Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 160th edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.
What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?
Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
Q1: Social empowerment
Children and teens suffering from mental disabilities due to Down Syndrome and autism can face severe challenges as they graduate from school to college and beyond. How can this problem be addressed?
Q2: Dry rivers
Some rivers seem to run dry even after several years of adequate rainfall. This leads to migration and adverse social impact. How can this challenge be tackled?
Q3: Startup evolution
Startups generally move through three key stages, of which the first two are pre-product market fit (PMF) and post-PMF (scaling). What is the third stage, and what strategies work best for each stage?
Q4: Women’s health
While many resources are there for women to deal with issues around pregnancy and fertility, support for tackling menopause seems lacking. How can this gap be addressed as well?
Q5: Isolation of elders
In many traditional societies, the joint family system is dwindling and elderly isolation is on the rise. What’s a way for providing a lifeline to elders in their crucial times of need?
Answers!
Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning, and happy creating!
A1: Social empowerment
Gopika Kapoor and Moneisha Gandhi co-founded Buddy Up as a platform to foster meaningful friendships among young adults with mental developmental challenges. It helps them combat isolation and enriches their lives. The inclusive environment incudes chat and video call features to ensure safety as well.
Read more here about how such challenged youth can now perform music together, go for dinners, and discover friends beyond their normal local circles.
A2: Dry rivers
Led by Chandrasekar Kuppan from the Art of Living Foundation, the Naganadhi River Rejuvenation Project involves 20,000 women under the TN government’s MNREGA scheme to revive the Naganadhi river. The practical solution is to use recharge wells or sub-surface groundwater wells to directly discharge water into deep water-bearing zones.
Read more here about the spirit of community it generated, the support it received from gram panchayats, and its replication across 25 rivers in Tamil Nadu in 15 districts.
A3: Startup evolution
Gokul Rajaram, fondly regarded as the ‘odfather of Google Adsense, describes three key stages of startup evolution: pre-product market fit (PMF), post-PMF (scaling), and mature (optimisation) stages. The first stage involves experimentation and customer discovery.
Once PMF is achieved, the challenge shifts to building a robust operational framework to support the company’s growth. At the mature stage, the focus is on refining operations, improving profitability, and finding new areas for growth.
Read more founder tips here.
A4: Women’s health
Miyara Health, founded by Gayatri Muthukrishnan and Sanjana Rao, offers digital health solutions designed for midlife health and menopause. This includes an AI-chatbot to provide awareness, a personalised health assessment based on the woman’s symptoms, and self-paced programmes for symptom management.
“Women can easily access our programmes to address common menopause-related issues such as insomnia, hot flashes, stress relief, and incontinence,” the co-founders explain.
Read more here about how this approach also promotes long-term health by reducing the risk of chronic diseases.
A5: Isolation of elders
GenWise, founded in 2023 by Rajat Jain, Nehul Malhotra and Geetanshu Singla, offers a platform for elders aged 50-70. “Our vision is to take an elder from loneliness to laughter,” Jain explains.
The app already has gained 1.6 million users over the past 18 months, with three key services on offer: Saathi (one-on-one companionship), Friends (a platform to make new friends), and Events (group activities).
Read more here about the tools used to achieve data-driven engagement, segmented messaging, and monetisation of services.
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
