The year is 2019.

We launched a training marketplace platform called ReFier. We were sure that it would be the future.

We introduced online cohort based learning, for corporate non tech training of professionals.

We were sure that it would be the key to transforming the entire landscape of online learning.

We thought we would be super successful.

We decided to bootstrap the startup, at least for the time being.

We got decent traction (100% MoM) from all sides, that is trainers, companies and professionals when we launched in September 2019.

We caught a few tailwinds-

→ Online learning was becoming popular among professionals

→ Learning platforms like Udemy, Coursera were very famous back then.

→ Corporates were investing a huge amount of money on employee training and coaching programs. Our strategy was to make this process cost efficient and increase the learning ROI.

There was a white space in the market for online cohort based learning.

Within 6 months of launch, we had

→ 800+ Live trainers
→ 12 Corporate trainers
→ 8 B2B and 21 B2C learning cohorts
→ 12 Learning communities

However, that’s when COVID struck, which was kind of both good and bad for the business.

Even without investing in paid marketing strategies, we saw-

-- 4x growth in Trainers, Coaches signing up to be partners.
-- 10x growth Learners who wanted to be in Trainer Communities

This was the good part.

The bad part?

-- The entire budget of Corporate Learning across all companies was put on hold for 6 months.
-- We ended up with only 1 revenue stream which is Cohorts for independent learners.

And although we scaled to

→ 10K Learners
→ 55 Corporate Trainers and Coaches
→ 400+ Training Cohorts

Due to the heavy cut on revenue growth, and our startup being bootstrapped, it was difficult for us to sustain in the market.

So we did the only logical thing we could do then, and pivoted

ReFier → ReFier 2.0

We went from being a Training Marketplace to being a Training led Hiring platform, for Sales Roles.

This is what ReFier taught us-

1/ We should experiment with timelines.
2/ We might need to take a hard decision either way.
3/ The bottom line is revenue growth.
4/ Organic marketing is sustainable marketing.
5/ Community building is the key to retaining users.

Do you also have a pivot story?