What 'product' does a college sell? Some consumers will predominantly pay for 'getting knowledge' and some will say they pay for the 'experience'. But honestly, the majority go to college for the 'credential'.
For very prestigious colleges, the credential is the exclusivity. It is not that you studied in Harvard but more the fact that you were selected to study in Harvard that makes you attractive to an employer. For most, the credential is some sort of certification or proof that you are knowledgeable about something.
Here is the problem for most though. When the main business of college (the reason why students pay the asking price) is the certification/credential, if the said certification is artificially kept scarce, then the price of the product is artificially expensive.
It is actually maddening. University Education is a bundle:
If you think from first principles and break these into the four parts and try to administer them separately and not as a bundle, then you can deliver the same for a much lower price. And there is clear opportunity for technology intervention in some of the parts. For example, today students can access the best education content for the price of a device and an internet connection. But we still force the vast majority of students into the university bundle and charge a very expensive price and put many in debt.
I am convinced the best way to reform college education is to allow business models that will unbundle the university.
But the need for a credential still exists. (Companies need a proxy to compare talent and filter candidates.) One way to accelerate the unbundling is the 'study anywhere but prove your skill' model. As long as a candidate proves her skills using an objective standard, it doesn't matter where she graduates.
This model notably has been taking off in the last decade for software development roles. Companies like Hacker Rank, Triplebyte, Karat, etc. run contests and assessments that help companies identify the skill level of students.
This model helps shift the credential from a scarce and expensive issuer (university) to a 'test' which can be abundant and inexpensive.
Relevel is a startup within Indian Edtech giant Unacademy that has ambitions to expand this model to both business roles and technical roles in India.
The proposition is simple: Job seekers can take assessment tests online for any role on the Relevel platform. If the candidate gets a score of 700 and above (out of 1000), she can create a profile on Relevel and the platform sends interview opportunities from partner employers her way.
Currently the platform has assessment tests for six roles:
Business Roles:
Business Development
Business Analytics
Technical Roles:
Front end development
Back end development
Full stack development
Data Analytics
These roles seem to be the most in-demand roles across Relevel’s partner employers and are higher paying roles for someone with 0-4 years of experience.
These tests are free to take and can be taken any number of times. A test for a role has 5 rounds and takes around 3 hours to 4 hours in total to complete. The first round tests the basics and the other subsequent sections are of increasing difficulty. It culminates in the final round which is a video interview with a freelance third party industry expert with background in that role.
For example, these are the sections for the business development role.
The tests are ‘proctored’ to prevent cheating. A candidate has to keep his/her camera and microphone on and an invigilator is present monitoring.
Anyone above 18 years of age can book a slot for taking these tests on the platform. The test scores are provided within a week or so of taking the test.
Currently the company invites freelancers as ‘interviewers’ for the final round. They are invited to apply to be an interviewer/evaluator here and are selected based on industry experience.
The testing process where candidates spend 3-4 hours is a great way to introduce friction and select for quality profiles on a platform. Once someone scores 700 and above, they are invited to create profiles on Relevel.
Candidates can list their skills, projects and experience. Employers can then reach out to these candidates and send interview requests and can roll out offers if satisfied.
Currently the employer logos mentioned on Relevel are mostly venture backed startups. These companies are usually hungry to increase headcount at a fast clip and will be attracted by the quality profiles on Relevel. The company claims 200+ such employers.
From a job seeker’s point of view, a shot at an interview with a company paying an above average salary via a free test with unlimited attempts is a great proposition. Candidates from non-prestigious colleges and those who want to switch their roles or explore new in-demand roles will find Relevel useful.
Relevel (with its Unacademy course content ethos) also has live cohort-based courses for these roles. Job seekers can prefer to enroll in them (typically 3 month courses) for training for these roles.
The company has recently claimed 230k ‘users’ so far and 100% job placement for those who have qualified (scored 700+). 60% of those who have received job offers are freshers and they received an average hike in salary of 150%. I am not sure of the monetization status yet but this model can be easily monetized with companies likely willing to pay Relevel a percentage of annual CTC for every successful hire.
Unacademy has recently invested 20mn USD in Relevel which speaks to its ambitions in this space. The market and growth potential for Relevel is huge. We can expect testing/assessment for more roles to be added. In fact, two or three of the tests seem to have been launched in the last 2 months or so. Relevel also has an ‘unfair advantage’ due to its link with Unacademy which can help bring in more employer partners willing to give the platform a try.
If Relevel designs acceptable standardized tests for different roles and companies find the qualifying candidates to indeed be of high quality, then Relevel can easily increase the spend (via more number of roles) per employer. This model is also defensible and has a low churn because the switching costs are very high for employers. Creating a new acceptable standard is very difficult.
There are some exciting future products the company can potentially roll out. For example:
Networking/Mentoring: the candidates placed via Relevel can help other aspirants and can be tapped to become interviewers and evaluators. They can also potentially mentor other candidates via the Relevel platform
Profile enhancement: Candidates with a qualified score can enhance their profile further by taking part in hackathons, contests, projects conducted on Relevel platform. Think of it as a more enriched LinkedIn. This can attract more higher paying companies and in turn higher quality talent
There is also the big tailwind of Remote Work that might enormously benefit India. The last two years have proven that Remote Work works and India in this decade can become the labor force for the world for higher paying software jobs. Companies from other countries will want a good ‘standard’ to objectively and quickly evaluate talent and Relevel can be that standard for many roles.
Relevel is a High Potential Startup. Great solution approach that solves a huge and important market need for both job seekers and employers. It has the unfair advantage of being from Unacademy. There are signs of early traction. There is high willingness to pay for talent among its employer customer base and since these are companies that add headcount at a fast clip, Relevel can grow fast along with them. The model is defensible via network effects and high switching costs. There are more offerings Relevel can build for the qualified candidates. And there is a massive tailwind of Remote work which can benefit Relevel.