Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 54th 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 340 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
Q1: Edtech benefits
Edtech platforms offer a number of benefits to teachers and learners. Educational content and community interactions can be scaled, customised, and personalised effectively. There’s also one more key process where such platforms can help educational institutes – what is that?
Q2: Banking services
Technology has helped increase the customer footprint of the banking and financial services sector, in terms of quantity as well as quality. In some cases, digitalisation can even help overcome existing biases with respect to women borrowers. How does this work?
Q3: Content and beyond
Content platforms have become a boon to the creative community by helping them reach global audiences, irrespective of location and time zone. What are the key ways in which such platforms have also aided community engagement?
Q4: Journey to success
The entrepreneurial journey can be long and uncertain, but founders must clearly prepare for a range of scenarios. Effective support systems also help. But sometimes, paralysis by analysis or lack of confidence can come in the way. How can this be overcome?
Q5: Business communication
Storytelling is widely regarded as a powerful tool for business communication. The plot, cast of characters, emotional journey, and inspiring message are key elements of an effective story. What are some other success factors for good storytelling?
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: Edtech benefits
“Although new business models are getting validated in the education industry along with a new-age technology stack, student acquisition is still a white space,” observes Abhishek Ballabh, co-founder of ExtraaEdge.
The B2B SaaS company enables educational institutions automate, streamline, and manage their student enrollment funnel. Read more here about its dashboard to track performance across multiple centres, franchises, teams, counsellors, and marketing channels.
A2: Banking services
“Technology such as AI and ML offer a fairer, unbiased, data-supported root to financial processes such as loan allocation,” explains Harshvardhan Lunia, Founder, Lendingkart.
“Gender-influenced issues form a major obstacle in the path to an equitable economy,” he adds. Read more here about how algorithms can help overcome some human errors and present accurate and reliable results, based just on the customer’s business and potential.
A3: Content and beyond
“Platforms that come with integrated real-time gamification, driven by microtransactions-led gifting options, have successfully glued masses in a very short span of time,” explains Varun Saxena, Founder and CEO of Bolo Live, a social live streaming platform.
Read more here about how such platforms empower fans to chat live, connect, engage, and build communities with their favourite live streamers. All this can be done in their preferred languages of choice as well.
A4: Journey to success
“The idea is to take the first step. It looks tough, and it looks hard, but take that first step and the path will form,” affirms Vaidehi Vaidya, Founder of Women in Sport, India.
Her venture works toward bringing gender balance to the field of sports. It helps women athletes find mentors and advisors with the right expertise and knowledge. Read more of her journey and achievements here.
A5: Business communication
“Great storytelling begins with brevity and simplicity,” according to Ujwal Kalra and Shobhit Shubhankar, co-authors of Startup Compass: How Iconic Entrepreneurs Got it Right.
Founders should also show some vulnerability and not try to oversell. “Organisational culture lies at the heart of a company,” the co-authors affirm. Read more startup tips from stories of 20 successful entrepreneurs and investors in our book review.
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).
