Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we have a <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> for <keyword id="504808" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Foodies">foodies</keyword>? <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> hasn’t started one yet, but an Indian-origin start-up has come up with a social platform for <keyword id="2067882" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recipe-sharing">recipe sharing</keyword>. Meet <keyword id="2067846" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cucumbertown">Cucumbertown</keyword>.com, a delightfully simple <keyword id="2067867" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recipe-blogging-platform">recipe blogging platform</keyword> that connects <keyword id="2067869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amateur-cooks">amateur cooks</keyword> and <keyword id="2067871" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pro-chefs">pro chefs</keyword> with the foodies of the world. On this fast-growing <keyword id="6354615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-network">social network</keyword>, users can publish their recipes without the least hassle and browse through the entire repository of <keyword id="2067874" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gourmet-creations">gourmet creations</keyword> and <keyword id="2067875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Culinary-delights">culinary delights</keyword>. However, it is the ‘social’ part that puts one’s <keyword id="1527920" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cooking-skills">cooking skills</keyword> to test. There is a rating system used by the Cucumbertown tribe that effectively makes out whether a recipe is good, average or bad. 
 But what intrigues one most on this recipe <keyword id="1188271" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="publishing-platform">publishing platform</keyword> is the ease of use. On Cucumbertown, one can write a recipe in a standard format, add images/multimedia and upload everything with a few clicks. Once your ‘post’ is up, the social platform starts buzzing with <keyword id="824939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinions">opinions</keyword>, <keyword id="6400508" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Conversations">conversations</keyword> and ‘<keyword id="31407" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="craves">craves</keyword>’ (similar to <keyword id="1110433" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Facebook-likes">Facebook Likes</keyword>). You can also follow your favourite cook/s and get customised notifications when content is published by your friends. Well, of course, <keyword id="629729" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Epicurious">Epicurious</keyword> has it all, but Cucumbertown is aiming even higher and wants to be the <keyword id="279713" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tumblr">Tumblr</keyword> in <keyword id="2067884" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cooking-and-food-space">cooking and food space</keyword>. Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs Cucumbertown (www.cucumbertown.com): A team of four co-founders, hailing from three continents (two from <keyword id="6355033" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bangalore">Bangalore</keyword>, one from <keyword id="57516" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zurich">Zurich</keyword> and one from Pennsylvania). In fact, none of them had met each other during the build-up period. <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> <keyword id="326430" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cherian-Thomas">Cherian Thomas</keyword> worked with <keyword id="188699" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zynga">Zynga</keyword> before setting up Cucumbertown in 2012. Other three co-founders include <keyword id="238078" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="CTO">CTO</keyword> <keyword id="2067847" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arun-Prabhakar">Arun Prabhakar</keyword> who had earlier worked with several Indian start-ups such as <keyword id="736993" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="taggle">Taggle</keyword> and TutorVista; <keyword id="2067892" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chris-Lscher">Chris Lüscher</keyword>, founding partner at <keyword id="2067891" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Information-Architects">Information Architects</keyword>, one of the world’s leading design firms, and <keyword id="2067853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Dan-Hauk">Dan Hauk</keyword>, <keyword id="2067932" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="theme-designer">theme designer</keyword> of <keyword id="825836" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Wordpress">WordPress</keyword>, Tumblr and the likes. Dan left the start-up in August 2013, but still helps whenever he can. 
 Although Cherian calls it a labour of love, he is hell-bent on building a <keyword id="2067893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="global-product">global product</keyword>. The Bangalorean has sought world-class talent and built a strong team – one that has a good understanding of the <keyword id="35145" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="global-market">global market</keyword> and is totally aware of the challenges to be faced. The start-up currently operates from <keyword id="108002" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mountain-View">Mountain View</keyword> (<keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>) and Bangalore. 
 
What inspired the venture: Pure passion. A die-hard foodie who loves to <keyword id="9230" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cook">cook</keyword>, Cherian has always wanted to blog about cooking, but it turned out to be a cumbersome process. Creating a blog, <keyword id="97496" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Writing">writing</keyword> &amp; uploading recipes and putting up images/videos on the site require a lot of technical knowledge. That’s when he realised how difficult it must be for cooks and chefs who may not be tech savvy. “So I decided to build a user-friendly platform, contacted the best guys to help me out and here we are,” reflects Cherian. 
 
What’s the pitch: Cucumbertown aims to be the ‘Tumblr’ for cooking and food space. It offers an attractive alternative to posting recipes and food-related content on WordPress, Tumblr, <keyword id="58677" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Blogger">Blogger</keyword> and so on. The start-up provides an easy-to-use interface for publishing recipes – so that even an amateur cook can gain traction online and wow readers by sharing his/her culinary creations. “We all know what blogging has done to content publishing. Cucumbertown can do the same in cooking &amp; food space, and leverage the potential of <keyword id="1175407" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Internet-commerce">Internet commerce</keyword> in the process,” the CEO says. 
 
How it works: Cucumbertown is to cooking what Tumblr is to blogging and keeping things easy is the start-up’s USP. One can log in via Facebook or create a new account before using the site. Once there, you can publish recipes, upload images and search the <keyword id="2067873" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recipe-database">recipe database</keyword> by cook, cuisine, course, <keyword id="493272" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ingredient">ingredient</keyword>, <keyword id="2067917" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cooking-time">cooking time</keyword> and <keyword id="2067918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Difficulty-level">difficulty level</keyword>. Search results can be listed based on relevance, popularity or comments. Publishing on the site is especially easy as Cucumbertown provides a plethora of tools, including a <keyword id="2067859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="recipe-editor">recipe editor</keyword>. Moreover, if a recipe is already up, you can post a different version, showing your culinary creativity. 
 
Claim to fame: Traction and global reach-out. The company claims it is one of the fastest growing food <keyword id="50752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Networks">networks</keyword>, with users from around 40 countries. And right now, it is eyeing further expansion in the US and Europe. Interestingly, Cucumbertown is one of the heavily funded pre-revenue start-ups and has raised money from the same <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword> who had funded companies such as Facebook, <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword>, Zynga and <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>. Till date, the start-up has raised $300K in <keyword id="948731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="seed-funding">seed funding</keyword>. Its key investors include <keyword id="1452668" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="500-Startups">500 Startups</keyword>, <keyword id="2067923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Naval-Ravikant">Naval Ravikant</keyword> of <keyword id="1922133" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AngelList">AngelList</keyword>, <keyword id="2067926" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Farmville-co-creator">Farmville co-creator</keyword> <keyword id="2067925" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sizhao-Zao-Yang">Sizhao Zao Yang</keyword>, <keyword id="2067927" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Maneesh-Arora">Maneesh Arora</keyword> of <keyword id="1734576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="MightyText">MightyText</keyword>, <keyword id="2067860" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Richard-Chen">Richard Chen</keyword> (ex-Google PM), <keyword id="2067928" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sonique-Player-co-creator">Sonique Player co-creator</keyword> <keyword id="2067848" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tabreez-Verjee">Tabreez Verjee</keyword> and <keyword id="2067850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mokriya">Mokriya</keyword> founder-CEO <keyword id="2067849" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sunil-Kanderi">Sunil Kanderi</keyword>, among others. 
 
Show me the money: As an early consumer Web start-up that emulates <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword>, Cucumbertown is yet to have a solid monetisation model. “In fact, we will look at revenue generation in 3-4 years from now,” says Cherian. “We are now following a similar model that Twitter, Facebook and others pursued, which means we are currently focusing on how the product evolves and gets accepted in the global market. That’s what our investors also want – once the product gets the final shape, money will come in,” he adds. 
 
Cucumbertown has immense growth potential though, as the food and cooking space is getting bigger month on month. For instance, in November last year, 41% Americans visited such websites, up 2 million in terms of unique visitors from October 2013. These numbers won’t go down all of a sudden and the start-up can expect more traction when it starts expanding this year. 
 
Biggest challenge: Scaling to <keyword id="6409094" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="International-Markets">international markets</keyword>, especially non-English markets like <keyword id="87" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Germany">Germany</keyword>, while maintaining content and image quality. “We are a small team building a very big product. So we are not thinking about break-even or revenues at this point. The <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> we raised would last for a while. Meanwhile, we must ensure that our users have the <keyword id="2067933" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="best-publishing-tools">best publishing tools</keyword>. That way, they will keep coming back to us and the <keyword id="1413000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="User-base">user base</keyword> will grow manifold,” explains Cherian. 
 
A word for wannapreneurs: If you have the passion, go for it. And don’t let failures discourage you. In India, shutting down your business may seem like a disaster, but things are quite different across the globe and especially in Silicon Valley. So many people have failed here, but they have found the courage and the means to start up all over again. Both our entrepreneurs and investors should grow a robust <keyword id="170907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="risk-appetite">risk appetite</keyword> and must have <keyword id="2067937" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Risk-tolerance">risk tolerance</keyword>. Moreover, we should give our ventures adequate time, so that they can generate value in the long run.

This Social Network Presents Amateur
Cooks & Pro Chefs; Wants To Be A Tumblr For Foodies

<ul><li>India is sitting on a demographic time bomb. People over the age of 60 are expected to account for 25% of India’s <keyword id="48933" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="population">population</keyword> by 2050.</li><li>The concept of <keyword id="2995734" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="senior-living">senior living</keyword> has been gaining traction in recent years owing to the migration of Indians and the breakdown of the joint family model. </li><li>However, most senior care options are mostly geared towards the upper-middle class. The low-cost options leave a lot to be desired. </li></ul> My father was 64 when he had his first heart attack in September 2015. He downplayed the pain and told my brother and I, who were 23 years old at the time, that it was just acidity. We didn’t know better. Four days later, on his 65th birthday, the heart attack led to a stroke, which affected a small part of his brain that dealt with his speech and comprehension. Following his discharge from the hospital, my brother and I worked out an arrangement with our respective employers wherein we worked from home on alternative days so we could take care of him. My father slowly regained his verve and became somewhat self-sufficient by the end of 2015. However, he suffered another stroke and an epileptic seizure in April 2016. After my father suffered a third stroke in February 2017, the idea of putting him in an assisted living facility was floated by my uncle. My brother was living in Bombay by this point and I was spending more time at work so it seemed like the sensible thing to do. The concept of senior living, while relatively new to India, has been gaining traction in recent years and with good reason. There were 103.8 million citizens above the age of 60 in India in 2011, according to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the number is expected to reach 143 million by 2021 and 173 million by 2026. Concurrently, as nuclear families are in vogue, the safety net afforded to old people by the joint family model is disintegrating. India has also seen a wave of migration in the last few decades as young people have gone to big metros as well as foreign countries in search of better opportunities, leaving their parents behind. More and more old people are living alone- which makes them vulnerable to <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/increase-in-crimes-against-senior-citizens-in-chennai-forces-them-to-shift-to-retirement-homes-3109622.html">crime</a> and depression. And the problem will only get worse. People over the age of 60 are expected to account for 25% of India’s population by 2050. India’s emerging market counterparts like Brazil and China are also sitting on a similar demographic time-bomb resulting from decades of exponential economic growth, improved health outcomes and stretched budgets. While Western countries like the US and UK started laying the foundational groundwork for their senior care industries in the latter half of the 20th century, BRIC countries only began developing an industrial framework to address the problem in the recent past - that too, by encouraging foreign participation and co-opting the western model of senior living which marries real estate development with at-home care. The Senior Care Act The Indian government has made some noticeable interventions but they haven’t produced the desired results. For example, in 2007, there government of India passed the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and <keyword id="20566" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="senior-citizens">Senior Citizens</keyword> Act. The act requires children to take care of their parents in <keyword id="6378960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="old-age">old age</keyword>. It also mandates the establishment of old age homes by state governments. The act has failed on both fronts. Senior citizens neither have the knowledge of their rights or the will to take their children to court. As of mid-2017, only 360 homes had been built by state governments with central funding under the Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP), according to data from the social justice ministry. India’s private sector takes the lead However, India’s private sector has spotted the gap in the market, taking inspiration from the US’s $300 billion senior living industry. By 2013, India had 30 assisted living projects in India, with another 30 in the pipeline, according to Jones Lang Lasalle, a commercial real estate firm. There are a number of developers building “retirement resorts” in North India to cater to the high-end segment. Max India, a <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> giant, has a 200-block senior living facility called Antara on the outskirts of the city of Dehradun. Pitched as the confluence of lifestyle and life care, the community boasts state-of-the-art medical facilities with in-house doctors as well as a a fitness centre, which includes a gym, spa and a swimming pool. Prices for a property here start at a cool $300,000. However, the senior living trend actually took flight in south Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where a large number of non-resident Indians (NRI) hail from, before spreading to the North. In recognition of their high purchasing power, Covai Care, a Coimbatore-based developer, launched S3 Retirement Homes, one of India’s first retirement projects, according to its general manager, S Prabhakar, in 2007 to cater to this market. While the senior living market has doubled since then, says Prabhakar, it is still in a nascent stage. Covai Care primarily offers three forms of care facilities for its residents- assisted care for senior residents, palliative care for terminally ill patients and memory care for patients with dementia or Alzheimer's with properties in Bangalore, Mysore, Coimbatore and Pondicherry. The properties don’t come cheap either. With prices ranging from $60,000 to $150,000 depending on size, residents also have to pay around $270-$300 a month for medical and maintenance fees. Prabhakar maintains that these costs are in line with the average cost of living for these patients anyway. He also expects the demand for these properties to be robust, citing the increase in life expectancy and growing trend of senior citizens who crave independence. The middle ground India is striving to create cheaper offerings for the middle class too. Arun Gupta, the chief executive of Age Ventures India (AVI), a non-profit organisation that petitions builders to develop properties, echoes Mr Prabhakar’s beliefs about the industry’s prospects. “The senior citizen population is growing at a rate of 3.8% per annum, while the overall population of India is growing at 1.8%” he says. For a small consulting fee, AVI works with developers to build elder care homes and communities by sharing best practices and identifying project locations. These homes are modestly priced, with a 1BHK unit starting at $22,500 at the organisation’s first project in Bangalore. Ashiana Housing, a Delhi-based real estate developer, pitches its retirement communities to the middle class in tier-1 and tier-2 cities . The price ranges between $45,000 million and $100,000 for the units, and that demand for them follows the same pattern as the housing market. Amit Dogra, the sales manager for Ashiana's senior living segment, doesn’t think much of India’s cultural aversion to old age homes. “98% of our residents chose senior living independently. They were not forced by their children.” Abhishek Mohanty, a facility design and marketing consultant at Epoch Elder Care, feels otherwise. “Social stigma, especially from relatives, is more of a problem than affordability”, he says. “This is why we target higher-net-worth individuals and NRIs as they are more open to the idea of senior living and are willing to spend the money”. Founded in 2011, Epoch Elder Care originally started as a provider of home care services and personnel before transitioning into the assisted living space. It follows a rental model, entailing a one-time deposit and monthly rental fee, which is better suited to middle class customers. Epoch has three retirement homes with monthly fees of $1,800 for short-term single occupancy guests and $1,350 for long-term guests, which excludes the rather-high 18% GST rate on senior living. Around 60% of Epoch’s residents are dementia patients, which limits the amount of residents per facility. Mohanty is optimistic about his company’s prospects given the country’s increasing awareness about dementia and the growing number of senior citizens. By 2022, Epoch plans to have as many as 12 facilities, with an average of around 50 guests each, operating all over India. The sense of stigma attached to senior living, while declining, is still a consideration for the relatively well-off. Rachna (name changed), a corporate lawyer in her 40s, says that the decision to send her father to a retirement home outside Gurgaon last year was not an easy one. “My friends felt that I was relinquishing my sense of duty,” she said, “and my father likened the experience to being sent to jail”. However, she feels that it was the best option since she and her husband had full-time jobs and two teenage children to take care off. Now, her father, a former stroke victim and arthritis patient, benefits from round-the-clock care and companionship in the facility. No respite at the bottom Senior living seems to be an effective solution for people who can afford it, but for the hundreds of millions that can’t, their options are few and far between. At the lower end of the spectrum, the government-operated old age homes, which feature dormitories instead of rooms, are understaffed and in a deplorable condition, according to Matthew Cherian, the chief executive of HelpAge India. There are a number of cheaper nursing homes that are run by private owners, however quality is still an issue given the lack of government-imposed industry standards. And some of these also operate without licenses and accreditation. In 2012, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/68-nursing-homes-dont-have-licences/articleshow/13238672.cms">68 nursing homes </a>were found to be operating illegally in Pune. A variety of non-profit organisations like HelpAge India also run and support old age homes, but the supply of beds in such homes is drastically outweighed by the number of people that need them. As I write this, it’s been more than 13 months since my father’s last stroke. He’s in good spirits. He’s been eating well and going for walks every evening with other senior citizens in our gated community in Gurgaon. He has moved past his initial resistance and softened his stance towards senior living facilities, in anticipation of my eventual departure from home. “If I have to go one day, I’ll go”, he says. “Maybe I can get my friends to come with me too”. If only other Indians like him had the same option.

Here's what the future of the senior living industry looks like for 25% of India’s population

You Searched For "Arun Prabhakar" and got 5 results

This Social Network Presents Amateur Cooks & Pro Chefs; Wants To Be A Tumblr For Foodies

Sanghamitra Mandal

Here's what the future of the senior living industry looks like for 25% of India’s population

Dilsher Dhillon

Indian National Congress candidate list for Maharashtra State election 2019

BI India Bureau

Candidate list for Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections 2019

BI India Bureau

Maharashtra State Elections winner and leading candidate list 2019

BI India Bureau

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides