Mohit Sadaani

A PROFITABLE SCHOOL IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY AN INVESTABLE SCHOOL. That distinction will define which K-12 groups attract capital in India over the next decade — and which don't. I keep seeing two different conversations about the same school. The promoter says: "2,000 students." "Valuable land." "15 years of operations." "A healthy surplus." The investor asks: Can this model scale? Can it run without the promoter? Are admissions predictable — or relationship-driven? Is governance institutional? Can EBITDA improve? Can 5-10 more schools be built on this platform? That gap is the difference between owning a good school and building an investable education enterprise. Take two hypothetical ₹25 crore school businesses. Same numbers: 2,000 students | 85% capacity utilisation | 18% EBITDA GROUP A Promoter-dependent Relationship-driven admissions No MIS or dashboards No second-line leadership No expansion playbook GROUP B Professional leadership Centralised admissions engine Weekly operating dashboards Documented SOPs Clear 5-school expansion pipeline Same revenue. Same EBITDA. Very different enterprise value. Why? Capital doesn't just buy today's earnings — it prices tomorrow's predictability. After three decades in Indian K-12 — including leading VIBGYOR, Apeejay, and Podar — I believe the next big value-creation opportunity isn't opening more schools. It's institutionalising the ones we already have. If you're a school owner preparing for your next stage, focus on 7 things: → Capacity utilisation → Admissions conversion → Sustainable EBITDA → Leadership depth → Governance & MIS → Replicable unit economics → Expansion pipeline Get these right, and the conversation shifts from "how much surplus does this school make?" to "how large can this platform become?" That's the question PE funds, family offices, and institutional investors are actually asking. India has thousands of good schools. The opportunity now is turning them into great education platforms. So the real question for owners, operators, and investors isn't which school to buy or build. It's: which school can become a platform? Building one, or evaluating one? I'd be glad to compare notes — drop a comment or DM me. #K12Education #EducationInvestment #PrivateEquity #SchoolInvestment #EducationBusiness #SchoolTransformation #EducationStrategy #FamilyOffice #InstitutionalCapital #IndiaEducation WestBridge CapitalMaxxx Edu Venture Maxxx Edu VentureBajaj Capital LtdGolding Capital PartnersBlackstoneBlackRock

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Board evaluations - article 4 in my 5-part series in Fortune India. Most boards complete evaluations every year. Few use them well. When done with honesty and depth, evaluations can strengthen governance, improve decision-making, and build healthier board dynamics. When reduced to forms and ratings, they add little value. Here are six points I highlight in the article: 1. Board evaluations often stay at the surface. Many become compliance exercises, heavy on forms and scores but light on insight. The result is a “tick-box” process that misses deeper questions about collective effectiveness. 2. In boards where everyone is highly accomplished, people hesitate to give frank feedback on each other. This politeness can get in the way of addressing important issues. 3. The best evaluations go beyond numbers. Qualitative reflections, open-ended questions, and structured conversations reveal far more than rating scales and capture the real dynamics of the board. 4. External facilitation adds value. An independent evaluator can conduct interviews, anonymise feedback, and surface issues that may not emerge in peer-to-peer settings — especially where founders or dominant voices are involved. 5. An evaluation is only useful if it leads to action. Insights must translate into changes in agendas, meeting design, time spent on strategy, director on-boarding, and follow-through. Without this, the exercise remains a formality. 6. The Chair sets the tone. A reflective Chair who invites feedback — including on their own role — creates the conditions for a learning and introspective board. Over time, this sets the stage for building a stronger culture in the org. Boards today face greater expectations than ever. Use evaluations as a mirror, rather than a mandate. This can make the boardroom a place of genuine learning and stronger collective leadership. Sourav Majumdar #boards #governance #leadership

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Founders hear enthusiasm from buyers and assume it signals traction. Investors watch how organisations behave and see something very different. Inside hospitals, labs, pharma, and enterprise, adoption does not fail because the product is weak. It fails because the organisation cannot absorb it. Procurement, compliance, IT security, stakeholder alignment, and budgeting cycles decide adoption long before the user ever sees the product. This week’s HealthVC breaks down how investors interpret these signals. It explains why a vocal internal champion does not equal commitment, why pilots rarely prove readiness, how investors model adoption friction, and why so many founders misread the cues that matter most. If you build in any complex environment, understanding buyer logic is not optional. It determines whether your product scales and whether your round closes. The full edition is live now on HealthVC.

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