The Exchanges

Q So can, can you share more insights on how the Indian consumer has changed? Today.

A Oh yeah. I think this, uh, I think a lot of, lot of things have changed, uh, especially from, um, you know, some of the things like, for example, if I was to buy a mattress about seven, eight years ago, I would probably, you know, ask my uncle or an aunt or my friend that, you know, you want a mattress, how that matters, you know, tell me this. And they would tell me, you know, go to that Sharmaji store and this is the brand and you go for it. Right. That conversation used to happen about 10 years ago, right? Now, today's conversation is, again, I'll talk to my parents or my, you know, friends or family. They'll tell me, you know, maybe buy this mattress or try this brand and go to that store. But I'm a much more informed and educated customer today. So what I would do is that I'll go and read about that brand, probably go through a couple of YouTube videos, go through a couple of reviews on Amazon and Flipkart and Google and stuff, right? And then I'll see a lot of competition brands. So the amount of time that I am going to spend to evaluate a Particular product category is humongous. And obvious reasons is that the internet has exposed almost everything in front of you. It's the amount of time that you believe you should spend as a function of how much more you want to get educated to learn about the product category, right? So I think this one perspective of consuming more …

AI assessment note: “I'm a much more informed and educated customer today.”

Q And, uh, earlier people used to have, you know, those 2000, Rupees mattress which are made up of cotton and on Rui. Are you think people are going to do away with that? Because Wakefit in particular, you have been working with the mission of making mattresses more cheaper.

A Yeah. See, it, it goes by, uh, the amount of consciousness you have to buy towards, uh, the quality of sleep that you want, right? It's all a function of it. For example, if you're conscious and let's say you have a hundred crores in your bank account, right? And, uh, you value the quality of home that you live in. You will buy probably a great bungalow and 20, 20, 30, 40 crore rupees. You'll buy, if you value car, you'll buy maybe a crore rupees car, one half crore rupees. But even if you don't value your sleep, you'll buy it. So I think it's a function of how you as a person realize that the sleep is the quality of sleep is playing important in life. If somebody is able to link that, you know, what, in fact, you know, there are some of the learnings I would like to bring this, um, highlight this, um, the weight loss is also linked to amount of sleep that you're taking. Because your machine is also burning your midnight oil when you're sleeping, right? Everybody knows that we do more, right? More calories are burned when you're sleeping and your organs are rest and stuff like that, right? So more you sleep, the more weightless you are. So the moment you realize, you know, you have to be more healthy, you, you need to be more nimble, you need to, you know, move fast, very exciting throughout the day. You know, you, you want to be the best every day. Then the people realize the …

AI assessment note: “that is where they will start upgrading from that 2000 or something.”

Q India for the last 75 years. And the one thing they are compromising is sleep. So, so, you know, there's the hustle culture, the hustle pawn is there where say, sleep for four hours, do four-hour jobs in a day, make side incomes, this and that. But eventually, how does it all add up to, to a folk who is, you know, between 18 to 25, especially talking about them?

A Yeah, but I see, yeah, no, no, this is so true. In fact, this was the reason why we did the sleep internship program, because we wanted to really create a meme out of it in a way. Uh, when we said, you know what, can you really, we will challenge you, we'll give you a lakh rupee if you, if you can sleep eight hours straight without a disturbance. Like, and when we did this, actually people find it very difficult to sleep eight hours straight. Right? So, uh, we wanted to give this message to people, uh, in a, on a very serious note that today you might be okay compromising it, but there are gonna be repercussions. Your amount of focus that you can, uh, give to the things that you're working on. In fact, especially when you're a kid and you're studying in a college, Or going through your, you know, class 10 or class 12, you need a lot of focus on your studies. In fact, throughout your career, when you're working on any project in your college, you're working in a company, you have to work on certain things, there are timelines and stuff. If the focus or the quality of the focus is poor, I think they'll be repercussions of it. So we believe that, you know, the way that the Gen Z is living today or aspiring towards is, is not a very healthy thing. While they realize that, you know, it's an easy thing to give up, but I think sooner or later people will realize the importance of slee…

AI assessment note: “today you might be okay compromising it, but there are gonna be repercussions.”

Q How would you summarize this book to a ten-year-old kid, ah, that, you know, why is this so important?

A Yeah. See, if you want to live, I, I think, um, if, if you, if you read this book, you would realize that there's just so much happening in your brain when you're sleeping, when you're awake, when you're about to get to sleep, there's just so many things. If you read it, you probably will not be able to sleep because there's so much written in it. I think the advice would be, first of all, not read that book. That is one. But second is, believe it or not, I think scientists still don't know how to control the quality of sleep. It's, it's a function of so many things in your particular life that what you went throughout the day in your, in your school, uh, with your teachers, with your friends, at a, you know, game at cricket or a football, or the music that you played with your friends. I think it's a function of so many things happen during that day that defines the quality of the, you know, sleep that you're gonna get. I would advise, uh, go and do it at the max. Do whatever you love, you do it at the max, and I think everything will fall in place. And if you want to go by the book, uh, maybe then you'll realize there are just too many things, and I think there was, there was a line, if I remember correctly, it said, if you read this, and if you, If you know what matters to a good quality sleep, you will actually never get a good quality sleep because you'll be so conscious t…

AI assessment note: “I think the advice would be, first of all, not read that book.”

Q We are at a point in time where this timing makes so much sense. Uh, uh, and if you can tell, right, what are some common misconceptions that Indians have about their sleep cycle? Have you, like, when you talk to people, they say, but you say, this is scientific, this is not like politics. Or people from your parents' generation.

A One of the misconceptions that we heard is that, uh, if you, if you're having a dream early in the morning and, uh, if you wake up at four o'clock, you will remember your dream. Or if you remember your dream, then you mean that you have a very good quality of sleep. I think that's a full misconception. Um, you generally, uh, you know, go to your dreams when you're in REM cycle. And, and the reason I think there's a, There's a reason why you, I'm trying to clarify on, you know, why some of the people don't remember the dream, because in your REM cycle is when you watch the dream, and if you, and generally you wake up in that cycle. So when you wake up in that cycle, and your dream in, dream generally is in the middle of it, right? And you wake up, you don't recall anything because the REM is the poor quality of sleep. Nobody watches in deep, right? So if you're about to get into deep, then you fully remember the REM cycle, and hence you remember the dream. Right. So, so it's got nothing to do about whether you wake up at four or five. I think it's just about the cycle. It's very natural that some of the times you'll be lucky to fall into that phase of deep sleep and remember a dream in the rhythm cycle.

AI assessment note: “One of the misconceptions that we heard is that”

Q And can you share more about the demographics divide of Indian sleep? Which city sleeps the best? Which tier two or tier three town sleeps the best? Any data that you have?

A Um, so we, um, we have data on, uh, uh, not specific town, but I think in the, we've seen that, you know, people in, uh, tier two and tier three town specifically, they generally, because I think, uh, there's a lack of electricity. In those towns, and by force, people go to sleep at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, because they can't do anything beyond it, right? In fact, we have some of the employees who are working out of Jodhpur, and they live about 10 kilometers from Jodhpur. Jodhpur is in Rajasthan. Now that place, light is not there after six p.m., and the sun sets about five p.m. and six p.m., somewhere in between. By force, they sleep at eight p.m., and they woke up at four p.m. So, so I think it's, it's probably, uh, you know, a force, Which is telling any tier one, tier two to three town that, you know, go to sleep. But otherwise, look across anywhere. The easiest thing that people want to cut in their life is sleep. And it just goes across. And only people who realizes the quality of sleep are those who have friends and families suffering because of this, or, or probably athletes or coaches who have told them, you know, maybe it's quite important. By the way, um, I now remember this, um, When I used to prepare for my 1011, and 12th exam, and I would wake up till two o'clock, one o'clock, you know, doing all those pencil, diaries, notes, and stuff. My parents would wake u…

AI assessment note: “not specific town, but I think in the, we've seen that”