India, Aug. 12 -- Bengaluru-based upskilling startup Masai School learned a lesson the hard way.

Its pay-after-placement model began scorching its coffers when the startup ecosystem went into a two-year funding winter that drew a freeze on hiring and slammed the brakes on expansion. The edtech startup saw its revenue decline 11.43% from INR 36.84 Cr in FY23 to INR 33.06 Cr in FY24.

It wasn't steep, but it blew the lid off a reality that the company could not preempt since it set sail in 2019.

Founder trio Prateek Shukla, Nrupul Dev and Yogesh Bhat designed Masai School to offer full-stack development and data analytics courses based on the 'pay after placement' model and ran the show on income sharing agreements (ISAs).

Students signe...