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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 109th 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: The sound of voice

Chatbots have played an important role in bringing conversational styles of communication to human-machine interfaces. However, the next wave of voice assistants promises much more than responses to human commands. What’s the tech and business opportunity here?

Q2: The farming challenge

In many emerging economies, farming is a challenge, with the younger generation preferring to move to cities for other jobs. At the same time, consumers are becoming more health conscious in their food choice. What’s the entrepreneurial opportunity in connecting these two trends?

Q3: The deeptech ecosystem

Deeptech startups play a major role in the next wave of digital transformation by amplifying productivity and innovation. However, this calls for substantial capital, knowledge, and time resources, which the current ecosystem may not support. What’s a solution to this challenge?

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Q4: Content monetisation

The rise of digital tools for content generation and platforms for content sharing have spawned a new wave of creators and influencers. Personalisation, localisation and marketing can help monetise such content. What are some other effective factors for entrepreneurs to monetise their content?

Q5: Product development

As AI enters industry after industry, it is transforming the field of product development as well. It can reduce the time and energy to visualise and prototype new products. How would this work with GenAI?

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: The sound of voice

“Going forward, voice assistants will play a more significant role besides just executing our commands,” explains Raja Basu, General Manager, Consumer Division, Alphatec. AI-powered voice assistants will soon be able to proactively make recommendations based on content and context.

“With voice technology gradually becoming a primary interface to the digital world, smart speakers have become ubiquitous in our daily lives,” says Raja.

Read more here about the vast opportunity for AI-powered language models and smart audio products.

A2: The farming challenge

Founded by brothers Ajeet and Arvind Godara, Natureland Organics has over 15,000 retail points, with 180+ SKUs.

“Organic farming practices are often seen as more eco-friendly. This aligns with the broader trend towards sustainable and ethical consumption, making organic foods an appealing choice for consumers,” Ajeet highlights.

Natureland provides farmers with specialised training programmes in organic farming, and has expanded from the B2B to B2C segment.

Read more here about the company’s journey in expanding organic farms while also meeting the “green wave” consumer shift.

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A3: The deeptech ecosystem

Academia, corporations and government have a vital role to play as enablers for deeptech startups, along with industry associations such as Nasscom.

“The Nasscom Deeptech Council is actively collaborating with the industry to orchestrate the convergence of the ecosystem, establishing a structured avenue for the provision of patient capital support to deeptech startups,” explains Kritika Murugesan, Senior Director at Nasscom Startups.

Nasscom’s recent Future Forge conference brought together startups, investors, mentors, and industry leaders to support India’s 3,200 deeptech startups.

Read more here about the role of ecosystem collaboration for deeptech startups.

A4: Content monetisation

“The key to long-term success for content creators lies in diversifying income streams,” explains Siddhant Jain, CEO of VdoCipher. “Preventing piracy is the essence of safeguarding content creators’ revenues,” he adds.

This includes DRM encryption and user-based security analytics.

Read more here about monetisation techniques such as brand collaborations by brand consultant Manish Pandey, who spoke at YourStory’s premier TechSparks 2023 conference in Bengaluru.

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A5: Product development

GenAI can improve the pace and quality of market research and brainstorming ideas. AI tools such as ChatGPT can be utilised for idea generation, while graphic design AI tools can speed up visualisation of these products.

Platforms such as Midjourney, Canva, DALL-E 2 and Adobe Firefly play an important role in this space.

Read more here about the power of AI-powered data analysis tools and recommendations in product development.

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).