JOIN USGiving wings to a passion
E very now and then, one comes across ventures incubating from one’s personal experiences. It is from the experiences of Nitin Gupta that the idea for ‘Xtravity’ germinated.
It is a portal that provides professional trainers for extracurricular activities. It was after a great deal of research and interactions with his family, friends and trainers that Nitin came up with this idea in October last year. The venture has 3 other co-founders — Kanta Mishra, Nimilita Chatterjee and Ritesh Kumar.
“Since there is a portal for everything today, I thought ‘why not have a portal for extracurricular activities where people can find professionals to train them’? The usual way of finding a trainer is to look for them online or go for those recommended by friends and colleagues. From both the consumers and the trainer’s side, we saw a big need for this in the market. From a consumer’s perspective, there was no portal which gave a list of available trainers, and tells one what the star rating, the fee structure and course content are. From a trainer’s perspective, they have found a platform where they can advertise themselves with no significant marketing budget,” explains Nitin.
He points out that the supply side of trainers in India is huge, but they don’t have a platform to showcase themselves. He believes that this venture made tremendous sense from both the perspectives. ‘Xtravity’ helps consumers by giving all the details of the trainers for them while choosing a course.
Moreover, consumers can pay the fees online, and also get a refund if they are not happy with the service. Currently, they cater to 5 areas in Bengaluru — Indiranagar, Jayanagar, J P Nagar, Koramangala and Sarjapur Road. He says, “These areas have a good mix of population (in terms of both local and outside people). This makes us spread our service to varied consumers. Apart from this, we offer our services to various apartments as well.”
The focus is only on extracurricular activities and learnings and not just to find a trainer. “We are targeting mostly kids and make sure to check the performance and do an assessment of a student after a month. The trainer’s app helps us to keep a track on the number of classes they have taken which is later sent to their parents,” explains Nitin.
Highlighting on how he came up with the name, he says, “We spent a lot of time looking for a name that suits the best for our venture.
Finally we came up with ‘Xtravity’ which conveys that it is about extracurricular activities. Moreover, having extra in a name always shows something positive and extra.”
On the long run, it will become a one-stop platform for anyone to choose any activity trainer from 250 categories, 1,300 trainers and 5,000 classes they have. It ranges from music, dance, sports, fitness, art and crafts and martial arts to name a few. He says that the main obstacle they face is getting a constant supply of trainers.
“Our venture is a hyperlocal market, so we cannot expect a trainer in Jayanagar to travel and teach in areas like Koramangala or Indiranagar. So we have to constantly keep looking for trainers in specific areas. I think that’s what will continue to be our biggest challenge. We are planning to expand in the city in the next 3 to 4 months as well as in Delhi and Mumbai,” he says.