Data, AI, energy: test your business creativity with Edition 244 of our weekly quiz!
This insightful feature from YourStory tests and strengthens your business acumen! Here are 5 questions to kick off this 244th quiz. Ready?
Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 244th 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.
Q1: Search and AI
Instead of search engines, more consumers are asking AI platforms which brand to choose. As a result, brands are seeing their organic visibility decline. So how can companies effectively optimise for AI recommendations and not only search engines?
Q2: EV market
The market for new electric vehicles is increasing, but the market for reselling them has not developed at the same pace due to issues with battery checks. How can this problem be addressed?
Q3: Construction supplies
Availability information and delivery delays in the construction and home improvement ecosystem lead to productivity losses, delayed project timelines, and idle labour. How can these problems be solved?
Q4: Satellite transmissions
A satellite often has to wait until it passes over a ground station before it can transmit data, leading to delays and losses. Ground stations are scarce and expensive to build. How can this data transmission gap be tackled?
Q5: Energy flexibility
Many companies have solar power, but face increased demand at the end of the day, for which diesel generators are used. What’s a better and cost-effective solution to manage this power transition?
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: Search and AI
Founded by Siddhartha Vanvani, DareAISearch helps brands get discovered, cited and recommended across multiple AI search platforms. It brings together AI search analytics, intelligence and deployment on a single platform.
“We're witnessing the biggest shift in digital discovery since Google popularised web search,” Vanvani explains. Read more here about how AI platforms increasingly shape consumer decisions by recommending trustworthy options rather than simply the most searched brand.
A2: EV market
Founded by Tanvir Singh, Saurabh Arora, Madhu Reddy and Chanakya Agarwal, the startup TrusTerra has developed a core product called TruEV Score. This rating assesses a vehicle's battery health, range consistency, and remaining useful life, and thus informs buyer decisions.
The platform pulls together vehicle data, battery diagnostics, and analytics to produce a valuation. Read more here about its TerraBid auction marketplace for certified dealers based on battery score listings, and its fundraising from Finvolve and India Accelerator.
A3: Construction supplies
Founded by Shezan Bhojani and Sachith Varma, Fixxly is building a digital procurement layer for the construction and interiors ecosystem. It helps contractors, tradespeople, interior designers, and homeowners access building materials on demand.
Its AI-powered supply network fulfills orders through a network of local dark stores, matching real-time availability, proximity and demand to deliver in minutes rather than days. Read more here about how the startup tackles the fragmented nature of building material distribution at scale.
A4: Satellite transmissions
Founded by Saisree Eega and Sooraj Gopakumar, Satlabs Space Systems runs affordable relay systems so that spacecraft do not have to wait for a ground pass. Described as floating ground stations, data is handed to the relay satellites which pass it on.
This helps applications across defence, agriculture, disaster response, offshore energy and industrial connected devices. Read more here about Satlabs’ model, and its fundraising from Finvolve and India Accelerator.
A5: Energy flexibility
Founded by Mudit Narain and Abhijeet Pandey, VoltSeal positions batteries as the missing piece between renewable generation and reliable supply. The company installs lithium-iron-phosphate battery systems behind the meter, on the customer's own side.
Each installation is paired with software that decides when the battery charges and when it discharges. Read more here about the benefits of such time-shifting storage, and the company’s investments from Theia Ventures, Rainmatter, Momentum Capital, and Social Alpha.
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.