An Interview With Payal Sarin, CEO - Galloping Minds
Payal, the CEO of Galloping Minds, is herself a mom and a computer engineer turned producer. In a question-answer series with Payal, we asked her about the Galloping Minds DVDs, the various aspects of producing DVDs and the baby DVD industry. Here is an Interview With Payal Sarin - Galloping Minds.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, and your background.
I have a Bachelors and a Masters in Computer Engineering. I am a parent of young children and I am extremely interested in ensuring kids are well educated, since education is a very important part of growing up.
2. You've come out with a series of Baby DVD's called Galloping Minds. Tell us what sets these DVDs apart from the rest.
The difference between other Baby DVDs and Galloping Minds is that the Galloping Minds DVDs are made for parents who are serious about making their kids learn and grasp important concepts right from the early stages.
For example, in the 'Baby learns Alphabet and Phonics' we introduce a large number of day to day objects to the baby, highlighting spellings, uppercase and lowercase letters and sounding the letter. The emphasis is on ensuring that children learn the alphabet, thereby enhancing their ability to read and write at a later stage.
In the 'Baby Learns Shapes and Colors' DVD we show more geometric shapes and colors as compared to a traditional baby video. We also focus on creative thinking, 3 dimensional imagery and letting kids imagination take over by bringing shapes together to form a multitude of objects. Our target audience was delighted with the music accompanying the videos.
The 'Baby Learns Numbers and Animals with Mr. Twiddles' DVD' goes a step ahead of videos such as Baby Einstein which introduce kids to numbers upto 5. We walk through the numbers from 1 to 10 and also introduce some basic mathematical concepts such as addition, equality and more or less. Pattern matching is also an integral part of the video. Our music gets most kids hopping and jumping around.
Our target audience of babies, toddlers and preschoolers enjoys the DVDs. Parents use our DVDs to provide their kids with quality viewing.
Our DVDs are also very reasonably priced!
3. What made you think of starting a company which makes Baby DVDs? Did you have any prior experience, education etc with video production which lead you onto this path?
Well, it was more circumstantial than pre-planned.During the economic downturn, all the Internet and companies in the networking domain were going through a down-turn. My job as a software engineer had been victim to the bust. I had been thinking of starting a venture and this one seemed very promising and a great creative outlet.
4. What difficulties did you face with getting your product out into the market?
Well, one of the most difficult aspects was competing with industry giants such as Baby Einstein and building a brand. Also, creating awareness about our product has been a challenge.
We have been working very hard. Our DVDs have been launched in UK and in Asia in 2005. Our DVDs have been in the past and will be in the future, appearing on Video on Demand through major Cable Operators in the US such as Time Warner and Cox.
Most parents and kids who have seen our DVDs acknowledge that they are more educational than similiar products in the market.
The one time, we felt we were really made a difference, was when our DVDs were being shown on Video On Demand by Charter Communication in 2004. We received a phone call from several mothers of autistic children, who were visibly upset because our videos were no longer being aired and this was a problem for them. Since, they had found our videos extremely useful for teaching their children. This really touched a chord with us about how profound the impact of our DVDs was in shaping the lives of these children.
5. Why would you recommend Baby DVDs to parents?
Baby DVDs have tremendous scope. Parents, care-givers and teachers use Baby DVDs at home and in class to introduce little kids to the world. Baby DVDs generally allow for guilt free TV viewing. Our DVDs are not fast paced at all .They stimulate, teach and keep kids entertained.
6. In your eyes, what is the future hold for the Baby DVD industry?
The Baby DVD industry has really come a long way in the last 10 years.From not having too many choices, there are plenty of DVDs for parents to choose from. I believe the industry will continue to boom as new producers come into the market covering a variety of subjects relevant to babies & their care givers.
