The Inside Story of Scaling Brainly Into the World’s #1 EdTech App
- Krzysztof Kosman
- Oct 2, 2025
- 3 min read
What does it take to grow an education product from a small startup into the largest EdTech app in the world with over 350 million users across 35 countries?
That’s the story of Rajesh Bysani, former CPO of Brainly, and a product leader whose career spans BookMyShow, RedBus, ZoomCar, and Google. In my recent conversation with him on the EdTech Dots Podcast, Rajesh opened up about the messy realities of scaling products, the philosophy of product management, and where he sees AI changing education for good.
Here are some of the highlights.
From Accidental PM to Global Product Leader
Rajesh began his career as a front-end developer in the early 2000s. Product management wasn’t even a recognized role back then, but he naturally gravitated toward designing experiences and solving user problems.
That path eventually led him to leadership roles at BookMyShow (India’s version of Ticketmaster) and RedBus (the bus-ticketing platform that transformed an entire industry). Each experience built his reputation as a builder who could take a company from one to one hundred — scaling from early product-market fit into sustained growth.
Product Managers Are “Gatekeepers of Time”
When asked what product managers actually do, Rajesh put it in one unforgettable phrase:
“We are the gatekeepers of time.”
Every decision a product manager makes determines how engineers, designers, and marketers spend their days. The role isn’t about maintaining a roadmap — it’s about prioritization, insight, and protecting the most valuable resource any company has: its time.
Organizing Chaos: The RedBus Case
One of Rajesh’s most remarkable stories came from RedBus. The bus industry in India was fragmented, inconsistent, and largely offline. Travelers never knew what kind of journey to expect.
RedBus didn’t just sell tickets — it set out to make bus travel as predictable as flying. That meant working with operators, standardizing experiences, installing GPS trackers, even influencing how rest stops were managed. The result? Growth from a few thousand daily transactions to 250,000 per day, and an exit valued at over $120 million.
The lesson: great products often require solving problems outside the app itself.
Scaling Brainly to 350 Million Students
At Brainly, Rajesh faced the unique challenge of building for teenagers — an audience he wasn’t part of. His strategy: go where the users are. He studied their behavior, interviewed students directly, even used the apps they used to understand their digital language.
Two core insights powered Brainly’s growth:
Mobile-first access in emerging markets (most students only had smartphones, often borrowed).
Camera input for questions — snapping a photo of a textbook problem was far easier than typing math equations.
Combined with a student-first philosophy and an organic growth strategy, Brainly grew into the no. 1 education app globally, competing head-to-head with Duolingo on daily active users.
The Compound Interest of Product Management
Rajesh believes in big bets (“AZ testing” instead of A/B), but he also swears by the power of small, continuous improvements.
Like compound interest in finance, hundreds of small experiments across funnels, onboarding, and retention led to exponential conversion improvements. Instead of chasing “silver bullets,” Brainly’s success came from a steady rhythm of testing, learning, and improving.
Where AI Fits in Education
Few topics stir as much hype as AI in schools. Rajesh is cautious but optimistic:
Hype: General AI replacing teachers overnight.
Reality: AI as an enabler — making good teachers great by saving time on grading, creating lesson plans, and personalizing content.
Challenge: Building trust. An AI tutor can’t be 95% accurate — it needs to feel 100% reliable.
Brainly’s AI Tutor reflects this philosophy, combining LLMs with verified sources, human-rated answers, and cross-checks with other AI systems to build credibility with students.
Lessons for Founders and PMs
Toward the end of our conversation, Rajesh offered practical advice for anyone building in education or product management:
Pick one stakeholder first (students, teachers, or schools) — don’t try to solve for everyone at once.
Be crystal clear about who pays — often, the user isn’t the customer.
Don’t launch “minimum” MVPs anymore — expectations are too high. Even first releases must feel polished.
Build strong product instinct. Data supports decisions, but insights drive breakthroughs.
Why This Story Matters
Scaling Brainly wasn’t just about growth. It was about changing how students learn, especially in emerging markets where education is a ticket to a better life.
Rajesh’s journey shows us that product management isn’t just about features. It’s about time, intuition, and the relentless pursuit of impact.
And this article is only a snapshot.
🎧 Listen to the full episode here → https://youtu.be/ejjV2QfKD60
