He was a teacher first. Byju Raveendran co-founded the edtech company that carried his name, caught a surge in demand for online learning, and for a while ran India's most valuable startup with a roster of blue-chip global investors behind him.
Growth was the strategy and there was no second one. Byju's bought companies across several continents and spent enormous sums on marketing and sponsorships, chasing a vision of owning digital education worldwide.
It is the defining cautionary tale of the funding boom: valuation is a promise, not a proof.
Then it came apart, fast. Disputes with investors and lenders. Questions about the accounting and the governance. A valuation in freefall, and insolvency proceedings at the end of it.
His arc is now the cautionary tale of India's startup decade, told in every pitch meeting. Cheap capital and a rising paper valuation feel like proof of something. They are not a substitute for unit economics that work or governance anyone can inspect.