MyCaptain by The Climber is an online learning platform that helps students take the first step in their fields of passion with the help of young achievers, mentors and guides. It provides one-on-one programs through its mobile application and web service that enables skilling through mentorship in a field of the student’s interest. MyCaptain got its name when two of the company’s co-founders were watching the movie ‘Dead Poets Society’ on a train journey. In the movie, Dead Poets society changed their view of how a teacher/guide needs to be in the modern world. The name “MyCaptain” is from a poem of Walt Whitman named “O’ Captain My Captain”
We got together with the team and asked them a few questions, which they more than happily answered. Here is an excerpt.
- What is the driving force behind MyCaptain?
Empathy. Everyone who is working with or associated with MyCaptain resonates with the vision. We have all been through the same education system and want to do our bit to fill in the gaps to ensure that others don’t have to feel constantly worried or pressurized with how to build their careers or how to actually explore what they truly love to do.
- Describe the team behind MyCaptain and the experience that the team brings to the table.
Mohammed Zeeshan is the Co-founder & CEO of MyCaptain. His vision has always been to impact Education and bring a societal mindset shift when it comes to careers in India and all across the World, and MyCaptain is a step towards this. He has a keen interest in Policy, Education, and Impact. In 2017-18, UNESCO invited him to Bangkok to help design the Education Policy for girls in STEM fields. Under UC Berkley’s Program, Zeeshan was also invited to Jordan to facilitate Entrepreneurship Development amongst young students. Zeeshan is a GSEP scholar and a 4 times TEDx speaker and has delivered guest lectures at esteemed Colleges like IIM Bangalore, Symbiosis Pune, amongst others.
Sameer Ramesh is the Co-Founder and CPO of The Climber. He is an Experiential Education expert and holds a diploma in the same. He keeps building the vision of the MyCaptain products and is deeply influenced by design thinking. Sameer’s work is focused on how different learners learn and interact with information, and what exactly influences their learning and career decisions. A TEDx Speaker and a HarvardPAIR delegate, he has a keen interest in Technology Platforms and Network effects. Sameer has personally mentored over 3000 students who have gone on to do amazing things in life.
Ruhan Naqash is the Co-founder and CMO of The Climber. Ruhan’s vision is to build a society where everyone does what they love, and he believes progress would happen faster, and people would be happier in such a world. He is deeply intrigued by student psychology, how learning works and has been leading the marketing team for over 3.5 years. He has mentored over 2800+ students in Entrepreneurship, Writing, Marketing and Advertising across India. He also mentors student startups on an individual level in terms of building business models, sales channel, customer acquisition, marketing, and consumer psychology.
Fatema Hussain is the Co-founder and CDO of The Climber. Her guiding principle in design is to bring social change. She has mentored over 1000+ students, some of whom have gotten into Design School while others are actively working in various design fields.
MyCaptain also has a team of 170+ members at this moment, with an average age group of 23 years, who are working constantly to help brew the passion revolution.
- What products and services does MyCaptain offer?
We offer 35+ online workshops in fields of Business, Technology, Visual Arts and Creatives & Humanities. All of these are facilitated through the MyCaptain app and web apps.
Under the flagship of MyCaptain we also conduct hackathons, internship drives, community support and Career guidance for students.
- How does MyCaptain view Industrial revolution 4.0? What role does it intend to play in this revolution?
The fourth industrial revolution focuses on automation and leaning more towards technological advancements to build self-reliant systems across different industries.
We are an edu-tech organization and we make use of technology to create an enhanced learning experience, so a mentee never has to face any geographical barriers to be able to connect with a mentor and learn under their guidance. This leads students to acquire the necessary skills, knowledge and experience about new age and offbeat careers that will lead the World further.
- What pain points does MyCaptain intend to rectify?
There are a lot of gaps in the education system and we intend to fill these gaps and truly enable students across the country, and eventually across the Globe, to be equipped with all the necessary skills they will need to pursue their careers in the 21st century.
Academic courses work heavily on instructional models, wherein students do get a chance to understand the basic theory but fail to get any practical experience. We provide that with tasks and projects for every workshop, along with multiple internship opportunities in their field of passion.
Most of the teachers who are imparting this knowledge may not necessarily have the current professional work experience in the field. With MyCaptain, students get a chance to be mentored by Young Achievers and Professionals in the field and truly get a chance to understand what the practical implementations are in the field.
Gone are the days, where someone would only have to choose between Engineering, Medicine, Chartered Accountancy or Architecture only. Students can now explore and learn the necessary skills to even pursue offbeat careers that they are truly passionate about, right from stand-up comedy to illustration and more.
- Could you please share, in brief, some details on your target customers and revenue model?
As of now, the target customers are college students, majorly because they are looking to explore different fields that they can really pursue, while they have simply gotten admissions for engineering or management courses just for the sake of it or due to societal, parental or peer pressure.
Here is an interesting fact though, since the lockdown began, we have also seen working professionals sign up for our courses, as they are looking to build on skills like Content Writing, Entrepreneurship, Digital Marketing, Advertising so that they get an edge in the workplace.
- Where does MyCaptain see itself in the next 5 years?
MyCaptain is going to be the go-to place for anyone who wants to learn about and get guidance for their field of passion and work towards building their dream career. We aim to impact more than a million students in the next 5 years and go international at the same time. We also plan to democratize this kind of guidance by launching our products in regional languages as well.