Shalini Nautiyal, a techie by profession was sitting in a coffee shop with her friends and thinking where else they can go after this but were clueless. That is when she felt the need for a product which not only helps stitch plans by bringing nearby businesses together but also recommends activities as per taste of the user and this is when she seeded a plan of Yipeedo and because idea of her first product 'Yipeedo' originated over a cup of coffee at a cafe in Bangalore that is the reason Shalini named her company 'Coffee Mug Ideas'
Based out of Bangalore and completely self-funded, Yipeedo is trying to help people plan their day in-city with ease. Yipeedo aims to be your friend in city who can help you plan a day out around movies and food/café/lounge (to begin with). Yipeedo loves to know more about you and as a friend and once Yipeedo understands what you really like and seek, it builds custom plans for your day out. So technically speaking Yipeedo is a recommendation engine that helps its consumers plan day out based on their taste and preferences.
But how Yipeedo is different from other existing portal of same niche, Shalini explains - "Yipeedo is focused on in-city activities, there are several players who are working on weekend getaways and exclusive experiences, however we want to ease the pain of our consumers who want to spend a casual day in-city."
"Today to plan a day in city you have to browse multiple websites, there is tons of information available online and the task to make sense out of it is totally left on the user. That is where we thought of filling the gap by reducing the clutter online." added Shalini.
Yipeedo has partnered with JustEat for food ordering and BookMyShow for movie ticket bookings. Yipeedo is a recommendation engine built on ROR(Ruby on Rails) and MySQL and have an Yipeedo android mobile app. Work is in progress to move to Big Data and iPhone app.
Yipeedo which is currently available for Bangalore city and soon coming up for Pune city as well and actively working to expand in another cities very soon.
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Shalini Nautiyal, Founder of Yipeedo[/caption]Shalini Nautiyal founder of Yipeedo and CoffeMugIdeas, is an MCA graduate and have 8 years of industry experience and have spent a large part of her career working for some of the best known brands in the world, picking up some very critical skills along the way. Shalini left her job at Infosys in 2012 to start working on her venture full time. She says that she is a first generation entrepreneur in her family and a mother of a 17 month old son and can describe her life as "Never a dull moment".
In 2012 Shalini started Coffee Mug Ideas (www.coffeemugideas.com) to incubate her idea(s) and take them to market. In February 2013 her team went live with their first product - Yipeedo.com. Shalini is actively looking for angel funding for its online startup.
On ups and downs and her journey of being entrepreneur and envisaging her first online startup Yipeedo, Shalini says, "It is not easy to take a plunge, quit your cozy & high paying job and venture into unknowns. Lows definitely make you feel if you are doing right, but then that’s part and parcel of this amazing journey. You see Highs and Lows and you just have to keep going with the flow and take learning on the way. It helps to have mentors around you and keep seeking advice from people who have done this before you."
Shanti Mohan, Ex-Cofounder at LetsVenture.com and Raja Shanmugam, Chief People's Officer at Happiest Minds Technology mentored and guided Shalini in conceptualization of her startup and is still key players behind her motivation to pursue this venture.
On an advice to budding entrepreneurs Shalini says - "Entrepreneurship is an addiction, it’s very difficult to not get attached to your idea, it's literally like your baby. But keep a balance between the heart and mid. Be ready for re-pivoting and take hard decision that are in favor of your product & business. For this, you must listen to your customer, always."
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