IPO, D2C, leadership: Test your business creativity with Edition 9 of our quiz!

This weekly quiz from YourStory tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see last week’s quiz here). In this ninth edition of the quiz, we present five 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 themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?

Q1: From idea to IPO

There has been an IPO boom in India this year, as established players, as well as a new wave of scale-stage startups, go public. An IPO opens up new sources of wealth, increases brand value, and provides investor exits. But IPOs are also fraught with risks – what are these risks that entrepreneurs need to factor in?

Q2: D2C – beyond price and range

Offering a wide selection of quality products at a suitable price range, along with visualisation and user ratings, is a good strategy for a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand. But there is one more crucial success factor in the D2C space – what is this factor entrepreneurs must address?

Q3: Diversity and inclusion

Improving educational and workforce opportunities for women can deliver a significant boost to a country’s GDP, and empower girls and women along with their families. This company’s new factory has taken women’s participation to a level that seems to break world records in this space. Which company is this?

ALSO READ

[Startup Bharat] Ecommerce startup Maavni Designs is promoting Odisha handicrafts and empowering artisans

Q4: Creating business value

A great idea, product-market fit, and a team that can scale help create a valuable business. Investor backing can improve the company’s valuation as well. What is the other core factor for long-term business success?

Q5: Customer engagement

Understand the customer’s journey, solve a pain point effectively, and scale up the user base – that’s a good way to get traction and build a company. But what lies ahead? How does one deepen customer engagement in areas like financial services?

Answers!

Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below) and links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning, and happy creating!

A1: From idea to IPO

An IPO also opens up the possibility of regulatory risk, legal risk, code of conduct risk, risk around communication and investor relationships, and climate and reputational risk, according to Rohit Jain and Sunny Goel of Willis Towers Watson India Insurance Brokers. Read more here.

Company leaders need to also keep up with the rigour and discipline of quarterly meetings with investors, shareholders, and analysts, according to Nishant Arora, Director at Setup Services India. “Depending on the days spent per quarter on this activity, this could entail time away from the primary business,” he cautions. Read his analysis here.

ALSO READ

Over 500 Freshworks employees in India turn crorepatis; ‘great sense of fulfilment,’ says CEO Girish Mathrubootham

A2: D2C - beyond price and range

“The end consumer looks at three things primarily: the best price possible for a product, speed of delivery, and a hassle-free experience,” explains Rajaganesh S, Head, Supply Chain Solutions, Delhivery.

Companies like Amazon promise quick and same-day delivery, along with product return features. New brands must also offer fast and accurate delivery, using techniques like a common inventory system and placing warehouses closer to customer bases. Read more here from YourStory’s inaugural Brands of India Summit.

A3: Diversity and inclusion

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Co-founder, Ola Group, has announced that Ola Electric's Futurefactory in Tamil Nadu will be run entirely by women, employing over 10,000 women workers.

That makes it “the world’s largest women-only factory and the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility globally.” The manufacturing goal is 10 million electric two-wheelers by 2022, with models Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro priced at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,000, respectively. Read more here.

A4: Creating business value

“Building a brand is about values and purpose. Values create value in the long term,” says Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Piramal Enterprises. The correctly picked values create economic value too.

Read the story of the company’s shift from the textile to pharmaceutical and financial services sector here. The inspiring interview also talks about how a successful company can spawn the next wave of entrepreneurs by investing in them.

A5: Customer engagement

“Financial service is not about selling one product or giving one solution to the consumer, it is a lifelong journey which generates with trust,” explains Hemant Gala, Head of Financial Services and Banking, PhonePe.

The fintech platform reportedly processes 60 million transactions a day and has over 130 million active users. The company is now expanding to a comprehensive platform, with new offerings in insurance and mutual funds as well. Read more here.

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).