[Open Conversation] What is the final solution?
People have lost lives.
ORN and KB are beyond the carrying capacity.
Municipal Infrastructure needs a rethink and requires large public funds.
Classes and Libraries happen in basement because they are noise insulated and cheaper than regular floors. After the fire incident in Shubham Palace, upper floors were considered off limits for classes as fire moves upwards.
What is the final solution to all this ?
What is the
I know this is not the right thread but found this most active.
My mains preparation got totally derailed.
Any library option with seat availability ?
Please help !
Where do you live ?
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Haryana,
@Neyawn Respected Sir,
But@Neyawn sir,
I hv 1 question.
Why you didn't goto protest site to support the students?
What is the reason? Like jhojha sir you are afraid?
What measures are taken by Forum ias for classroom students bcoz a class was conducted in the basement.
There are 3 major safety protocols that need to be followed for safety in classrooms as per law
1. Two gates - entry and exit gates wide enough on each floor
2. Setting up network of water sprinklers in the class with separate water tank for fire
3. Adequate fire extinguishers as recommended by DFS
All the above are in place in all classrooms where the size is above 100 yards.
No FIRE Noc is needed for floors on L1 and L2 as per DFS in case of any event, the height of building is low enough to facilitate emmergency rescue.
NOC is issued to buildings and not to coachings. Commercial buildings where we hold classes are built as per the building code
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Current building laws allow coaching only on GF and FF. But right now they are allowing on higher floors. But that can change anytime. Also the law is not clearly written anywhere, but this year May ( I met@Tata and did not know that the popular member was from classes , so when he messaged I called him to MCD office to witness first hand the power of bureaucracy - and after the meeting he decided it was better to be a bureaucrat ). So when I argued before the court that nothing in Master Plan stops us ( I had spent 3 days underlining and going through it ) , the DC cited some other clause where something else was written.. So in Master plan also different things are written in different places.. so state is free to use clause which is convenient to them.
And for GF and First Floor, you will have to outbid Tanishq, Haldiram, Maruti, Hyundai Kalyan Jewellers etc. In our building Best IAS was able to outbid Haldiram ( a 6000 crore turnover company ) , so Haldiram shifted.
It isnt for nothing they say that fact is stranger than fiction.
@Neyawn if I may humbly say something.
You're someone who's seen all the three stages of this exam. You've seen thousands who've cleared and you've seen ten thousands who had it in them but couldn't clear. You clearly understand that beyond a point it's luck. There are so many bright candidates who lose out because things just weren't in their favour in that hour.
Let's be real, forum can only support people to pass the exam, it cannot guarantee ranks to people.
While I agree that forum sets high standards, but without utmost humility, i would like to say that you're being very passionate about what you're selling which clearly involves luck to some extent. Being so passionate in this tricky edtech sector can blind you from potentially seeing pitfalls. It's good to be passionate to that extent in arts and sports, but when it comes to business we need hold our emotions back, be a little flexible with approaches and try to be as inclusive as possible (because TAM is what'll help you to dampen the unforeseen shocks in the market).
As long as you're doing good work, results will come. It shouldn't matter whether you have 200 selections or 700 selections out of 1000. No aspirant looks at those metrics while deciding to invest in you. They look at perceived brand value and trust in the community.
Make education accessible and affordable (to the extent that works for your business), it'll help you to keep swimming against the tides for a long time.
In the era of internet, decentralisation is the way. With the advent of AI, offline centers for teaching will be a part of history in the next 5 yesrs. We'll have offline centers only for mentorship, counselling and doubt clearance.
In the long run, it'll also help you to optimize costs and achieve better efficiency.
Don't worry about results neyawn, you're anyway doing good work, so people will still trust forum even if the selections come down from 700 to 200. People will trust the processes at forum more than the outcomes when the public perception is built, marketed and sold transparently.
This is the right opportunity for you to strategise for the future. Decentralisation and customer centric initiatives is the way forward. When that happens, people will pay whatever you ask and will keep the business afloat.
As business owners of edtech, it would be unethical to impart education to only the bright ones. It's the easy way out. And it won't work for long too. Because the market is super dynamic, what works now don't work 5 years down the lane.
Try to build courses for everyone who wishes to be a part of this journey towards bureaucracy. That market size will take care of most adversities.
Would love to see forum all across India. And also, with the giants of funded edtech falling down, there'll be enough vacuum in the market to accomodate and accelerate the growth of a trusted brand like forum.
Keep innovating and executing. ORN has fallen, the plans for next 10 years should be the things to discuss in the boardroom now.
Wish you the best and loads of strength in these testing times. Supporting forum always ❤️
To the people, it's a request, please be a little kind towards forum,@Neyawn was once an aspirant like all of us. Let's support this community in these tough times and make it better. Your love and support will only make things better for everyone.
PS, also@Neyawn iasmocks is defunct 🙂
But@Neyawn sir,
I hv 1 question.
Why you didn't goto protest site to support the students?
What is the reason? Like jhojha sir you are afraid?
Your repeated crossing of the informal red lines of civility needs to be called out.
Anyone can question@Neyawn (we all do) but your only purpose of coming on forum seems to be to mock and provoke him (With a popcorn in your lap). You already have been branded in the minds of most users as the “Gossip Girl” of this blog, more interested in the Gossips of UPSC industry than the substantive aspects of preparation.
At least have some amount of respect for a mentor or a guide, who even if for his own interest has helped you or helped thousands in some or the other way.
Also respect the sensitivity of the topic: It’s not a juicy topic for us to derive pleasure
The question you posed could have been framed in a more civil manner. What is this language : "Are you afraid like Jhojha sir"?
I don't know how you handle such continuous provocations from him/her @Neyawn
Gaitonde’s Den: https://forumias.com/post/detail/Gaitondes-Den-1727638216
@Ganesh_Gaitonde this person have some malicious intentions. In some previous threads he/she was continuously poking about some useless stuff, and his/her only interest was continuously provoking people into insensible gossip(which he/she inferred through youtube or some kind of cult following of a new mentor in the market without any logical argument.
Its true this community provides a good platform to discuss things and even allows people to criticize its policies and programs for better course outcomes and a feedback mechanism withoutmoderation, but this doesn't come at the cost of disrespecting the person.
Many years back, @Neyawn was targeted personally by someone in poor taste on a prominent social media platform. Many of his students raised voices against it, including many top rankers. Things were nasty back then, as they are now, only thing we do is not paying heed to it.
As said by some seniors and even @Neyawn quality of discussions on this platform has seen considerable decline( not decline i guess, inactive to be precise) post 2018-2019 especially after the telegram boom, but still provides a great platform to learn from the journey of warrior veteranswho gave heart and soul to this process, even some threads which appear after 2–3 months provide valuable insights. The most important is the way it provides a great avenue to interact with a good chunk of serious people in the process.
@Neyawn I know you have a lot of load on your shoulders, but this community will thrive only if you remain quite an active member, because aspirants like us come and go with our experiences, but you stay here with some old and many new members.
@Neyawn sir,
Sorry for the poor English, but now opinions are more important than English.
What Next?
1- As we know Kota, Rajasthan is one of the most crowded cities for students. Approximately, 10 lakh students stay and in one coaching approximately 2 lakh students enroll every year BUT WHY THERE are NO ISSUES LIKE FIRE, WATER, etc?
Because coaching institutes bought new lands and then they made awesome infrastructure that fulfilled all the safety norms. Buying new land and setting large infrastructure was also challenging for them and at that time there was no land available in Kota (like right now in Delhi) but they chose to buy land in the outer area of Kota (8-9 KM from the Railway Station) and now this place is known as New Kota where coaching industries run.
2- Just take an example of any Kota's institute like Desonance. The main building of Desonance includes 7-8 exit gates on each floor, 1 very wide ramp, more than 2 lifts, Cycle Stand, etc.
3- I understand that Delhi does not have so much land but nowadays a voice is coming to shift in Narela. If there is sufficient land then it would be nice.
4- One request is that please try to provide a library facility also.
Neyawn,TheProbe
- @Neyawn sir,
What Next?
1- As we know Kota, Rajasthan is one of the most crowded cities for students. Approximately, 10 lakh students stay and in one coaching approximately 2 lakh students enroll every year BUT WHY THERE are NO ISSUES LIKE FIRE, WATER, etc?
Because coaching institutes bought new lands and then they made awesome infrastructure that fulfilled all the safety norms. Buying new land and setting large infrastructure was also challenging for them and at that time there was no land available in Kota (like right now in Delhi) but they chose to buy land in the outer area of Kota (8-9 KM from the Railway Station) and now this place is known as New Kota where coaching industries run.
2- Just take an example of any Kota's institute like Desonance. The main building of Desonance includes 7-8 exit gates on each floor, 1 very wide ramp, more than 2 lifts, Cycle Stand, etc.
3- I understand that Delhi does not have so much land but nowadays a voice is coming to shift in Narela. If there is sufficient land then it would be nice.
4- One request is that please try to provide a library facility also.
Boy? Girl? You are a sword, that is all.
@Neyawn Respected Sir,
I have been associated with Forum IAS since 2021 through Dipin sir’s classes and MGP. I had cleared prelims in my first attempt in 2021 but couldn’t clear mains. And I was unable to clear prelims in the next attempts. I have exhausted 4 attempts and have 2 left. I came to know about the forum residential academy recently and wish to join it, however I only want to be a part of MGP and SFG and the library you provide.Is there any program that caters to it ?Currently in mgp 2024 and I’ll migrate to 2025 if FRC allows me to shift there.Thank you.
You can join any course at FRC as a day scholar. From our understanding, there is a good study atmosphere, people are competitive, a good mains crowd is there, and rents are much cheaper than ORN as of now.
You may visit the locality and do your own due dilgence.
hello@Neyawn
Not active on this platform, but I have seen forumias grow from guidance ias to shop no 6 to 19, PUSA road. I have worked with vision ias in academic capacity, and unacademy in mergers and acquisitions and finance and now i am working with an investment advisory firm. I am no longer in the exam cycle and decided to not pursue a corporate career.
You may or may not remember me, but I have been your student ( with Himanshu Gupta, AIR 27 ) in your ethics class. If you could recall, I and Himanshu came to see you after he got rank 27. I am also a CS engineer.
I have seen forum grow and there are parts that I have admired and parts where I think you may need some consultancy. Seeing things from vantage point of forum purely as a business.
Pls do not get me wrong. I have worked with several founders, and seen some of the scale massively and some of them fail. As your student i appreciated your enthusiasm and passion. ( I am from that era when minal karanwal, akshay , nikita , aditya from your cgp / foundation classes cleared the exam, and the academy was still very small )
Here is some inputs for you which may help you think with more clarity, and from where i can see ( i have worked in fund rasining , acquisitions of about a dozen start ups and more than half in edtech sector )
1. as far as i can remember , sometime around 2022-23, your average revenue per user was about 13,000/user/annum. This was abysmal considering that you are an offline player, and if you somehow do not increase this then sooner or later either you will be in trouble or you will need to raise funds (= trouble ? ) . You are now a full pledged coaching and your customers see you in the same way as vajiram. whose average revenue per user exceeds 1,35,000+ / per user / year. it is likley that big players will now squeeze you out...u will also have to find ways and means to reach the AMRPU to 5000 immediately and scale it to 10,000 if u want to do things offline.. or u will have to become an online player.. as u may not survive two winters..
2. I was in ORN just after this incident, and I was a bit cut off from preparation days, but I saw that around your vajiram , nest and "srishti" have taken away all of real estate. which means if you dont have your own building, you wont be able to expand. I also came to know that some of these building dont have students but have been taken by some coachings to increase cost of doing business for you and other small players.
3. Your current revenue model is difficult to sustain as with less than 1500 / user /month earnings - which is your average figure, you will not be able to pay rents. I am sure than with basements sealed, landlords would have distributed rent across other floors. Corrent me if my information is incorrect, but your rental expensiture as a business is anywhere about 1,65,000 to 1,75,000 per day. Which is why you are most riled about the recent regulations.
4. I have always enjoyed your write ups , but here is the thing. Even during our time, when you had shifted to your center in pusa road, you were too enthusiastic about SFG - which often came at a cost to other programs. I remember even our classes would be cancelled but never sfg ( I sat in the park to write sfg ). I do not see you successfully scale even sfg program, and while, as far as i can remember the average fee / day was 60 rs/day, it is now around 100/day. It is a matter of time that you will either have to increase the price or close it down. Your passion and obsession as a founder with some programs, which is common to every passionate founder, may be detrimetal to ur own organisation.
5. Do not take this in the wrong way, as I would love to see forum grown and expand, but what I feel is that forum has focussed on results and getting good students. I remember even in 2018-19 time you were very keen on ranks and results. But a coaching will not simply run because of rankholders. it will run because it solves the problem of masses with respect to ias preparation. Trying to play god by selecting few students and then getting selections ( such as natasha goyal , IPS last year ) is not what will help forumias in the long run.
6. I often see your being critical of "srishti". what I think as an investor today that they have built a brilliant business model. They are stable and will not be affected by results / ranks shifting here and there. also they are doing above average job in terms of education. on social media they are no.1 and that counts. when i meet people no one knows forumias , but everyone knows drishti folks. i think that is a big front where forum has completely failed.
7. i see your frustration sir, with respect to quality of students. what you are missing is that markets have changed. it is no longer 2017-18-19 where less than 40,000 to 50,000 are preparing for civils. today people are preparing for civils in lakhs. and thats a market. And when they find affordable edtech courses such as unacademy, studyIQ etc, they take it - even if the quality is not of upsc standards. Your concenrs as a teacher are valid that Youtube, Unaca, StudyQ etc students are just wasting time, they have not got into rigorous preparation. but you see the student today has choice. I saw your comment that if sfg is expensive then there is no point doing it. Why such lack of business approach and lack of emotional intelligence? the students today are not coming from vajiram having paid 2 lakhs so they will find you cheap. they are coming from studyQ and have paid 20K for 2 year course and find you expensive. It is a business problem you have to solve.
8. Lastly, you have not been able to solve the reach problem of forum. I have watched your tete a tete with toppers and seen that u ask everyone how did u come to know about forumias, and they say - everyone knows about it, and somewhat your ego is satisfied.. but dont get me wrong.. people know forumias... after spedning 2-3 years and having paid 2-3 lakhs in coaching.. so when they come to u .. they have no money left to spend.. but as a businessowner that is your problem... not their..
9. you seeking opinion of students is also IMO a bit childish. during preparation, do u think anyone knows about business? i read somewhere that students are demanding that landlords take cash rent. and they are tagging FM to stop that. once govt will put its eye, now landlords will take rent in cheque + 18% GST which student will have to pay,, and probably they dont know about it yet..
10. Forum has done a brilliant job in terms if quality... not sure about all india,,, but in delhi you have beaten vision in mains test series... last year my junior from college got selected and she was praising your content like anything... but thats it!... u will have to take quick decisions and as@Pizzza has said,, focus on making education affordable and increase the scale.. ranks will keep coming and going..u hv enough ranks to satisfy ur ego or ambitions
i hv tried my best to be constructive,, and i hope that u take in the right spirit.. u may want to take some consultancy with respect to forum...u know how to reach me.. adios.
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