Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 201st 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: Payment fraud
The proliferation of the digital ecosystem has also spurred a rise in digital scams, extortion and deception. How can these risks, such as payment fraud, be effectively tackled?
Q2: Emergency response
Many trauma patients do not receive adequate medical help within the critical first hour. This problem is particularly acute in smaller cities and towns. What solutions can help here?
Q3: Toy industry
Fragmentation, lack of QC, and inconsistent delivery cycles are common issues reported in the toy industry. How can they be effectively tackled?
Q4: Medical education
In many institutes, medical students cannot depend solely on using cadavers for anatomy education. Where is the entrepreneurial opportunity in reducing such dependence?
Q5: Enterprise sales
Many startups aiming to get corporate customers struggle to win over multiple departments such as IT, finance, legal, and procurement. What can be done to help them sell or scale effectively?
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: Payment fraud
Founded by Satish Kashyap, Sukhdev Sinh Zala, and Pallavi Narvekar, Drona Pay delivers real-time risk scores to help banks spot and stop multiple kinds of fraud. It uses real-time smart profiling, external references, and AI to flag suspicious transactions.
Drona Pay is channel-agnostic and analyses payments across UPI, online banking, cards, or net banking. Read more here about how it can factor in external signals like transactions coming from high-risk locations, and run smart checks through adaptive models based on payment type and user profile.
A2: Emergency response
Founded by Jeetendra Lalwani, Nilesh Mahambre, and Atin Verma, the Dial4242 app enables instant ambulance booking, real-time tracking, and 24×7 support. It partners with local operators to improve response times and reduce cancellations.
It makes sure the right ambulance with basic life support or advanced life support is dispatched within a minute. Read more here about how it has raised Rs 9 crore in pre-Series A funding led by IAN Group, which it plans to use to scale GPS tracking, automated dispatch, and smart integrations.
A3: Toy industry
Founded by Vivek Singhal, Rahul Agarwal, and Aditya Krishnakumar, Bidso is a B2B contract manufacturer that specialises in outdoor and mobility toys like tricycles, scooters, and baby walkers. It has a monthly production capacity of over 100,000 units across 1,000+ SKUs, tailored for children aged one to six.
Its services include advanced 3D modelling and prototyping for design validation and material flexibility across plastic, metal, or hybrid builds. Read more here about its video-based inspections and 24-point QC reports, and its client list, which includes Flipkart Private Labels, Lifelong, and FirstCry.
A4: Medical education
Founded by Anuj Chahal and Kanika Chahal, Maverick Simulation Solutions uses simulators for medical training in India. The indigenous simulators help medical students practice various procedures, ranging from drawing blood all the way to stenting.
The company now has over 40 simulators, such as the Anatomage Table that uses real human tissue data for digital anatomy exploration, and TestChest, a respiratory simulator that replicates human lung mechanics. Read more here about the simulators that cost between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5 crore, and the client list that includes multiple AIIMS colleges.
A5: Enterprise sales
Founded by Sankara Srinivasan and M Nageshwari Sankara, Koot helps young SaaS and AI startups unlock their enterprise sales by offering product-market fit validation, sales playbooks, partnership channel-building services, and market research. It has collaborated with LIFEX, Scrut Automation, Expertia, Revature, Tringapps, and JMI.
Koot’s founders actively engage in virtual discussions with enterprise leaders to get a clear sense of how large companies operate, their preferences, and current areas of interest. Read more here about how such insights help unlock sales opportunities for B2B startups.
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).
