BusinessWorld featured an article about Parentree on October 24 2008
Here is the link to the article (http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Web-Exclusives/Braving-The-Storm.html)
Here is the PDF of the article
Originally posted at:
Business World writes about Parentree
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Times of India writes about Parentree
Times of India (Chennai) featured an article about Parentree on Oct 16.
Link to article
PDF of article
Couples start networking online for parenting tips
Kamini Mathai | TNN
Chennai: With all the social networking sites doing the rounds these days, you wouldn’t think that starting a parent networking site would get you listed as one of the hottest startups in the country by TATA NEN (National Entrepreneurship Network). But that’s exactly what happened to Chennai based ex-Silicon Valley techies Sathya Narayanaswamy and his wife Shobha and a few other parents who decided to launch www.parentree.in in August, aiming it to be “a community of involved parents”.
“When we returned to Chennai with our children, we were lost. We had questions on everything from what’s a good playschool to day-trips for children and found that the best and most practical answers we got were from other parents in our son’s class,” says Sathya. “That’s when it struck us — why not share this information with all the parents out there who were also looking for answers?”
For most people, it’s always nice to know there’s another parent out there in your city feeling the same way. Or better still, a parent armed with just the answer you are looking for. That’s where networking with other parents helps. And that’s the niche need area techies with kids are trying to cater to.
Parentree deals with the practical aspects of parenting, focusing on how and where to get things done in the city you live in. The articles are written by parents who have been there, done that. “In fact, one of the founding members is Gita Dayal, who is the moderator of a yahoogroup called Bangalore Parents Group,” adds Sathya.
Another entrant is Yokibu.com, started last December by Chandrasekar Balasubramaniam and Saranathan K, both former employees at McAfee.com. They returned to Chennai with their families after a 10-year stint in the US and felt the need to connect with other parents and schools to ensure they were updated on their children’s activities.
Yokibu, though, is more than a parent networking site; their objective is to bring schools, parents and children together. Yokibu is strict about who gets to join, it’s by invitation only and although it’s free for both schools and parents, you can join only if you have a child. And only after your information has been verified and authenticated.
“Where do you get outfits for fancy dress days in school? Is there anyone in the city who offers French tuition? These are questions that every parent has, especially those who are new to the city,” says Chandrasekar. “This website will connect parents with each other and give them answers.” The site gives parents a constantly updated list of activities, camps and workshops in the city that are relevant to their child’s age group. If the child’s school is part of the network, then everything from the circulars to the activities of the school will be sent to the parent. “The idea is simple,” says Chandrasekar. “Every parent connects with the 30-other parents in his child’s class.” They currently have over 800 members.
Has it been useful? Smitha V, the principal of Sprouts Montessori School in Alwarpet and a Yokibu member, thinks so — thanks to the network she managed to inform all the parents of her school about the sudden holiday declared by the state government on September 15 this year. She found out about it on Sunday night, got on Yokibu and informed all the parents of her school. Similarly, Arul Maniyan, a parent at Aarambh, a playschool in T Nagar, posted a message on Yokibu asking his child’s classmates’ parents what he missed at the PTA meeting. Parents from his child’s class wrote him detailed messages.
Another Chennai-based site, www.yocee.in, attempts to network parents through their children. Says Revathy R, a freelance financial consultant and parent who started the site two years ago: “I found that children liked to talk about events in their schools and the city. Most of the content on my site is written by schoolchildren.” Revathy also has a “student reporters” programme where students get to write for the site.
“But I make sure that parents are present at the meetings so they get to meet each other,” she says. The site lists everything from student achievers to teacher profiles to city events. And if you think parent networking couldn’t get better — Yokibu plans to add immediate absence notification services and online PTA meetings to their site.
kamini.mathai@timesgroup.com
Originally posted at:
Times of India writes about Parentree
Link to article
PDF of article
Couples start networking online for parenting tips
Kamini Mathai | TNN
Chennai: With all the social networking sites doing the rounds these days, you wouldn’t think that starting a parent networking site would get you listed as one of the hottest startups in the country by TATA NEN (National Entrepreneurship Network). But that’s exactly what happened to Chennai based ex-Silicon Valley techies Sathya Narayanaswamy and his wife Shobha and a few other parents who decided to launch www.parentree.in in August, aiming it to be “a community of involved parents”.
“When we returned to Chennai with our children, we were lost. We had questions on everything from what’s a good playschool to day-trips for children and found that the best and most practical answers we got were from other parents in our son’s class,” says Sathya. “That’s when it struck us — why not share this information with all the parents out there who were also looking for answers?”
For most people, it’s always nice to know there’s another parent out there in your city feeling the same way. Or better still, a parent armed with just the answer you are looking for. That’s where networking with other parents helps. And that’s the niche need area techies with kids are trying to cater to.
Parentree deals with the practical aspects of parenting, focusing on how and where to get things done in the city you live in. The articles are written by parents who have been there, done that. “In fact, one of the founding members is Gita Dayal, who is the moderator of a yahoogroup called Bangalore Parents Group,” adds Sathya.
Another entrant is Yokibu.com, started last December by Chandrasekar Balasubramaniam and Saranathan K, both former employees at McAfee.com. They returned to Chennai with their families after a 10-year stint in the US and felt the need to connect with other parents and schools to ensure they were updated on their children’s activities.
Yokibu, though, is more than a parent networking site; their objective is to bring schools, parents and children together. Yokibu is strict about who gets to join, it’s by invitation only and although it’s free for both schools and parents, you can join only if you have a child. And only after your information has been verified and authenticated.
“Where do you get outfits for fancy dress days in school? Is there anyone in the city who offers French tuition? These are questions that every parent has, especially those who are new to the city,” says Chandrasekar. “This website will connect parents with each other and give them answers.” The site gives parents a constantly updated list of activities, camps and workshops in the city that are relevant to their child’s age group. If the child’s school is part of the network, then everything from the circulars to the activities of the school will be sent to the parent. “The idea is simple,” says Chandrasekar. “Every parent connects with the 30-other parents in his child’s class.” They currently have over 800 members.
Has it been useful? Smitha V, the principal of Sprouts Montessori School in Alwarpet and a Yokibu member, thinks so — thanks to the network she managed to inform all the parents of her school about the sudden holiday declared by the state government on September 15 this year. She found out about it on Sunday night, got on Yokibu and informed all the parents of her school. Similarly, Arul Maniyan, a parent at Aarambh, a playschool in T Nagar, posted a message on Yokibu asking his child’s classmates’ parents what he missed at the PTA meeting. Parents from his child’s class wrote him detailed messages.
Another Chennai-based site, www.yocee.in, attempts to network parents through their children. Says Revathy R, a freelance financial consultant and parent who started the site two years ago: “I found that children liked to talk about events in their schools and the city. Most of the content on my site is written by schoolchildren.” Revathy also has a “student reporters” programme where students get to write for the site.
“But I make sure that parents are present at the meetings so they get to meet each other,” she says. The site lists everything from student achievers to teacher profiles to city events. And if you think parent networking couldn’t get better — Yokibu plans to add immediate absence notification services and online PTA meetings to their site.
kamini.mathai@timesgroup.com
Originally posted at:
Times of India writes about Parentree
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Economic Times profiles Parentree
The Economic Times (Delhi and Ahmedabad) profiled Parentree on October 13 2008. We are still looking for the online link but here is the text of the article.
HAPPY HOMECOMING
THE MOOD may not be upbeat for those headed home today, but it has been a happy homecoming for many foreign graduates and first generation entrepreneurs who returned to India six to seven years back. They are smiling that they did. When Shashank Verma graduated from Oxford in 2005, he decided it was time for him to give his experience of working on clean projects a practical shape. “Our research on India showed there is a huge potential for clean energy,” he recalls. “We had started when oil was $40-50 per barrel and we knew it was going to go up in a big way and we have been proved right, so has our business decision.” He returned back to India the same year and was joined by two of his colleagues on the project. They launched Regena Star which makes bio-fuel conversion kits to help diesel engines run directly on plant oil. Today, Shashank is visibly happy at what he has achieved. His company has already tied-up with 1,000 farmers who will cultivate oil plants and reached out to companies who are interested in clean technology. It plans to produce oil for captive needs of companies till the time outlets are set up for general consumption.
There are many like Shashank, who have made a quiet success of their homecoming. Nandan Kamath, a Harvard law School Graduate came back and set up a sports management company, GoSports, in 2006 to connect high promising but needy sportsmen and the sponsors.
Similarly, Sathya Narayanaswamy, a Chicago Business School alumni, whose own need helped raise a company catering to young and inexperienced parents — Parentree — provides a platform to share experiences of each other and know everything about parenting.
Increasing numbers of those who chose to return to their motherland are setting up ventures to pursue their dreams of meaningful engagement and helping the society at large. “The need and trigger for such efforts could be varied but one thing is for sure, youngsters today don’t hesitate to take that chance and with better funding scenario, they will surely be better off.” says Laura Parkin, executive director, NEN.
Nandan Kamath’s, always rued the missing connect between sportsmen and sponsors that led many youngsters to quit their sporting careers. And that gave birth to his firm, GoSports. Says Kamath, “As youngsters all of us have played serious sports and we knew the challenges talented athletes face in securing access to funding and highquality services, hence we hoped an initiative in this direction would be a great success.” GoSports helps promising athletes by securing access to training, advisory, monitoring and representation services, sponsorships and other personal development opportunities. The sporting and consequent financial success of the athlete becomes the financial success of the company as the company retains a stake in their future earnings from various sources. GoSport already has a dozen players as its clients and aims to be 3-4 times its own size by the next Olympic.
Similarly, Parentree was also the outcome of a lesson learnt the hard way. Sathya Narayanaswamy, struggled to source the right and authentic information as an young parent. That gave him an idea and he launched Parentree, a site devoted to the practical aspects of parenting in India like reviews of schools and pre-schools, good books, reliable coaching classes and sports camps, good parenting practices, child development focusing on intelligence and parent to parent interaction et al. “It’s an organised approach to tackle those problems,” says Narayanaswamy. “I have gone through it myself and could well understand the need for such a venture.”
Originally posted at:
Economic Times profiles Parentree
HAPPY HOMECOMING
THE MOOD may not be upbeat for those headed home today, but it has been a happy homecoming for many foreign graduates and first generation entrepreneurs who returned to India six to seven years back. They are smiling that they did. When Shashank Verma graduated from Oxford in 2005, he decided it was time for him to give his experience of working on clean projects a practical shape. “Our research on India showed there is a huge potential for clean energy,” he recalls. “We had started when oil was $40-50 per barrel and we knew it was going to go up in a big way and we have been proved right, so has our business decision.” He returned back to India the same year and was joined by two of his colleagues on the project. They launched Regena Star which makes bio-fuel conversion kits to help diesel engines run directly on plant oil. Today, Shashank is visibly happy at what he has achieved. His company has already tied-up with 1,000 farmers who will cultivate oil plants and reached out to companies who are interested in clean technology. It plans to produce oil for captive needs of companies till the time outlets are set up for general consumption.
There are many like Shashank, who have made a quiet success of their homecoming. Nandan Kamath, a Harvard law School Graduate came back and set up a sports management company, GoSports, in 2006 to connect high promising but needy sportsmen and the sponsors.
Similarly, Sathya Narayanaswamy, a Chicago Business School alumni, whose own need helped raise a company catering to young and inexperienced parents — Parentree — provides a platform to share experiences of each other and know everything about parenting.
Increasing numbers of those who chose to return to their motherland are setting up ventures to pursue their dreams of meaningful engagement and helping the society at large. “The need and trigger for such efforts could be varied but one thing is for sure, youngsters today don’t hesitate to take that chance and with better funding scenario, they will surely be better off.” says Laura Parkin, executive director, NEN.
Nandan Kamath’s, always rued the missing connect between sportsmen and sponsors that led many youngsters to quit their sporting careers. And that gave birth to his firm, GoSports. Says Kamath, “As youngsters all of us have played serious sports and we knew the challenges talented athletes face in securing access to funding and highquality services, hence we hoped an initiative in this direction would be a great success.” GoSports helps promising athletes by securing access to training, advisory, monitoring and representation services, sponsorships and other personal development opportunities. The sporting and consequent financial success of the athlete becomes the financial success of the company as the company retains a stake in their future earnings from various sources. GoSport already has a dozen players as its clients and aims to be 3-4 times its own size by the next Olympic.
Similarly, Parentree was also the outcome of a lesson learnt the hard way. Sathya Narayanaswamy, struggled to source the right and authentic information as an young parent. That gave him an idea and he launched Parentree, a site devoted to the practical aspects of parenting in India like reviews of schools and pre-schools, good books, reliable coaching classes and sports camps, good parenting practices, child development focusing on intelligence and parent to parent interaction et al. “It’s an organised approach to tackle those problems,” says Narayanaswamy. “I have gone through it myself and could well understand the need for such a venture.”
Originally posted at:
Economic Times profiles Parentree
Friday, August 29, 2008
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Originally posted at:
Checkout our Facebook page
Parentree's page on Facebook
Originally posted at:
Checkout our Facebook page
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Parentree - Birth Announcement
Name: Parentree - An Indian parenting community
Date of birth: August 15 2008
Place of birth: www.parentree.in
Today, we are pleased to announce the birth of Parentree, an Indian parenting community. As with all parents, we are very excited that this day has arrived, after all the hard work put in by the entire team here.
Like with any newborn, close friends and family have been requested to visit the site during the initial period.
Our technical team is still working away on ironing some of the kinks that are left. As these get sorted out, we expect to broaden our exposure.
We look forward to making Parentree, the leading destination for Indian parents.
From,
The very excited Parentree Team
Originally posted at:
Parentree - Birth Announcement
Date of birth: August 15 2008
Place of birth: www.parentree.in
Today, we are pleased to announce the birth of Parentree, an Indian parenting community. As with all parents, we are very excited that this day has arrived, after all the hard work put in by the entire team here.
Like with any newborn, close friends and family have been requested to visit the site during the initial period.
Our technical team is still working away on ironing some of the kinks that are left. As these get sorted out, we expect to broaden our exposure.
We look forward to making Parentree, the leading destination for Indian parents.
From,
The very excited Parentree Team
Originally posted at:
Parentree - Birth Announcement
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