Why Internshala

First, the personal reasons for choosing this:

1. I was an avid user of Internshala over 10 years ago and have gotten connected to several individuals through it.
2. I think given how the platform has changed today, it would be important to see how Internshala has decided to monetize its assets.
3. I worked on something like this before and believe that this is going to disrupt the internship space worldwide.

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About Internshala

There are two aspects to understanding who Internshala's users are. The whimsical below shows the kind of users Internshala has:

How Internshala makes money

The source of this is a case study published by Idea Usher:

1. Charge Students - While students don't have to pay for applying to internships, they do have to pay for value-added services such as CV making or any of the courses offered
2. Charge Employers - Listing fees and hiring fees for interns and now for full-time placements of freshers.
3. Universities - This is a big one, especially given that most college placement cells are unable to guarantee 100% placement.

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Competitors

Points to note

1. Internshala has pivoted from only internships to careers itself. This could be an attempt to bring in more revenue and tap into newer customer segments.
   
2. Internships continue to be the core business. Given the name of the company and the fact that there aren't any real competitors out there (apart from smaller players), it is clear that internships will continue to be the major driver of growth.
   
3. Internships can be viewed as the 'hook' to bring students into the platform. Especially given that the platform does so much more than just internships for students now.
   

The Litmus Test

While looking at the litmus test for monetization, the first consideration to be made is one of natural frequency. However, unlike other platforms such as food delivery, UPI, or OTT, it is critical to understand the cycles involved and the pedigree of students engaging on the platform.

Therefore, it is not practical to build a natural frequency curve since students only come on the platform should they need an internship or a job. Or, in rare scenarios, should they consider upskilling themselves. For this litmus test, we will consider job seekers and learners separately.

The engagement table is shown below

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Reviews for the courses offered have been published on Quora:

Based on the engagement table, it is important to chart multiple retention graphs. The first one is for internships and job seekers and the second is for Learners.

1. Retention Graph for Internship and Job Seekers

While both job and internship seekers may have different journeys, it is important to understand the similarity between the two since the goals are more or less intertwined.

2. Learners Retention Graph - This one is a lot more straightforward. However, the price remains to be a barrier to entry. At 25k per course, it is not practical for several learners to take up these programs.
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3. Companies/Recruiters - Due to several alternatives, the retention rate is a lot lower. However, despite this, a clear inflection point can be observed at 20%.
   

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Willingness to pay

I circulated a Google form to figure this one out. This is only for internships, however. But, it did yield a few interesting results.

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Insights from the images shared above:

1. Colleges and universities mandate internships as part of the academic requirement. For the most part, direct work experience is considered a part of the core curriculum as opposed to extracurricular activities.
2. Internshala seems to be the market leader but College placement cells are soon becoming a close competitor. The reason for this is the academic requirement.
3. For the most part, students would consider paying to get exposure to high-quality internship opportunities. However, it should be high quality.

Overall Willingness to Pay

Experiments to solve for free to paid

Based on the insights above, I'd like to design a few experiments to move them from free to paid or look for upselling and cross-selling products.

Substitute Pricing

While looking at the substitute pricing, it is important to understand which are the strongest substitutes.

1. College Placement Cells - The reasons for students to pay college fees (and take loans at times) is due to the placements. I think if given a choice, students would forego education and simply enroll in a university should they get access to placements.
2. AIESEC - This has become a powerful one since most parents of affluent students are keen on sending their wards overseas.
3. Friends & Family Connect - This has been among the most effective ones over the years. Especially if parents of students have a vast/sizeable network.
4. Other platforms/Competitors to Internshala - This isn't as powerful since Internshala is a dominant leader in the space. However, it is important to understand that their brand promise of providing jobs and internships could be significantly higher.
5. Job-seeking platforms such as LinkedIn, Naukri, NextHire, etc.
6. Udemy - A lot cheaper and gives out a certificate. Despite not having tangible outcomes, a Udemy certificate carries weight on the CV.
7. Coursera - This is much cheaper but with fewer defined outcomes. Similar to Udemy.

Monetization Design

Who to Charge?

This is fairly straightforward

1. Internship seekers - As seen from our primary research, a majority of internship seekers are ready to pay.
2. Job posters/internship posters - These have been monetization models all through.
3. Learners - Those who will have to pay to take up courses as is the case with folks using Coursera or Udemy.
4. College Placement Cells - Not sure how this needs to be monetized yet, but when it comes to personalization, it is important to charge.

When to Charge?

This is something that should be done based on ICPs. As opposed to charting this out on a graph, I think it's important to call it out using a Whimsical.

What to Charge for?

Bradly, there are a few things to charge for:

Value Proposition

To understand the value proposition, we need to see what the Input and outputs are:

The table above is on a high level as opposed to something more granular. The reason for this is to scratch the surface at the moment before going in more deeply. Not applicable (N/A) has been marked in fields that are not under the purview of Internshala.

Pricing & Pricing page design

For the pricing, I would once again segment based on my target ICPs. However, there would be a difference here with the pricing models I would go with.

1. For internship seekers - I would do a Sandwich pricing model for this and sell memberships. I would also look at the Freemium Model with four slabs. The image below is an example of a pricing page:
   For my app Ontrn, I had planned to price it this way and it was something that worked well with the small user-base we had. In this case, the 'Middle Option is Always Right' works.
   Based on perceived value, a 6-month membership at INR 600 works out to INR 100 per month. Students spend more on Netflix or Amazon Prime in a year. They should ideally spend something brutally nominal when it comes to building and securing their futures.
2. For jobseekers - There are a lot of similarities between Internship and Job seekers. However, the pricing strategies here would be middle option and a scratch price effect.
   
3. For Learners - The current strat works very well. This is clearly scratch price effect. Also, it is clear that the 100% refund guarantee works in estabilishing trust. This could however, have a negative effect since the trust in the edtech industry (the Byjus effect) could hurt the refund market in education.
   
   However, Internshala could clearly outline outcomes in the place of guarantee. Stoa, GrowthX and several other upskilling companies have done this in recent times.
4. Colleges and TPOs - Once again, the current signup works well. This effect of 'Contacting Sales' works very well.
   
5. Hiring managers and Recruiters, Companies - Similar to the TPO registration, this is an example of ownership pricing wherein the Internshala Sales team can help ensure they know what is right for companies. Moreover, the personal touch of having someone from the team speak to companies and recruiters helps immensely.
   

Pricing Model Selection Framework

The framework has been shown in a table as opposed to a Whimsical:

The table above has skipped through the College and Placement TPO etc. since several pointers of the framework are not available in public sources.

Conclusions

1. There is a lot of scope of monetize with the current users, especially the consumer side of users.
2. The core users have and will always come from internship seekers. Today, Internshala remains to be the market leader in India at least.
3. Internshala should look overseas to outsource internships. The larger market comes from business schools who have integrated internships and OJT (on job training) for their students.
4. Opportunities in internships continue for the company since most undergrad universitites have also integrated internships as part of their core curriculum.
5. Finally, to deepen relationships with their core users, Internshala can look atbroadening their services with GMAT/GRE prep and masters consulting services. This could be either with partnerships with other companies or by themselves.

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