The man from Bhabua explains his Udaan, and Dailyhunt says a business can't win with porn
The very charming Sujeet Kumar gave the audience at TechSparks a glimpse of what passion, hard work, and drive can do - his company, Udaan, is India’s fastest unicorn, having achieved the coveted $1 billion valuation in a short 26 months. The young man from Bhabua, Bihar, shies away from the praise he gets, but is honest in telling all he did not make it to the UPSC exam - not once, but twice.
How does one target the next 500 million Indian users? "Definitely not with porn," said Virendra Gupta, Founder and CEO, and Umang Bedi, President, of Dailyhunt, the app that publishes and aggregates news in 17 languages. He added investors focused on DAUs (Daily Active Users) and MAUs (Monthly Active Users) and did not understand that businesses, especially in content and with a focus on the users who are coming online for the first time, need to be built with quality content.
Standing ovations are rare, more so at TechSparks. But when bootstrapped billionaire Divyank Turakhia finished a crackling fireside chat, the audience couldn’t help but stand up and applaud the young entrepreneur. The Turakhia brothers – Divyank and Bhavin – joined India’s billionaire club in 2016 with the tech company they founded in their teens. His story is the stuff of legend – how a Rs 25,000 loan turned into a near-billion-dollar exit.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation realised the importance of catering to local palettes early on, says CEO Sridhar Venkat. Whether it's the grains they source, the food they serve, the people they employ, Akshay Patra is focused on being local. The foundation has focused on innovative ideas and technology to ensure efficiency and hygiene in the food they serve to children across schools.
Taking automation to an altogether different level, a 300-page English book written by Indian author Srinivas Mahankali - it had over one lakh words - was translated into Mandarin in flat 30 seconds. No, there are no super editors here - this was the Youdao AI translator at work. The technology was demonstrated at the Beijing International Book Fair in August this year.
Olympic trap shooter Shagun Chowdhary spoke about the struggles of being an Indian sportswoman, her Olympic journey, and the need to accept sports as a career option. Shagun is often asked what she does for a living. When she says she shoots, the usual response goes something like: "Oh! That's nice, what else do you do?"
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