The Indian Startup Show

Surbhi Jain, Founder of Neend. On Building an app that aims to help people sleep better.

Mar 13, 2024

Surbhi Jain, founder of Neend, discusses her journey of creating an app to help people sleep better, addressing topics like traction, funding, dealing with competition, and handling criticism. She shares insights on investing in startups, tips for improving sleep quality, thoughts on blue light glasses, scaling the business, and navigating workplace biases and double standards.

25:43

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Surbhi Jain

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Investors prioritize market size and founder quality, highlighting the importance of confident leadership and potential market impact.

Neend's origin from the founder's insomnia battle led to rapid organic growth, utilizing diverse user engagement and holistic sleep solutions.

Deep dives

Investor Priorities: Market Size and Founders

Investors in early stages prioritize two main factors: the market size and the quality of the founders. The confidence in a large market potential and the right leadership outweigh other considerations. Even if the product may initially be imperfect, a substantial market and capable founders instill confidence in the eventual success of the venture.

Introduction

1min

Building an App to Improve Sleep Quality

16min

Key Factors in Pitching to VCs and Team Structure

2min

Navigating Workplace Biases and Double Standards

2min

Founders' Advice and Wellness App Business Insights

4min

Making India sleep better: More than 55% of Indian adults face trouble falling asleep at least three nights a week. Today, I speak with Surbhi Jain, the founder of Neend, a free app offering stories, soothing sleep sounds, meditation, and more to help users unwind and nod off.

Launched in 2021, Surbhi shares how she started this journey after contracting Covid and struggling with sleep issues. She released the MVP on YouTube, experiencing significant organic growth. Surbhi discusses building a consumer app in the wellness space, addressing topics like traction, funding, her background, dealing with competition, and a referral scheme that didn't work out.

She also shares insights into investing in startups, revealing what she looks for and her thoughts on the wellness space. Finally, Surbhi talks about handling criticism of her WhatsApp display picture by an unnamed investor and much more!

In this conversation we also talk about: