'You are what you are': your startup fix to start the week

Monday December 10, 2018 , 4 min Read

Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. Iconic musician John Lennon told us that decades ago, and it still holds true! What do you do when are working to a plan, but the plan seems to be stuck on nowhere street?

“Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t expect Carter or Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.”

Mr Lennon sure knew what he was talking about. “You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!”

Inspired to begin a week that’s wonderful this Monday morning? We offer a selection of startup stories that are that’s sure to appeal to you:

Checking in into a hotel in India is a huge problem if you are an unmarried couple. It tends to bring out the moral police and inane questions if full force! That's why bootstrapped hotel aggregator LuvStay is focusing on couple-friendly options, and promises safe, clean, and budget-friendly options for the day or longer durations.

Luvstay, startup — The team at Luvstay promises safe and clean hotels to couples.

Everyone's familiar with the ubiquitous Qwerty keyboard – it’s on our PCs and our smartphones. But Ka-Naada, a Bengaluru-based company founded by an NRI, is passionate about ensuring that Indians have a keyboard that can flawlessly type all Indian languages without struggling with the standard qwerty keyboard. Guru Prasad has launched an Indic keyboard that can be applied to any language based on the Brahmi script.

Indic keyboard, keyboard for Indian languages, Guru Prasad, Ka-Naada — Guru Prasad (R) demonstrates how the Indic keyboard works.

Digital and AR-VR seem to be the way to go. Reason enough for these IIT alumni to bootstrap their way to a top film production studio. Hyderabad-based Raasta Studios now makes corporate films, product and event videos, and commercials for corporates, governments, startups, and studios.

The founding team of Raasta Studios began by identifying the different kinds of video content that could be made and sold.

A Bengaluru-based startup is offering students in rural areas a fully immersive experience of outer space. Founded by Dinesh Badagandi, TareZameenPar brings the marvels of outer space to lakhs of students in rural Karnataka. The startup has six mobile planetariums, each outfitted to carry all the equipment needed to run a show.

One of the six TareZameenPar mobile planetariums that are outfitted to carry all the equipment needed to run a show.

Passwords make modern lives run like clockwork. But what happens if your password gets stolen? Bengaluru-based neoEYED can protect your data even then! Founded by Alessio Mauro and Tamaghna Basu, neoEYED uses AI algorithms to identify anomalies in an organisation's security system and can raise appropriate alerts for immediate action.

neoEYED Co-founders Alessio Mauro and Tamaghna Basu.

The co-living market is crowded, but Zolostays has held its ground by zeroing in on the one aspect that a business can be proud of - customer experience. Founded by Nikhil Sikri, Akhil Sikri, and Sneha Choudhary, Zolostays now has 134 properties, each managed by a team of reliable caretakers, cleaners, cooks and a concierge, with little or no intervention from the founders.

Exam time is often a time for last-minute cramming. But what do you do if you don’t have the notes? Don't panic for Delhi-based Notesgen has you covered. The notes aggregating startup is building a global community of users who can upload their notes, price them and share them on the platform to be bought by their peers.

Notesgen makes exam woes a thing of the past by helping students take advantage of a peer-to-peer network of notes-sharing.

The cat has been out of the bag for a while now when it comes to plastic and the effect it has on the environment. That's why Ecosac, which aims to be the “bag of India”, wants Indians to say goodbye to plastic, one reusable bag at a time. The startup offers a range of “bags for life” – shopping bags, travel bags, sports bags, laundry bags, lunch bags, and multi-utility bags.