This couple is bringing YogaTrail, a TripAdvisor for the yoga community to India

(From L-R, YogaTrail's CEO, Alex Kein, CMO, Alex Jaton and CTO, Swen Ernst)

Back in 2008, a chance encounter with a yogi during their trip to Kerala provided a traveler couple with the drive to convert their love for yoga into the world of entrepreneurship.

Alex Jaton and husband Alex Klein set the ball rolling to give the world a comprehensive network exclusively for yoga enthusiasts and practitioners.

“While traveling around the world, we sampled a huge assortment of yoga in many different styles with all kinds of teachers. However, the time we spent on scouring the internet to try to figure what’s there and what we’d be interested in was not only time-consuming, but also frustrating,” recalls Jaton.

It was then that they started paying attention to the diverse yet fragmented yoga community where word-of-mouth was the relied form of advertising and the glaring absence of a medium catering towards bridging the gap between yoga teachers and students.

“Ofcourse there are those personal assistant apps that could find anything for you- an electrician, plumber and even a yoga teacher. But, seeing yogis compete with plumbers frankly didn’t sound that great to us and that led to the inception of YogaTrail in 2013,” adds Jaton, who tells me that the YogaTrail team consists of seven people, including the duo, and they’re based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Two years later, they’ve managed to build the largest network exclusively for yoga practitioners, connecting yoga teachers and students and constantly updating users on what's happening in the yoga community.

Now they’re bringing it to India, the country where yoga first originated.

“When you’re in the business of building a yoga website, it’s imperative that you have a presence in the Indian market, as well,” admits Jaton.

Their website which is backed by Silicon Valley, SE Asian and Indian angel investors, takes care of all the needs of anyone even remotely interested in yoga and works in two ways-

If you’re a yoga practitioner, you sign up on the website to essentially market your services. You enter your information- schedule of classes, venue and price. You can also post about a self-curated yoga event or retreat.

While a yoga enthusiast signs up on the website to find a teacher or a yoga retreat near his/her location. One can filter the search by date, location (under 10kms/20kms), yoga levels (intermediate, beginner, advanced) or yoga styles.

On being asked whether there are restrictions of any sort on the content that is posted on the website or a background check on the credentials of the person posting it, Klein is quick to add, “Any yoga practitioner can produce a host of certificates if asked, but he may not be a good
teacher or know Yoga. The threat of dubious organizations or individuals exploiting our system exists, but how long can one pretend to be a yoga teacher?” he asks.

They do have an option where students can provide feedback on a class with a certain yoga teacher who’s advertised on the site. It is based on these ‘reviews’ that the duo rank the practitioners on YogaTrail.

“The idea is to let the yoga community validate themselves and endorse practitioners. It’s the same reason why we don’t spend money on advertising. I’d rather have a user recommend our website to a friend or colleague based on their experience than have a huge billboard screaming ‘Check us out,” Jaton says.

“Regardless, I still have to spend time ensuring that no one is selling Viagra on the website,” she admits and laughs.

While users can utlize the features in our website for free as there are no charges for signing up on the website or posting their services, yoga teachers have the option to pay and upgrade in order to receive access to premium features like finding a mention on the company's newsletter. Additionally, display advertisements are another source of revnue for YogaTrail.

Moving on to talk about the expansion to India, they admit that they were persuaded by one of their investors from India who thought it was time YogaTrail made its present felt in the country.

“Rishikesh and Goa are already doing well. We have about 100 teachers in both Delhi and Mumbai and hope other places in India catch up too,” Klein says.

The recent surge in the popularity of yoga largely driven by the current government’s aggressive campaign to make yoga a national and global routine helped, as well. According to the government’s Make in India report, the wellness industry in India is piqued at INR 490 million.

And, it is this pie that they want a slice of

At the moment the website has around 100,000 users. The goal, they add is to reach 10 times the number in the next 12 months along with bringing in a revenue worth a million.

The next time you're in the mood for some yoga, but don't know how to get started, you know which website to google for.