We live in a time when technology has taken over the world. No matter what the problem, there is always a startup or a tech giant coming up with a solution. There is no doubt that technology has elevated the quality of life across the globe and has increased life expectancy all over the world. However, we are currently living in an extraordinary time when the entire world and stock markets are being brought to its knees due to a virus of the physical kind. The virus which originated in the Wuhan province in China, has quickly spread like wildfire across the globe due to its exponential growth and transmission rates. World governments are enforcing quarantine measures in order to combat the spread of the virus. As quarantine measures are taking effect, corporations and businesses have come up with innovative ideas to ensure their work stays on track and have implemented work from home options.
The unforeseen threat of the Novel Coronavirus crippled the stock markets around the world so much so that it is being compared to the great economic depression that shook the world in the 1930’s. However technology companies are coming together to offer whatever assistance they can to help combat the Coronavirus.
Microsoft:
Microsoft has always prided itself on being one of the largest technology companies in the world for more than two decades. Microsoft was always on the forefront of innovation and Bill Gates visionary leadership was a vital contributor for its growth. In these testing times Microsoft’s communication application Team has seen a huge surge in its usage. The chat and conferencing app gained more than 12 million daily users in one week as more people worked from home during the coronavirus outbreak. Microsoft understood that healthcare providers and hospitals are under extreme stress and therefore rolled out several features designed to help with telemedicine and employees working from home, such as a bookings application for Teams to help hospitals manage virtual appointments.
Facebook:
Facebook is a social networking platform which boasts of having a whopping 2.36 billion active users on its platform. This makes it a very powerful tool to communicate and spread information quickly. However, this also means a lot of misinformation and myths can be spread as well. Facebook usually has a team of moderators verifying information going online on its platform and checking to see if the information meets their community guidelines. In these testing times, misinformation is spreading at an alarming rate and therefore Facebook is considering the usage of Artificial Intelligence to do the job of a moderator in order to combat wrong information being spread about the Coronavirus.
Twitter:
Microblogging platform Twitter is one of the quickest ways to search for information online from all over the world. A verified Twitter user tagged Jack Dorsey and asked him why popular and esteemed epidemiologists, contagion experts and virologists do not have a verified account which is indicated by a blue tick on their profiles. Paul Graham, the cofounder of Y Combinator retweeted the original post and asked Jack why Twitter is not verifying the accounts of contagion experts as their expertise is the need of the hour. Jack Dorsey was quick to acknowledge Paul Graham’s tweet and has called for users to help Twitter in identifying public health experts.
Come on @jack, it’s not like we’re asking for an edit button or something. All we want is some medical experts to get blue checks. It will take you guys 5 minutes. https://t.co/SP1R634jxf
Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma has pledged an extraordinary amount of resources to help the world out in this crisis. Jack Ma donated face masks, safety suits and virus testing kits to Japan, Iran and Italy. Italy and Iran in particular have seen the highest cases of Coronavirus outside of China. In the latest update, Jack Ma pledged more support to some of the poorest countries in Asia.
Go Asia! We will donate emergency supplies (1.8M masks, 210K test kits, 36K protective suits, plus ventilators & thermometers) to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. Delivering fast is not easy, but we’ll get it done!
In this time of crisis, it is heartwarming to see businesses putting profits aside for the moment and instead focus their efforts on helping humanity as a whole. As the whole Coronavirus pandemic sees its course, there will no doubt be countless stories of humanity winning all over the world.
Farming has been an integral part of India’s history and culture for ages. It’s been the foundation of the Indian economy, supporting millions of people with food and jobs. Crops and agriculture hold immense importance in Indian society, not just in terms of money, but also in terms of culture, community, and spirituality.
Farming is a way of life for many people in India, but it can be a difficult and unpredictable business and farmers face a number of challenges, from erratic weather patterns to low market prices for their crops. Kheyti is a social enterprise founded in 2015 by Saumya, Kaushik Kappagantula, and Sathya Raghu. The organisation provides sustainable solutions to small farmers in India, helping them overcome challenges and improve their lives.
Kheyti’s flagship product is the “Greenhouse-in-a-Box,” a low-cost modular greenhouse that allows farmers to grow high-value crops year-round, even in unfavourable weather conditions. operates on a subscription-based model, where farmers can purchase a “Greenhouse-in-a-Box” kit or sign up for crop advisory services on a monthly or annual basis. Kheyti.com also earns revenue by connecting farmers with markets and buyers, taking a small commission on sales. They work to keep the costs low by partnering with local manufacturers to produce their products and leveraging tech to provide personalised crop advisory services at scale.
They also provide crop advisory services to farmers, offering personalised advice on crop selection, planting, and management. In total, The company has helped over 6,000 small farmers increase their incomes by an average of 300%. You call them small farmers, Kheyti calls them Smart farmers!
While there are other companies in India that offer similar solutions to small farmers, Kheyti stands out for its focus on sustainability, innovation, and community involvement. It works closely with farmers to develop tailored solutions that meet their needs while focusing on sustainable farming practices. Through its efforts, Kheyti has improved soil health, reduced water usage, and increased yields of various crops.
Looking ahead, Kheyti plans to expand its reach to more farmers in India and beyond and aims to continue developing new products and services that can help small farmers overcome the challenges they face. With its commitment to sustainability and innovation, The visionaries at Kheyti claim it has the potential to transform the agricultural sector and contribute to a more equitable future for all.
Imagine the joy and hope Kheyti brings to struggling farmers in India. With Kheyti’s help, over 6,000 small farmers have transformed their lives, becoming Smart farmers who handle challenges and succeed. With sustainable solutions, Kheyti is not only revolutionising agriculture but also spreading hope for a brighter future.
Clubhouse is a new type of social networking platform which is an audio only platform. This means every conversation takes place through audio where users speak to let their thoughts known. Users can create and host rooms where speakers will talk about a particular topic. Originating in the Silicon Valley, Clubhouse attracted some major names onto its platform like Elon Musk, Evan Williams, Reddit co founder Alexis Ohanian, former Y Combinator President Sam Altman, AngelList co founder Naval Ravikant, Ashton Kuthcer, Oprah Winfrey, Drake, Kevin Hart and many others are some of the influential personalities who are on Clubhouse. There is however a catch as Clubhouse is currently limited to iOS.
Leher is an Indian made alternative to Clubhouse and is a similar audio sharing and listening startup. Leher also has video support unlike Clubhouse and is also available for both Android and iOS. However, Leher does not have the biggest names in the world on its platform but it does have significant micro influencers and is growing at a rapid pace. Within 180 days of its beta version launch, the company claimed to have its users spend about 44 minutes every day and 250,000 minutes per month for live video sessions.
We at Startup Stories are curious to see which among Leher or Clubhouse would our readers choose to take part in a virtual discussion. Please let us know your answer in the poll below.
If you are a regular user of social media platforms and also a fan of consuming content on the digital medium, then there is a very high likelihood that you have seen ads on pages you are reading or watching something. There would be times when you have been targeted by an ad which feels like it was wrongly targeted at you. Imagine if you are a vegetarian by choice and while browsing online, if you are targeted by a food delivery app which shows ads about chicken dishes. The ad would only serve to spoil the mood of the online user instead of serving its actual purpose which is to push the user to buy a chicken dish.
These wrongly targeted ads might be the side effects of performance marketing or a weak brand marketing. Performance marketing means advertising programs where advertisers pay only when a specific action occurs. These actions can include a generated lead, a sale, a click, and more. Inshort, performance marketing is used to create highly targeted ads for a very specific target audience at a low cost. Performance marketing usually means high volume for a very specific cost.
Brand marketers on the other hand believe in narrowly defining target audiences but end up spending a lot of money on ad placements. Gautam Mehra, CEO, Dentsu Programmatic India & CDO, Dentsu International Asia Pacific said, “You’ve defined a persona, you know the emotions you want to elicit, but then you buy a YouTube masthead and CricInfo sponsorships because IPL is up. If brand advertisers look at audience-based buys more deeply than just placements, you will see more relevant ads (sic.)”
Performance marketing is more of a sales function rather than a marketing function and is about meeting the cost of acquisition. This is a reason why budgets are usually high for performance marketing. Mehra goes on to add, “the fact is that an engineer can out-beat FMCGs on performance marketing. Advertisers who have cracked this are spending 10x and are on an ‘always on’ mode (unlike time-bound brand campaigns.)”
There is always the case of supply and demand, with the supply usually exceeding the demand on digital platforms. Ultimately, it boils down to the choice between no ad versus low relevance ad and it is quite easy to guess that having a low relevance ad is better.
Arvind R. P., Director – Marketing and Communications at McDonald’s India (West and South,) said “McDonalds’ for instance, has seen its share of spends on digital grow from 20% levels a couple of years back to over 40% at present. Outcomes of this journey have been encouraging, proven by our media-mix-modelling and other key metrics. We have seen best results from an optimal mix of Television plus digital (sic.)” Moreover, Arvind also believes performance marketing only approach could turn out to be more suited to short term, versus a more consistent full funnel effort. The latter ensures adequate emphasis on building consideration, as well as growing transactions. Arvind feels digital is a complex medium which needs investment in the right talent who could use the right tools. Brands which underestimate the need for the investment are often disappointed from the return on investment from the digital medium.
With the constantly changing consumer dynamics marketers are now shifting to unscripted marketing which frankly needs more insights into the consumer mindset. The lack of marketers to do the proper research is why digital medium is plagued with irrelevant ads.
