Published Online:June 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Business Strategy
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJBS030625
DOI:10.71329/IUPJBS/2025.22.2.57-81
Author Name:N R Aravamudhan and R Krishnaveni
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Management
Download Format:PDF
Pages:57-81
Byju’s was once touted as the world’s largest for-profit digital education content provider. To its credit, Byju’s was responsible for making quality education accessible and affordable. Its meteoric rise, from a modest startup to an exalted unicorn status, was fueled by its innovative product offerings, high-octane marketing and faster user acquisition. However, a slew of strategic missteps, unviable acquisitions, financial troubles and serious governance lapses led to its precipitous fall. What followed was a tsunami of layoffs, marred by poor communication, and serious procedural lapses, exposing the gaping holes in Byju’s HR practices. This case study runs the whole gamut—tracing the rise and free fall of Byju’s, strategic missteps that triggered the crisis and the wave of layoffs unleashed by the company. It offers a cryptic view of how the absence of structured downsizing process and communication blunders can seriously erode employees’ trust, company reputation and long-term sustainability. This case study offers a cautionary tale for the new startups navigating the challenges of hyper-growth and expansionist impulses that prioritize scaling up at the altar of people.
Monday! It was 9.30 a. m. in the morning. Amit Aggarwal was sitting in his cubicle at Byju’s Cochin office when his laptop froze. Amit Aggarwal, wondering if it was a technical snag, rebooted. His laptop just blinked. Slack would not load. E-mails returned. His office login portal spewed out a chilling, mind-numbing message “Access denied”. An eerie silence hung in the air. No call. No warnings, no official word yet. It was Stephen’s big day in the sun.