Crowding up on various social networks always pops up a thought about, how much is too much? and, isn’t this space already flooded? but being a tangible human, we always have the urge to keep exploring and dip our hands in every new space that gives free sign up and some funky quirks to animate a bleak day.
And there are many, especially in India, who actually enjoy being connected to their family folks, this demographics doesn’t consist much of the teenagers but all the others like working professionals, senior citizens and home makers. These major entry players in social network space not only relish connecting to their known ones but are always in high spirits to enter any function, ceremony or occasion the family has to offer.
For the adorables and adorer of the loved ones, there is a place, its sweet, simple and fun, Its called Imlee.com, you just need to initiate by adding yourself and your family memebers and as more and more memebers join in, the tree keeps growing up and up.
Its kind of sweet gamification, you start and it just grows and you couch surf watching the new additions in your family and connect and always stay in touch.
We got an opportunity to get in conversation with Mansi, from Imlee.com and know more about the concept, the story behind and the future plans.
How did it all start? How did you come up with the idea of Imlee?
Imlee was conceptualized with the aim to provide a platform to Indian families to bond better with their families and reconnect at various levels. It all began when Aatish (Founder Imlee.com) was invited to a family get together and presented with a family tree chart that visually represented all his relations. This simple gesture provoked Aatish to digitize the concept with added value where families can reconnect with their relatives, understand their roots and family history, leverage family connections and create their own family network for family interactions.
Tell us something about this privacy feature of Imlee, can I truly restrict the access to my family members only?
Imlee is a private and secured platform where one can create his family tree and build his family network by inviting his relatives and connect to families already on Imlee.
Every unique idea faces some hurdles. What were the obstacles you had to overcome? And how has been the response so far?
Yes, a new idea and unique concept as Imlee is, we do face a lot of hurdles. One of the major obstacles was creating a market for the concept. Being the first to introduce the concept in India for Indian families seeding the project and conveying the right message were the major challenges we faced. The response to our efforts, has been really good, considering the growth we have achieved with more than 50,000 active users and over 6 lakh profiles. The largest family tree on Imlee has around 3000 members.
What are your plans for revenue generation?
We are currently concentrating on building a user base. Our marketing efforts are more aligned towards branding, concept acceptability in the market and enhancing features. Our marketing team constantly interacts with users to improve, build and enhance the product and user experience. In the long run, we do have ideas for revenue generation through affiliate marketing, family centric e-commerce etc and surely via Ad networks.
Is Imlee bootstrapped or have you received any fundings?
Imlee, the first initiative of Pebstone, a startup incubator backed by Zycus – IT company providing procurement solutions.
Can you share with us some us some of the new features you are currently working on?
We recently launched Multiple Relationship- a feature that allows you to add and visually depict more than one relation you share with the members in your family on the tree. The next in the pipe line is the Shared Family Album, where the family members can tag the photo as shared and it will be available at a common place for everyone to see and the Biography feature that would allow the user to share short stories and experiences about himself or any other member in the family.
Tell us something about the team behind Imlee?
Imlee started out with a small team of 5 members and has grown to a team of 25 people working on the development and marketing front.
Team Imlee
What are your future plans for Imlee?
We aim to reach a user base of 1 million active users on Imlee in the nearest time.
