Nitin Pandey had never thought of starting a business, but his five-year stint in the education sector, during which he had extensive interactions with parents, set him up on the road to entrepreneurship. “More often than not, my discussions with parents would veer from academics to the bigger challenge they were facing: Raising their kids right—education was just one aspect,” says Pandey.
Issues ranged from time crunch faced by parents and lack of an extended family support to making choices related to children’s upbringing and health. “While there were several credible platforms for parents in other countries, I could not find a venture focused on solving the Indian parent’s challenges. It compelled me to found one,” says 36-year-old Pandey.
As a part of his business research, Pandey went about meeting parents at their homes, offices and stood outside schools—with a handycam and a tripod to record the conversations. The research involved more than 2,000 parents across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad. “In hindsight, the idea to record the interactions was one of best I had, as it enabled me to go deeper into those conversations and better analyse pain points,” says Pandey.
The conversations led to three major insights: Parents don’t want information from Google—they want validated, trusted advice; they want to connect with real people, not unknown online profiles; and they want personalised solutions. Pandey’s answer to all these needs was: A