Math Problems? No Problem! Says IIT Kharagpur graduate - The StudyPad Story

Spend a moment remembering what your school was like. Did you ever really enjoy the math classes? Do you remember those monotonous worksheets? Next Monday morning when your child gets on Splash Math, their experience will not be the same. They will actually fall in love with math!In conversation with Mayank Jain, co-founder of StudyPad.inc, Abhilasha Dafria for YourStory.in finds out how he aims to inviting teachers, parents and their children to experience an innovation in educational methodology - Splash Math.

Mayank, please introduce us to the concept of Studypadinc and the makers behind.

We are a team of 5 computer science graduates from IIT KGP 2008 batch and we started a company called Intinno from college. It did LMS, ERP solutions for schools, colleges in India. With time, as we looked at the iPad and the possibilities it laid out, we realised this could change the way we learn. It was quite obviously an awesome platform for fun interactive learning. So, we decided to make educational apps for iPad & iPhones. We also learnt that the market penetration for iPads, iPhones was most in US and thus, we developed fun math applications for elementary school kids in US.

Tell us in detail about the features of the app. Which feature are you most excited about? 

Our app “Splash Math” replaces boring Math practice worksheets with fun interactive math games. Our focus is basically on creating an interactive and engaging experience. Besides, Splash Math uses StudyPad's adaptive learning platform to personalise the questions based on kid's level. It is one of the most comprehensive workbook available with virtually infinite problems to solve. It also reports a unique feature of email reports - i.e Every Saturday morning a report goes out detailing good areas and areas where the kid needs attention. Parents can thereby help the kid over the weekend.

When and where did you come up with the first prototype?

April 2011, was when we launched Splash Math 3^rd grade on the app store. It covered 16 chapters making it the most comprehensive math app in the market. We have an amazing set of advisors in US. They helped us understand the needs of the parents and teachers there. We also spoke to lot of teachers and parents and zeroed in on Math apps as the way to go.

How much time did it take to build the app? 

We took about 6 months for building our first app.

So why iPad to begin with? For several reasons, some of which being:

Use of Tablet Devices in Education is the next big thing. There are amazing success stories of the difference these devices are bringing to the classrooms are all over the place. Ipad is the leader in the tablet market with about 68% market share. Rate of iPad sales have been greater than even iPhone sales. Larger Screen Size allows great learning experience. Lot of School Districts in US are trying out iPads in the classrooms as well.

So are you not looking at launching on other platforms at all?

Well, we are planning an Android and Web version in future.

How do you market the app?

The Apple App Store is a great place to market. So we are looking at that. Splash Math apps are currently in the top 50 earning education apps. All our apps are rated 4.5+ on 5 on the app store.

What features are you planning to add to the app soon?

We are planning to add some custom features for schools and also looking at introducing the Grade 4 and Grade 5 apps.

Tell us about the number of downloads you have had so far. How has the response been?

Basically, all our apps have been in the top 100 grossing educational apps since the launch. And we have been growing at more than 100% every month since our launch.

What challenges do you face as an entrepreneur in mobile app space in India? 

Well, the biggest hurdle is that the Indian Market is not developed enough. It is also not easy to get good creative talent in India. And of course, selling in US sitting in India is yet another challenge.

Are there any other similar apps in the market? What are your differentiators?

There are concept based apps in the market like Fractions app, Addition app etc. However, Splash Math is an all in one app eliminating the hassle of buying separate apps for each concept. Also, most of the apps are not curriculum based. Parents need to choose & setup the app for the kid's level. Splash Math is setup automatically for the kid's current grade level. Splash Math has interactive content. We use interactive manipulatives to effectively communicate concepts.

Any thing else that you would like to share with our readers?

There are about 7million kids per grade just in US. This is just the beginning for us and there is huge market looking for the right tools to learn. We, at StudyPad, are building great learning applications to make learning fun :)

Check out Studypadinc for further details.