Introduction 60-90 seconds
- I’ve spent a little over 12 years in the EdTech space,
- very early on I decided this was the domain I wanted to go deep into.
- My work has followed a clear thread:
- understanding how people learn,
- what blocks them, and
- how to drive real outcomes.
I started in 2014, during the early Coursera era,
- hypothesis of whether learning could genuinely happen online.
- At Jamboree, we proved it through test-prep products for GMAT, GRE, and SAT — clear, measurable outcomes delivered at scale.
- Equivalent conversion rate as classroom programs, despite the short comings of online
- Peer interactions
- Discipline
- Precense of a real human teacher
At Embibe. (test prep), I went deeper into data. Working with a strong data science team, we used user-level behavioural data to personalize learning and make individual learners more successful. - Early use of ML and AI in learning
- Your data
- Academic strengths and weaknesses
- Everyone’s data
- Behavioural patterns
- Clear comparison of competition This is where I started seeing that the real gap in EdTech wasn’t content — it was meaningful outcomes and behavioural motivation .
That pushed me toward Coding Ninjas.
- Employability is the clearest marker of skill, so I worked on the transition from offline to online and the early experiments with ISAs.
- But eventually, I realized the core problem wasn’t the financial model — it was behavior and motivation. That insight shaped CodeStudio, which I built from zero and scaled to 350,000 MAUs with ~48% retention.
- It solved business, investor, and learner problems simultaneously, and I’m proud of that work.
After the Naukri acquisition, the roadmap became more integration-focused, which led me to explore the next frontier.
I co-founded Umbra to build a Learning OS for lifelong learners, using LLMs to create content-agnostic and learner-agnostic experiences. We worked on it for six months, but couldn’t find strong market or business fit, so we paused.
Since then, I’ve been consulting on AI implementations while searching for the next impactful problem — which is what brings me here.
- Joe Liemandt
3–4 Sentence Clean Intro (For Senior Leadership, Panels, Recruiters)
I’ve spent 12+ years in EdTech working across test-prep, data-driven personalization, and employability-focused learning, with a consistent focus on measurable outcomes. I’ve built products from zero to scale — notably CodeStudio, which grew to 350K MAUs with ~48% retention and played a key role in Coding Ninjas’ acquisition. Most recently, I co-founded Umbra to explore LLM-powered lifelong learning, building a content-agnostic Learning OS before pausing due to market-fit challenges. I now consult on AI implementations while looking for the next meaningful problem to solve.
③ Trilogy-Style Spiky/Punchy Version (Outcome-Obsessed, High-Energy)
For 12 years, I’ve been obsessed with one question: How do you create learning systems that actually produce outcomes — not just content? I validated online learning back in 2014 through test-prep, went deep into behavioural data at Embibe, and eventually realized the real blocker wasn’t content, curriculum — it was pedagogical design and human motivation. That insight led me to build CodeStudio from zero to 350K MAUs with nearly 50% retention, solving for the learner, the business, and the investor simultaneously. After the Naukri acquisition, I chased the next frontier: using LLMs to build a lifelong Learning OS. That didn’t find market fit, so I shut it down quickly and now consult in ROI focused AI implementation while searching for the next hard problem worth solving.
④ Story Arc Version (Problem → Insight → Action → Outcome)
Problem:
The constant pattern I saw across EdTech was that most products improved access to learning but didn’t meaningfully improve outcomes.
Insight:
Outcomes fail for two reasons: we don’t personalize based on real behavioral data, and we underestimate the role of human motivation.
Action:
I validated online learning early through measurable test-prep results, used user-level data at Embibe to tailor learning pathways, and later built CodeStudio to solve the behavioral layer directly. When Coding Ninjas was acquired, I pursued the next frontier: a lifelong Learning OS using LLMs to build content-agnostic, learner-agnostic experiences.
Outcome:
CodeStudio reached 350K MAUs with ~48% retention and became central to the Naukri acquisition. Umbra didn’t find market fit, so we closed it quickly. I now consult on AI implementations while exploring the next big opportunity in learning and outcomes.