Amit Mishra tells Anchal sharma that since there are so many edutech products in the market, there is need to bring information to the stakeholders
Tell us about your ventureIJ
Each parent has time and again gone through the pain of going to market several times, leaving all else behind, to get one particular set of sock or shoes as required. These things have a habit of getting easily out of stock warranting a search of entire market or asking each and everyone be it teachers or other parents. The same applies with uniform, text books, and other small and big requirements.
We aim to solve problems of two primary groups. First, parents. We aspire to be a portal of first choice, from the first step of learning that a child takes to the entire lifetime of education. Second, vendors. We talked to the different vendors to understand why isn’t there an online option, we got to know about the challenges that are faced at the vendor end. We are building solutions for these people to create value for the ecosystem, convenience and comfort.
How does the idea came about this ventureIJ
The idea essentially came from what we call a scratching our own itch. I am a parent myself and have endured the pain of standing in queues, rushing to shops for exchanges, looking around for suitable extra-curricular classes for my kids. With us shopping online for almost all other things, we were quite surprised to see that there are no options to get curricular and extra-curricular products online. That when we decided to do it ourselves.
What is main aim of this projectIJ
Our vision is to be the portal of first choice, from the first step of learning that a child takes, to the entire lifetime of education and development related needs. We want to build an education ecosystem where parents and providers/sellers can engage in transactions, share knowledge and disseminate information. We want to reduce the gap between aspiration and information for kids whether they belong to metro cities or are from tier IV towns or villages.
What was the most challenging part of your journey till nowIJ
The whole concept took roughly eight weeks to move from idea to revenue stage, however with each step that we have taken forward we realised several challenges that are unique to our company or are on account of the industry.
While the ecommerce market has boomed in India, the challenges towards reaching out to customer and making us stand out among the crowd continues to remain.
How can e-commerce transform the education ecosystemIJ
E-commerce works because it gives us not only choices and convenience but a platform where you can make informed decisions based on experience of others. One not only gets to know the options out there but also which are the good ones.
Add to it the current scenario where education is simply not what a child learns in school, but diverse activities such as sports, music, hobbies, drama are equally important and sought after. Additionally, there is a plethora of path breaking EdTech products out there making a large difference which a parent simply can’t know about. Education is one thing a parent never compromises and we aim to create a platform which will bridge the gap between aspiration and information.
What we aspire to do is build a platform where stakeholders, parents, kids, sellers, service providers, institutes, can plug themselves and build an education community serving and helping each other while scaling up their individual businesses and aspirations.
What are your future plansIJ
India today has more than 300 million students (at different level) across the country. They all have some common needs. We as company, see huge potential for integration of these needs and solutions. We are building/connecting solutions for/with stakeholders and helping them meet their needs and solve their challenges.
The prospects of growth are tremendous as we have but taken a small step now. We are currently present in four cities (Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderbad and Pune) and plan to have our footprints in all the cities across the country.