Debt Nirvana today announced that it’s Account Receivables portfolio has grown to $500 MN per annum. The startup which was incorporated in 2013 provides Credit Reports, Accounts Receivables process outsourcing and Debt Collection services. Debt Nirvana has a string of Fortune 500 Corporates as clients which consists of one of the World’s Largest Software Company and World’s leading Mobile Advertising Company amongst others.

                                                                           

Commenting on the growth, Ravi Malhotra, Founder, Debt Nirvana (Ex-Google Executive) said, “In today’s uncertain Global Economic environment, Timely collection of Debts is one of the important criteria to manage Corporates Cash Flow requirements. We have satisfied customers worldwide using our services not only for everyday credit decision making but also to improve Cash flow situation. We are excited to see that we continue to grow in the industry and we look forward to expanding our business.”

While dealing from a real time problem faced by Corporates, Debt Nirvana was created with an aim to provide specialised services in the Credit Reports and Debt Recovery domains with measurable outcomes. With a thorough understanding of the industry across different regions, Debt Nirvana provides user-friendly interface for corporates to place their Credit Reports and Debt Recovery requests.

Till date, Debt Nirvana has been able to collect 75% of the Bad and Delinquent debts through Analytics based Debt Collection approach thereby, adding to their Fortune 500 bottom line. Through its global presence, the company has been able to provide quality Credit Reports for its clients to make informed Credit decisions.

For one of its Fortune 500 clients, Debt Nirvana managed to reduce Days of Sales outstanding by 4X resulting in Million $$ + savings on yearly basis.

The startup foresees scaling up its operations and customer base across different countries in less than three years.

Let's say you are Elon Musk, one of the most influential entrepreneurs in tech history whose career spans two decades of successful startups.

Let's say your accomplishments range from creating an electronic payments industry to invigorating the solar energy market to inventing high-performance electric cars to launching a commercial space and rocket industry.

All of that would surely need a couple of pages to explain on a resume, right?

Not at all, say the experts at online resume-writing firm Novoresume, who believe in the less-is-more concept for writing resumes.

They created a sample resume for Musk to prove "even a highly successful career like his can be presented in a one page resume," says cofounder Andrei Kurtuy

Now, there's a few tongue-in-cheek elements to this resume that you wouldn't want to copy for your own resume. For instance, in a list of "Skills and competencies," one of his skills is "micromanaging."

Musk is famous for his high standards, and he has a reputation as a rough guy to work for. He once described himself as a "nano-manager," a play-on-words meaning he's even more controlling than a micro-manager. ("I have OCD on product-related issues. I only see what's wrong. I never see what's right. It's not a recipe for happiness," was how he explained his management style).

This resume also includes a four-level rating system in which some of the skills listed are not rated at a full four bars. You might want to reconsider that idea before adopting it.

Still, it proves that with the right design, you never, ever, need more than one page for a resume.

Source : Business Insider 

Paytm has just disrupted the Indian eCommerce sector’s growth formula by offering free WiFi Internet access to all. For a period of 15 minutes, this free WiFi access would be provided to all Internet users; and the best part is that such access of Internet is neutral – You can open any website, app and not just Paytm app.

This makes Paytm as the first Indian eCommerce and Wallet company to offer free Internet via WiFi, and has set a precedent which will have far reaching consequences for every user.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced this via facebook post, when he said, “Launching Paytm WiFi beta. Ab Paytm karne ke liye free Internet. Coming soon!

 PS: it will be equal, open & free internet for apps not just Paytm”

Paytm’s free 15-minute WiFi would be offered at Metro Stations to start with, and this is already launched at Noida’s Sector 18 metro, which is considered one of the busiest metro stations due to proximity to various shopping malls and markets.

Now, Paytm is vigorously pushing their wallet for offline usage; and this free WiFi offer can perfectly compliment their efforts. Paytm wants their users, merchants and traders to use Paytm when the actual cash exchange takes place, and with this vision, Free WiFi at a Metro station makes perfect sense.

For example, commuters who about to pay auto fares can quickly use this service and make payment via Paytm app; and at the same time, auto-drivers can use the free Internet, and accept payment via Paytm wallet.

Vijay said, “We are building avenues for our merchants and consumers who do not have access to internet at all times to stay connected with Paytm. Initially we are looking at metros because they are key locations for our consumers and our merchants, especially the auto-rickshaw walas..”

Besides, as per Vijay, this free WiFi can be used to access any Internet and Mobile based service, not just Paytm; and this effectively protects the principles of Net Neutrality and Free Internet. In case Paytm would have forced the user to only use their app, then it would have been Free Basics type enforced and monitored Internet ‘trap’.

We had earlier covered how Vijay Shekhar Sharma is a staunch supporter of Net Neutrality in India

Meanwhile, in a related news, Google has announced that their WiFi service has now been extended to 9 more stations, which are: Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Ernakulam Jn, Kacheguda, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam .

They had earlier started their free WFi service from Mumbai Central Station, where 1,00,000 people are using their service every week.

With Paytm becoming the first ecommerce/wallet firm to launch free WiFi, we may soon see other ecommerce biggies jumping into this ‘growth hack’ strategy.

Do you think offering free WiFi is a good idea? Do let us know by commenting right here.

Creo, a Bengaluru -based  startup. have promised to provide experience of new smartphone every month, by giving software updates to user every-month. Creo Mark 1, priced at Rs 19,999 is available at Flipkart. After using this device for, here is my review and analysis of Creo Mark 1.

Creo Mark 1 features 5.5″ QHD LCD (  big-screen ) display that have layer of scratch-resistant Gorilla glass 3. On side panel there are wide metal frame,  where you can get anything you want to do  device. 

Creo Mark 1 weights around 190g , it does feel a little hefty in comparison to other devices in this price range. Mark 1 have higher screen resolution of 2560x1440p in the display. As a result, the pixel density is 534ppi. That gives videos and pictures a sharper and crisper look . 

On the bottom, there s USB  slot and speaker. At right side there are three round buttons, two for volume and one control power of device. On other side there two slot for micro SIM and micro SD card. Second slot is hybrid slot that can be used for SIM as well as SD card .

Creo Mark 1 is powered by a 1.95GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 SoC, which is Paired with a 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM. We have seen a variant of this processor with 3GB of RAM in the LeEco Le 1s smartphone, which is currently selling at Rs.10,999. 

The 21-megapixel rear camera in Mark 1 is powered by Sony’s IMX 230 Exmor sensor. It can record 4K videos and comes with interesting features such as Live Photo (video within a photo) and 3D photos (which uses both front and rear camera to take 3D shots). 

Creo Mark 1 comes with  FUEL OS, which is based on Android. It comes with features such as Sense, a universal search engine that can find anything on the phone and can be evoked by a double tap on the home button.

Echo, which is a voicemail service of sorts that can work with any carrier, Retriever, which sends an email to you if another SIM is inserted in your device, smart forwarding to forward calls from one SIM to another one it is unreachable, notification manager, and segregated SMS inbox for messages from people and businesses, with quick reply and copy OTP functions.

But CREO's claim to fame is the 'A New Phone Every Month' initiative, where the company will push out updates to the phone every month that will add functionality to it. And the updates will be based on community feedback and what the users want, and you will be informed of all the changes before you install the update.

The Handset is packed with a 3100 mAh battery that comes with fast charging facility. 

I personally am bit disappointed with processor used in Mark 1, Why not snapdragon 820 , that's question one should ask, well you can't expect a new phone who have low processing. Otherwise everything in this phone is perfect,specially screen ,if you are interested in buying this phone then go on but we suggest to wait for sometime as it may see a price drop very soon.

Buying a car is an expensive endeavor. Maintenance, upkeep, fuel and repairs (if you’re a terrible driver or are unlucky enough to come across one) add to the cost of owning any vehicle. But what if you could offset some of those costs through no effort of your own? That’s the premise of Ticket Kataao, a Pakistani startup  that makes of your car a billboard and pays you for it.

There are three factors that decide how much you can make per month with Ticket Kataao.

 

While the startup has kept things simple, Talha Zaheer ( Pakistani), the founder of Ticket Kataao, says that they will consider moving to a more granular level of calculating payouts if the market demands it. Once you’ve decided on branding your car, you start using the company’s app while driving around till you get matched with an advertiser.


For branding the car with high quality vinyl, all costs are covered by Ticket Kataao and a locally manufactured tracker is added to the car (which can also double as an emergency tracker). Each advertising campaign lasts around 3 months.

As you’d expect, location and routes matter since advertisers value high traffic and busy commercial areas. Naturally, there’s variability introduced due to that. However, Talha tells us that:

As with any startup that gathers customer information, there are privacy issues. In this case, the tracker technology. To alleviate any concerns, Ticket Kataao provides heat maps instead of track lines to advertisers. ”Big data analysis is our sole concern”, adds Talha.

For monthly payments, Ticket Kataao relies on checks until they automate the system through direct bank transfers.
 

Concluding Thoughts
While the idea behind the startup is smart, there are a few possible hiccups. Firstly, it’s going to be an uphill battle to convince owners of high end cars to put ads on their cars. Usually if you’re buying a car worth PKR 2.5 million, you don’t need the extra cash. Furthermore, for some people it might reduce the premium feel of the vehicle.

Secondly, Ticket Kataao’s success is going to be entirely dependent on the strength of their marketing efforts. Initial numbers (the startup has around 500 signups already) have been encouraging and I’m of the belief that commercial partnerships are going be the rarer commodity rather than the number of people willing to put ads on their cars.


This also provides a potential solution to my earlier point. If Ticket Kataao can provide a wide selection of vinyls from advertisers across multiple industries to customers, they could actually bill it as the cool way to show the world what you’re passionate about. So rather than a sterile sticker about Panadol, it could be your favorite football club or your preferred brand of clothing. Now who wouldn’t want that?

While there can never be an industry disruptor quite like Mark Zuckerberg, Russia has found its own version of the technology icon.

 Pavel Durov, the 32-year-old CEO of Telegram, is one of the most successful businessmen in the world, but his story is unique. Durov was forced out of his home country.

What Is Telegram?
Billions of people around the world, including a sizable Latino user base, use Facebook every day, making it one of the most popular social media networks. But Telegram is not as well known outside of Russia.

For uninitiated, Telegram is an encrypted messaging app that allows users to connect in remote locations, coordinate groups and encrypt personal and business secrets. It also allows users to destroy messages.Durov built the application, and it has gained 100 million users, a number that is likely to continue to grow as it gains popularity.

Who Is Durov?
Durov created the social media platform VKontakte, known as the Russian Facebook. However, the government gained control of the network, and Durov decided to leave the country after the Kremlin raided his apartment. He remained defiant on social media, as he did not want to give up control.

When he left for New York, he decided to begin Telegram, a company he kept secret until he had finished the app. He brought some of his employees from VKontakte and used profits from his first venture to fund Telegram. The site, which encrypts chat and makes it incredibly difficult for governments to spy on users, was in many ways a response to the intrusion into VKontakte by the Kremlin.

Today, Telegram is not making revenue, but Durov has kept it alive by investing $1 million of his own money. He is also traveling a lot and does not stay in one place for too long. However, it is unlikely he will return to Russia, where he would probably be arrested.

Durov has become something of a hero to privacy activists for his stand against the Russian government after it took control of his work.

The technology mogul is very active on social media, keeping his fans and followers in constant conversation. He shares updates on his status as he travels, as well as news about Telegram, with his followers on Twitter. In his latest pictures, Durov featured Paris, including a party to celebrate Telegram reaching 100 million users.

Experience.me is a recently launched application for Android and iOS stores. It is a digital platform that connects end users to telecom service providers, engineering a better telecommunication sector in the country. It is exclusively targeting Indian audience.

It is a methodology to measure the experience of smartphones users. The application automatically analyzes the service quality that a Telecom operator provides its consumers, through various network events encountered by mobile devices. The application then shows alert messages to users on their phones, drawing their attention to the snags in the services. Furthermore, it builds an automated database, centered on handset experiences from across the country. The application starts its functions the moment it is downloaded on a mobile device and works quietly in the background without affecting the user experience in any way.  The app measures various aspects of the mobile users’ experience such as coverage, data speeds as well as social media and video performance.

Elaborating on the launch of its services, Umang Shah, Co-Founder and Head-Innovation and Marketing commented, “At present, our primary goal is to reform India’s telecommunications sector by focusing purely on improving customer experience. We intend to streamline the communication between Consumers & Service Providers by bridging gaps in the communication processes that exist today. This can be achieved only by fulfilling the lack of automation in grievance resolution regarding network problems which negatively impacts customer experience. We are certain of providing effective and transparent ways for customers to measure &verify the resolution of their network related concerns. We would like to sensitize the masses about our technology and services which can be used to convey their grievances to the mobile operators and potentially resolve them within minutes. Our target is to increase downloads to over 1 million users over the next quarter.”

Though the app can have a better User Interface to attract masses, it still works superfine. The portal already has details of mobile experiences captured across leading service providers in over 20 cities. Besides showing the quality of mobile service, the portal also publishes periodic ‘State of Telecom’ reports to measure the pace of user experience transformation in the Indian telecommunications industry.

In mid-January, Skype announced that an integration for Slack was already available, which allows a team that uses slack to make a Skype call from a computer.

"At Skype, we are committed to breaking down communication barriers and getting the world talking," the Skype team said. "This is why we make Skype available on multiple platforms and continue to explore more ways to help you stay connected. Today we're releasing a preview version of Skype integration for Slack that lets teams on Slack easily make a Skype voice or video call and reach conclusions faster."

The Multi-Billion-Dollar Bid

But a report details a rumor that could have potentially taken the relation between the two tech companies a step further from a mere integration on their respective communication platforms to an actual acquisition.

As described in the report, Microsoft, which owns Skype via a 2011 acquisition amounting to a whopping $8.5 billion, had set its sights on rival Slack and was willing to shell out almost the same sum of money at $8 billion just to acquire the company. But, before the bidding talks could gain more ground, the proposition was nipped in the bud by no less than two of the tech giant's top brass, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and CEO Satya Nadella.

Bill Gates Disapproves

If the chairman and CEO emeritus of the Redmond-based tech company had his way, he would rather have the company invest more with Skype and improve its features and services, as opposed to acquiring yet another business-software company.

It was actually Microsoft's EVP of applications and services, Qi Lu, who spearheaded the rumored acquisition bid of Slack. He was the one in-charge of all productivity, communications, education, search and other information services at Microsoft, Tech Crunch noted.

The Slack Appeal
Slack, which is regarded as one of the fastest-rising apps today, has gotten the attention of not just the tech giant, but a number of other companies. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said that the company has looked past about eight to 10 acquisition offers in the past, according to a Yahoo Finance report.

And who wouldn't want to have Slack on board with its 2.3 million monthly active users and a potential revenue of $64 million per year? The last valuation of the tech company pegged its value at $2.8 billion, thanks to a $160 million round of funding in April of 2015. And, with a new round of funding set to come in, the value could raise somewhere from $4 billion to $5 billion.

The messaging app Slack recently launched a new voice calling feature that started releasing its beta version on March 2. The beta testing will begin in Slack’s desktop app and in Chrome

The New Voice Calling Feature
According to The Verge, Slack is letting its users experience one-to-one voice chats for free. The new feature was placed in development after Slack acquired Screenhero, a screen-sharing app. In 2015, Slack also aimed to add voice calls, screen sharing and video calls into its messaging app, making it more flexible.

Users who pay for the app can begin voice chats with up to 15 individuals. At present, Slack will observe and maintain its beta version to determine its users' response. A limited rollout seems to be ideal, compared to an official big launch, provided how Slack has grown in popularity within a short period of time.

Slack is also asking beta users to provide feedback and suggest the features and functions they wish from the calling feature

How to Start
Those who have administrative privileges need to enable voice calling. As soon as these are enabled, there should be a phone icon that appears throughout the app, allowing users to initiate a call with an individual or group. As soon as the call is made, icons of people included in the call will be shown and the active individuals will be highlighted.

Also included in Slack's voice calling is the Reactions feature, which lets users respond immediately to the person they are talking to via an emoji.

Tech Crunch wrote that users only need the latest Slack app, which was released late in February 2016, or the web interface. Calls generally use WebRTC, so no additional plugin is required. As soon as players are on the beta, there will be a phone button that appears in every channel and on individual direct messages. Hitting the button will post an instant conference call within your channel for anyone to join via a single click.

Slack mentioned that adding voice chat will not limit its support for third-party integrations. This means that users can still start Skype calls and Hangouts via Slack if they wish.

More updates and details on Slack’s new feature and the official version are expected soon.

Buying deodorants, perfumes & personal care products online was never so easy. DeoBag.com offers the widest range of deodorants and perfumes online at the most affordable prices. DeoBag.com is the first online dedicated fragrance shop in India offering each and every detail about fragrance before you purchase your favorite deodorants online.

DeoBag.com offers more than 2000 mass and premium daily wear deodorants & perfumes online in India covering all international brands like Brut, Reebok, Beverly Hills Polo Club, United Colors of Benetton, Ferrari, Fogg, Jacques Bogart, Nike, Adidas, Wild Stone, Kamasutra and a lot more with upto 70% discounts on MRP. 

Vision And Team

DeoBag.com is initiative by students of GBU (Gautam Buddha University), the Deobag core team consists of five student, and there vision to be  the first online store which focus on deodorants only. There founders says it's stocked with hundreds of products ideal for students, everything from basic  to core components.

Deobag is created to provide the market with access to the largest inventory of genuine, branded Deodorants, Perfumes, Skincare, Hair Care and more at the lowest possible prices. Shop, explore and much more!! It’s The Deobag.com. 

When asked about there commitment, they replied with 

 "We work hard to ensure that your shopping experience is completely satisfying and enjoyable. Along with great selection and prices, our number one concern is offering superior customer service and our staffs are here to serve you." 

Starting a business can be a daunting endeavor, especially if all you have is a cool product and not enough capital. In the tech world, or in any other niche for that matter, most startup fail not because they have bad products but because they are unable to generate enough consumer interest in their products. 

Considering overheads and other back-office expenses, this scenario doesn’t come as a surprise. So if you’re still starting out and find yourself strapped for much needed funding to keep your startup afloat, the following free business productivity tools are worth checking out.

If you need a collaboration tool your staff are most likely to adopt with relative ease and minimum training, take the social intranet route.

Bitrix24.com is the fastest growing social intranet that’s free for businesses with 12 employees or less. The application comes as a combination of several different work tools like CRM, project management, real-time streaming, activity planner, file sharing, to name just a few. As it is cloud-based, access can be anywhere, whether using your computer or smartphone. An upgrade to unlimited users starts at $99 per month.

In this era of e-mail and instant messaging, you’d think fax machines are no longer relevant. But if a LinkedIn survey as reported by Mashable is to be believed, fax machines are still in until 2017 steps in.

As you might have already guessed from the site’s name, GotFreeFax.com is an online service that allows you to send up to three pages of fax for free (maximum of two faxes per day) to any number in the United States or Canada. The site also offers premium pay-per-fax service should you need to send more.

RememberTheMilk.com is an online productivity tool that assists in task and time management. Remember The Milk essentially functions as your all-in-one task manager, electronic calendar and to-do list. Aside from allowing you to share and split tasks with other people, the application can be integrated with GMail, too.

The pro account is priced at $25 for one year and comes with exclusive mobile app features and Microsoft Outlook integration.

Kolab.org is an open-source group collaboration server that allows for sharing of notes, e-mail access, calendar organization, task management, address book maintenance, news aggregation, phone sync and journal integration. Kolab is secure, scalable, reliable, mobile and professional, ensuring productivity every step of the way. As a whole, the application requires some getting used to. But once you get the hang of it, the hassle can be all worth it.

Formerly WaveAccounting.com, WaveApps.com is an accounting software that’s fast, simple and easy to use, offering unlimited invoicing and expense tracking. 100% free for small businesses with nine employees or less, it’s accountant-approved and specifically designed for non-accountants. You can also securely connect your bank and PayPal accounts or other sources of data, and your transactions are automatically imported into the accounting software.

To make your business presence known, one surefire route to take is through the distribution of press releases. PRLog.org is a site where you can dispense press releases for free. And if you feel you don’t have the necessary expertise to create a killer press release, the site provides instructions on how to write one, even how to embed videos where necessary.

One cardinal business rule is that businesses should have their own websites to boost their market presence online. Weebly.com is a free website creator that doesn’t require website creation expertise. Until you’re ready to go for more complex and/or self-hosted sites that would require monthly or yearly payments, Weebly.com is a good alternative.

For those meetings or web conferences on the fly, Join.me is a simple-to-use teleconferencing application that allows you to review documents and designs, train staff, do product demonstrations – basically to get everyone apprised of company updates. You can do transatlantic web conferences and presentations, too.

IFTTT.com, which is short for “if this, then that,” functions like a computer program repeatedly uttering if/then logic all day long. With IFTTT, you set up “recipes” to assist you with task automation. For a recipe to work, you have to have a channel, a trigger and an action. Examples of channels are Facebook, e-mail, Evernote, LinkedIn, just to mention a few.

For instance, if you’re tagged in a photo on Facebook, you can create a recipe that would automatically download the image into Dropbox.

What other free business productivity tools can you suggest?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of Start-up India, Stand-up India initiative last year in the 69th Independence Day address. More recently, on January 16, PM Modi unveiled the action plan for this initiative urging the youth of the country to become job-creators instead of job-seekers.

The highlights of the Start-up India Action plan can be important for your upcoming competitive exams. Therefore, in today's article let us take a look at some of the key points of the Start -up India Action Plan.

Background:

On January 16, Prime Minster Modi unveiled a 19 point Start -up India Action Plan at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, with the view to boost entrepreneurship at the grass-root level in India. As per data released by NASSCOM, 80,000 jobs had been created in the country by Start-up's last year alone and the number of investors too, doubled from 220 to 490. Taking a cue from these developments, the Start-up India Action Plan included creation of 100 billion rupee fund, tax breaks, and steps to enhance ease of doing business for companies and investors among other concessions.

Here's a list of 19 key points of the Start -up India Action Plan:

1. Start-up Fund: A dedicated start-up fund to promote start-ups would be established with an initial corpus of Rs. 2,500 crore and total corpus of Rs.10,000 crore over the four years. The fund would be managed by private professionals from the industry while LIC will be a co-investor in the fund.

2. Simplified process for Start-up: Start-ups will be able to set up by simply filling short forms though mobile app and online portal. The mobile app is to go live in April 2016, and act as a window for information exchange and interaction with government and regulatory bodies. It would help start a new company in a single day as all paperwork would be filed through the mobile app and portal.

3. Start-up Hub: A start-up India Hub will be created, which will serve as a single point of contact for the entire start-up ecosystem and facilitate access to funding and exchange of knowledge.

4.Compliance regime based on self certification: A self-certification based compliance system for start-ups would be introduced for 9 labour and environment laws. The objective is to reduce the regulatory burden on startups and would apply to laws like payment of gratuity, contract labour, employees provident fund, water and air pollution acts.

5.Credit Guarantee Fund: A credit guarantee mechanism through National Credit Guarantee Trust Company/SIDBI is being envisaged with a budgetary allocation of Rs 500 crore per year for the next four years to promote entrepreneurship.

6.Tax Exemption for Start-ups: No Income tax for the first three years for start-ups set up after April 1st, 2016.

7.Exemption from Capital Gains Tax: Start-ups would be taxed at a lower rate on long-term capital gains in unlisted entities.

8.Tax exemption on investments above Fair Market Value: Exemption would be available to venture capital funds to invest in start-ups above fair market value (FMV). It would also include investments made by incubators above FMV.

9. Fast track Patent protection application for start-ups: The Government will generate awareness regarding adoption of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) by startups and will help them protect and commercialise IPRs. Also, patent applications of start-ups will be fast tracked for examination and disposal.

10. Panel to aid in legal support and assist in filing patent application: A panel will aid start-ups with legal support and assistance in filing of patent application. Government appointed facilitators shall help start-ups in filing and disposal of patent application and the cost would be borne by the government.

11. 35 new incubators in institutions: A maximum, funding support of 40 % or Rs 10 crore would be given by the Central Government to develop new incubators in existing institutions. The rest 40% of funding would come from the respective state government and another 20% from private sector.

12. 7 new research parks: Modelled on the research parks in IIT- Madras, 7 such new parks would be set up. Of these parks, six in IITs, one in IISc with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore each. These research parks will enable companies with research focus on setting up base and leverage the expertise of academic/research institution.

13.Promote entrepreneurship in biotechnology: Five new bio clusters, 50 new bio incubators, 150 technology transfer offices and 20 bio connect offices will be established.

14. Innovation focused programmes for students: Innovation core program would be initiated to target school kids from five lakh schools. A Grand Challenge Program would be held to support and award Rs 10 lakhs to 20 student innovations from Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres. With the view to promote innovation among students, Uchhattar Avishkar Yojana, has been earmarked with Rs 250 crore per annum aimed at fostering 'very high quality' research.

15. Atal Innovation Mission: The Mission is aimed at entrepreneurship promotion via:

* Establishment of sector specific incubators

* Establishment of 500 tinkering labs with 3D printers in universities

* Pre-incubation training to potential entrepreneurs

* Strengthening of existing incubation facilities

* Seed funding to high growth startups

16. Relaxed norms of public procurement for start-ups: With regards to public procurement start-ups (especially in the manufacturing sector) start-ups will get a level playing field with experienced companies.

17. 80 per cent rebate on filing patent applications by start-ups: With the view to enable start-ups to reduce costs in their formative years, start-ups would be provided with an 80% rebate in filing patents vis-a-vis other companies.

18. Start-up fest: Start-up fest will be organised with the view to showcase innovation and provide a platform for collaboration to start-ups.

19. Faster Exit for Start-ups: With the view to facilitate easy exit for start-ups, provisions for fast-tracking closure of businesses have been included in the insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill, 2015. Start-ups, who have simple debt structures, can be allowed to wind up within a period of 90 days after filing an application

At present, India has 4,200 start-ups and is ranked 3rd globally in terms of number of start-ups. The Start-up India initiative has been launched not just to ensure ease of doing business or to clear regulatory hurdles alone but also to act as a catalyst in the Indian start-up ecosystem and to promote cutting edge innovation in India.

When James Reinhart initially pitched his company ThredUp to venture capitalists, he was rejected 27 times.

ThredUp is a startup that lets customers sell clothes in their closets to others, but in 2008 when the company first started, the idea was different. Reinhart wanted to help people swap clothes with one another, particularly parents whose children were quickly growing out of their wardrobes. But it wasn't a popular concept in Silicon Valley.

Reinhart speaks that venture capitalists actually laughed or fell asleep at the table while he pitched them ThredUp. He remembers them staring at their Blackberries, waiting for the meetings to be over. But the Harvard Business School graduate says he wasn't deterred.

"Often the number one reason why companies are successful at raising money is they find their right investor," Reinhart tells Business Insider. "There are hundreds of great investors out there, I just needed to find the right one who believed in what I was doing."

Despite the constant rejection, Reinhart had conviction in what he was building and financed ThredUp himself. Family and friends also gave him some money to get the business off the ground.

Fast-forward to 2015; Reinhart seems to have no problem raising money.

This year, ThredUp raised an $81 million round of financing led byGoldman Sachs, bringing its total amount raised to more than $131 million. Reinhart has also established a partnership with Target so customers of the retail giant can trade gently-used clothing for store credit.

Part of what Reinhart thinks helped ThredUp grow during those initial rough years was his easy-to-grasp business concept. ThredUp solved a problem many people have: overflowing closets full of unworn items.

Reinhart came up with the idea for ThredUp when he was a college student who was frustrated with his own wardrobe. 

About a year  ago, a bunch of IIT-Bombay students started a WhatsApp based local personal assistance service called Tathastu that helps people get various day-to-day tasks done such as getting a pizza delivered, booking a flight ticket, running an errand and so on. Now after a month of its launch, Tathastu (meaning ‘so be it’) is all over the internet, and has also been named the best startup in India by Quora community.

Basically, behind the WhatsApp interface, there are human agents who run all these tasks. For now, the service is available in Mumbai only but the founding team has plans to launch it pan-India in coming months. Following snapshots will give a clearer picture on what kind of services Tathastu provides:

While Tathastu is getting all the attention from media and people (and also the praises for the idea), there are many predecessors of Tathastu in the personal assistance service marketplace. Here are a few:

Magic: A California based personal assistant mobile app with same service as Tathastu

GoButler: Prime competitor of Magic in the US

Haptik: An India based mobile app that assists people in performing day-to-day chores that can be done using online resources – such as finding a good shopping deal, checking movie timing and booking, etc.

TARS: A Bangalore based personal assistance service that uses WhatsApp platform like Tathastu (and yes, the name TARS is inspired from the movie Interstellar)

DudeGenie: Another Bangalore based service that besides WhatsApp platform also has a mobile app

Operator

As of now, Tathastu team is excited to launch their services in other cities. However, we see some hurdles down the line. Tathastu is touching various online and offline services all at once, and presently they don’t have the manpower to handle that. So, scaling the business seems like a pretty difficult task for now. But even with sufficient manpower, bringing different markets and services together seems like creating a cumbersome situation for the business. So, it would be interesting to see how they scale.

What do you think about Tathastu’s personal assistance services? Do you find them interesting and would like to see them in your city? Tell us in comments section.