In conversation with Benjamin Blasco, Co-Founder - Petit Bambou
You have been a man who has been associated with many tech giants in the past and recently with PayPal before getting into mental health & mindfulness. What was the reason/inspiration behind starting Petit BamBou?
I was indeed with a tech giant but also travelling, multitasking, and working a lot. However, all this came with a price: that of not being fully present in my life, work, family, or leisure. I was always caught in the web of analysis, rumination, and anticipation. It was around this time that I decided to follow the advice of a friend and started practicing mindfulness. This made me realize how crowded and chatty my mind was. Sitting in silence and doing nothing for about 10 to 20 minutes per day was helping me become more grounded, centered, and enjoy the little moments of life. Since it was not all that easy to convince my friends in their 40s, or others around me, I decided to explore how technology could help people to discover this practice and anchor this habit in their lives. I quit my job and created Petit Bambou with my friend Ludovic.
Tell us something about Petit BamBou as an app, what all services it offers and how does it work when it comes to taking cares of one’s mental health.
Petit BamBou is an app that helps people to give mindfulness meditation a try. Many of us read about it, have heard about scientific studies proving its impact on mental health. However, very few of us really start practicing and try to form a habit around it. We have a busy life wherein it is hard to find even 10 minutes of quiet moments. In such cases, an app is very convenient: you just have to open it, put your earplugs and meditate where and when you want: in the subway, a queue, at home, work, or in a train. At Petit Bambou, we have made it super simple and accessible with cartoons and very caring and patient teachers: we don’t need to be stressed by practicing meditation on top of the rest of course! The app is free to download with access to 8 meditation sessions for free, plus 3 daily meditation, a timer, and a cardiac coherence tool. One can explore, make up your mind regarding the practice and then decide (in full awareness) to subscribe to access to a large premium content catalog with 200+ sessions from the best mindfulness experts (on stress, anxiety, sleep, work, kids). We were recently awarded the title of the best mindfulness app for kids in the world. We have been also certified by Dekra/ Medappcare. Few universities are using our app to test mindfulness for specific populations regarding mental health topics.
What are your thoughts on self-therapy apps as an alternative and a good option during this pandemic?
The situation we are in is very unique and stressful with the uncertainty hard to manage for many. Some are lonely while others are finding co-living to be intense and difficult. Mental health support is critical now more than ever in order to avoid a future wave of psychological issues. In this regard, certain apps and models are really relevant in terms of helping people cope with the situation, especially when it comes to prevention. I am a little apprehensive of bots and other AI solutions supposed and feel that human interaction is key given how each human situation is unique.
What were the initial hurdles (If any) you faced when you started Petit BamBou and how did you overcome them and also tell us about how did you compete against the already established competitors at that time?
We have been lucky to launch our service in French first at a time where there were almost no apps. This is also true of Italian or Dutch. Overall, we believe that users are very lucky to have different options to choose from because it really helps us in finding the solution, approach, or a voice for them. We usually come back to our unique and authentic DNA. Human respect is key to our marketing and customer management as is working with local experts to create a smooth transition from physical coaching to app usage, and meditation is affordable and accessible for everyone to try.
We faced few hurdles. About 6 years ago, meditation teachers were a bit skeptical, and mass market was not fully aware of the benefits of mindfulness. However, we patiently stayed close to our DNA, improved a lot on our app and processes. Satisfied users were our best advocates in terms of accelerating our growth.
You’re quite established in the European market so why now entering Indian market?
The global pandemic hit European countries like Italy, Spain or France heavily. We really focused on making sure that we had the best meditation sessions for people in this situation and on making our app available for free for nurses and doctors in Europe. However, we were also very empathetic with Indians when we heard about the local situation. We decided to accelerate our adaptation of the app for India. After all, it was difficult to stay passive when people were suffering.
What challenges do you face in doing business in India, or what’s the difference do you see between India and abroad in terms of business and usage patterns among customers?
We are really surprised by the enthusiasm of our users and even journalists. Everyone seemed to be waiting for an app like ours, that understands the Indian culture and specificities. For instance, we have a majority of male users whereas in Europe it is the opposite. We also see users coming with very specific needs (panic attacks, food disorder, sleep issues, pre-exam anxiety). It is super interesting to provide them with the best advice from our experts in this situation.
Did you face any challenges during the pandemic?
As with any other business, our whole company had to start working remotely. It is of course easier in our industry but from a human perspective, communication through videoconference is different. We do miss all the informal chats. On the product side, we got a lot of press coverage and all our records of connection were exceeded. This put a lot of stress on our tech platform. However, we have an amazing team which managed to adapt to everything in order to serve our customers in the best way possible.
The pandemic also impacted people around the world with problems such as job loss, mortality, and even change in how work is done. All these contributed to deteriorating mental health. People could not go and seek help either because of the pandemic or he existing stigma around mental health problems. This is where an app like ours comes as a force multiplier since it is discreet and easier than seeking consultation. It helps a lot to move forward on a journey towards peace of mind. Mindfulness is also great to give yourself a break – something that every one of us deserves at some point. This is a radical act of selflove. Meditation is essential to cope with actual problems
Please tell us about your future plans or any new variation or anything new coming in 2021
We just launched an amazing new feature called DAILIES which lets you pick from a fresh meditation every day (you can even select the duration 8, 12, 16) and is less chatty. You don’t have to stress and scratch your head too much while browsing through our vast catalog. You can undertake a quick session in order to keep the habit. People are loving it so far. We are also planning to help people with creating habits since this is one of the hardest things to achieve. Going forward, we also plan to enrich our catalog of relaxing sounds and music with new themes like couple, forgiveness, burn out, mental preparation for sport, etc.
