot of courses within
the within the within the gamut of the mission.
Of the middle road and you feel that that's highly
recommended in terms of know as students
in undergrad and postgrad so have you also offered
it you have a small post grad students also right which we
have post graduation course in
(13:12):
commerce they are all for the
vacation after the examination once they they are back and that
is also there you know would you like to you know speak anything would
you like to share anything else i really appreciate you taking time
speaking with me just gives very good understanding you
know this whole idea is to understand the customers better this case this is
(13:32):
in b2b space and i have it gives him a critical idea of how the middle road
is perceived what is the aspirations of the customers and what sort of job they
want when they are using from the middle road as a platform.
Yes, I really appreciate you as a sole proprietor,
(13:52):
As a solo founder, yeah, solo founder. It's an OBC Private Limited company.
Yeah, so you take a lot of interest and you do a lot of follow-ups.
See, that is what is very important, actually. Probably, for me, it is one of its kind.
But at the same time, regular follow-up, especially to conduct the demos classes.
(14:16):
And you have also promised to probably hold seminars online.
Online and whenever you are in Bangalore you have told that you will be in person,
and these are all things you know which is you know committed for the cause
and I'm very sure long way to go but at the same time these are all the small
you know tiny steps which will definitely make you know the journey memorable.
(14:41):
Thank you I really appreciate you taking time time and speaking with me and
I keep in touch I I think I'll have the notes also then I wanted to have a more
of a behavioral interview and I think this came out pretty good pleasure talking to you.
Thanks a lot, Dr. Sathesha, for joining. Thank you for your feedback.
This is Jobs to be Done framework.
I just wanted to know that if it could be used for a podcast or a video,
is it fine sometime later on? Are you okay?
Are you comfortable with that?
Well, Namaste, Shant. Thank you for this. Yes, definitely you can.
(00:21):
Okay, thank you. So it will depend at a later date whenever I use it,
you know, as a sort of an educational purpose also for how to conduct the interview.
Now, first, let me start, you know, thank you. You signed a memorandum of understanding.
Actually, I signed on behalf of my startup, the Middle Road,
Middle Road OPC Private Limited for subscription basis.
(00:43):
I will just walk you through the process. So, the whole idea of the interview
is to understand the aspirations as you as the principal of the Institute of
Commerce and Management.
What exactly is your ultimate aspiration from, you know, by purchasing the product or service?
It's more to do, it's not to do with any product or service,
(01:06):
but it's more to do with your ultimately aspirations.
Let's start first. First, when did the first thought of, you know,
going into a sort of using the middle road services come?
Because I've been with you for a very long period of time.
What did that first passive thought came?
Okay, let's go ahead. Or you found the middle road to be a sort of a need for
(01:29):
any solution or for to any problem which you have?
Well to be very precise i found
middle road is one such platform which is
not you know offering too many courses but exactly
targeting the need and requirements of a commerce and a management student especially
when i say the learning aspect you know you have other multiple online courses
(01:52):
platforms which offers you know various courses but you know there are too much
of courses courses to choose from.
You know, people, rather students are left spoiled for choices.
So now that, you know, the kind of mindset what these students have,
and especially they are brought up in such kind of a situation where they have
(02:14):
been told to pick up from, say, three to four choices.
So when this being the offering, it would be easy for them to give a kind of
a course or rather pick up such
a kind of a course it would be of their interest which would be probably.
You know, in line with their syllabus and learning, which can enhance their
(02:37):
learning capabilities and understand the conceptual clarities with regards to a particular concept.
See, these things I found very, very influential when I was going through the
the middle road platform and the videos, what you had shared and the testimonials
given by various experts.
Experts and of course I saw myself these courses would definitely serve the
(03:01):
purpose and that is when we decided that you know we will give a try.
I mean there are more than three to four courses on the middle road and of course
there's a lot of publications a lot of other offerings.
I wanted to also ask you you know I
also gave a demo did that make a
difference did that help you your active decision making
(03:21):
from passive to active would that have
happened yes uh definitely you
know the some very important courses like the
economics thing and the statistic statistics thing the investment thing these
are all the ones which actually of my liking and the students interests also
because you know we come from commerce and management background and they are
(03:44):
all from finance marketing hr economic statistics background they are the ones which actually.
Made my thinking from passive to active and we started to get to go and we are
here today thank you the member and i mean this is about like about a couple of months back.
(04:05):
Yes, two months back is what we have, you know, the MOU. And at that point of
time, I was, you know, also calling you up.
I was, you know, so would you associate something extraordinary on that day
or something which made, nudged you to make that decision?
Or was it like, as I recall, it was during the daytime is when I sent you the
(04:28):
memorandum of understanding of the MOU form.
Anything which you would remember on that day, anything which you think could
be associated the day was good and you know we wanted to go on that particular
day and found that you know that we have so much of time left for the semester
to end so that you know students can start using this particular platform effectively.
(04:51):
And that was the you know only intention otherwise you
know otherwise we were good to go and the timing was good
actually in the sense like we had say three months
since we have to wind up the semester
we are literally winding up in the month of
between also i had come and visited bangalore you think that
had an effect that helped you in terms
(05:12):
of decision making and ultimately the sort
of specialized package which i gave yeah definitely
i mean your visit was you know very important one because
we got to know you in person and all this while
you know we were you know conversing on the e-platforms
and things like that and once you came and met
us discussed in length that probably you
(05:35):
know maybe doubled up our aspirations to take up
the middle road and go ahead with designing formalities i'll
also again continue here i want you to
know did you try any of those solutions before i go to the solution you know
we are at a demo also do you try out any other solutions which you thought might
help you immediately with the problem which you are looking solutions like you
(05:59):
know we were seeking uh maybe you know two or three three more vendors.
And incidentally, you know, we found Middle Road would give us the best solution
in terms of the courses, what we wanted, or rather, you know, students wanted.
So that's it. One of the things which I also wanted to know that there's a time
(06:21):
you first thought that you needed a solution. What made you think about it?
What was the sort of, did you see a gap analysis?
Analysis how did you come to know or that
you needed a solution for your university or
for your academic institute see see these
students are not exposed to these kind
of online platforms especially certification courses
(06:45):
these are all the ones which definitely you know help them in their career as
such and we are confident about it but when we started to see the knowledge
of the student in terms of accessing various other platforms it was absolutely not encouraging,
that is when we decided that you know yes we have to give something to the students
(07:07):
fraternity so that you know they would come out better and they would be ready for the job market,
and probably equip themselves with that kind
of domain knowledge and if not in detail you know At least the nuances should
definitely help them to get an entry into the job market and they should stand
(07:29):
probably better in terms of seeking jobs and definitely they will shine better.
This is the sole idea of having this middle road.
Understand, you know, I reached out to you through a referral about the middle road.
So when you tried the middle road as a demo, what was it feeling? Did you find...
(07:53):
I started to log into a particular course and found it very interesting in terms
of the learning capabilities in bits and pieces and immediately a test which need to be taken.
These are all important things, you know, which will probably enhance our learning
and probably upgrade ourselves.
(08:14):
Cells and i found it at my level very
very interesting and i thought you know students
would definitely benefit from this and once we
were ready for the trial versions and once we probably completed the trial versions
we were convinced would you rank any other factor which made you decision to
(08:37):
make you make your decision rank any other factors as i said you in the beginning,
see there were not too many you know the choice was limited,
and that is what I believe in actually you know you need not have to have too
many things in the platter you just need to have that particular thing which
would definitely help you in your career you know progression.
(09:01):
That's it okay or maybe also the price factor
affordability the way it is oh definitely definitely pricing
factor is another important thing you know definitely it
comes very economical you know the cost is
very very you know probably rock bottom you're so
you know generous to offer us such a very
valid course with such a less pricing and of
(09:23):
course yes you know we wanted to give it to the entire second year
and third year students of ug programs so we
found pricing factor also very very important and
it does price that a very lesser not denominations
yeah that's the promo pricing which
is right now going on and now want to understand now you
use the product of course and it'll be rolled off well but
(09:47):
are your aspirations on the using the middle
road what ultimately you feel is you would
like to be your final aspiration what you're
looking for in the solution from the middle road see
few things you know let me put it across this way the
first and foremost i would want my students to probably
understand the platform better and
(10:11):
leverage on the learning which happens on this
particular platform because i am very sure once they go through these particular.
Courses offered by middle road i'm very confident that they would definitely
go to the next level of learning and also it would help them in their career prospects.
(10:33):
This is one important thing the second important thing is you know as an institution
there is a satisfaction that you know we have given some good online course
to the students fraternity,
and as you are aware ours is a very economically priced institution like your
product though the offering is of high level,
(10:56):
Our parents, our stakeholders comes at a very lesser economical backgrounds.
We give them, accommodate them, all of them. And as an institution,
Jyoti group is for serving the society at large.
And as our vision and mission is also to make the education system free in next.
(11:23):
Say, 10 years down the line.
If earlier it is welcome
but we are in sync with this thought
process these are all the ones which probably envisioned
thoughts which we actually found
you know very important yeah sure
the middle road of course is a for-profit my ultimately
(11:45):
aim is to make money from the vote initially of
course it still remains highly whenever the pricing is
reset it's priced affordably no doubt for the value which
it gives as you progress of would you.
Feel that maybe career progression also of
your students could be a part of offering from the middle
road that you know they're upskilling a
(12:08):
knowledge building and how it's going to be applied in jobs could
help a lot yeah why not why not you know see
career progression is always there and we
have offered the platform to the second year and
third year students maybe third year students would
be be the immediate beneficiaries of this career progression from middle
road maybe your expertise in the job market in
(12:29):
career planning maybe this could act as
a finishing school you know that is what my belief is
had anything anything which i could have missed
out so you would definitely you are really
in terms of let's say as a as a part of
the solution when you wanted to enhance the learning
of the students you found the middle road to be a very apt
(12:49):
and a very appropriate platform a lot of courses within
the within the within the gamut of the mission.
Of the middle road and you feel that that's highly
recommended in terms of know as students
in undergrad and postgrad so have you also offered
it you have a small post grad students also right which we
have post graduation course in
(13:12):
commerce they are all for the
vacation after the examination once they they are back and that
is also there you know would you like to you know speak anything would
you like to share anything else i really appreciate you taking time
speaking with me just gives very good understanding you
know this whole idea is to understand the customers better this case this is
(13:32):
in b2b space and i have it gives him a critical idea of how the middle road
is perceived what is the aspirations of the customers and what sort of job they
want when they are using from the middle road as a platform.
Yes, I really appreciate you as a sole proprietor,
(13:52):
As a solo founder, yeah, solo founder. It's an OBC Private Limited company.
Yeah, so you take a lot of interest and you do a lot of follow-ups.
See, that is what is very important, actually. Probably, for me, it is one of its kind.
But at the same time, regular follow-up, especially to conduct the demos classes.
(14:16):
And you have also promised to probably hold seminars online.
Online and whenever you are in Bangalore you have told that you will be in person,
and these are all things you know which is you know committed for the cause
and I'm very sure long way to go but at the same time these are all the small
you know tiny steps which will definitely make you know the journey memorable.
(14:41):
Thank you I really appreciate you taking time time and speaking with me and
I keep in touch I I think I'll have the notes also then I wanted to have a more
of a behavioral interview and I think this came out pretty good pleasure talking to you.
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