An entrepreneur, Surbhi Jain, who was born and raised in a small town, Lawa, Rajasthan, which has a population of only 5,000 people strived all her life for a basic education right. The town where she was born and lived has no teachers for crucial subjects like physics or math in a government school. Surbhi studied on her own for the majority of her school years because her town lacked decent private teachers.
Her entrepreneurial journey started in 2020 when COVID-19 hit the world. Surbhi and her whole family have contracted coronavirus. Because of COVID-19, she started facing sleep problems. Before the infection, she had sound sleep but after that, she was unable to sleep properly. She realizes for the first time how tough it is for those who can’t sleep in general. This made her recognize the severity of the problem while also highlighting the scarcity of appropriate tools and ideas to address it.
The Neend app, which includes sleep stories, Nidra-inspired stories, and relaxing music to assist sleep, was developed and launched after months of research. Neend began by providing content in both Hindi and English. Surbhi collaborated on content for Neend with a number of specialists and creators. She noted that while an app that was created outside of India may have a fan base in India, they are not always relatable.
Surbhi explained that multiple elements affecting our sleep include our lifestyle, physical health, emotional wellness, and external environment. And it differs from person to person. She started with peaceful content for users to relax, such as bedtime stories, music, and meditation, because relaxation is the most important stage before sleeping. Neend is a one-size-fits-all solution for everyone.
Surbhi’s goal is to provide material in regional languages because she believes that familiarity and the capacity to passively consume content are important factors in relaxation. She learned through a number of user interviews that people who use English as a daily language also prefer to listen to things in their mother tongue for relaxation and sleep. “You don’t have to work hard to understand it, and you can passively absorb it, which will help you relax rather than keep your brain engaged,” she explains.