Pankaj Sijairya, a celebrated chemistry educator and senior faculty member at the edtech unicorn Physics Wallah, recently opened up about the professional and financial collapse he faced before joining the platform.
Speaking at a TEDxHBTU event, Sijairya revealed that he had lost his entire life’s savings in a failed 2017 startup venture.
The educator, widely known as Pankaj Sir, used the platform to explain how the lessons learned during his lowest point paved the way for his eventual success in the creator economy.
In 2017, Sijairya took a massive career risk by leaving a stable teaching position in Indore to launch a dark kitchen (a delivery-only restaurant that lacks a physical dining space) called Sizzi’s Kitchen.
Despite personal dedication and 20-hour workdays, the business suffered a fatal blow when a competitor poached its head chef, resulting in poor food quality and negative digital reviews.
The failure left Sijairya in a state of financial ruin, forcing him to rely on his brother for basic living expenses while struggling with severe self-doubt about his future in education.
The turning point for Pankaj Sir came during the 2020 pandemic when he began filming chemistry lectures from his home in Jhansi using a whiteboard and a vintage camcorder.
Despite the lack of professional equipment, he committed to a rigorous schedule, often spending 12 hours in his makeshift studio to produce just two hours of high-quality content.
This consistency caught the attention of the leadership at Physics Wallah, one of the leading edtech companies in India, who eventually recruited him as a foundational member of their faculty.
Sijairya’s transition from an independent YouTube creator to a departmental lead highlights the importance of adaptability within the modern education sector.
Beyond his role as a teacher, he now leverages the management skills he gained from his failed startup to oversee content and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives at Physics Wallah as the Chief Content Officer.
He noted that his early failure was actually a crucial “learning phase” that prepared him for the high-pressure environment of a rapidly scaling startup.
Reflecting on his journey for the aspiring students at his alma mater, Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTU), Sijairya emphasized that success often follows a “sign curve” (a mathematical curve that describes a smooth periodic oscillation) of peaks and valleys.
He urged creators to maintain consistency and always be ready for the “four seasons” of opportunities that life presents. Sijairya continues to teach major batches on the Physics Wallah platform, which serves over 10 million students across India.
