If a social media platform offers you the chance to post your confessions anonymously to be seen by others, what kind of confessions would you share? Only the harmless ones, or some serious ones too? Turns out there already is such a platform, and the confessions being shared on them range from cute ones to some extremely serious ones. Sample these:
The cute one
I often bunk classes and go outside for movies with friends. My mother doesn’t know about it. She showers so much love on me thinking that I am studying properly. #Regret
The slightly disturbing one
Though I am married, I like to make new friends. I often call my ex-girlfriends and talk to them for hours. I just enjoy their company. My wife doesn’t know about it. #Mysecret
The serious one
I am working in a restaurant which is also involved in a prostitution racket. Even police is involved. I want to do something about it. #Help
Sagoon, co-founded by Govinda Giri and launched in November 2015, is the platform that provides this option to its users. Washington-based Giri has been working in the IT industry for over 15 years with major US corporations. The entire project has been Giri’s brainchild from the beginning, with strong principles behind it. In 2007, he wasn’t very happy with Google’s search engine and had built one of his own. And in 2014, he wasn’t happy with the existing social media platforms, which led to founding Sagoon with Kabin Sitoula.
Swati Dayal, the other founder of Sagoon, spoke about how the idea to conceive it took shape. “In 2014, Giri felt that the existing social media platforms had become addictive, weren’t productive in any way, and were something parents disliked to see their kids use. So he had a vision to launch something which addressed these problems, and Sagoon does that,” she said.
Apart from this, Swati, who is from an IT background, felt the need to work for an indigenous firm. “I don’t understand why so many professionals are working like labourers in India for foreign firms. Although many startups have been coming up everywhere, I still feel risk-taking is missing among most of us. So that was another basic principle behind starting Sagoon, and I have a strong belief in this vision. I had joined the team as a graphic designer, but when I heard this vision, I was wowed and hence joined Sagoon,” she added.
Swati says the secret sharing tool incorporated in Sagoon helps in solving problems that people post, as lots of other users provide solutions with their comments. And going further, there are plans to incorporate a feature by December this year from which users can actually earn money through sharing content by using a smart card. This is where the aspect of the platform being productive comes in. These features are intended to allow a user to earn while they spend on gifts for their loved ones or redeem gift coupons while they socialise. A trial run for the same has already been carried out with 68,000 users, with the response being favourable. “A professor from IIT-Delhi has been working with us, and we want to build a lab within the institute,” says Swati.
Swati currently heads a production centre in Noida with 18 team members, all of whom Swati terms ‘big dreamers.’ To sum up, she feels Indians should take more risks in general. “We already have a reputation for being smart, especially abroad, and we should use it more. The labour culture of working for other countries should stop, and more risk-taking is needed.
Reach out: www.sagoon.com