Summary – Anand Narayanan Steps Down as Chief Product Officer of Simplilearn
• Narayanan, former Chief Product Officer of Bengaluru-based edtech firm Simplilearn, has resigned after eight years.
• He stated on LinkedIn that he chose to pursue his next passion project.
• Narayanan expressed his desire to leave the role while maintaining his enthusiasm and fire that his team admires.
Anand Narayanan, chief product officer of Bengaluru-based edtech firm Simplilearn, has stepped down after an eight-year tenure with the business.
“After an incredibly incredible 8+ years as Chief Product Officer at Simplilearn, I’ve chosen to go on and pursue my next passion project. “Why?” you may inquire.
Sometimes the “why” is simply that you understand that someone else can take over your position and bring a lot more zest to it since you’ve been doing it for far too long,” Narayanan said on LinkedIn.
“As a stakeholder and supporter of the firm, I couldn’t see past that…So it’s time to move on while keeping the enthusiasm and fire in me that my team admires and cherishes,” he said.
Although he did not reveal any information about his new business, he did hint at a change of industry. ” I am energized by the prospect of changing sectors (for the fifth time) and returning to a lot of personal learning and development. “Edtech has been good to me, but it’s time for another personal disruption,” he stated.
Narayanan joined the edtech startup in 2016 as vice president of product and engineering. In 2017, he was promoted as Chief Procurement Officer. At Simplilearn, he oversaw all product choices, from day-to-day tactical to long-term strategic. Before joining Simplilearn, he worked for Dell and Rackspace, among others.
Simplilearn is a global e-learning platform that focuses in offering digital skills training to individuals and organizations throughout the world. Simplilearn provides a diverse set of online courses and certification programs in fields such as cyber security, cloud computing, project management, digital marketing, and data science, among others.
The organization collaborates with world-renowned institutions, top corporations, and leading industry bodies to create and offer work-ready training through live online sessions led by top industry practitioners, sought-after trainers, and global leaders.
Simplilearn’s training programs are role-based, skill-focused, industry-recognized, and internationally relevant, making them suitable for achieving a variety of professional or company objectives.
Simplilearn, founded in 2010 by Krishna Kumar, provides online upskilling courses in cyber security, cloud computing, project management, and data science to students and working professionals.
It also provides courses in collaboration with educational institutions and multinational corporations such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and KPMG.
In 2021, Blackstone purchased a controlling share in the business for $250 million. A year later, Simplilearn secured $45 million in a new fundraising round headed by venture capital company GSV Ventures.
Last December, Simplilearn dismissed over 200 employees for poor performance.
The layoffs impacted personnel at all levels, with the sales staff being the most hit. The cutbacks also impacted other areas, such as marketing and operations.
Simplilearn’s consolidated net loss increased 36.5% in fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) to INR 244.2 Cr from INR 178.9 Cr in FY22, owing to a substantial increase in key expenditure items.
The Blackstone-backed firm increased its operational revenue by 50.3% to INR 684 crore in the fiscal year under review, up from INR 455.2 crore in FY22.
Today, Simplilearn is one of the world’s largest e-learning platforms, with over 400 courses and certification programs in collaboration with 40+ colleges and institutes. With a worldwide presence in over 150 countries, Simplilearn has taught more than 2 million professionals and workers from over 5,000 organisations, including Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon.
CONCLUSION : Anand Narayanan, former Chief Product Officer of Bengaluru-based edtech firm Simplilearn, has stepped down after eight years. Narayanan expressed his decision to pursue his passion project, stating that he believes someone else can take over his position and bring more zest to the company.
