Dmitry Yurchenko's high-tech IT platform, AXL, boasts all of the necessary integrated systems to create and develop online schools and bolster online education, creating a ready springboard for learning. In this interview, Dmitry shared that the company is reaching a new level internationally, and will soon cross the billion-dollar profit threshold. We'll find out just how AXL.tech plans to achieve such results.
What's the impetus for such ambitious plans, Dmitry?
Every platform for developing online schooling claims to be "All in one". But there is nothing in the world that could be called "All in one". Online educational projects, in one way or another, have to integrate various systems: a CRM system, a community system, a webinar system, a chat bot system, etc. All of the above systems start separately, then need to be linked and consolidated. And this, in turn, costs a lot of money and time. But, expenses aside, the biggest problem is that integrations fail, leads are lost, and money is left on the table. When this happens it's impossible to correctly analyze the problem from end-to-end. And in order to maintain the growth and scaling of an educational business, conversion analytics of both sales and products are crucial.
So my partner Daniil Musatov and I developed an all-in-one IT platform, where you don't need to bother with statistics or analytics. Cool CRM, webinar, and chatbot systems are already integrated into the platform. Additionally, we have an omnichannel system implementing not only WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram, but also Asian Line. Ergo, we have integrated every major social network. So, for example, starting auto-webinars and the like is all very convenient. Full analysis is carried out across the educational cycle, product development, marketing needs etc. The platform allows one to generate end-to-end analytics. This is an important indicator for an online education, since planning, and therefore the growth and development of the company depends on it. Since the very beginning, in 2019, Daniil and I believed that end-to-end analytics would lead us to "Blue ocean" since no other platform could offer the same value.
What is your "Blue ocean" global strategy?
The approach is this: "You can compete through gradual improvements, or you can compete through fundamental shifts." We chose the second option because we have the expertise to be nimble.AXL.tech develops Artificial Intelligence and testing in real time. For example, the platform includes AI-powered messaging functionality and AI-driven analytical and methodological techniques. We have already tested the platform in different countries, from those who are underdeveloped in terms of online education, to those who are more advanced. The latter, for example, include the Latin American countries Chile and Mexico. The countries in Southeast Asia, namely India and Indonesia, are at the less developed end, especially when it comes to the readiness of society for such changes.
We are like aliens for them, people of the future. They are willing to learn from us and follow our steps in online education. I see it as the most promising aspect of the online education business. The winner takes it all; the one who pioneers the field will become the leader. We analyzed the market of these countries and came to the conclusion that online education is their future, not their present. And we are ready to help them build a competent model for such a future. We are ready to sponsor them, create a semantic core and partnerships, and implement the online training format in these countries. I believe education is what this planet needs to overcome all of its crises and difficulties. This is our ethical goal: to help mankind live better. And that starts with developing countries.
How long will it take to establish a mature online education market in such places?
It's difficult to predict, but for them we are the example. We've already been through this, we know how the business models work, so we can conditionally predict the market trends and pivots in each specific country. To that end, we tested our platform in Latvia and Indonesia. We are now looking for "Blue Oceans," product innovations that can modernize the process and make it even easier for users. This includes a proof-of-learning protocol and models for developing an online educational business based on AI. AXL will develop in countries that, roughly speaking, do not yet know what online schools are. Competition there is minimal, which means we can expect a guaranteed billion-dollar profit when the markets are added up. We set a 10-year period for the "ripening of countries", after which each foreign market will bring us a profit of 100 million dollars. We have developed a shure-fire income strategy and we follow it. This is our billion dollar guaranteed strategy.
Why did you sell the Russian part of the business, even though Russia & CIS is a very strong and mature online education market now?
We sold the domestic part of the business in order to focus on the international one. This comes back to fundamental shifts vs incremental changes. Thus, in Southeast Asia and Latin America, where the lag is 10 years, there is no such online education. For these countries, creating local content and working with thought leaders is enough. There is low competition and at the same time low public readiness. For our company, this is a guarantee of potential. After the countries "ripen", our task will be to work with the community, making sure people are familiar with our services.
What are the resources you're planning on using for such a global expansion?
We sold the Russian part of the business for $5.2 million. We've also accumulated profits from previous years, which we reinvest. AXL is going to develop with this money while we look for strategic partners and investors to enter these markets more widely.
