All Posts in Entrepreneurship

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

No ordinary disruption. In the business world, change means opportunity – to find it you need to know where to look. Witness the real-time startup trends at the World Startup Expo 2016, November 21~November 23, 2016 at Bangalore International Center.

The Asia’s largest congregation, aims to bring together the most happening and disruptive startups and SMEs, along with the expertise of executives from the top corporations, government agencies, incubators, investors, HNWIs, VC funds, banks, students and technology companies from across the world.

Get an insight into the developments that will have the greatest impact on the business world in coming decades. The trends that are fads and one which will stick. The technologies that have the greatest potential to remake today’s business landscape include, Autonomous vehicles-Autonomous cars are coming, and fast, by 2025, the ‘driver-less revolution’ could already be ‘well underway.’ Cloud technology-the growth of cloud technology will change just how much small businesses and startups can accomplish. 3D printing-the manufacturing process will ‘democratize’ as consumers and entrepreneurs start to print their own products. Renewable energy–Wind and solar have never really been competitive with fossil fuels, with the changing trend the International Energy Agency predicts that the sun could surpass fossil fuels to become the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050.

Commenting on this initiative, Nebu K Abraham, Co-founder & CEO, Cocoon Ventures and director-World Startup Expo said

This congregation will not only provide prescient diagnosis of what’s to come, but also offer compelling thoughts on how we succeed in a world of startups that’s moving faster and faster every day. The industry stalwarts will give an insight into the massive changes which can be overwhelming, as well as inspire the attendees to confront them with intellect, humanity, and a profound optimism about our future.

To maximize the platform, WSE 2016 will have four different streams running over three days.

  • WSE Exhibition: 10000 SQM exhibiting area with 500+ startups, technology companies, educational institutions, free trade zones and banks
  • World Tech Hackathon: A coding challenge which will see participation from over 2000 students and corporates
  • WSE Conference: A 2-day conference with high profile national and international speakers
  • WSE Awards: An award ceremony acknowledging the work done by startups

An important interactive platform for policy-makers, investors, startups, media, industry partners and associations interested in updating their worldview and making it fit for modern purpose.

About World Startup Expo (WSE)

WSE is for everyone looking to learn, listen, and collaborate; to harness their creativity and find the tools and resources to bring their ideas to fruition. It is for those startups looking to build and expand their tribe. For more information, please visit World Startup Expo

About Cocoon Ventures

Cocoon Ventures is a venture capital firm that provides growth capital required for seed stage and early stage startups across a wide spectrum of industries. Set in the UAE, our mission is to be an ideal business launch pad through empowering dynamic entrepreneurship, creating and nurturing long-term business relationships. For more information, please visit Cocoon Ventures

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

TiE Hyderabad in association with the Indian School Of Business (ISB) is organizing the TiE-ISB Connect 2016 on 26th & 27th October at ISB Campus, Gachibowli.

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Theme

The theme for this year is India Leapfrogs- Disruptive Technologies & New Business Models. Digitization and enabling technologies is transforming the way industry functions—and unleashing global opportunities for value creation. Value chains, production mechanisms, customer experiences are all without doubt impacted by digitization. This conference brings together execution experts, investors and academia together to discuss strategies and business models in a digitally disrupted world.

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 will strive to bring into focus these opportunities and shed light on the way forward to make a meaningful impact [Source*]

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Key Tracks

The tracks of the event are:

Mobile, IoT & Analytics
eHealth
Skill India & EduTech
FinTech
Make In India

 

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Highlights

20 startups share their success stories
Fireside Chat : Learnings/Unlearnings from iconic business successes & failures
Key sectors update from ISB / E&Y / KPMG / Gartner / Zinnov

Above all you have access to Mentors as well as Investors!

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Speakers

There is an awesome line-up of speakers, right from ministers, Member of Parliament, Entrepreneurs, Angel Investors, PE Investors etc.

You can have a list at the speaker list here

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Investor Connect

As a regular part of the annual TiE-ISB Connect, “Investor Connect” brings together top Indian PE/VC/Seed/Angel funds and promising entrepreneurs in any industry (for seed, early stage and Series-A funding) for a well orchestrated face to face interaction on the day 0 of TiE-ISB Connect. Funding range: $100,000 to $5M.

You can register your application for funding here. For more information about Investor Connect and participating investors, please visit Investor Connect Page

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Mentor Connect

Mentor Connect is a day long event and is highly recommended for early stage startup founders/co-founders, promoters, budding entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs.

The startups/mentees will have 1:1 mentoring sessions with serial entrepreneurs for their specific business concerns, issues or needs. Some of the key areas of mentoring would include Business Plan Design, Problem/Idea validation, Customer/Market validation, Product-Market fit, Revenue Model, Go-To-Market Strategies, Team Building, Funding and Exit options.

You can register for the Mentor Connect session here. For more information about Mentor Connect and participating mentors, please visit Mentor Connect Page

TiE-ISB Connect 2016 : Complete Agenda & Registration

To register for the TiE-ISB Connect, please visit the Registration page. For the schedule, please visit the Agenda page

For any further information, please visit TiE ISB Connect

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

T-Hub, India’s largest startup ecosystem builder, in partnership with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley today announced the launch of T-Bridge, a new program that will connect Indian startups with global market opportunities, and help bring global startups to India. T-Bridge will enable startup communities in India and around the world to cross-pollinate ideas, innovate and create channels for knowledge transfer. It will also create a network of mentors, VCs, incubators and accelerators that is advantageous to the Indian startup ecosystem.

Telangana is now recognized as one of the world’s leading destinations for startups within India. The city of Hyderabad offers some of India’s best infrastructure, a large and growing technology talent pool, and a vibrant, cosmopolitan international community.  Of particular significance to innovative tech startups worldwide is Telangana’s great position as a gateway to leveraging India’s massive technology markets. Startups can hit the ground running instead of being buried in red tape. T-Bridge will provide a platform for such fast-track tech companies looking to tap into India’s huge consumer market for technology.

T-Bridge will help startups access UberEXCHANGE, Uber’s flagship startup mentorship program and TiE Silicon Valley’s mentor network. Shri K T Rama Rao, Telangana Cabinet Minister for IT E&C, MAUD, Industries & Commerce, Public Enterprises, Mines & Geology, Sugar and NRI Affairs inaugurated T-Bridge in association with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley at Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco.

Shri K T Rama Rao, Telangana Cabinet Minister for IT E&C stated

We have a strong vision to make Hyderabad one of the top 10 startup cities in the world. T–Bridge is one such move towards opening a channel of investment from the world to the state of Telangana. I am proud to open our first outpost in the U.S. in association with Uber and TiE Silicon Valley and believe that this association will forge new partnerships and spur investment and innovation between the two countries.

Mr. Ram K. Reddy, incoming President of TiE Silicon Valley stated at the inauguration

The Telangana government has been one of India’s most progressive states. The vitality and transformational mindset of its leadership gained quick notoriety within the startup world. TiE Silicon Valley is pleased to host the first T-Bridge outpost in Silicon Valley.

Rachel Whetstone, Uber’s senior vice president for policy and communications, said

Telangana is one of the most progressive states in India; and it has set up a culture of ‘regulatory incubation’ – allowing new ideas and business models to thrive. Today more and more people around the world want to build something themselves. Through initiatives like UberEXCHANGE, our mentorship program for Indian startups, we hope to spur entrepreneurship. Creative partnerships like T-Bridge will continue to strengthen ties between India and the global startup scene.

Jay Krishnan, CEO of T-Hub said

Since the launch of T-Hub last year, we’ve witnessed a threefold increase in startup activity in Hyderabad. The city is abuzz with over 30 incubators and co-working spaces. There is something happening in every corner. We are committed to enabling and growing this community and to helping Indian entrepreneurs access global resources. T-Bridge is one such initiative in that direction. We are proud to set up our first outpost in the heart of the startup activity-at Silicon Valley.

About T-Hub

T-Hub is a unique public/private partnership between the government of Telangana, three of India’s premier academic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB and NALSAR) and key private sector leaders. It stands at the intersection of the startup, academic, corporate, research and government sectors. T-Hub aims to forge many such partnerships with governments and corporates across the world to setup T-Bridge centers, to strengthen trade relations and attract investment into the state of Telangana.

T-Hub is one of the largest startup ecosystems in India today with over 2000 startups in its database. The members of T-Hub are clustered into various stages of growth across sectors of specialization, a model of community development which is unique to Hyderabad. For more information, please visit T-Hub

About TiE Silicon Valley

TiE is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship around the World. TiE strives to inspire entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking, education, incubating and funding programs and activities.  With nearly 2000+ events held each year, TiE brings together the entrepreneurial community to learn from local leaders, as well as each other.  For more information, please visit TiE

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Espark-Viridian, a joint venture between Viridian Ventures and Europe’s most dynamic business accelerator Entrepreneurial Spark, UK, is now accepting applications for the October 2016 Batch.

Image Source - Twitter
Image Source – Twitter

Espark-Viridian : Build People who Build Businesses

Espark-Viridian is a business accelerator that aims at growing the Indian startup ecosystem by helping entrepreneurs transform their ideas into realizable and feasible businesses, through its 18 month programme. A tested model adopted from its parent accelerator, Entrepreneurial Spark, UK, has an amazing track record and so far, there is a success rate of 88% with more than 650+ Startups enabled* [Entrepreneurial Spark, UK figures].

In sync with the government’s growing support to the young entrepreneurs, around the country, Espark-Viridian has expanded its acceleration programme to Chandigarh and Mumbai with the launch of #StartSomething campaign.

Espark-Viridian : What’s in it for YOU, the entrepreneur

Through a national network of accelerator centers that follow a programme based approach to building entrepreneurs, Espark-Viridian will provide a comprehensive platform that includes infrastructure, access to seed capital and mentoring.

In the initial 45 days of the Programme, shortlisted startups would go through an Idea Validation and Market Feasibility phase. This phase would help them understand the ground-level impact of their idea. An Enabler would be assigned to each team. The Enabler keeps track of the progress of the startup and helps them shape their ideas into a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or make it market ready. Successful entrepreneurs, Mentors and experts from the industry act as Mentors in the Programme. Shortlisted startups would get the necessary support in the Fund Raising Process so that they can take their startup to the next-level.

The Espark-Viridian has the following to offer for entrepreneurs:

  • Multi center and multi sector innovation environment
  • A large portfolio of mentors and passionate enablers
  • Opportunities to raise seed funding
  • Pool of service providers to smoothen daily processes
  • Access to global markets and networking opportunities
  • World class infrastructure and other amenities
  • Weekly workshops and events to enhance business skills

In the last one year of its entry into India, close to 25 startups have graduated from Espark-Viridian accelerator across sectors ranging from tech to farming, with a belief to not only build a business, but also the entrepreneur behind the business.

Espark-Viridian : Graduated Startups

Some of the startups graduated from their earlier batch are below

Startups Graduated from espark-viridian accelerator
Startups Graduated from the Espark-Viridian accelerator

Espark-Viridian : #StartSomething and How to apply

Espark-Viridian has key industry partners namely AWS Activate, Paytm, HeadStart, IAmWire, YourStory, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. The intake of early stage startups and entrepreneurs, for the first batch commencing this October is in process.

Along with inviting applications for the October 2016 batch for all the four centers (Mumbai, Delhi, Gandhinagar and Chandigarh), Espark-Viridian will also be hosting #SparkSessions in all the four cities, to meet aspiring startups and entrepreneurs.

You can follow Espark-Viridian on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  To apply for the Programme, please visit ESpark-Viridian Application Page. If you want any more information or have any doubts about the Programme, please leave them in the comments section or email at himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

IBM and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad announced the first-of-its kind Cognitive Tech based Challenge-Cognitive Entrepreneurship Challenge. The Challenge will reach out to students and start-ups across India.  Registrations started on September 5, 2016 with various rounds and the finale is expected to happen towards mid-November 2016.

Cognitive Entrepreneurship Challenge (CEC) is an IBM led initiative wherein students and start-ups will be trained via interactive workshops on Cognitive based API on Bluemix. CEC is part of Masterplan 2016-which is an annual competition held within IIM-A where students and startups build business solutions and win exciting prizes. The Cognitive track will be an integral part of Masterplan 2016.

The main objective of CEC is to encourage young entrepreneurs and the student community to build business solutions around capabilities using IBM’s Cognitive platform-Bluemix. Bluemix is a platform as a Service (PaaS) offering from IBM based on open standards and cloud to build, deploy, manage and run omni-channel applications like web and mobile, big data and other smart services. Other than the IBM Bluemix platform, students will also have access to other relevant IBM technology platforms in the areas of Analytics and Security.

The participants will be evaluated and mentored by the IBM India Watson team. Students across all engineering and management disciplines will be invited to take part in this event.

Prof. Anish Sugathan, faculty of Business Policy, and the Masterplan faculty advisor at IIM-A said

Cognitive computing is fast augmenting human knowledge, capabilities and experience. Recent applications of this technology in data analytics, financial services, medical diagnostics and public service delivery shows potential to generate tremendous societal and enterprise value.

Specifically, in the case of rapidly digitizing Indian economy, there is vast untapped potential for creative applications of cognitive technologies by enterprises, entrepreneurs and change-makers. IIM-A Masterplan 2016 is  excited to partner with IBM, which brings IBM’s legendary Watson technology — that beat humans on the game of Jeopardy -to the vast pool of CEC participants and startups to help them create cutting-edge solutions.

Dr. Prashant Pradhan, Watson India Lead, IBM India / South Asia said

We are pleased to partner with IIM-Ahmedabad on the first-ever Cognitive Entrepreneur Challenge in India. In the cognitive era, we see various ecosystem constituents coming together to co-create game changing applications to solve real world challenges. IBM is committed to creating this innovation ecosystem by opening up Watson APIs to the world. India as a region has tremendous potential for applying Cognitive at scale, and Indian entrepreneurs have shown tremendous creativity and passion in applying technology to create value. So we really see this as the start of an exciting partnership, and a testimony to our commitment to make India Digital

|In: Cabto|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

How many times you have encountered a situation where you are looking out for a cab on your favourite on-demand-cab app but not getting it due to huge demands or due to circumstances which are not under your control. In such scenarios, you launch the next Cab app and repeat the same set of actions 🙂

Multiple App Hops is a common issue that many startups are trying to address across various sectors like Ticket Booking, Cab Booking etc. Cabto, a Bengaluru based startup wants to make booking a cab hassle-free for consumers so that they do not have to download multiple apps [like Ola, Uber etc.]

In layman terms, Cabto is a Vertical Marketplace in the Travel Category. Today we have a chat with Syed Hidayath [Founder & CEO of Cabto] about Cabto, On-Demand Economy, Marketing, Entrepreneurship & much more. So, let’s get started…

Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and it’s founders ?

Cabto is founded by Syed Hidayath. Syed has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore graduated in 2005. He comes with a decade of experience in IT industry.  A self driven professional having great passion for entrepreneurship.

He has gained enormous knowledge on the Cab industry over last 2 years and has been driving this ambitious project since inception. Syed is extremely passionate about solving the problems faced by customers in Travel industry & believes in providing a travel marketplace which will provide options to all categories in India.

When and how did your come up with the idea of Cabto ?

In end of 2014 I started using cabs instead of my car, the comfort of driver coming to your doorstep to pick me, not having to drive/looking for parking excited me  in addition to it being an economical option. But slowly as the demand started increasing, cabs got scarce. You had to hook into multiple cab apps to check cabs available around you.  This made me realize that we need a platform which lets us see all cabs available under one single platform. We started approaching Ola & other players in 2015 seeking for their data to address this problem to customers. This is how Cabto was born !!

Being a cab aggregator, what is the kind of partnership you have with on-demand cab companies like Uber, Ola etc. ?

Their API’s are integrated with Cabto so customer can get the information from all these companies in one single platform. We are on an affiliate commission model with our partners.

How does Cabto take care of customer complaints or discrepancies if any encountered by the customers ?

Cabto raises the customer issues to respective services providers & works with them to address the issues related to service.

What is the revenue model of CABTO [is it based on commission per ride] ?

Yes

How much has Odd-Even rule affected the entire Cab industry and taxi-aggregator startups ?

An odd even rule increases the demand for cabs greatly. With 50% private vehicles forced to stay out of the roads & these users have options like carpooling, public transport which are still not sufficient to serve such a demand. So great portion of these users switch to Cabs. There is a increase of 20%-30% in terms of bookings during odd even rule.

What is the Total Market Size of the Cab/Taxi aggregators or travel marketplace in India ?

According to Soft Bank, the organized taxi sector may be worth around $7 billion by 2020.

How is Cabto funded [Self funded, Angel, CV etc.] ?

Self Funded [Family & Friends]

What are some of the USP’s that Cabto has as compared to other taxi-aggregator apps available in the market ?

  • We are the first player to initiate talks with Ola on this model so we built this model working with our partners. So have deep understanding of this industry.
  • One of the top ranked app in play store with consist good ratings.
  • Fastest growing app in its segment. 2.3X growth month on month  in app bookings.
  • Aggregation of Outstation/Self drives/Ride shares/Women taxis/Shuttle/Auto/Bike taxis/Inter city
  • Plan to integrate public transport.

What are the initial challenges that you faced once you started working on the idea [or turned an entrepreneur]

Our biggest challenge was to convince the service providers for this model. We Spent over 6 months approaching out partners on this. Building a strong team covering all areas like technology, marketing, operations is really a challenge. We are glad over a period of one year we were able to build a great team which we believe can deliver to our vision of building India’s largest travel marketplace.

What are some of the growth hacking techniques that are being used for Cabto and some tips for our readers.

First & foremost build a great product. Once you accomplish this then it will sell on its own with little bit of awareness. Build a strong team by offering good perks/ESOP’s to keep them motivated to their highest levels, make your friends as your products marketing people.

Some insights into marketing [Lessons learnt while marketing Cabto] ?

Look for economical ways, Identify right target customer base and Spend your budget on this segment. Don’t overspend on offline campaigns initially as you may not be able to measure their results, research for best CPI options, focus on bringing awareness.

What are some of the qualities that entrepreneurs should look into while hiring their initial set of employees ?

Find initial hires who are self driven, masters in their job [You don’t need a team of coders if you can find a master coder]. Look for people who share same passion as you, who understand your vision & excited to be part of the process. At the same time make sure this is a job they are enjoying the most, a job they dreamt of. If not, they are already thinking of their next dream job & they may not be giving 100%.

Can you give some pointers on Scaling Up & Customer Acquisition [some take-away for entrepreneurs]

Address customer issues on priority, Focus in increasing organic growth, Spend every penny wisely, target the right customer base, take care of your critics,  bottom-line is build a great product which you can market with minimum budget.

When should an entrepreneur look out for external funding ?

When you have reached some traction & need heavy funds to accelerate your growth which you cannot pool in your circles.

On-demand companies like Uber, Ola are facing the heat for Surge Pricing, Government regulations etc. Would this not curb the overall growth of the on-demand economy ?

It will affect the revenue generation to some extent.  I feel surge pricing has already been re-modelled to keep pricing within the prescribed limited by government. The demand in this industry has skyrocketed as people want a vehicle to their doorstep in click of a button so it will not affect the industry.

Some tips for aspiring entrepreneurs and something that keeps you motivated everyday for your startup ?

Don’t just build a product, work on building a solution to an existing problem which still doesn’t exist. You can sell a solution but not just a product. Look for new sectors as you may already have enough competition in existing sectors. Also important to look for your passion, what you would love to work on. If you are passionate you will never regret it working on your dream 18 hrs a day.  Focus on building a great team, Look for experts in their field, Delegate work efficiently and Make them responsible & accountable for work. Slowly you need to start building teams who handle their own tasks which lets you focus on  higher level tasks.

An entrepreneur should have relentless passion to build a great product. You will face challenges everyday which will test your mental strength to highest possible stage. Always remembering the dream & reading motivational videos/articles helps you to  pass those hurdles.

Do give Cabto app a shot and share across your feedback/questions in the comments section. If you have any questions for Syed Hidayath about the app, entrepreneurship etc., email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

|In: Interviews|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

How many times have you encountered a situation where you are looking for Quotes from famous people or everyday quotes etc. and when you eventually search on Google (or Search Engine of your choice), you are bombarded with tons of websites, you might find the Quote but it would again be from an un-trusted source. The information around contemporary quotes is completely scattered and this is the problem that Paris based startup Storyzy (a Trooclick brand) is trying to solve for Information hungry internet consumers !!!

Today we have a Q&A with Stanislas Motte, Co-founder & CEO of Storyzy. We discuss about various aspects of Storyzy, Importance of Content, Entrepreneurial culture in Paris and much more.

StoryZy-new-logo

Can you give a small background about Storyzy and it’s founders ?

Storyzy is a Trooclick brand. Trooclick was founded in November 2012. The original goal of Trooclick’s founders was to create an automated fact-checking algorithm. The created and launched a plug-in that would fact check financial news articles, but the results were surprising – there were almost no voluntary errors. The team realized that, although errors are interesting, it’s omissions that are even more juicy. What people say, and what they don’t say, are quite revealing. So the team decided to make a pivot in late 2014 to the extraction of reported speech (quotes).

Trooclick was founded by a team of four. For, Stanislas Motte (CEO), Trooclick (Storyzy) is his second company. His first, Diora News, was one of the first news agencies that specialized in mobiles (in 1999). He sold DioraNews to Buongiorno, the world’s third multimedia mobile service company, owned by NTT DoCoMo. Pierre-Albert Ruquier (CMO) has 15 years experience in digital information and news distribution; he was also co-founder and associate CEO of Diora News. Arnaud Jacolin (CFO) is the former financial controller (French subsidiary) turned CFO of Buongiorno where he oversaw a more than $46 million growth in 2010. Ramón Ruti (CTO) contributed to the launch of iTouch Movilisto, a publisher of mobile content listed on the London stock exchange. In 2008, following the purchase of iTouch Movilisto by Buongiorno (bought out by NTT Docomo), he was given the direction of an international team of 15 engineers.

Can you explain about the features of Storyzy and how it can help content publishers with their content ?

Storyzy is the only systematic source for contemporary quotes. It searchable by keyword and topic and always provides source information for each quote (the article, or articles, where the quote can be found) and a date (publication date of article). There is no other quote database (that we know of) that specializes in the systematic indexation of contemporary quotes. For content marketers, Storyzy is helpful for content curation.

Currently, how many sites (approximately) does Storyzy index in order to extract the quotes from the articles ?

The Storyzy algorithm indexes more than 60 thousand publisher websites on a regular basis.

How does your back-end service ensure the genuineness and originality of the quote extracted from any particular website.

We have integrated a sort of automated editorialization into the Storyzy algorithm, which is divided into essentially 3 parts. The first part is all about grammar : The algorithm discards any speeches (quotes) that are not syntactically correct. With the well-formed speeches, two things happen. On the one hand, the speeches are giving an “interest” score. To this the algorithm identifies instances of subjectivity, informativity, comparison, forecasting, etc… the presence of these elements in a speech gives the speech points. This point system allows the algorithm to essentially “rank” quotes based upon a set of assumptions – it can raise to most interesting quotes to the top of a list.

On the other hand, the algorithm is capable of categorizing a speech as being either subjective or objective. In other words: is the speech primarily informative (i.e. “The sky is blue”)? Or is the speech more opinionated (i.e. “I think the sky is beautiful”)? Using the “interesting quotes” points system and the subjective/objective categorization, the Storyzy algorithm is able to highlight the most original and interesting quotes out of a large group.

When it comes to the genuineness of a quote – whether it is correctly attributed to the correct person – our system is only as accurate as the journalists who write the articles from whence the quotes are extracted. Every ounce of information found on Storyzy is extracted from the context of news articles. We are not in the business of fact checking [not anymore], our job is simply to generate structured news data directly from the text of news articles, and to compile data into a user-friendly interface.

Twitter has changed the way news/information is consumed, how exactly is Storyzy different from services like Twitter

Storyzy’s approach to news is unique because it is quote-focused. There are dozens of websites where you can go find motivation or inspirational quotes. The difference between Storyzy and these types of websites is that Storyzy is focused on the the quotes of today. On Storyzy, every quote comes with a date (publication date of associated article) and also with a source (or sometimes many sources) – two things that you don’t find on your typical “find a quote” website. This is important because it allows users to find contemporary brand-relevant quotes to curate and promote their brand message. We like to think of it as a new spin on reactive marketing : Inserting your brand into the buzzing conversational topics of the day [on social media, in the news, or elsewhere].

Can you touch base on the StoryzyAPI [it’s Usage, Pricing, etc.] which can be used by 3rd party dev’s, organizations, bloggers etc.

The Storyzy API has essentially 2 functionalities. The first gives users access to all of Storyzy’s data : quotes, people [plus their affiliation and photo when available], organizations and more. Users can recuperate information from the database via a keyword search or they can recuperate a 24 hour news cycle all in one go. The second gives users access to Storyzy’s engine : they can input news articles [one or more at a time, in almost any format: raw, binary, or a url] and the engine will extract and consolidate, all the news data from each article. The API is available on Mashape under a tiered pricing plan. User can make a small number of calls for free each month, the price goes up by a function of usage and difference endpoints have a different weight (in terms of pricing), due to the fact that the amount of data they deliver varies significantly. Storyzy is open to discuss pricing solutions and can be contacted at api@trooclick.com

Can you explain the revenue model of Storyzy ?

Storyzy’s revenue model is freemium. In 2016, use of the Storyzy interface [and all associated features and functionalities] will be free and use of the Storyzy API is paid. In 2017, premium features and functionalities will be added to the Storyzy interface, possible examples include: historical information, analytics and data visualizations, customized image and video creation, etc… These ideas are all presently being tested with our early adopters.

Can you touch upon Storyzy’s association with GEN Summit that is scheduled for June 2016

To give you some background, the Global Editors’ Network is a cross platform community of editors, committed to sustainable, high-quality journalism. We are delighted to be working in partnership with the organization at this year’s summit, which will bring together the trends set to define journalism in the year to come. We will also be exhibiting beside a number of industry leaders, including Google, the Knight Foundation, Russia Today and many others.

Is Storyzy/Trooclick bootstrapped or funded (angel/VC funded) startup ?

Storyzy [Trooclick] is not yet venture-backed, but does have the financial support of the three French banks. Trooclick’s founders personally invested $1 million in the company since its founding.

What are your thoughts on the way Digital Media is consumed [and future of Digital Media]

At Storyzy, we think it’s clear that it’s important for media companies and publishers to “go with the flow”. Things are changing, new social platforms, new content formats, new everything – every few months. The media companies that survive and flourish will be those that are willing to adapt their methodologies quickly to changing consumer habits. The companies that fail will be those that cling to the past.

Importance of Video in Marketing & Digital Media Consumption

The importance of video marketing cannot be overstated. We have a instagram account. An average photo post gets about 40 likes. The average video post get more than 1000 views and hundreds of likes. Need we say more.

Some thoughts about the startup eco-system in Paris ?

The startup ecosystem is Paris is great. The number of startups in the neighbourhood has grown tremendously in recent years. For example, Storyzy’s office is located in one of the many, brand new startup incubators in Paris. We share the building with probably close to 50 other startup companies.

Some marketing tips for startups ?

Curate news quotes of course! 😉 But quite frankly… curation [either on a blog and/or social media sites] is an excellent solution for the time-poor start-up. We all know that content marketing works – but content creation is usually a large investment. Content curation is a great compromise. In fact, we have written a post about it and you can Marketing Tips for Startups Our golden rule: Think hard about your target audience. What matters to them ? What would be useful to them ? That’s what you should curate and create.

If you have any questions for the Storyzy team, please leave a comment or email your request to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

In an effort to nurture micro-entrepreneurship, Ola, India’s most popular app for transportation, is organizing one of the largest event of its kind under the banner of Grand Driver Mela in Bengaluru, with leading car manufacturers and financiers. The week-long Mela, starting from May 18th, will provide drivers the opportunity to join Ola, by buying cabs at a discounted price and avail attractive finance schemes – all under one roof.

To help aspirants take the first step towards entrepreneurship, Ola is creating a one-stop solution, by bringing leading auto manufacturers, lenders as well as car service and car accessories providers together. Additionally, Ola will also provide a single window support system to help drivers with formalities around permits, license conversion and conversion of private [white board] vehicles to commercial [yellow board] vehicles.

During the Driver Mela, leading car manufacturers like Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Fiat, Mahindra, Hyundai and Chevrolet will have on offer, a range of cars at attractive prices. The Mela will also feature financers like Mahindra Finance, Cholamandalam Finance, Punjab National Bank & IDBI who will provide spot financing options for drivers.

Leased cars are available at an attractive down payment, as low as Rs. 15,000. Early bird incentives like a joining bonus worth Rs. 3,000 and business opportunity worth over Rs. 100,000 per month, makes this Driver Mela a great platform for aspiring driver-entrepreneurs.

Karan Singh Shekhawat, Vice President Operations, Ola said

Driving is growing as a lucrative career choice of hundreds of thousands across the country. We take immense pride in making mobility possible by bringing together driver partners and customers using technology. Through a Driver Mela of such scale, we are enabling aspiring driver entrepreneurs to choose from a wide range of options across purchase, lending, financing and other support systems, all under one-roof.

Through the Ola platform, we provide continued access to revenue opportunities, as well as freedom and flexibility of being one’s own boss. Our driver-partners are key enablers in our mission of building mobility for billion billion Indians and we are confident of helping them achieve new heights as entrepreneurs.

Driver partners on the Ola platform have grown as entrepreneurs, benefiting from access to increased scale and revenue. They have seen their revenue increase by 40% after joining the Ola platform. ‘Ola Pragati’, a tailor-made program enables its drivers to take loans at lower rates and pay a part their EMI’s on a daily basis thus providing an option of earning a livelihood.

About Ola

Founded in January 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola is India’s most popular mobile app for personal transportation. Ola integrates city transportation for customers and driver partners onto a mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfillment. Ola is committed to its mission of building mobility for a billion people. Ola has also introduced a range of shared mobility services on its platform like Ola Shuttle and Ola Share for commute and ride-sharing respectively. The app is available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms. Please visit Ola for more information.