Doctor or engineer, pilot or journalist: this app guides youngsters along right career path

Hatch Tact Innovations has raised funding from mothers who have been users of the Pinwi app during its research and beta phase

Pinwi, an offering of Hatch Tact Innovations, stands for Play-Interest-Wise, and is a data-driven mobile app that introduces an interest-focused approach towards child development, while helping parents understand the interests and support the natural instincts of their child, rather than foisting a career on them.

Over the years, several new career options have opened up, allowing youngsters to break free from the age-old engineer-doctor straitjacket. However, too many options often lead to confusion, with a side dish of stress, as parents and the children themselves keep second guessing their choices.

What Pinwi is all about

Pinwi is a brainchild of Founder Rachna Khanna and Co-founder Ankit Kesarwani. Hatch Tact Innovations is focused on creating data-driven innovations. Founded in February 2015, Pinwi raised their angel round of funding in August 2016. The Gurugram-based venture is currently focusing on parents with children aged between six and 13 years. Rachna says,

In a sentence, the app takes the role of a neutral counsellor who can guide them regarding their child’s interests.

Pinwi is backed by a team of like-minded professionals, mothers, teachers, educators, and a developmental psychologist who put their minds together to develop Pinwi as a value proposition for parents to empower their decision making.

The thought behind Pinwi

Rachna had been working in the media industry for 12 years in marketing and communication roles. In 2012, she took a break. After some months, when she decided to update her resume, she noticed how disconnected it was. She had studied to be an architect, but was working in media. She was again looking to switch careers because she wasn’t happy with where she was. During her sabbatical, she realised that when one’s choices are a result of personal motivation, one is likely to do well for oneself. Rachna recalls, “I realised our decisions were not based on what we want but on what others expect from us.”

Rachna started thinking about how children could be guided into choosing what they really want to study and make a career out of. And this gap ignited an idea, which is now Pinwi.

Pinwi is a smart app that is built on the principles of child development and learning and backed by months of intense research on what frames our interests. The app uses a proprietary data-driven interest mapping methodology to examine data that is collected directly from children over a period of time. The app offers personalised insights into what drives a child’s interest and recommends activities based on these insights. It has a separate user interface for parents and children, creating a unique app experience for both.

How the app works

Every parent struggles to make sense of their children’s likes and dislikes. They wonder why their children get bored of activities so quickly; or why what they once loved doesn’t excite them anymore; or what will their children enjoy and gain most from. While most mindful parents may intuitively recognise their children's preferences, there is no easy and objective way for them to know what truly drives their child’s interests. Pinwi uses this simple insight and helps parents listen to children on a daily basis through a gamified interactive mobile interface.

Children’s interests are driven by what makes them happy and what they enjoy doing more. The easiest way to know what makes children enjoy is to simply ask them. Pinwi draws from this simple insight and encourages parents to let their children self-report their likes and dislikes by using Pinwi on a daily basis. Just 10 minutes on Pinwi is enough. On the app, children can,

* Rate activities they do every day - at school and after school.

* Create a wish list of activities they want to do.

* Share activity-based posts with their buddies.

Pinwi's research-backed interest-mapping model examines this data to find patterns and generate useful insights for parents. Pinwi maps interests like Social Interaction, Working with Hands, Spoken Communication, Written Communication, Visual Sense, Aural Sense, Taste & Smell, Logical Thinking, Numerical Thinking, Conceptual Thinking, Creative Expression, Nature & Environment, and Thrill & Adventure, among others.

For an in-depth analysis of the child’s interests, a parent can upgrade to Pinwi Full Access for Rs 600 through an in-app purchase. Here, parents have the option of networking and connecting with other parents while children can join a safe social network meant exclusively for them. The app is available both on Anrdoid and iOS platform and has been averaging over 1,000 downloads per month of late.

Hatch Tact Innovations has raised funding from mothers who have been users of the Pinwi app during its research and beta phase. With an extended team of about 25 people, the Pinwi business model is currently direct-to-consumer but the team intends to go the institutional route to scale up. They also plan to introduce Teen Pinwi, that focusses on children between 13 and 18 years, a crucial age group to make career-related choices.