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Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 142nd 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.

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Q1: Efficient design

The real estate boom opens up new opportunities—as well as challenges, such as meeting the high demand for customised corporate interiors in a fragmented, unorganised market of suppliers. How can technology help here, and where is the entrepreneurial opportunity?

Q2: Financial security

The surge in the population of senior citizens raises important concerns of ensuring their financial security. How can seniors be empowered with appropriate tools for financial planning and management?

Q3: Investment community

In large and fast-moving startup ecosystems, the volume and complexity of information is growing with respect to investment options for entrepreneurs and funders. What tech-based solution can help here?

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Q4: Women leadership

A number of online platforms and support schemes have emerged to empower more aspiring women leaders. What are some other creative ways to strengthen such networks and make them even more effective?

Q5: Assistive technology

Visually-impaired users face serious challenges in accessing informational and educational content that is in print or digital form. Braille is an option, but getting Braille books can be quite expensive. What’s another technology solution that could work here?

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: Efficient design

Founded in 2023 by Sanjeev Bhandari, Gurugram-based AirBrick Infra helps clients visualise their spaces better. It reduces project timelines by integrating AI into nearly every step of its design process.

It uses an AI-driven design library, with around two lakh templates, to reduce office space design time from 20 days to just two days. Read more here about how the company delivers value and efficiency to a range of clients including Pizza Hut and Nike.

A2: Financial security

Emerging tech solutions are transforming financial empowerment for seniors, making financial services more accessible and providing robust support systems, according to Hemanshu Jain, Founder and CEO of Khyaal, an app for senior citizens.

“Continuous digital literacy training is essential for helping seniors stay connected and informed in an increasingly digital world,” he emphasises. This includes using readable fonts, voice commands, and real-time alerts. Read more about such tools and features here.

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A3: Investment community

Bengaluru-based IndianVCs, a venture community, has launched an online platform to make networking, hiring, and fundraising more transparent and accessible. Its database includes information on investors, sectors, stages, and ticket size.

It shows entrepreneurs how to contact investors and pitch to them. Read more here about its Spotlight programme to bridge the gap between startups and talent with monthly events to build connections.

A4: Women leadership

Former Zomato executives Ragini Das and Anand Sinha launched leap.club in 2020 as a professional network for emerging women leaders. It has over 25,000 paid members on its platform, with strong support for networking.

“We realised women needed places to meet other women, they needed things to happen at these places, a place to work out of, a space to record content or do podcasts,” says Ragini Das. Read more here about its first offline club opening soon in Mumbai, with plans for more clubs in Bengaluru and Delhi.

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A5: Assistive technology

Akshita Sachdeva’s Trestle Labs has developed the Kibo device and mobile app for blind people to enable real-time digitisation, translation and audio conversion of printed and handwritten content. Kibo is an acronym for Knowledge-In-a-Box, and is shaped like a table-lamp during its operation.

The device was launched in 2018 with reading support in three languages. Read more here about how Kibo has now empowered over 180,000 visually-impaired users across 60 global languages and 13 Indian languages.

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).