Founder of Hitbullseye and the Mind Tree School Group, Madan has spent nearly three decades building an education ecosystem that has guided lakhs of students. (Special Arrangement/Enhanced using AI)For Hiresh Madan, education has never been just a profession. It has been a lifelong mission to help students realise their academic and career aspirations.Founder of Hitbullseye and the Mind Tree School Group, Madan has spent nearly three decades building an education ecosystem that has guided lakhs of students. What began with helping classmates prepare for examinations has grown into one of North India’s leading education enterprises.Roots that shaped the visionRaised in a middle-class family in Himachal Pradesh, Madan studied in a government school where his mother, a teacher, instilled in him the values that would define his career. His father encouraged him to think beyond conventional career paths and eventually supported his entrepreneurial ambitions.Also Read | Teaching the future: Why Punjab is putting AI into every classroomA bright student, Madan ranked among the state’s top performers in the Class 8 and Class 10 board examinations. He went on to study Mechanical Engineering before topping his MBA programme at Pune University. Even as a student, he was known for mentoring classmates and juniors, discovering an aptitude for teaching that would later become his profession.Building HitbullseyeIn 1998, Madan and his MBA batchmates, Deepak and Sanjay, founded Hitbullseye in Chandigarh after identifying the growing demand for quality management entrance coaching.The early years were marked by financial constraints, but the institute steadily expanded as India’s management education sector grew. Scaling from just 60 students to nearly 5,000 brought fresh challenges, particularly in maintaining academic quality. Madan responded by investing in structured processes, technology and high-quality academic content to ensure that growth did not come at the cost of standards.Also Read | From Kilimanjaro to Mohali: The entrepreneur who bet on PunjabExpanding beyond coachingThe venture soon diversified beyond test preparation. In 2005, the group established its first Mind Tree School in Ambala. Since then, it has expanded into a network of CBSE schools while also partnering with engineering colleges across India by providing academic content, faculty training and technology-enabled learning solutions.Story continues below this adPreparing for the AI futureTechnology has remained central to Madan’s approach. Hitbullseye launched its website in 1999, well before digital learning became mainstream, and has continually adapted to changing educational needs.Also Read | Top 10 Self-Made Women Entrepreneurs in India: Radha Vembu tops list, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw at second spotThe organisation is now developing an AI-powered personalised learning platform designed to tailor education to individual learning styles. Madan also envisions providing free multilingual educational resources to underprivileged students through AI-enabled platforms, making quality learning more accessible across India.A legacy of impactMadan credits his family’s support for much of his journey. While his father encouraged him to pursue entrepreneurship, he describes his wife as the pillar who enabled him to devote himself fully to building the organisation.For him, success is measured not by the number of institutions he has established but by the achievements of his students. Seeing former learners emerge as CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry leaders remains his greatest reward. Guided by the principles of fairness, meritocracy and transparency, Madan continues to pursue a single goal: leveraging technology to expand access to quality education and create opportunities for future generations.