• Koenig is today a successful IT training company serving a global clientele.
• However, Koenig was not always so successful. In November 1993, Koenig was born as an unremarkable training center located in a congested part of Delhi – Patel Nagar.
• The Indian IT training industry was very competitive and Koenig struggled to survive.
• Koenig had its moments of glory but they were short lived and far in between.
• “It was a challenge to pay the monthly salary bill and we could only survive because of financial support from my father’s company Essen Deinki “– Rohit Aggarwal (Founder & CEO)
• In short, Koenig was a loss making enterprise.

Near Death Experience #1

• The dotcom boom followed by the bust in 2000-2001 took down with it many an IT company.
• Koenig would also have met the same fate but for rapid “downsizing” and an “idea”.
• “When we were aggressively downsizing I could not ignore the fact that in almost every class we had 1-2 students from Europe. We thought that if we give a training package including hotel, it will be more convenient for the student coming from Europe. We did our calculations and it seemed a win-win for Koenig and European customers.” - Rohit Aggarwal.
• Andy Sau, an IT professional from UK was Koenig’s first customer for the MCSE package. Andy was happy with the training and agreed to be our referral.
• This gave us encouragement. We started receiving students regularly and business grew exponentially.
• Koenig kept on improving infrastructure and services. Based upon customer feedback, Koenig established centers in picturesque locations such as Shimla, Goa and Dubai.
• Competitors took note of us and many establishments tried to emulate us not only in India but also in China, Thailand, Philippines and East Europe.
• They met with varying degrees of success but Koenig maintained its # 1 position.
• Initially we thought that if we can get 10 students every month it will be a great achievement. This target was achieved in 2004. Soon the true potential of Offshore Training dawned on us. We set a target of 100 students per month which we achieved in 2009.
• Then we broadened our focus. Not just classroom training, we also started offering Live Online training and Fly-Me-A-Trainer options.

Near Death Experience #2

• Business kept growing till 2015 and then we again had a near-death experience.
• The oil crisis of 2015 hit us badly because of our dependence on oil exporting countries.
• “My father was no more. I looked heaven-wards. I heard a voice to go back to the basics.” – Rohit Aggarwal
• Over the boom years we had lost sight of the importance of cost control. This over-sight was a time bomb. We analyzed every cost minutely and relentlessly aligned them with business results. We were breathing again by end of 2016.

Near Death Experience #3

• The Covid pandemic suspended class room training, which was our main business. In 2020 our revenue dropped to a nadir and we were again into losses with a bleak future. We pivoted towards live online. Fortunately, customers also made the same switch. It was a scare, but nothing compared to the first two NDEs.
• We don't believe in the optimistic fiction of living happily ever after. There are greater challenges ahead.