Lateral Sparks, a weekly quiz from YourStory, tests knowledge across various fields, business acumen, and the ability for unconventional thinking. In this 252nd edition, the quiz addresses issues faced by real entrepreneurs during the startup creation process.
Participants are asked to consider hypothetical situations as if they were these entrepreneurs, and at the end of the quiz, the actual actions taken by the innovators are revealed. This allows for reflection on whether they would have changed their decisions.
Additionally, readers are encouraged to check out the YourStory book reviews section, which presents insights from over 355 publications on creativity and entrepreneurship, as well as the weekend PhotoSparks section dedicated to artistic creativity.
The quiz raises current issues: how innovations can improve learning when scaling education; how to apply industrial manufacturing robotics capabilities to complex logistics; and how to implement and scale principles of environmental sustainability in the fashion industry, which faces problems of overproduction and fast consumption models.
It also discusses the difficulties companies face in scaling workflows based on load and regions, as well as finding opportunities for tech entrepreneurs in this area. Another question concerns professionals whose work involves a large volume of email, and how to create suitable tools so they can focus more on core tasks and impact.
Upon completion of the quiz, answers to these five questions are provided, along with links to articles detailing the solutions found by the entrepreneurs.
Startup Arivihan, founded by Ritish Singh Chandel, Sonu Kumar, and Rushab Kotari, has developed an automated learning platform. This platform integrates interactive video lessons, Q&A, and AI-driven learning plans that adapt to student progress.
Investor Accel's Anagha Prasad noted that 'AI has finally made it possible to provide truly personalized online education that can match the effectiveness of individual and expensive in-person coaching.' She also mentioned Arivihan's capabilities in working with local languages and its personalized learning system available at mass-market prices.
Ottonomy, co-founded by Ritukar Vijay, is scaling physical AI for last-mile and campus logistics where labor shortages are acute. The company handles the transportation of various goods, such as medicines, spare parts, and critical supplies, helping organizations automate movements.
Accenture expert Aditi Kulkarni asserts that autonomous technologies are driving a new era of corporate transformation, with deep technology startups leading this shift. She discussed Ottonomy's Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) subscription model, as well as contextual AI for clients like Wellstar Kennestone hospital and Sodexo.
In the fashion sector, several entrepreneurs are transforming the industry using eco-friendly materials. For instance, Beej, founded by Arundhati Kumar, uses alternatives such as pineapple leaves, cork, and cactus. FOReT, founded by Supriya Shirsat Satam, creates bags, wallets, and totes from banana bark.
Bijayanjanti Tonbram, through the collective Sanajing Sana Thambal, transforms lotus stems into fashion accessories. Other inspiring companies mentioned include Green Hermitage by Gayatri Varun and Anubava Pratap Rai, which creates luxury items from plant-based materials and offers customers product take-back through end-of-life programs.
Surojit Chatterjee founded Ema, which helps facilitate enterprise-level business transformation beyond pilot projects and service overheads. Ema uses AI to automate workflows in functions such as human resources and finance.
As an example, Ema helped Wipro automate over 100 workflows and process 2.9 million employee requests annually, resulting in response times dropping from days to seconds and increasing employee satisfaction by 20%. Information regarding Ema's funding rounds from Creaegis, Accel, S32, and Prosus is available in the respective articles.
Sol, founded by Anish Karan, Pratik Shrivastava, and Ranjit Nair, automates numerous email management processes. These processes include research, document creation, presentation building, time planning, and drafting responses.
This technology platform is designed for sales, marketing, consulting, and recruiting professionals whose work requires processing a high volume of emails. Details about Sol's funding from General Catalyst, Nexus Venture Partners, DeVC, and Peercheque are also available in the materials.