Health, heritage, headphones: Test your business creativity with Edition 105 of our quiz!

Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 105th 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 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.

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Q1: Innovation in health

Healthcare is a ripe area for innovation and entrepreneurship, as seen in the wave of health-tech startups. Examples include personalised diet and fitness plans using AI (eg. HealthifyMe) and contactless monitoring of heart and sleep patterns (eg. Dozee). Where else is the innovation opportunity in health?

Q2: Efficiency and beyond

Efficiency in process design and resource utilisation is one of the backbones of business. In the domain of customer experience, it leads to seamless and swift customer interactions. But what else is needed to deliver the winning customer experience?

Q3: Heritage and discovery

There are many options for discovering the cultural wealth of a city—museums, galleries and libraries are some avenues here. Social media opens up connections with culture buffs as well. What’s another way to discover the heritage resources of a city?

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Q4: The sound of music

Sound patterns in music are perceived not just through the ears but also through our bodies. But many headphone and earpod makers focus largely on sound delivery for eardrums. How can the hearing experience be improved, and what entrepreneurial opportunities lie here?

Q5: The EV ecosystem

The challenges of climate change and fossil fuel reliance are driving societies to embrace electric vehicles (EVs). Government initiatives such as Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) have helped here. But what else is needed to extend EV adoption beyond large urban markets?

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: Innovation in health

Launched in 2015, the 1mg app offers online ordering of medicines and medical equipment. It has also rolled out offerings for services, such as online consultation with certified doctors and scheduling diagnostic tests from clinics.

Founded in 2013, MedGenome Labs is a genomics and clinical research company specialising in precision medicine. Read more about its genetic testing services here, as well as other startups in the healthcare space.

A2: Efficiency and beyond

The quest for business efficiency should not overlook the importance of empathy, the human connection that fosters trust and loyalty. “Efficiency is more like your brain, and empathy is the heart,” explains Raja Lakshmipathy, VP and MD, India and SAARC, Genesys.

“Empathy pays in the long run. It will give you new business and it will give you repeat business and that is what will make you profitable,” affirms Manish Jha, CIO, Addverb. Read more about the power of empathy, personalisation and business impact here, from a roundtable discussion hosted by Genesys and AWS in association with YourStory.

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A3: Heritage and discovery

Started in 2019 by Anoushka Jain, Enroute Indian History (EIH) is an organisation that conducts heritage walks for women in Delhi. Sites covered include Lodhi Garden, Qutub Minar, and Safdar Jang tomb. This includes night and morning walks, and even digital tours (during the pandemic).

“Today, history is business for many,” Jain says. Read more about EIH’s inspiring journey and women empowerment contributions here, and its plans to expand to Kolkata, Meerut and Kashmir.

A4: The sound of music

Navajith Karkera and Jagath Biddappa founded Rapture Innovation Labs in 2018 to enable listeners to feel the music by combining air and body conduction. It has been supported by Deshpande Startups, SINE IIT-B, NID Ahmedabad (NDBI), and T-Hub.

The company is also working on new opportunities to use its technology platform in VR/AR headsets and professional and gaming headphones. Read more here about this Hubballi-based startup’s product journey in leveraging bone and skin to conduct sound.

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A5: The EV ecosystem

Rural areas and smaller cities account for at least 65% of the total electric two-wheelers driven in India, according to Hemalatha Annamalai, Founder of EV firm Ampere. Two-wheelers account for almost 90% of India's EV market, which calls for more inclusive government policies.

“If you create inclusive policies, it will not only catalyse innovation but also create jobs locally," she explained while speaking at YourStory’s flagship TechSparks conference. Read more here about her work in mentoring founders, investing in EV startups, and organising EV rallies that showcase innovative tech.

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).