Peekaboo: a homegrown brand offering a premium, customised baby essentials

It takes a family to raise a child while the child’s material needs are the immediate purview of the mother and father. More mother, sometimes. 

Indian parents who were born in the 1980s, the last decade before economic liberalization in 1991, want the best that the world has to offer. This cohort (the ones raised in urban settings, studied abroad or at premier colleges, a progressive family ready for upward mobility etc.) will not leave anything wanting for their children since they themselves were raised with hopes and aspirations to strive for the best versions of themselves. 

While there are too many do’s and don’ts when it comes to raising children, it is prudent to reason that amidst a time when parents (in the top 50 cities and towns by the population at least) have information access at their fingertips, they would most likely gravitate towards brands who can promise natural raw materials, minimalist, classy designs and customised solutions personalized for their child’s needs. After all, every child is different and has different parents and hence, different requirements. 

Today, at Bangalore Insider we spoke to Poonam, the Founder and Creative Director of Peekaboo, a homegrown brand intensely focused on delivering value to new parents and their children via a premium, customised baby essentials. Below are the excerpts from our interaction.    

Give a brief info about your startup?

Peekaboo is a home grown brand started with a quest to bring high quality, luxurious but comfortable sleepwear for children in India. 

As an idea, Peekaboo was born more than 3-4 years ago. It took another year by the time we were able to launch our Ecom / Online store. We started receiving some very positive feedbacks on our quality & designs for our sleepwear leading to requests pouring in for customised kids bedding and bath essentials. 

What started out as a sleepwear only brand slowly branched out to include a large variety of natural cotton products for babies and children, including personalised nightwear, bath towels, bedding, gift accessories and much more.

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

When I had my son, like every mother, his comfort was paramount for us.. more so in our case since my little one had sensitive skin. 

Having worked with global brands for kids apparel and shopped some niche international kids brands, I knew exactly what I wanted for my son in terms of quality standards, design and aesthetics including comfort. 

The extensive research and long hours put in to find the right products for my son somehow planted this germ of an idea which became Peekaboo !!

We bring a children’s brand with unique designs made with pure cotton, top notch quality and workmanship, to discerning Indian parents who understand the value that we bring especially when it comes to their Child’s comfort. 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

I am Poonam Desai, mimmi to Agastya, living in Mumbai, Founder and Creative Director at Peekaboo. 

Over a decade of experience in Design, Merchandising, Production planning, Quality control and logistics, having worked with global retailers gave me the confidence to take this plunge as a “mompreneur”.  

Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

We are based out of Mumbai, a global city, home to many entrepreneurs. 

This city has a congruence of people coming in from all over India and Globally too, who are well read and well informed of the emerging trends. 

Mumbai is home to many globe trotting parents with world information at their fingertips, who are more aware  and willing to go the extra mile for a brand offering an extraordinary quality and customer friendly experience especially when it comes to making a choice for their little ones . 

As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

At Peekaboo we are obsessed with quality. Our clients are little babies and new moms and it’s a huge responsibility to create products that not just meet expectations rather exceed them ! 

Finding the right blend of quality, comfort and design is utmost important and we continuously strive to balance all three in equal measure.

Who are your competitors and how are you better than them?

At present there are a plethora of Indian brands who are all doing some great work. 

Our aim to better ourselves and work on improving our best ! Our products and designs speak for themselves. We have received excellent reviews from our existing customers and repeat customers who are new mothers who specifically trust our brand for their children, which in itself is a testimony to our design & quality. 

How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

Being a hands-on mother, the initial months were quite challenging especially when it came to balancing work with motherhood. But with time you learn to plan and prioritise. 

With generous support from my husband and my mother I was able to carve out time to build Peekaboo and now to nurture it. 

I have flexibility to plan my day around my son’s schedule to ensure that I am there with him during the most important part of his day.  

The work hours are not fixed and sometimes they do get a bit erratic but on a positive note, I also get to spend quality time with my little one during his formative years which is equally important.  

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

Bootstrapped.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

Biggest challenge we faced when we launched Peekaboo was the product pricing. 

Our products are designed by a team of professionals. We work on trends, shortlist ideas and turn them into works of art. 

We do not buy readily available fabric from the market. 

We only use natural cotton fibre with a soft handfeel keeping in mind the sensitive and delicate skin of the kids. 

We use digital printing technology, which when compared to a regular printing process uses less water reducing the chemical discharge thereby reducing the overall waste and discharge in the processing of the raw material itself, but adding to the quality of the product that we offer.

What gets you excited about this company?

The Childrenwear segment is one of the fastest growing segments and a niche category in itself. I would say Sky’s the limit and at Peekaboo we are just getting started.

Working and creating new design concepts for little ones gets me most excited. 

Being a mother you get some wonderful design ideas from everyday things. Turning those ideas into products and seeing our concepts come to life and then being loved & appreciated gives me immense joy and satisfaction. 

Know a great startup story or want to share your own? Write to us at bhumikka@insidermediacorp.com and we will get back to you. For more updates follow Bangalore Insider on Facebook and Instagram.