AI, energy, fashion: test your business creativity with Edition 183 of our weekly 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 183rd 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.

Also Read

Major tech, startup policies of 2024: AI, space tech, blockchain define the year

Q1: Ad production

Brands face challenges in their advertising costs because production can be expensive, right from hiring actors and booking locations to post-production and delivery. How can these costs be minimised?

Q2: Solar installation

Getting a solar installation can be complex for a homeowner, in terms of getting trusted and relevant information on equipment, procedures, price, quality, and financing. How can this barrier to solar adoption be tackled?

Q3: Sustainable fashion

Conscious consumers are requiring fashion companies to be sustainable, artisanal, and ethical all at once. How can it be made possible to meet all three considerations simultaneously?

Also Read

Drones in 2024: Pilot training, govt schemes bring drone tech into the mainstream

Q4: Custom application development

Digital transformation is critical for business success, but many companies still struggle to develop and deploy custom applications in a timely manner. How can this disconnect between business needs and technical implementation be addressed?

Q5: Digital media

Online literature can be profitable as a business, as some industry leaders have shown. But what adjacent and new markets can they successfully expand into?

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: Ad production

Founded by Rituraj Biswas, Abhijeet Kumar, Neha Soman, and Arijit Mukhopadhyay, Hypergro.ai uses a combination of AI, ML, and deep analytics to create hyper-personalised video ads. They can be rapidly generated while also increasing engagement and conversions.

Its products AdGen AI automatically generates video ads from script to final edit, thus streamlining ad production, while Audience AI grows audience cohorts through real-time analytics and engagement. Read more here about how it has over 140 paid clients, and has rolled out subscriptions priced at Rs 50,000 per month.

A2: Solar installation

Founded by Anand Jain, solar energy startup Aerem has created an ecosystem of over 2,000 installation partners with a presence in 65 cities. It claims to have enabled 800 MW of solar capacity and financed an equal number of projects.

The team has played a pivotal role in India’s solar ecosystem evolution, from utility-scale solar adoption in 2010 to a decentralised rooftop solar boom in 2020, according to investor Kiran Mysore. Read more here about its journey and its funding from UTEC, Riverwalk Holdings, Blume Ventures, and Avaana Capital.

Also Read

Quiet quitting, misinformation busting: Key social media movements that made waves in 2024

A3: Sustainable fashion

Founded by Adhiraj Shinde and Aishwarya Lahariya, Jiwya is a plant-based, ethically handcrafted, luxury fashion brand. It combines sustainability with centuries-old textile forms, via relationships with around 150 artisans across India.

It works with hand embroiderers, hand printers, block makers, and farmers, who are all committed to preserving their crafts. Read more here about its “soil-to-soil” ecosystem which includes natural colours, cotton threads, upcycled production waste, and recycled paper packaging for contemporary fashion designs.

A4: Custom application development

Founded by Abhijeet Kumar and Chirag Jadhav, TableSprint is an AI app builder platform to help businesses rapidly build, automate, and scale applications. Its system called AI Consult functions as an analyst, developer and cloud architect rolled into one, which is available 24/7. 

Users simply describe what they need in conversational language, and the AI translates those requirements into functional software. Read more here about how such AI-native solutions can outperform legacy software, and how the startup has roped in clients such as Flipkart, Aspire Fintech, and Vedantu.

Also Read

From valuations to value: Edtech’s shift towards sustainable growth

A5: Digital media

Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi has a core online literature business that is now profitable and cash flow positive. Beyond online literature, Pratilipi offers audio content through Pratilipi FM and Pratilipi Comics, and has also acquired Westland Books and IVM Podcasts.

It is now targeting two new formats: animation and vertical short drama, using a range of AI tools. Read more here about its other focus to expand beyond India, with 6-7% of its revenue already coming from overseas Indians.

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).