A Presentation on: 1.Analyze what are the good things about Udacity currently from Product perspective 2. What can be improved? And how? 3. What other new ideas will you bring in if you were the product manager of Udacity? 4. Try to quantify the ROI of each idea/improvement you suggest 5. Mention any low hanging items which can be put to market very quickly

1. Product Case Study: Udacity
How to go from here to there...
Vijay Dwivedi (PMP, PMI-ACP, CSPO, MIT Sloan Certified)
vijay.27vj@gmail.com

2. Introduction
Company
Udacity is an online university
that:
● Teaches the skills that
industry employers need
today
● Delivers credentials
endorsed by employers
● Educates at a fraction of
the cost of traditional
schools
Context
Demonstrating ways and
capabilities of improving the
online education space by
suggesting ideas that are:
● Desirable by people
● Technically Feasible
● Business Viable
Problem statement
Analyze Udacity from Product
perspective:
● Explaining the good parts
of product
● Suggesting Improvements
& new ideas
● Measuring the ROI of these
idea/improvements
● Faster Go-to-market by
targeting low hanging
fruits [Lean UX*]
Vijay Dwivedi

3. Udacity: Good Parts
● Course Videos are embedded links of Youtube, providing faster streaming, better quality, better video player
capabilities, subtitles function (english, chinese etc) compared to built-in video player of LinkedIn learning,
Coursera, Udemy
● Ability to download complete audio and video transcript by one-tap of a button under resources section
highlighted on top right corner
● Detailed Course pedagogy, What you will learn, Prerequisites & Requirements, Related courses display on the
landing page of the course
● Additional Reading links below some course videos & at the end of each course provides an additional resource
of learning
● User Interface (UI) is really good and pleasing - choice of colors, fonts, Card shape in shadow boxes, responsive
UI,Choice of icons, flat design. UI/UX in general is very intuitive
● Udacity for business is a really good section - providing ability for businesses to Hire Talent

4. Udacity: Good Parts
Vijay Dwivedi

5. Improvements & Ideas

6. Improvements
● Quality of the quiz questions can be improved - questions not detailed/lacks depth. Quiz question/video
cannot be replayed unless I go to other video and come back again
● Resources tab (Browser: Firefox, OS: Ubuntu) when opened overlaps with the Video player. Also, it
doesn’t collapses automatically when User moves to playing video or moves to another section - It
should collapse automatically
● Blue dot on the Resources icon on top right corner is distracting - user perceives it as a notification
badge - should be removed
● User Experience (UX) of the search within course should give automatic result on the page itself like
JIRA. It should not take the user to a new blank page altogether
● State of the videos can be saved to where I left it the last time -Youtube does that now
Vijay Dwivedi

7. New Ideas
● Cost of the courses are really high - on average $800 per term ($1600 -$2400 per course) - and
should be revised to compete with competitors like Emeritus that offers Ivy League Education &
certification for $800 - $1000
● More free courses on management should be added to bring in more diverse body of students -
courses on product management (like Upgrad), business, consulting, finance & operations
● Snapshots of the certificates offered (Smart URL, ability to add certificates to LinkedIn, CVV
trust tieup) section can be offered to website
● Bring more college partners to offer courses - Tie-up with Ivy league colleges (HBS, Wharton,
Stanford)
● Providing training for international certifications - PMP, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PfMP, PgMP - as
provided by SPJIMR (SPJain)

8. New Ideas
● Ability to have direct conversation with the course faculty within my classroom - as done in
Udemy
● Lockdown browser can be added for having objective Quiz in the course to give real exam like
feel to the students
● Some student & organization testimonials can be added to add more credibility that students
got new job, salary raise post taking the course
● Making learning interactive, group learning via using canvas lms tool
● Increasing market penetration in India through economical and courses on varied subjects
● Tying up with Kellogg MBA programme to providing courses such as Finance 101, Operations
101, statistics 101 to students non business students applying to their 1 year MBA program
● Providing ongoing training/education to employees by tying up with organizations
Vijay Dwivedi

9. Challenges

10. Challenges deep-dive
Challenge 1
Expanding audience
Competing on market share with
competitors that are very price
competitive or provides direct
industry expert interaction :
1. Emeritus
2. Udemy
3. Upgrad
Challenge 2
Rich Educational Content
Improving the learning experience
and bringing more participation
from students from various
backgrounds.
Adding advanced LMS & Faculty
interaction tools such as Canvas
Challenge 3
Increasing conversion
Luring Developers to expensive
nanodegrees can be difficult
when they get free tech courses
everywhere:
1. Coursera
2. edX
Vijay Dwivedi

11. Measuring ROI
More premium & non-premium
subscribers
Increasing Market penetration through targeted marketing
Expanding the Audience
Tying up with institutions
max growth

12. Some Numbers
● TechNavio's analysts forecast the Online Education market in India to grow at a CAGR of 17.50% over the period
2014-2019
● The five-year compound annual growth rate is estimated at around *7.6%, so revenues should reach some
*$51.5 billion by 2016
● Asian market revenue increased to $11.5 B (2016) from $7.1B (2013)
● Annual Growth Rate (AGR) in Asia is going strong at 17.3%
● Increasing Internet penetration, low-cost existing coverage and rising demand are expected to help this market
develop strongly in the near future
● The rapid adoption of mobile technology is going to play a major role in the way the entire digital experience is
valued and consumed
*Source: E-Learning Market Trends & Forecast 2014 - 2016 Report | Source: 2011-2016 Growth rates by region (Ambient Insight 2012)

13. Measuring ROI of New Ideas/Improvements
MOOCs, especially Coursera, are growing faster than facebook - growth from roughly 160,000 learners at one university
in 2011 to 35,000,000 learners at 570 universities and 12 providers in 2015
● Having some free business & management courses on Udacity website will have bring in more working
professionals - Increased market share
● As of *Dec, 2014, Coursera had 10.5 million students enrolled while Udacity had 1.5 million. That is coursera was
10X bigger and that is because of the type of courses offered
● Having more courses is going to bring in more learners - this is NO brainer. *Coursera contributed to 36% of
MOOCs while Udacity contributed to 2.4%
● International Certification Training program (PMP, PMI-ACP….) has the ability to bring in 100,000+ skilled
professional enrollments each year - SimpliLearn has fast tracked 500,000+ careers so far in this space
● Having introductory sessions on competitive exams - TOEFL, IELTS, CAT, GMAT - can result in massive signups
(upto *500,000). This is how FutureLearn could beat Udacity for 3rd best MOOC provider in the world in 2015
Source: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2014-12-26-moocs-in-2014-breaking-down-the-numbers [As on Dec, 2014] | Source: http://degreeoffreedom.org/whats-a-mooc-worth/
Source: https://www.class-central.com/report/moocs-2015-stats/ | Source: https://www.simplilearn.com | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera

14. Source: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2014-12-26-moocs-in-2014-breaking-down-the-numbers [As on Dec, 2014]

15. Measuring ROI of New Ideas/Improvements
As per wikipedia, Coursera has 15 million users (Sep, 2015) and it hit revenue of $1 million in 2013 - making fair
assumption that Coursera may have reached an annual revenue of $10 - $30 million by now
● Using some correlation, I am assuming that with 30%-40% Market Share Coursera makes $20M, so with 4% - %5
market share Udacity will be having an annual revenue of $2.5M - $5M
● Creating more diverse course content ($10000 - $50000 per course) will increase the market by 3% -5%
resulting in the increase of revenue by > $2M in shorter run
● In longer run, with increased market participation, market share can reach upto 20% -30% and revenue can reach
upto > $30 M
Source: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2014-12-26-moocs-in-2014-breaking-down-the-numbers [As on Dec, 2014] | Source: http://degreeoffreedom.org/whats-a-mooc-worth/
Source: https://www.class-central.com/report/moocs-2015-stats/ | Source: https://www.simplilearn.com | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera

16. Faster Go-to-Market [Eating up Low hanging Fruits]
● Go after free business & Management Courses - Finance 101, Economics 101, Statistics 101
● Introduce PDUs offering basic Project Management, AGILE courses like SimpliLearn
● Introduce introductory courses (explaining exam formats) for competitive examination such as CAT, GMAT,
ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, GRE etc
● Getting few local university participation that can offer free online courses on Udacity - tying up with IIM
bangalore who have massive small programs - this will increase international/regional penetration
● Design small free courses (Blockchain 101, Hacking fast Learning, How to write MBA essays, You can be a
writer) just to create a virality in the market towards Udacity as a brand
● Reduce the length of some of the courses - having giant courses [3 months - 6 months] can be a turnoff at times
● Adding regional subtitles (French, German, Telugu, Hindi) if possible easily can do WONDERS in Asian and
European Markets - or having few courses in regional dialect
Vijay Dwivedi