Follow your Heart

Ever wondered why kids don’t stick to books for long? Sonia Swaroop Choksi did, she is a woman who is role model to many. Her thinking cells went into overdrive and she co-founded goDiscover, which manufactures smart, interactive books

Name: Sonia Swaroop Choksi

Mum to: Anaya Choksi

What I do now: I am the co-founder of goDiscover. We make interactive books. With the technology we use and our innovations, our products are the first truly interactive books – they can be read like a book, everything written in them can be heard through a pen-shaped device and one can record on these paper books (and can hear ourselves back too). This enables a proper conversation with any book that we develop. We have also developed re-recordable stickers that can be pasted anywhere with any recorded notes or information and can be replayed, re-recorded etc. Our products have a decent range and diversity in terms of who can use them. They work for parents and teachers who spend time with children to make learning a holistic process and wish that they could develop their own books. They also works for parents and teachers who get limited by existing content in the books and wish for an interactive accessory where they can explain in their own language, in their own learning style. These books also work for people across social strata, offering a different value proposition to low income groups, middle class and high income groups. We offer a wide range of utility for people with special needs, with different linguistic backgrounds and for people who can’t read and write for various reasons.

The start-up saga: I got started when I saw the technology where content written on a book could be heard through a device. Initially it seemed like a bad idea to include technology and gadgets with something so calm and quiet like a book but we soon realised that this could actually fill the gap where paper books cease to interest children, especially when they are too young to be able to read and write. We then innovated and developed this technology to a point where the user can also record and playback on each paper of each book that we develop. When this happened, we realised that books can now be totally interactive with scope for to-and-fro communication. We wanted to develop a complete product and see the market response and thought that the World Book Fair in New Delhi would be a good platform to introduce it to thousands of people who visit there. The book fair was unimaginably close but we managed to launch our set of books and with the overwhelming response, we continued and are developing more now.

The Challenges I faced:  These were both on the personal and professional front. Topmost being time. Being a mother to a toddler, pulling out enough time to develop and launch a new product is a good-enough challenge. And then, my product being a mix of books and toys comes into a whole new category and is not as easy as being able to plug – either publishing or the toy industry. We are spending a lot of time, setting up our team – both for roles within the company and for distributor / sales partner network across the country. India, though a significant hub for startups, has no supporting environment for us… in finding the right mix of people to team up with, ways to manage distributor monopolies, government rules, patents and copyrights for innovations – they never feel safe enough. As a startup, what we have is our innovation, our ideas and our products. The brand name and credibility comes much later. But there is nothing that can make us feel safe and encouraged about the innovation, the product, the USP…nothing.

How I overcame them: We haven’t overcome the challenges in creating our own distribution network yet but we should be able to do it very soon. What we have done on this is that we have shared our plans with several people – experts and non-experts, industry partners and consumers, and have listened to everything each of them had to say and suggest. And then, we have trusted our intuitions, logic and lots of people who showed interest in our products.

Where I want to be in 2015: in 2015, goDiscover will be a fairly known brand for worthwhile interactive products. The brand will be appreciated in the education, gift and learning industries and would have a special recall value and dedicated customer base in utility products for special needs.

Listen up, budding mumpreneurs: Follow your heart. There is absolutely nothing right or wrong about working moms, just do what your heart says. You can never make a wrong decision for your child or you if you are clear on what you want and you are aware that you have made a choice!

Find out more about this mumpreneur’s work at www.godiscover.in