12thMan replaces the WhatsApp chaos around session selection, fees, and live rosters — for academies, coaches and parents — using the rails parents already trust. Built for grassroots learning of every kind: a sport, an instrument, an art form, a tuition.
In cricket, the 12th man is the one who steps in when the team needs them — quietly, reliably, without ever asking for the spotlight. That's the role we're building for.
12thMan is the operating layer for grassroots academies in India — the people who teach our kids cricket, music, karate, dance, and everything in between.
Today, the work that keeps these academies running — confirming who's coming on Saturday, collecting the fee, sending the team sheet, telling the family their child made the XI — happens on WhatsApp. It works, but it costs every coach three to five hours a week of forwarding screenshots, chasing payments, and replying to the same questions across twelve threads. Parents are stuck guessing whether a message they got on Tuesday is still accurate by Friday.
We're building the thin software layer that sits on top of WhatsApp — not replacing it, not asking parents to download yet another app. The invite arrives in the chat they already trust. So does the fee request, the live team sheet, and the match confirmation. Coaches get their evenings back. Parents stop forwarding screenshots. Academies finally have a record of who showed up and who paid.
We started with junior cricket academies in Bengaluru — a market we know intimately — and the product is designed to extend cleanly to music schools, martial arts dojos, dance studios, and tutoring centres. The mechanics are the same everywhere: a coach, a kid, a session, a fee, a parent in the loop.
Three to four times a week, the same WhatsApp message goes out — for a match, a class, a recital, a tournament. Every time, hours of admin and unrecorded cash.
12thMan is the silent +1 — the role every team, class or studio needs, never the headline.
Pick the roster, set the fee, hit send. We handle the rest.
Stays inside WhatsApp. No new app to install.
The first dashboard built for grassroots ops.
Built around the WhatsApp message — not against it. Same loops whether it's a match, a class, or a recital.
Coach picks the roster, sets the fee. We send each parent their own payment request — by name, on WhatsApp.
Parents tap a UPI link inside WhatsApp. No QR scan, no screenshot. Auto-receipt. Coach sees real-time paid / unpaid.
One link the coach shares to the WhatsApp group. Everyone sees the roster with live payment ticks. The retyped list is dead.
Session day: tap present / absent. Auto-logs to learner profiles. Every child builds a real progress record from day one.
Every template is utility-category, opt-in, transactional. Reviewed against Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy before submission. Examples below use a cricket scenario; the same template structure serves any discipline.
For Meta's review team and any partner doing diligence.
shwetha.balan@gmail.com12thmanapp.in
Parents already coordinate their child's classes and matches on WhatsApp. We send fewer messages, not more — and only after explicit, recorded consent.
12thMan sends utility messages to parents who have explicitly opted in via their child's academy — confirming session or match selection, requesting match fees via UPI link, sharing the live team sheet, and confirming attendance. No marketing. No promotional content. No third-party advertising.
Academy adds the parent's name and phone to their roster — the same one they use today.
Parent receives a single opt-in request explaining what messages they'll get and from whom. They reply YES to confirm.
Timestamped record stored with the academy ID, parent ID, and message reference. Auditable on request.
Reply STOP in-thread. Honoured immediately. Re-opt-in requires a fresh request.
Summary. Full policy at 12thmanapp.in/privacy.
Parent name, phone number, child's name & age, opt-in status. Match attendance and fee status from the academy. UPI transaction reference (no card or bank details — UPI handles that).
No location data. No contacts. No browsing or device fingerprints. No payment instrument data — UPI providers hold that, not us.
Strictly for match operations: selecting a parent's child for a match, requesting that match's fee, confirming the team sheet, recording attendance. Never for advertising or third-party sale.
Encrypted at rest in India-resident infrastructure (AWS Mumbai). Access limited to named operations staff. Data deleted within 90 days of an academy off-boarding, or on parent request.
Child's first name and age only — held by the academy as part of their roster. Always entered by the parent or coach, never by the child. Not used outside the academy's match operations.
Parents may request access, correction, or deletion of their data at any time by emailing shwetha.balan@gmail.com. We respond within 7 working days.
A direct mapping of how 12thMan complies with each Meta policy that applies to us.
STOP honoured immediately. Re-opt-in requires fresh consent. No re-engagement of opted-out users.