January 10, 2025

Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath on what makes or breaks a startup, days after Stoa School shuts down: Every time I think about this …

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Zerodha cofounder Nithin Kamath backed-tech company Stoa School announced earlier this week that said it is shutting down. The startup did not disclose reasons for pulling the plug. Stoa School’s shutdown comes some four years and roughly 1,500 students later. Stoa School was widely seen as the poster child for alternative business-school education in India. Stoa School was born in the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a time that rewrote the rules of education and work.
Just days after edtech startup Stoa School announced its shutdown, investor Kamath shared his take on what makes or breaks a startup on X, formerly Twitter.
He started the post with the question: “What is critical for the success of a startup – founders’ skills or the macros?”
In reply he said, it’s a mix of both and then went on to add what helped Zerodha on its growth journey. He further added how the government’s various programmes, initiatives and policies over the years have helped startups in India, including Zerodha.
“I think it’s a bit of both. You could be a great founder with excellent execution skills but still struggle in an unfavorable macro environment. Or, you could be an average founder benefiting from the economic momentum of your country and sector. Every time I think about this, I realize how fortunate we have been in terms of macros, both as a country and through government initiatives. We’ve benefited from everything that the Government has done—starting with Aadhaar, increasing mobile penetration, Startup India initiatives, and the overall supportive startup ecosystem,” wrote Nithin Kamath

Stoa School’s shutdown

The Bengaluru-based company Stoa School was founded in October 2020 by Kulkarni and Raj Kunkolienkar. The edtech platform offered a six-month MBA programme, competing with the likes of Masters’ Union and Mesa School of Business.
Other than Nithin Kamath, the edtech company had raised a total of $1.77 million in funding from angel investors, including Cred founder Kunal Shah and Ziwame founder Richa Kar, according to data intelligence platform Tracxn.
The company is the latest to join the growing list of startups that have shut operations. Over a dozen Indian edtech startups have been acquired in the past year, underscoring the funding a challenge smaller firms are facing.

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