Krishna Kumar, the founder of the educational startup Simplilearn set out on it merely to ward off boredom. He did not expect what started out as a blog in 2009 to turn out into something so much bigger.

Six years have passed since the commencement of Simplilearn, and today it has evolved into Simplilearn solutions Pvt. Ltd., one of the leading educational startups in the country. Today, it supports 450 employees and successfully trains 20,000 people every month, with a funding of $28 million it has raised through various funds. It focuses on niches like project management and analytics and trains IT professionals online to excel in the said areas.

Though the company used to operate offline centers until a year ago, it shifted all its operations online recently. Kumar spoke about how the firm’s operational costs have come down ever since they made this move. They have even managed to increase the payouts and benefits for their trainers this way. But this does not mean that the company is cutting too much cost. Online model does have its drawbacks as the shelf-life of the products is short and each hour of video costs about INR 2 lakh.

Simplilearn is backed by Venture Firms, and also has its branches in the US, Australia and Singapore. The pricing strategy varies based on regions. A course that could cost INR 20,000 in India could cost $1000 in the US.

“Our courses result into a certification. If you want to become Android certified by Google, you should come to us because we will teach you how to learn Android as well as how to write the Android exam that is conducted by Google. Learn Android, pass the test. If you don’t, get the money back,” Kumar said.