In Bangalore, the thriving tech hub, Sai, finds himself at the intersection of technology and social impact. With a penchant for learning and a desire to make a tangible difference, his journey into the world of product management wasn’t conventional — it was a blend of diverse experiences and a drive to create meaningful change. We caught a hold of him this month so he can walk us through Rocket Learning’s product and his professional journey!
Q: Where are you from, and how did you end up at Rocket Learning?
I’m originally from Chennai, and my journey to Rocket Learning was quite a unique one. After finishing my engineering degree, I realized I wanted my work to have a real impact on people’s lives. So, I ventured into the social impact sector through internships at the Centre for Policy Research and the Lok Sabha. These experiences opened my eyes to the power of policy and its implementation. Later, I joined a fellowship at Piramal Foundation, which deepened my passion for making a difference, especially in early childhood education. That’s what brought me to Rocket Learning—an exciting platform that blends technology with education to empower young learners.
Q: Can you tell us about your transition from policy intern to the product team at Rocket Learning?
Transitioning from policy to product management was quite a shift! My background in social impact equipped me with critical thinking and analytical skills, which turned out to be invaluable in the product team. At Rocket Learning, I dove into the world of product development, learning new technical skills and collaborating with a diverse team.
Q: How was the experience of launching a new product at Rocket Learning?
Launching a new product at Rocket Learning was an eye-opening experience. While I wasn’t deeply involved in the launch of our Anganwadi Worker Upskilling product, I played a crucial role in the early research stages. We conducted surveys and discussions with Anganwadi workers, uncovering challenges like overwhelming WhatsApp groups. This led us to design smaller, more personalized groups to enhance engagement.
Read more: Here’s How We are Solving the Five Most Pressing Issues in India’s Preschool System
Q: What sets Rocket Learning apart in its approach to serving low-income communities?
Rocket Learning’s approach is rooted in understanding the unique needs of our users, particularly those in the bottom 30% of India. We learned important lessons, like the importance of relatability in our mascot. Our initial giraffe mascot didn’t resonate, so we introduced Apu the elephant with a 100% recall rate! It’s all about listening to our users and adapting based on their feedback. When we asked children outside urban centers about our giraffe mascot, they thought it was a goat! This experience highlighted the necessity of culturally relevant symbols in our products.
Q: Can you share some learnings from the field that led to rapid iterations?
Every time I go on the field, we’re not testing at scale like we usually do. Generally, we run tests on 3000 groups or 10,000 parents, but we’re not physically there. But when you’re physically there, you sort of learn a lot and learn a lot of things differently. For example, we noticed that parents were not clicking on the links we were sending on the groups! We couldn’t understand the reason. It was only after one of our user-testing trips that we discovered that parents and children were hesitant to click on links without thumbnails.
This observation prompted us to enhance engagement by adding engaging thumbnails to our content, resulting in increased open rates. Similarly, we know that our parents have extremely limited data and memory on their phone. So, our audio and video content is <5MB.
Q: What does a typical day in your role at Rocket Learning look like?
As a program manager focused on user acquisition and activation, my days are dynamic. I oversee onboarding processes, analyze user engagement metrics, and collaborate with teams across the organization to enhance our product’s impact. No two days are the same, and that’s what keeps things exciting!
Read More: How Rocket Learning is Using WhatsApp to End Learning Poverty
Q: Any advice for aspiring product managers in the social impact space?
I want to emphasize the importance of immersing yourself in the community you aim to serve. And that’s one thing that I’ve learned both at Rocket Learning and otherwise. If you don’t spend a lot of time with the user that you’re building for, you basically are working in silos and you become out-of-touch. Even though I have been on the field a lot, I still look forward to each visit. It’s one of my favorite things at work because it teaches me something new.
Also, India is growing exponentially right now, especially the communities that we serve. They are adapting to new technologies so rapidly thanks to expanded access. So, what works for them this year, might not work for them next year. You can’t predict user behavior at scale when you’re working with people who are advancing both socially and economically at an unprecedented rate. And that’s, and that’s such an interesting problem. So, for you to be relevant, you need to be in touch, you need to go to them as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
Q: Where do you envision Rocket Learning in the next five years?
I see Rocket Learning as a trailblazer in early childhood education, leveraging technology to empower underserved communities across India. Our goal is to bridge educational gaps and rewrite the narrative of education access through innovation and empathy. We’re working towards ambitious targets, like training Anganwadi workers nationwide and reaching 50 million children by 2030. It’s an exciting journey, and I can’t wait to see how our AI-driven innovations transform our products for the better.