Now&Me - Taking The Nation Towards Better Mental Health!

Now&Me

Vidhi Punamiya

Mar 21, 2021 — 6 min read

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With all the awareness initiatives and the movements taking place in the field of mental health, we see people talking about it but we actually don’t see people understanding what in reality goes behind being mentally unhealthy. For those who’ve felt like, “so many people have told me to open up, but nobody really understands what’s going on”, Bani Singh and Drishti Gupta launched nowandme.com in 2018.

Nowandme.com is an online safe space that’s bridging the gap between people, their problems and someone who wants to hear them and lend a helping hand. This venture believes in the power of human experiences and the community. The aim of this company is to develop a community where people can share their experiences and emotions without the fear of being judged. Also, this portal publishes blogs and videos on the website to generate awareness about pressing issues like mental health.

Now&Me - Company Highlights

Startup Name	Now&Me
Headquarter	Gurgaon
Sector	Healthcare
Founders	Bani Singh and Drishti Gupta
Founded	2018
Parent Organization	NowAndMe
Website	www.nowandme.com

About Now&Me and How it Works
Now&Me - Target Market Size
Founders of Now&Me and team
How was Now&Me Started?
Now&Me - Name and Logo
Now&Me - Startup Launch
Now&Me - Startup Challenges
Now&Me - Funding and Investors
Now&Me - Revenue Model
Now&Me - Growth
Now&Me - Future Plans

About Now&Me and How it Works

It’s as simple as logging onto nowandme.com and pouring your heart out!

Now&Me has shared and displayed more than 4000 personal and heartfelt experiences. Meaningful, wholesome and sensitive interactions take place among the community every day. One can choose to post/respond anonymously as well. nowandme.com is a pace where you can truly be who you are. It is basically a form of kinder internet, where you don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not.

nowandme.com lets you connect with strangers on a deeper level and allows you to heal, learn and grow through mixed experiences of individuals. It acts as a platform for people going through a rough phase in life and wanting someone to talk to. Even those who want to share their achievements and success stories can be found. It is a community that is growing with each passing day.

Now&Me is a glocal brand, which started in Delhi-NCR. It conducts various offline events and workshops regularly. The most recent one being on 'Stress Relief' at IIT-Delhi. Another event on 'Social Media' was conducted by the team at LSR. 'Create Don't Hate' was organized at SelectCity CityWalk Mall in association with JustDelhiing. The team has also created offline no-judgment zones, talking circles, network therapy, and safe spaces to encourage catharsis and been an active part of activities like Drum Circle - Music Therapy and Art Therapy as well.

Now&Me - Target Market Size

According to the WHO, “There is growing evidence of the global impact of mental illness. Mental health problems are among the most important contributors to the burden of disease and disability worldwide. 5 of the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide are mental health problems. They are as relevant in low-income countries as they are in rich ones, cutting across age, gender, and social strata. Furthermore, all predictions indicate that the future will see a dramatic increase in mental health problems.”

Founders of Now&Me and team

Bani & Drishti, Cofounders of NowAndMe — Bani & Drishti, Cofounders of Now&Me

Now&Me co-founders Bani Singh and Drishti Gupta are college friends. Both of them graduated from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University in May 2019 with a degree in statistics. They officially started working together in February 2019, while in the last year of college. Bani mainly handles the creatives (content+curation) while Drishti looks into the technology, communications, and outreach. Usually, it is a bit of everything that the two of them need to pay attention to.

The Now&Me team also includes tech support staff and constant help from interns. They only recruit individuals who are passionate about the cause and can grasp the complexities and commitment required to run the organization. The team mainly hires in the field of web development, content creation and communications.

How was Now&Me Started?

The idea and inspiration for the company came to the co-founders after seeing the people around who were going through some or the other issues or problems in life, but were not able to find an outlet to let out their troubles. Drishti and Bani tested the idea amongst the peers in college, and their response was taken into consideration.

Now&Me - Name and Logo

Now&Me logo

Other than the obvious choice of domain availability, the name- “Now and Me” signifies being in the present with one’s feelings.

Now&Me - Startup Launch

Now&Me was launched through word of mouth and social media while the co-founders were in college. Support from friends and families helped Drishti and Bani in giving the initial push to the brand. Regular offline events helped as well in building the brand identity. Everybody is going through something in life and everybody needs a shoulder to lean on. NowAndMe is that shoulder.

“To spread awareness among people regarding our product, we constantly share content on our social media pages and also upload informative blogs every week on the website, most of which are written by mental health experts. This has attracted more people and motivated them to share their feelings with us.” says Bani, co-founder of nowandme.

Now&Me - Startup Challenges

The biggest challenge for Now&Me is the long-standing stigma around mental health, that stops people from seeking help even when they know that it’s the right thing to do. Conducting safe, small talking circles in an attempt to encourage people to open up and own their feelings has proved to be extremely novel and successful in getting people’s attention.

Now&Me - Funding and Investors

NowAndMe has been bootstrapped and has not raised any funds yet.

Now&Me - Revenue Model

NowAndMe is a free platform and records no revenue.

Now&Me - Growth

nowandme.com gets over 10,000 unique visits every week, and has about 1000 registered users.
nowandme.com ranks amongst the best 10k websites in India (via Alexa Rankings)
Mr. Ankur Warikoo, former CEO, nearbuy.com is an esteemed supporter.
NowAndMe has conducted events on ‘Stress Management and Mindfulness’ in esteemed institutions such as Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD)

The co-founders say that while they want to keep the platform free, they also want to provide users with access to the right kind of knowledge and professionals. For this, they will be compiling different means of recourse available, such as online and offline therapy, 24/7 helplines and tele-counselling services, and workshops.

Now&Me - Future Plans

“Along with the sharing platform, we also aim to become the Yellow Pages for Mental Health in India.” Now&Me founder Bani Singh said emphasizing on the company's future plans.

The long-term agenda is to integrate good professional help in the Now&Me platform along with its existing endeavors towards mental health and its affordability, availability and accessibility.