Toprankers: Democratizing Careers Beyond Engineering and Medicine with a Results-First Hybrid Model
In a country historically obsessed with engineering and medicine, millions of students often find themselves lost when looking for alternative career paths. Gaurav Goel, the Founder of Toprankers, is on a mission to dismantle this duopoly. By building India's largest platform for careers in Law, Management, Design, and Humanities, Goel is helping students from small towns like his own—Muzaffarnagar—discover that success isn't restricted to a white coat or a software job. Today, Toprankers serves over 5 million users through a robust hybrid model that has seen a staggering 14x revenue growth post-COVID.
Goel's journey is a masterclass in entrepreneurial grit and strategic pivoting. From a childhood spent counting note bundles in his father's wholesale medicine shop to building a successful "Time Arbitrage" business in IT certifications, he has always had a knack for identifying market inefficiencies. After a "trial by fire" during the pandemic—where he had to sell off major assets and buy back his own brand—he has emerged with a 400-person powerhouse that proves that taking care of students' results is the ultimate growth hack.
The Time Arbitrage Discovery
Goel's first business venture was born out of a simple observation: IT certification vouchers (Oracle, Microsoft, etc.) had a one-year validity. He realized that a voucher expiring at 6 PM in India was still valid for another 12.5 hours in the United States. By buying expiring vouchers at a deep discount and selling them to US-based exam takers, he built a highly successful business around global time zones before ever starting Toprankers.
Phase 1: The Bank and SSC Foundations
Starting Toprankers in 2015-16, Goel initially focused on the crowded but growing market of Bank, SSC, and Railway exams. He recognized that as exams moved online, preparation would inevitably follow—a trend already proven by platforms like Simplylearn. He raised 14-15 crores and built a team of 160, scaling the marketplace model successfully for four years.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a sudden halt to his plans. His investors signaled they could no longer inject capital and requested a sale of assets. In a series of high-stakes transactions, Goel sold his "Redo" business to **Classplus** and his SSC division to **OliveBoard**. But he didn't walk away. Instead, he bought back the core Toprankers brand with a new vision: building a platform for careers that India's education system had traditionally ignored.
"The way media shows this journey—as being a 'poster boy'—is not true for everyone. It is a game of perseverance. You will see very hard times. Be prepared for that mentally and financially. I've seen my team go from 160 down to 25, and now back up to 400. That's the real entrepreneurial curve."
Toprankers 2.0: The multi-Career Ecosystem
The "New India" is producing roles that didn't exist 20 years ago: digital marketers, corporate lawyers, IP specialists, and architectural designers. Goel realized there was no single platform helping students navigate these dreams. He revamped Toprankers into its 2.0 version, moving away from the marketplace model to a 100% owned-content strategy.
The Toprankers Vertical Strategy
- LegalEdge: India's premier destination for CLAT and AILET (Law) entrance preparation.
- Judiciary Gold: Specialized training for those aspiring to enter the judicial services.
- SuperGrads: Catering to management and university entrance exams like IPMAT, CAT, and the newly introduced CUET.
- Creative Edge: A hub for design and architecture aspirants (NID, NIFT, NATA).
- Results-First Marketing: A traditional approach of showcasing actual student successes to drive organic Word of Mouth.
Navigating the Online-Offline Split
Post-COVID, many EdTech companies struggled to bring students back to classrooms. Goel took a design-thinking approach to this problem. He discovered that for students in grades 11 and 12, an offline ecosystem within 5-10 kilometers of their house is always the preferred choice. If that's not available, they switch to online.
This led to a strategic rebalancing of their delivery. While 100% online in 2020, Toprankers has moved toward a 50-50 split, currently operating 17-18 physical centers across India. This hybrid approach has allowed them to maintain a high-touch academic environment while leveraging technology for scale, resulting in a 1400% revenue increase since the pre-pandemic era.
Toprankers: Scale and Impact (Jan 2026)
- User Base: 5 Million+ students discovered through the platform.
- Growth: 14x Revenue increase post-COVID.
- Team Size: 400+ dedicated professionals across academics, tech, and marketing.
- Market Depth: Comprehensive coverage of Law, Design, Management, and Arts.
- Retention: Many of the "Original 25" who survived the pivot are still key leaders today.
Founder's Wisdom: The Right Way to Pivot
Goel is a firm believer that while your vision should never change, your path must be flexible. He defines an entrepreneur as a person who can spot a large, resolvable problem and has the perseverance to hustle through it. His advice on choosing a co-founder is particularly rigorous: don't just look for complementary skills; look for shared family backgrounds, reactions during tough times, and a "house-to-house" level of trust.
Gaurav's Guide for Future Founders
Don't be a "Me Too" Entrepreneur: Starting a business just because it's fashionable is a recipe for failure. You need a genuine passion to solve a problem—one that you've likely faced yourself.
Focus on Outcomes, Not Tactics: Many companies spend millions on fancy marketing without showing a real student result. In education, your word-of-mouth is built on the student's success, not the ad's creativity.
Learn to Delegate: As you move from 10 to 100 people, you must hire people better than you and have the skill to take a back seat. If you can't delegate, you can't scale.
The Meaning of Impact
For Gaurav Goel, entrepreneurship is about creating a visible change in the world. He finds satisfaction in seeing a young boy in a small town see a successful digital marketer and realize that he, too, can aim for that life. By providing the tools, mentorship, and platform to achieve those "non-traditional" dreams, Toprankers is not just an EdTech company—it's a career discovery engine for the next generation of Indian leaders.
As Toprankers continues its 2.0 journey, it stands as a testament to the power of resilience. Goel's story proves that even when everything falls flat, the ability to "buy back" your vision and start again from zero is what distinguishes a founder from a businessman. In the world of careers beyond engineering and medicine, Gaurav Goel is the one leading the way.
About the Guest
Gaurav Goel is the Co-founder and CEO of Toprankers. An engineer with a background in IT from Agra, Gaurav moved to Bangalore in 2008 and worked with companies like **FaceTime (Apple)** and **Informatica** before launching his first venture in 2007. A serial entrepreneur with over 11 years of experience in the EdTech space, he is recognized for his expertise in time-arbitrage models, test-prep marketplaces, and hybrid learning ecosystems. He is a passionate advocate for students from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, dedicated to providing them with the resources to pursue successful careers beyond the traditional medical and engineering paths.
Toprankers is India's leading EdTech platform for career discovery and preparation for entrance exams in Law, Management, Design, and Humanities. Through its specialized brands like LegalEdge, SuperGrads, and Creative Edge, Toprankers provides a comprehensive hybrid learning experience for millions of students. The company is committed to delivering high-quality, results-driven education and helping students build successful careers in the modern Indian economy.