‘Work hard, have fun, make history’ - your startup fix for the week

Monday April 01, 2019 , 4 min Read

Even as the whole world goes bananas over April Fool’s Day, we’d like to let you in on a day that might work better for all of us. This Monday morning, we suggest you wake up to International Fun at Work Day!

Not to be confused with Fun at Work Day (celebrated on January 28 in the US), today’s the day to let your hair down in the workplace. For numerous studies show that if work isn't fun, you're sure to end up feeling that you’re not playing on the right team.

After all, as Mary Poppins famously said: “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.”

So what should you do today? We have a few suggestions:

Give everyone an hour to redo their cubicle (provide instant decor fixers).
Screen a fun movie - with popcorn - that is sure to make everyone laugh out loud.
Send a cake to your colleague's home after keeping him late at the office.
Write a thank-you note to the co-worker who always goes out of her way to help out in crunch situations.
Host a silly contest - screaming, walking backwards, or eating the most cookies – and hand out prizes.
Go out for a team lunch to a place that no one has ever been to.

We all spend more than a third of our life at work, and it’s imperative that it’s not all work. Dale Carnegie was sure that people rarely succeed “unless they have fun in what they are doing”. More recently, Jeff Bezos famously exhorted us to “work hard, have fun, make history”.

And after all the fun and games, get back to work with renewed vigour and inspiration. Our bouquet of startup stories is sure to show the way.

Startup by IIT/IIM alumni improves credit access for India’s lower income group

SmartCoin was started by IIT/IIM alumnus Rohit Garg, Amit Chandel, Vinay Kumar Singh, and Jayant Upadhyay in early 2016. In 18 months, SmartCoin claims to have disbursed over 300,000 loans amounting to Rs 150 crore. The loan ticket size varies from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh. The startup took 12 months to hit its first 100,000 users. Since then, its user base has jumped 12X to 1.2 million.

SmartCoin co-founders Rohit Garg, Amit Chandel, Vinay Kumar Singh, and Jayant Upadhyay

Why angel investors love ‘smart clothing’ brand Turms

Bengaluru-based Turms, an intelligent apparel brand, was recently in the news for raising funds from many noteworthy individuals from the Indian startup ecosystem. Turms produces apparel that come with intelligent functions. Its clothes are stain repellent, anti-odour, has cooling and wicking properties, and can recover from being stretching. What’s more - you don’t even have to wash them regularly (though that’s optional)!

Earn digital currency for every step you take

Currently a free app that converts steps into digital currency, Boltt Coin tracks your steps through inbuilt phone sensors, then converts the steps into currency, or Boltt Coins. These Boltt Coins can presently be used to shop from a large range of products from the in-app marketplace.

Hire at turbo speed with this AI platform

This Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based platform uses ‘common sense’ to solve the most difficult problem of recruitment - matching the right candidate with the right company in the shortest possible time. TurboHire analyses the details of a candidate to match it with prospective recruiters. Its database already has a bank of 28,000 candidates with technical degrees.

How BridgeLabz is bridging the talent gap in the tech sector

Mumbai-based BridgeLabz is an incubator looking to bridge the employability gap. The startup aims to increase the talent pool by 25 percent, and reduce the demand-supply gap in tech-based profiles. BridgeLabz claims 100 percent guaranteed job placement to engineers on emerging technologies. Its flagship ‘Maker Programme’ helps fresh engineers learn coding by making tech products themselves from scratch.

Jaipur-based Ecowrap upcycles and recycles waste and provides jobs

Angraj Swami, Utsav Goyal, Gourav Sanghai and Nitinn Sagarr founded Ecowrap (Eco, Waste and Resources Action Programme) Environmental Solutions, with the aim of total waste utilisation. The Jaipur-based startup builds awareness about waste segregation, and upcycles and recycles waste and provides jobs to students of design and local artisans.