By Madanmohan Rao
Copyright yourstory
Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 207th 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: Construction and workflow
In most construction sites, progress is still tracked via clipboards, Excel sheets, and endless WhatsApp threads. How can efficiency, safety and quality be enhanced here?
Q2: Markets and design
Well-designed furniture can be readily marketed to buyers in affluent urban neighbourhoods. How can such products be positioned for broader appeal beyond the luxury category to other market segments?
Q3: Career growth
Mid-career professionals can find it hard to effectively update their resumes on a continuous basis, and track the right openings as soon as they appear. What’s a good way of tackling this issue?
Q4: Health and snacks
Those looking for healthy snacks are frustrated by either tasty treats loaded with calories or bland ‘guilt-free’ options that prioritise only calorie counts. What’s a better offering here?
Q5: Decision-making for banks
Banks face challenges in unifying scattered data across internal systems. Many banking decisions are still largely human-driven. How can business advantage be delivered via better data and more informed decisions?
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: Construction and workflow
Founded by Harshil Naik and Kanao Ramesh, Contineu leverages 360-degree cameras and AI to capture real-time site data, transform it into 3D models, and generate actionable insights. This helps spot defects faster, tighten accountability, and reduce hours of manual grunt work.
The platform offers instant visibility for managers: a live map of covered and uncovered areas, ground-level updates, and walkthroughs of the site. Read more here about how the startup processes nearly 3 million images every week, and works with developers in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Delhi-NCR.
A2: Markets and design
Founded by Latika Khosla, Freedom Tree offers a full lifestyle range—furniture, textiles, décor, and apparel. “We’ve always believed that good design is not a luxury, it’s a daily need,” explains business head Rishabh Khosla, who is leading the transformation from a boutique studio into a structured, multi-city lifestyle brand.
Describing itself as we call it ‘mood retail,’ it focuses on creator stories and customer emotions, not hard-sell. Read more here about how it is targeting 100 million design-conscious consumers who are in micro-markets across India as well.
A3: Career growth
Founded by Kumar Apurva, Outspark is building an AI-powered “career operating system” that helps professionals with personalised resumes, LinkedIn branding, and job-hunting. It has an interview prep tool that simulates both HR and functional rounds.
The system asks questions based on a user’s profile and then gives a detailed report on strengths and weak areas in the responses, such as communication or subject knowledge. Read more here about its prices ranging from Rs 199 for a LinkedIn profile review to Rs 15,999 for a Career Boost Combo.
A4: Health and snacks
Founded by triathlete and fitness enthusiast Siddarth CS, D2C startup Wild Date focuses on making snacks that are indulgent, practical, and sustainable. It offers products across four main categories—snack bars, granolas, cookies, and bite-sized snack balls.
It avoids refined sugar and replaces it with honey, brown sugar, or coconut sugar. Read more here about how it also uses millets, buckwheat, quinoa, dried fruits, coconut flakes, and natural spices like cinnamon and ginger.
A5: Decision-making for banks
Founded by Prabhu Rangarajan, M2P leverages AI to build banking systems capable of generating intelligence at scale. “AI isn’t just another technology shift, it’s as fundamental as electricity,” he explains.
For example, its Recon360 reconciliation platform can flag mismatches, suggest fixes, and escalate only critical cases for human review. Read more here about this ‘human-in-the-loop’ model that balances banking automation with trust.
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).
