Tete-a-Tete

Sathya Narayanaswamy and his new venture christened Parentree.in have a bagful of advice and tips for Indian parents. An MBA from Chicago GSB Sathya Narayanaswamy resigned from his managerial profiles at some of the finest companies like Lucent, Syntel and many other Silicon Valley startups to create a novel online community towards a worthy cause … parenting! Join us in understanding and lauding his efforts for baffled Indian parents

How did Parentree.in come into existence? Tell us about the core idea, funding etc.

We founded Parentree because it was really hard to gather information about the practical side of parenting in India. This included information about schools, kids activities, how to organise birthdays, etc., In addition, we found that we were turning to friends and fellow parents for advice on various topics related to upbringing – from potty training to helping our child read. We found that fellow parents were very willing to share their experiences and we benefited greatly from the ideas.

Another factor we noticed was that families were getting smaller in India, as job mobility increases, and parents were also getting busier as their work schedules were heavier. Many were turning to the web for advice on children.

So we decided to combine the web and practical advice from fellow parents, to establish Parentree. Our focus is on becoming the premier destination where parents can come to exchange information with their fellow parents who they trust the most.

We are currently funded by friends and family.

Your immediate competitor is IndiaParenting.com. What is your USP?

We differentiate ourselves from the competition in many ways

1. We focus on the practical problems that face Indian parents. Our competitors focus primarily on health. Health advice is dime-a-dozen on the web and high quality healthcare advice is easily and economically accessible in India.

2. We are a parent-to-parent site. We provide a platform that makes it easy for parents to contribute their own parenting tips, to add reviews of schools, preschools etc., As a result of this, there are many sources of information and different points of view rather than one “expert” opinion.

Why would Indian parents opt for Parentree.in over the many parenting publications at newsstands?

There are many reasons why:

1. Hear about what works – On Parentree, information is exchanged directly between parents. So a parent knows that the advice they are getting is something that has worked for a fellow parent who has experienced the same thing. In magazines, the opinion offered is usually that of an expert who has not necessarily experienced the same situation.

2. Choice - On Parentree, the user can search for and view the content they want. In a magazine, they have to consume what the editor chooses to provide. The content in a particular issue of a magazine may or may not be relevant to their current situation or to the ages of their children.

3. Convenience – The first thought that comes to everyone is that magazines are convenient to use. I however think that they are convenient to read, not to use. Let me explain what I mean by that. Many a time, we see an article in a magazine and make a mental note about how useful it is. But when the situation arises, we are not able to remember what the article said and it becomes impractical to go through the archives. Good to read, hard to use!!

Why is Parentree.in focusing exclusively on upwardly mobile parents?

Our parents are a very diverse group and no single label will fit for them. The group shares many of the following characteristics:

1. Great involvement with their children
2. Passionate and committed
3. An understanding that we are parents and thus not perfect!
4. Internet and computer savvy
5. A willingness to share their experience and benefit from others' experience

How has the response been so far?

The response has been very good. We did a soft launch on August 15 to some of our friends and family and now we are starting a broader launch.

How do you plan on monetising Parentree.in?

We plan to monetise through advertising and an online store.

Articles, journals and discussion groups are passé. How do you plan on making Parentree.in an interactive experience?

To us it is not about the labels used or the technology. We focus on the user's experience. We are constantly monitoring, learning and seeking feedback on how users interact with each other on our site. And we will use this to make the user experience at Parentree match the expectations of our users. As we grow, you will see changes coming based on our learnings from our users.

Do you’ll plan on any offline activities (parent meets, educational camps etc.)?

As we expand, these are all possibilities that we will consider.

The future of Social Networking in India?

There is great value in networks and the wisdom of crowds. There is still a lot of potential for those sites that create networks tailored towards a specific benefit and target them clearly for the Indian audience.

There is no room left for “yet another social network” startups which just seek to accumulate a large number of users. That market is taken and dominated by players like Facebook and Orkut and some of the local players.

Players like LinkedIN and Parentree, are more focused networks, that offer a clear, tangible benefit to members. There are many other opportunities for such focused networks in India.