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Dyumna Madan & Shivom Sood - Founders of Project Clay
“Entrepreneurship is in my genes.”
This is what Dyumna Madan, founder of Project Clay, said on national television when she appeared on Shark Tank India Season 4, causing several wide-eyed moments from the sharks.
When Startup Pedia spoke to her in an exclusive interview, Dyumna revealed, “I and my co-founder have been working at least 16 hours a day and dedicating them fully to our startup. Then we try to squeeze an additional two hours for our college.”
At the age of 15, Dyumna Madan founded Project Clay as a global startup that aimed to offer a free alternative for summer schools in India. This was back in 2020.
A lot happened in the next four years. Dyumna went to the Woodstock Boarding School in Mussoorie. She met Shivom Sood there (who later became Project Clay’s co-founder).
The duo received a grant of Rs 2.25 lakh from Ankur Warikoo. Project Clay started in full swing, although in a slightly different direction after Warikoo’s guidance.
And…
Dyumna, at the age of 19, along with Shivom, appeared on Shark Tank India Season 4.
Also Read: Delhi Startup Builds AI Platform That Simplifies Study Abroad, Educational Tours
THE BEGINNING
Hailing from Goa, Dyumna Madan has grown up in a family that values entrepreneurship, innovation, and business.
While her mother is a fashion designer, her father has his factory.
“My parents have never been skeptical about my desire to start something of my own. They've only been encouraging,” says Dyumna, while talking to Startup Pedia
She adds, “When I started Project Clay in 2020 and started gathering students and adding real value, my father knew I was on to something.”
Before Project Clay took shape, Dyumna and her brother had generated a total of Rs 8 lakhs through a home-based bakery business.
At 15 years of age, Dyumna Madan wanted to join a summer school. But there was a problem.
She says, “Summer schools are extremely expensive. I saw a problem and wanted to solve it. I decided to make my own summer school.”
This was how Project Clay was established with a simple but impactful mission: make studying abroad easier and simpler for students.
Dyumna began emailing 1,000+ college students from around the world and asked them to teach high schoolers in India for free.
Only 20 people accepted the request, but that was substantial enough for Project Clay.
Dyumna says, “In the beginning, I did a lot of grunt work. And honestly, I didn't despise it one bit. Yes, emailing 1000 people is a task. But I knew it would amount to something.”
And amount to something it did…
In 2020 alone, Project Clay’s free-of-charge summer school was attended by 800 students.
Next year, the same program saw a dramatic rise to a student attendance of 4,000 from 30+ countries across the globe.
For her 11th standard, Dyumna went to boarding school at the Woodstock Boarding School in Mussoorie.
There she met Shivom Sood, her batchmate, who would often explain mathematics to her. (Usually at the last night before the exam).
Eventually, Shivom also joined Project Clay as a co-founder and started taking care of everything for the startup.
“Shivom knows sales and numbers inside out. Market division, TAM, SAM — everything. Even though he fully joined just six months ago, we already make a great team,” shares Dyumna with Startup Pedia.
In December 2023, Dyumna and Shivom received Rs 2.25 lakhs from finance influencer and entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo at Masters’ Union.
Dyumna says, “Ankur sir guided us thoroughly. He saw a lot of potential in what we were doing at Project Clay but was of the opinion that a one-on-one mentorship would be a better, more scalable, and value-adding model. So we pivoted Project Clay to a study abroad startup that aims to bring a revolution in the traditional career counselling industry in the country.”
After school, Dyumna took a gap year, shifted to Bangalore alone, worked at two edtech startups, and gained experience.
Currently 19 years old, she is studying Economics at the Boston Northeastern University. Shivom, on the other hand, is studying finance at Atlanta’s Emory University.
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PROJECT CLAY: WHERE DREAM UNIVERSITIES COME CLOSER
Career counselling, especially in the study abroad realm in the country, is mostly dominated by big agencies and individual consultants who help students understand their options in terms of international universities, eligibility, and scholarships.
At Project Clay, young entrepreneurs Dyumna and Shivom argue that a “personal touch” is missing in the market.
Speaking to Startup Pedia, Dyumna says, “Career counsellers are often tied-up with certain universities that give them a commission on every student they send to it. This vested interest often taints the entire process. How does a student truly know if they're suited to that university?”
Also Read: Kolkata Entrepreneur Builds 3-in-1 Tool To Replace Asana, Jira, Hubstaff; Eyes $1 Mn ARR.
Project Clay is a study abroad startup that takes a different, more personal approach.
Dyumna and Shivom call it the “elder sibling approach.”
The startup connects school students with current students who are studying at their dream universities. These students act as mentors for the aspirants, hand-holding them like a sibling, and giving them extensive feedback on their essays, SOPs, and resumes.
Dyumna Madan explains, “The process is pretty simple. Imagine Ravi is a 12th grader at a school in Mumbai. He wants to get into Warwick Business School in England. So he jumps on Project Clay’s website, enters the college name, and instantly gets connected to Rehan, a student who is currently studying at Warwick.”
“Rehan will then help Ravi with his college application, telling him what would work and what wouldn't, the main gaps he finds in his essay, and how Ravi can improve his resume. The USP here is that Rehan knows the inside out of the college. He would be equipped to help Ravi in a more personal, informed manner,” she adds.
Currently, Project Clay has 500+ vetted mentors from 10+ study-abroad locations around the world.
The “near-peer” model gives school students or aspiring students who want to study abroad a chance to connect one-on-one with someone who can give their application feedback that is rooted in information and lived experience.
For an amount of Rs 2,500, students get:
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Expert guidance from top university mentors.
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Personalized support tailored to teens.
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Committed mentors who go the extra mile.
THE SHARK TANK INDIA MILESTONE
The study abroad startup featured on Shark Tank India Season 4 and blew everyone’s mind.
Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, Peeyush Bansal, and Namita Thapar praised Dyumna for her energy and conviction and Shivom for his groundedness and balance.
They asked for Rs 15 lakhs in exchange for a 10% equity and received the same deal from Namita Thapar. This was against a valuation of Rs 1.2 crore.
Towards the end of the pitch and the deal, Namita Thapar told Anupam Mittal, “For a girl that age who pushes you to think something, she’s got something.”
Dyumna Madan says, “Since the episode aired, we've got more leads in 72 hours than in the last six months. It's been crazy!”
GROWTH STORY
In 2024, Project Clay generated a revenue of Rs 22,900 in June, Rs 41,800 in July, Rs 90,600 in August, and Rs 1,05,000 in September.
The startup is projected to close FY25 with a revenue of Rs 37 lakhs, with plans to grow 10x in FY26 and sit at a figure of Rs 3.7 crore.
Since the episode was shot in October 2024, Project Clay has seen its customers (school students who took one-on-one mentorship) secure admissions in universities like Warwick and the London School of Economics. The startup also saw one student get a scholarship of $80,000.
Dyumna Madan signs off by saying, “That’s the kind of real-world impact that Project Clay has had. More college results will come in by March and we’re very hopeful. I am taking another gap year so I can focus fully on building Project Clay and expanding it to include more students on a global scale. Dream universities will no longer feel out of reach.”