Protection of important data is the need for the hour and it has become increasingly hard in recent years. Cyber-attacks have been increasing over the years. If we look at the last 5 years there has been an increase in the crimes from 49,455 cases in 2015 to 6,96,938 cases in 2020 in India. This rapidly increasing Cyberattack has increased the demand for cybersecurity professionals who can predict, detect and safeguard organizations from Cyberattacks. Look at the list of Top Cybersecurity courses in India to excel in a Cybersecurity career
According to PWC, the cybersecurity market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.6 percent from USD 1,97 billion in 2019 to $3.05 billion by 2022. However, there is a scarcity of skilled professionals in the field of cybersecurity, despite the fact that it is a high-demand job.
Here’s the list of Top Cybersecurity Courses in India:
Master Certification in Cyber security (Jigsaw academy with HackerU)
Jigsaw Academy with HackerU
Jigsaw Academy offers programmes in data science and emerging technologies. It was recognized as the No.1 institute for data science training and a global award-winning institute. It is headquartered in Bangalore, India. HackerU is a world-renowned provider of cyber security knowledge transfer, technological solutions and services. It is based in Israel. HackerU partners with educational institutes around the globe for providing cyber security training.
The Master’s programme provided by Jigsaw academy in association with HackerU is the only master’s certification in India that focuses on offensive cybersecurity technologies. This programme helps to understand the hacker’s state of mind through an in-depth study of technologies required to protect the organizations from cyber-attacks.
Duration – The total duration of the programme is 11 months and it is completely online with live sessions. The academy also provides 100% placement on completion.
Praxis is a premier B-School in Kolkata providing 9 months full–time Post Graduation Diploma in Cybersecurity. Praxis Business School endeavours to bring to you – a program that combines the art and science of theoretical learning with the virtues of practical training.
Praxis claims that this is the only programme in the country that is designed to create industry-ready Cyber Warriors. It addresses three aspects of the Cyber Security ecosystem: people, process and technology. To make the programme relevant and to provide efficiency for students Praxis has partnered with CISCO, Fortinet, ISACA (Kolkata Chapter), British Standards Institute and Infosec Foundation to provide industry training.
The programme provides a combination of lectures, lab work, case studies and projects consisting of three trimesters with specializations in SOC analysis, digital forensics, security incident handling and information cyber audit.
Duration – The duration of the programme is 9 months with 525 hours of classroom training and lab work.
Certified Ethical Hacker and certified Information System Security professional – Simplilearn
Simplilearn Course on Cybersecurity
Simplilearn is one of the world’s leading certification training providers. They partner with companies and individuals to provide training and coaching to achieve career goals. They have trained more than 20,00,000 professionals with more than 400 courses.
The programme verifies your advanced security skillsets. Many IT departments have made CEH a must required qualification for Cyber Security related jobs. This certification provides tools and information used by a hacker and helps you to think like a hacker to manage the security of the organization’s data.
This programme helps you develop expertise in defining the architecture and in designing, building, and maintaining a secure business environment for your organization using globally approved Information Security standards.
Duration – 40 hours of applied learning.
Cost of the programme – Rs. 39,999 for CEH and Rs. 24,999 for CISSP.
PG Diploma/MTech/MS in Cybersecurity – Reva University
Reva University Course on Cyber Security
REVA Academy for Corporate Excellence (RACE) aims to develop enterprise leaders for corporates through progressive and integrated learning capabilities. RACE is an agile lean startup that works with entrepreneurial zeal.
The race provides High end, cutting edge, techno-functional interdisciplinary programs. This Programme will help you to gain hands-on experience practical training in various security technologies to defend, detect or monitor security threats. It helps to execute a cyber security plan, develop privacy policies and to gain expertise in the subject matter of cyber security.
The programme is approved by UGC and AICTE. It has partnered with various organizations in the Industry such as ABB, Accenture IBM and many more.
Duration – 2 years MTech/MS courses, 1-year PG Diploma courses.
Cost of the Programme – PG Diploma – Rs. 3,50,000, MTech/MS – Rs. 4,50,000.
The common job profiles in cybersecurity include information Cyber Security Analysts, Security Engineer,Information and Cyber Security Auditors Security Analysts, Security Consultants, Firewall and Security Device development professionals, Computer Security Incident Responders, Cryptologists, Vulnerability Assessors, Digital Forensics Specialists, Intrusion Detection Specialists, Lead Security Architects, and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
In January 2017 and March 2018 there was a spike in Cyber Security roles of around 150%. As per the reports of IBM, India requires around 30 Lakhs Cyber Security professionals and it would increase up to 35 Lakhs by 2022.
Conclusion
With an increased demand for skilled cybersecurity experts, a career in this field not only pays well, but also provides you with a wealth of experience dealing with crises and attacks in real time.
According to official estimates, the sector’s job growth is expected to be 37 percent globally by 2022, representing a $35 billion revenue opportunity for Indian cyber security professionals.
While most entry-level jobs in cyber security are held by associate degree holders and do not require very specific knowledge of cyber networks and security protocols, a four-year bachelor’s degree in either engineering or cyber security is always recommended.
What does outsourcing essentially mean? It means that there are certain tasks in your company that for certain reasons you and your current employees are unable to do. So you give that work to someone else who is not a part of the main company.It’s not as simple as it looks. But it is best to outsource jobs to freelancers.
You have to very careful and wise about outsourcing, the kind of freelancer that you are hiring and the kinds of work which when outsourced will bring you the greatest profit.
A freelancer or an outside firm will not understand the passion and essence of your company. They will not do the work the way you want them to do. This can change the way people conceive your company and can also downgrade the quality of your product. What we mean here is that not all tasks in your company are meant to be outsourced. You have to know the kinds of tasks that can be safely outsourced, whether you should hire a freelancer or another firm or should you do the work.
But still, outsourcing is a very popular option, especially among small companies. Why so?
That’s because at the end of the day you can make more money and have more chances of profit. But you cannot just use freelancers to do the less important tasks. But it is best to outsource jobs to freelancers because your work will be done easily and with more profit.That will only hold your company back in the long run. Try outsourcing in the sales and revenue sectors.
Out of the five challenges listed above the options that are favored by outsourcing are Increasing profits, Growing revenue, and Cash flow. It allows you to bypass employee hassles and lets you function as smoothly as possible.
Now that you know the basic advantages outsource jobs tofreelancer to do your task you must decide on what kind of tasks should you outsource. To begin, try and keep a record of your activities. Identify the tasks that you do the most and that have the highest value. Keep them to yourself. The tasks that you outsource should be such that they have low-value returns and something that you and your current employees cannot do well. But take care that the job that you give them shouldn’t be your key competency.
Benefits Of Outsourcing Jobs To Freelancer
The task will be done by someone who specializes in it and will, therefore, have better quality. Thus, improvement in quality, and you also save time.
You can get the task done on an economic scale by outsource jobs tofreelancer rather than getting a full time employee.
As you have given the task to someone else you can now focus on what’s important and give more time into planning future projects and products.
Like said before, you have to be careful too. You have to control the amount of outsourcing that your company does. Too much of anything is bad and that goes for outsourcing too. If you outsource too much it won’t take long for your company to become weak. All your competitors need to make you fall is a few freelancers. Also over time, you will realize that your company is changing and you will start losing your foothold. The quality and reputation will also change and so will your customer base.
Hide Your Key Competency
There’s an important lesson to be learned before you choose a freelancer to do your job. Never give them control over your key competency. What is meant by key competency? It is that thing that makes your company what it is. In easier language, the thing or rather the idea that sets your company apart. If you give that away, it would be like allowing someone else to drive your favorite car. Your key competency is the root or the foundation underneath your company. Giving that to someone else will change the very essence of your company.
So, how will you recognize your key competency? Look at Apple, their key competency being the design of the smartphone. They employ a lot of freelancers to do a bunch of other technical but only the Apple company can make the phone look like an iPhone. That’s their basic essence.
You should ask yourself, what is that thing that sets my company apart from others? What ideas, passion, and choices define your business?
Set Your Goals First
But this doesn’t mean that you will blindly outsource anything that is not your key competency. You have to first ask yourself the very basic question that most people fail to do: why should I outsource? See, the answer to this question will decide whether the outsourcing will give positive results or not. You have to give it a thought before you come to a decision. Is it really necessary to outsource? Because the task is so non-essential, you might want to just download good software and take care of it.
Choose a Platform
There are a number of sites that serve as marketplaces to hire freelancers, including Upwork, Freelancer.com, People Per Hour, and many others. Choose only one site, this keeps it simple to manage. It’s also worth noting that there are more niche job websites that can provide better results for certain tasks. People most often use same sites for hiring and managing projects.
Do Not Always Choose Lowest Bid
Hiring someone to do your job just because of the price is the biggest mistakes. Although price is an important factor but so is experience and quality of work delivered by an individual. The bids vary drastically as people having different work experience, from all around world send you bids. Settle for a bid that offers you a reasonable price and enough experience to handle your project.
Price is one factor that you want to consider, but it’s not the only factor.
You might outsource because you want to save money or maybe you and your current employees simply don’t like the task. But only focusing on money may not always work in your favor. Maybe in the short term, it may seem like a good decision but in the long run, it can have negative impacts on your business. Try and avoid outsourcing in critical sectors like sales & hire.
Use New Technologies
It’s always a smart help to take help from the software sector. If there’s a software that can take care of your tasks that you don’t want to do, then go and check if you can solve the problem with the software. It’s always better, easy, and hassle-free than hiring an actual human to do the work. There is a lot of software available on the internet that can do a lot to boost your productivity. For instance, 94% of marketers have claimed that taking the help of software to do their work has helped improve their work and also helped them enhance their quality of work.
Hire a Professional for Legal Works
However, there are certain kinds of work that you simply mustn’t handle on your own. Like taxing and handling of legal documents. It’s always a wise decision to consult a professional for such tasks. Most of the small companies hire freelancers or firms to take care of tasks like this. Also normally these kinds of tasks are specialized and their services are required only a few times in a year. Hence it’s not a wise decision to employ someone full time for this. Rather outsourcing is the wisest decision in this case.
As far as outsourcing is concerned, your choice depends on the task that you’ll be handing out. Finance and accounting are where the major bulk of outsourcing occurs.
Also, the IT sector has witnessed a massive increase in outsourcing because of the problems related to this sector require specialized and skilled help. Currently outsourced IT work like project-based and statement of work tasks are now equal to staff increase for IT work. The legal sector is seeing a steady increase in outsourcing as more and more companies are hiring lawyers and established firms to take care of the legal part of their businesses.
All of these changes and trends including the increase in outsourcing and freelancing is part of the popular gig culture that is becoming the new norm of the business world.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Repos Energy
Founders of Repos Energy, Chetan Walunj and Aditi Bhosale Walunj, being petrol pump owners themselves were quite aware of the inefficiencies that plague the logistics model of the industry. They wanted to eliminate these efficiencies and consequently pass on the value that is generated to the end consumer. Thus, was the born of Repos Energy. They noticed that the traditional way of procuring diesel was not only making hassles for the businesses but also created a big menace for the environment.
Ratan Tata backedRepos energy is creating a sustainable ecosystem for the fuel distribution of India. Repos Energy have a vehicle as a product – the Repos Mobile Petrol Pump (RMPP) which helps the secure and smart delivery of diesel.
StartupTalky interviewed Aditi Bhosle Walunj (Founder of Repos Energy) to know the Success Story of Repos Energy along with getting a glance on Repos Energy Business Model, Founders, Funding, How it Started, Revenue Model, Growth & more..
January 2021 – Tata Motors and Repos Energy holds Energy Startup Summit 2021 to bring a “revolution” in India’s energy distribution system.
Repos Energy – About and Vision
Repos energy is creating a sustainable ecosystem for the fuel distribution of India. It has created an e-commerce platform where diesel consumers and delivery partners can get connected easily and be a part of a secure and transparent transaction.
Repos Energy also have a vehicle as a product – the Repos Mobile Petrol Pump which helps the secure and smart delivery of diesel.
Repos Energy
Repos Energy believes in more than just delivering diesel on the doorstep. It tends to create a healthy environment to live in and making one realize that they have infinite possibilities of being. Everyone in Repos wants to change the world for the better and make this nation a happier and prouder place to be.
Long term vision – Redefine Energy distribution around the globe and Explore new avenues: LPG, CNG, Hydrogen fuel cell, Electric etc
Short term vision – Ensure energy security for each and every individual in India; Farmers, Industries, Healthcare etc
Repos Energy is driving its force in the energy sector. The tables below indicate the market size and market share of Repos Energy. It believes that in next 5 years, Energy distribution models are going to change and consumers will get energy at the doorstep.
Market Size (India)
HSD Consumption
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Annual (MMT)
84
88
93
98
103
109
Daily (litres)
258,506,849
272,724,726
287,724,586
303,549,438
320,244,657
337,858,113
Daily (Crore litres)
26
27
29
30
32
34
AMOUNT
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
INR
₹6,604,850,000,000
₹6,968,116,750,000
₹7,351,363,171,250
₹7,755,688,145,669
₹8,182,250,993,681
₹8,632,274,798,333
INR (Crores)
₹660,485
₹696,812
₹735,136
₹775,569
₹818,225
₹863,227
USD
$88,064,666,667
$92,908,223,333
$98,018,175,617
$103,409,175,276
$109,096,679,916
$115,096,997,311
USD (Billion)
$88
$93
$98
$103
$109
$115
Repos planned market share
Year
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
RPP
32
320
3,200
9,600
19,200
32,000
Daily HSD Volume (Litres)
160,000
1,600,000
16,000,000
48,000,000
96,000,000
160,000,000
Volume % (National consumption)
0.06%
0.59%
5.56%
15.81%
29.98%
47.36%
INR (Crores)
₹409
₹4,088
₹40,880
₹122,640
₹245,280
₹408,800
USD (Billion)
$0
$1
$5
$16
$33
$55
SOURCE: PPAC (Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell)
Repos Energy – Founders and Team
Chetan Walunj (Engineer) and Aditi Bhosale Walunj (Forensics) are the founders of Repos Energy.
Chetan Walunj, Aditi Bhosale Walunj – Founders Repos Energy
“It didn’t take much time to onboard Aditi. Ever since we got married, we have been dabbling in between our restaurant and the retail petroleum outlet. Although there was always one consistent goal which was to make a difference! – Says Chetan Walunj (Founder of Repos Energy)
Chetan Walunj majorly looks after sales & Aditi Bhosale Walunj handles the marketing side of the business
Repos Energy Team
Repos Energy – Product/Services and USP
The Repos Mobile Petrol Pump (RMPP) is Equipped with best-in-class technology like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence, Repos Mobile Petrol Pump is a futuristic vehicle, all set to support Businesses.
The RMPP is a wondrous innovation of the IoT (Internet of things) technology and uses an in-house built IoT controller to make sure that it delivers diesel in the most efficient, safe and secure way. The features like Brake Interlock, Double Dispensing Unit, Geo Fencing, etc.,
The RMPP is the most efficient, secure and reliable way of procuring diesel. It solves all the problems of the traditional way of diesel procurement like dead mileage, spillage and pilferage.
There was always a fire in Chetan & Aditi. A fire to aid people and change the world for the better. They always wanted to do something big which would bring some perspective to this world.
One day, they saw this persisting and traditional problem of fuel procurement, well, they took it up and decided to change it for the better. Chetan and Aditi noticed that the traditional way of procuring diesel was not only making hassles for the businesses but also created a big menace for the environment.
“Just when one such day we were dealing with continuous calls for diesel requirements from our retail outlet, a notification popped on my screen reading ,”Your order has been delivered” and that was our eureka moment!” – recalls Aditi
Initially, when Chetan and Aditi approached their friends and family, they were claimed to be not thinking straight! Founders being petrol pump owners themselves were quite aware of the inefficiencies that plague the logistics model of the industry. They wanted to eliminate these efficiencies and consequently pass on the value that is generated to the end consumer. Thus, was the born of Repos Energy
Ideation, Designing, Prototyping: RPP
CurrentRMPPwent through multiple iterations to make it safe, efficient, and user friendly which would enable transparent transactions thereby eliminating inefficiencies (dead mileage, spillage, pilferage, leakage, etc.)
Repos Mobile Petrol Pump
Repos Energy – Startup Launch
Initially, nobody knew about a Mobile Petrol Pump. People used to call them Bowsers. So Chetan and Aditi (Founders of Repos Energy) started out by researching their target audience. As the business is based on B2B model, they could research better in a concise format.
For the sales of the Repos Mobile Petrol Pump (RMPP), they studied the geography of the target group i.e., The Retail Petrol Pump Outlet owners. Chetan and Aditi pitched them the new technology, legality and the superior quality of of the product, thereby gaining the trust of the dealers.
For the consumers i.e., who brought diesel from Repos’ application, founders pitched them the experience. With the easy, efficient and transparent delivery of the diesel at their doorstep, Repos Energy got some traction quickly.
One of the major challenge faced by the startup was the Government regulations. But after a point of time, things sorted as they were able to convince the government that this business model was sustainable and had a power to generate employment, leading to the contribution of the nation’s growth.
Founders of Repos Energy have always believed in the power of YES and positivity. Everythingis possible if one has the positive will to fulfill dreams.
Thus, it had to be RElentless POSitive – REPOS. Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. It only keeps flowing. Thus they symbolized the same in the Repos’ infinite loop
Repos Energy’s Tagline is ‘Fuelled by Yes”
Repos Energy Logo
Repos Energy – Business Model
Repos Energy works on B2B & B2C business model. It Bridges the gap between supply and demand.
Repos Energy’s revenue model is simple. It charges commission from the end consumers on the basis of distance, time and quantity of diesel required. The Pricing will be calculated by an algorithm developed by Repos Energy (Platform)
Repos Energy – Funding and Investors
Repos Energy has been funded by Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata.
Repos Energy is much more than just being about the sales and the numbers. When COVID-19 hit and the team realized about the situation of migrant laborers, everyone in the organization jumped in and decided to raise funds, make ration kits and go deliver them personally.
We called that campaign ‘Lend A Hand’ and that was by far the most successful campaign we ever conducted.
Repos Energy – Growth
Repos Energy is spread across India – more than 130 cities, more than 500 partners, more than 5000 consumers.
Repos Energy has a market share of more than 50%
Its plan for next 1-2 years is to develop a network of more than 19000 partners across India
Repos Energy is growing at a pace of 10X every year: 32-320-3200 and so on
Fuel buddy, My petrol pump, Humsafarare the Top Competitors of Repos Energy.
Tools used by Repos Energy to run the Company
CRM (ZOHO)
ATS (Applicant tracking system)
G-Suit
Knowlarity
WinSMS
Zoom
SendinBlue
WordPress
Unbounce
Repos Energy – Recognition and Achievements
Mrs. Aditi Walunj (Founder of Repos Energy) has delivered a TED talk.
Repos Energy – Future Plans
Repos Energy recently launched a new campaign called the VOICE OF INNOVATION and in which they launched a new model of the Repos Mobile Petrol Pump – VO ALPHA. There are new features like Double Dispensing Unit. Repos Energy plans to grow PAN India and go global too.
Repos Energy – FAQs
Who are the founders of Repos Energy?
Chetan Walunj and Aditi Bhosale Walunj are the founders of Repos Energy.
What is mobile petrol pump?
These mobile Repose Energy petrol pumps can deliver fuel to the customers through a mobile application
What is Repos Energy?
Ratan Tata backedRepos energy is creating a sustainable ecosystem for the fuel distribution of India. Repos Energy have a vehicle as a product – the Repos Mobile Petrol Pump (RMPP) which helps the secure and smart delivery of diesel.
Who are the competitors of Repos Energy?
Fuel buddy, My petrol pump, Humsafarare the Top Competitors of Repos Energy.
Over the past few years, due to the advancement of technology, smartphones, and widespread access to the internet, people have been overwhelmed with the use of such resources. With the increase of education, independence, and advancement in lifestyle both men and women have become busier. People today are uncomfortable in having large social groups or find it difficult to take time out and find people to date the old fashioned way.
Today the e-dating concept has been the new trend. People find their matches online through online dating apps. Bumble is one such dating app that helps people build a profile on the app so that you put all your relevant information on it and then all you need to do is keep liking profiles of others hoping that somebody will show the same kind of interest and you both could vibe together.
Know more about Bumble in this article, it’s beyond online dating!
Bumble is a multi-functional app that is not restricted to just dating. Launched in December 2014, Bumble has been an app that is women-centric, i.e. women have control with whom they want to talk to on the app. It has been only six years since bumble started its operations and it already has more than 36 million users.
With the most users in America, the application has been the fastest-growing application in the country. The valuation of Bumble is over $14 billion and the company has been growing rapidly.
Since Bumble is a multi-functional app, it doesn’t restrict itself to dating but it has other two verticals as well – Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz.
It was just six years ago when the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd reinvented a dating app for women so that women have control over conversations with others. The company believes in empowering women to give the ability to control dates, find friends, or network online and hence they have created the app in a way where the women need to make the first move.
Her journey didn’t start with Bumble. It is the biggest competitor of Bumble in this sector that Whitney co-founded, Tinder. She had to leave the company as she had a terrible breakup with her co-founder Justin Mateen. After leaving Tinder, Whitney also filed a sexual harassment case against the company but later the suit was eventually settled. It is then when she decided to start Bumble where women have the upper hand and no one can take advantage or face problems as she did.
Bumble – Business Model
As mentioned above Bumble is a multi-functional dating app and there are three verticals: Bumble Date, Bumble Bumble BFF, and Bumble Bizz. Following are the details about how these verticals work.
Bumble Date
Bumble Date is the normal version of this dating just like any other similar genre app where people can like each other’s profiles based on their choices and preferences but the catch here is that women make the first move. However, in case of the same-sex matches, any one of the parties can make the first move.
Bumble BFF
Bumble somewhere tried to give the experience that Facebook in its dating app by including the BFF feature in the mobile app. With Bumble BFF people get the chance to talk to new people and make friends. All the user needs to do is switch to the Bumble BFF mode from Bumble Date mode. Similarly if one wants to switch to Bumble Bizz mode, they can freely do it. Also, Bumble states that over 90% of the application users try this mode and use it quite often.
Bumble Bizz
After getting a successful response of Bumble BFF mode, the company introduced another interesting vertical with the name Bumble Bizz. Forbes says that Bumble Bizz mode was a very logical step that the company took. With the help of Bumble Bizz mode, users can make a separate profile for professional swiping and networking. The other features remain the same, like the same-sex match can send greetings to one another and between a man and a woman; the first move would be made by a woman. The concept of matching professionals is a big hit in the sector.
Bumble can be free of cost but there are very limited features in it. If you opt for the additional features plan in Bumble you need to buy the premium packages and can then access a lot of additional features.
Bumble as a startup has been a success as there weren’t many challenges that the company needed to face. Initially, the company had to make its way through by challenging its biggest competitor Tinder, but Whitney already knew what was happening in Tinder and was able to see the weak points of Tinder.
Bumble also had to face a lot of criticism initially as people felt that the app is not safe and there are only fake profiles being shared on the portal. But with time people started liking the app and it has got a better response since then.
The USP of Bumble is that it is women-dominated. There is a sense of pride in using the app in which women the first move and that is what made it special. Bumble as a startup did not see major setbacks or losses, as it has remained positive and static all the time. Currently, there are more than 50,000 users added to the community on regular basis.
Having such a strong market base, the biggest competition that Bumble has is Tinder. Apart from that, there are other competitors like Grindr. Halo app, etc.
Bumble recently made a debut on Nasdaq by launching its Initial Public Offerings. This lead to Whitney Wolfe Herd became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. The company is valued at over $7 Billion by promising to make the online dating world a better place and equal place to connect.
Even though there is a surge of daters in this industry, Bumble has a long way to go in order to engage its users, look at the long-term profitability, plan growth strategies, and constantly improving by making the user’s experience better and better.
FAQs
Is Bumble dating app free?
Yes, Bumble dating app is free but it has some restricted features which you will only get access to after you pay a small fee to get Bumble Premium.
What is the average age on Bumble?
According to a April 2020 survey data of adults in the United States, more than 13% of the users are aged between 13-29 and 10% of users are aged between 30 to 44 years.
How does Bumble decide who to show you?
Those who swipe-right on your profile appear first. Both Bumble and Tinder appear to have a similar algorithm that shows you the profiles of those who have expressed an interest before other profiles.
The rise of AI and Machine Learning has enveloped every walk of life. Cutting edge technologies like AI and Machine learning are being adopted to better analyse, optimise and organise every aspect in the field of sports. To gain a competitive edge over their opponents, athletes and management are required to gather every information about the individual and team performances they possibly can.
From Football to Formula 1, AI and Machine learning is being used to strategize, train, advertise and do so much more. Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality are increasingly used to boost fan engagement and provide real-time analytics. One famous instance is the movie Moneyball helmed by Brad Pitt, where they show how the use of analytics can bring a mediocre baseball team to the spotlight.
Machine Learning has been adopted rapidly in the world of sports analytics. Due to a large amount of raw data available in sports such as player statistics, team’s recent win/loss etc. This data is used to build predictive machine learning models to make better decisions to help management. Machine learning and predictive analysis are playing a huge role right from coaching, talent scouting to refereeing and broadcasting. Sports analytics industry market size is expected to gain 2.46 billion dollars by 2025. In the world of sports, raw data are abundant, and using Machine Learning helps to analyse and interpret this data. The questions you will ask the data will decide what you can do with it.
Let us take a look at where AI and Machine Learning are being used today and the future it can take.
Behind every winning team, there are experienced coaches. But now they are getting help from Augmented AI, with the use of wearable sensors and high-speed cameras which are feeding data that are leading to improved training. Sports teams, be it cricket, football or any other game, are increasingly using player’s performance data to measure their potential. Traditional coaching’s biggest weak spot is it takes many years to hone the skills. Now coaches are getting help from AI assistants, which is helping to improve the in-game strategy and optimising the team’s line up based on algorithms that study their peers and the possible game tactics.
Recognising potential, in whichever field may it be, is very human talent. Though not all teams are using sports analytics and machine learning due to high costs involved, explaining complex analytical methods to coaches can be problematic without technological assistance.
Analysing Player Behaviour
AI can do what humans cannot, that evaluates various parameters side by side. Using wearable devices and high-speed cameras, AI can track individual player’s data throughout the match. This technology can identify minuscule differences and help us understand how the players perform under stress. AI technology can perform in-game strategy analysis during the matches and communicate better real-time game plan changes to the coaches and then to the players.
AI in Talent Scouting
The sports industry is essentially known for its scouting for best players and talent for the professional teams. Talent scouting is the backbone of many sports organisations, where sports team gather data on useful information such as player strengths and weaknesses, opponent teams strategies. S.L Benfica, a top-tier football team in Portugal, makes more money in finding, developing, training and selling players than actually playing the game.
Football teams are well known for making trades and selling players with other clubs and leagues, but Benfica has turned it into an art, buying young talent, using advanced technology, data science and training to improve player health and performance and later selling them for tens of million pounds, sometimes as much as 10 to 20 times their original fee.
Historical data is well documented in sports, with use of AI we can make predictions to the future potentials of player’s before investing in them and can be used in estimating the market value of the player’s to make the right offers while acquiring new talent.
Refereeing is one of the earliest applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in sports. The technology helps bring precision to the judgement making the game to be fair and law-abiding. For instance, in cricket, hawk-eye technology is used to identify whether the batsman is out or not in cases of LBW.
Improving Health, Fitness and Safety
It is a well-known fact that AI and ML are transforming the healthcare industry in many ways. The predictive and diagnostic capabilities of AI can also be applied to the sports industry. In sports, the physical health and fitness of the players are extremely important. Teams invest heavily to keep the physical and mental well being of the players, to maintain their peak physical condition and perform optimally.
Growth rate of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
Player skills can be classified into physical skills and mental skills. Physical skills comprise objectives such as power, endurance, flexibility etc, and mental skills are an alloy of concentration, emotion management, cognitive and communicative skills. Each sport measures these skills in different ways and adopting machine learning in sports models acts as an intersection of subjective and objective data in such a way that individual training programs can be designed for specific players. The physical toll of sports is being well documented and preventive wellness programs use predictive analysis to identify a chronic problem before it aggravates.
Streaming and Broadcasting
AI and ML platforms are used in cameras recording the match, where sports broadcasters can selectively capture the highlights and distribute what they wish, completely disrupting monetisation of sporting events. AI can automatically provide subtitles for live events in different languages based on the viewer’s location and language preferences. AI is used in sports marketing to identify the best camera angles during the match and as well as in highlights/replays to display on a viewer’s screen.
AI is used in providing statistical information to commentators helping them to run a better live commentary. AI can be used in advertising to identify the right opportunities to present ads based on crowd excitement levels in sporting arenas and to present relevant ads based on the viewer’s demographics. Brands can get better advertising opportunities based on the top moments of the game as identified by AI.
Legal Sports Betting
Whether a user bets on a team or a player they love, or against the team they dislike, they need to have some knowledge in terms of technical data. The sports betting industry is joining hands with artificial intelligence to use this data. For the algorithms to work well, the sport has to be predictive and follow a set of rules. For instance, cricket has a set of rules with a limited duration and gets repeatable, where multiple videos can be run with the algorithm to see patterns that can be predicted by AI and ML. Though a study of sports betting algorithm and interpretation is still in its early stages, various organisations are continuously researching the field.
FAQs on AI in Sports Industry
How AI is used in Sports?
AI helps to analyze the performance of the player and hence help to select the best ones for a match.
What industry uses AI the most?
Healthcare, Retail , Entertainment and Gaming are some of the major industries utilizing AI.
What are the 4 types of AI?
The four types of AI are Reactive machines, limited memory, Theory of mind and Self-awareness.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence and machine learning as emerging technologies has started to impact every possible aspect of a sport. With sophistication in data analysis, visualisation and prediction, the industry is set to witness higher precision from scouting and recruiting talent to get more insights on the performance of a sport.
It’s hard to muster up the courage and set out to start something of your own. It’s even harder to build a steady work pace, in the Indian freelancing market, and land enough clients to keep you smiling throughout the year. What isn’t hard is curating the perfect proposal for your clients, a feat that adds to your success and shows professionalism. This being said, proposals do play quite a role in helping you not only land clients but also bag great projects, and make a good impression.
Before we come to understand the necessity of writing business proposals in any and every professional setting, let’s see what it is.
So, how do you define a business proposal? Wikipedia defines it as a, ’a written offer from a seller to a prospective buyer.’ Call it a bridge between the service provider (that’s you!) and the client.
Another source says, ‘A proposal puts the buyer’s requirements in a context that favours the seller’s products and services, and educates the buyer about the capabilities of the seller in satisfying their needs.’
That is, you need a proposal for a business proposal since it clarifies and establishes the terms of working on the project. It describes the targets and goals through a formal document that is mutually agreed upon, by both the client and the freelancer.
Assurance that you will spend time on their project and add value.
A price that matches your skills, experience and professionalism
How to Write a Good Proposal?
Know Your Client
Writing a proposal may seem like a daunting task but knowing your audience narrows the scope quite a bit, and makes the task both easy and more specific. You need to know the person behind the desk, to create a maximum impact with your proposal. For that to happen, a strong understanding of your client is vital.
Think of a proposal as an in-between between finding your client and getting paid. Now this ‘in-between’ requires some convincing, demonstration of your skills and a notion of how this professional relationship can be successful. Knowing your client’s preferences, work requirements and needed job skills help. By addressing your client personally, you are adding more value to both his company and the job at hand. This assures your client that you are genuinely interested.
Note How You Start
You might want to draft a proposal that captures your client’s interests right from the beginning.
Start with a specific, attention-catching (yet professional) subject line and follow up to a strong, purposeful introduction.
Let them know what makes you different. Mention your skills and convince them why they might need you.
Don’t hesitate to dole out your observations regarding the business or the project. Consequently, follow up your observations with solutions and suggestions; that is, what you could do from your end to optimise their business.
Promote Yourself
How can your client hire you if they don’t know what you are capable of? The key? Promoting yourself.
Let them know why you are the perfect candidate. Elaborate on your strengths and how is it going to be beneficial for your client.
Do mention your qualifications along if the job requires any kind of academic expertise.
Work on your communication skills. You need to convince your client that you are indeed capable of the task.
If you are a freelancer, who is searching actively for a job online, you sure need to let the world know of your strengths and abilities.
Sell yourself
Put your marketing skills to effect, and build a wide network. Your client should be able to reach you before giving you the job and needless to say, network building helps.
Let the client go through your sample works, that are relevant to the job.
Include Your Work Samples
Employers are always eager to see if the words on your portfolio do indeed translate to some real work. A collection of carefully categorised and sorted work samples will do the job for you.
Among your work samples, including the projects that are similar to or related to the task at hand. This would assure your client that you carry some experience in the area and hence, are capable of doing the job.
Instead of keeping a diversified portfolio that showcases everything you ever worked on, be more specific or job oriented. This shows both expertise and professionalism. Resist the urge to include your every work on your portfolio.
Keep the language in mind
Note that when addressing your clients in your proposal, you want to be persuasive and positive. Let them know that they don’t have to worry at all and their project is under capable hands.
Be professional
Add a little value on the client’s front. Let them know you understand their company’s vision and his or her passion for the job. Adding value not only builds a healthy professional relationship but also, ensures that both the employee and the employer is satisfied with the result.
If possible, use their language.
Create a Brand of Your Own
Creating a brand of your own makes you stand out of the crowd. The point being, instead of heading for the built-in templates, you can draft your proposals. From deciding on a design layout to curating, writing and editing your proposals, crafting your content brings a sense of your own identity to your work and projects forward your image in the professional market.
You can also refer your client to visit your website or portfolio. Because it will help the understand to know more about you and your work. But this is optional.
Confused what you should include in your freelancing proposal? Here’s a complete breakdown of everything that should be there:
General info
Give a little introduction about yourself. This includes your name, your client’s name, contact info, and project brief. You can also tell write little bit about your education. For example any type of course that you have done and which will help you to complete the task.
About the work
Include your skills and why you should be considered for the candidature.
Acknowledge what your client is looking for and how are you going to deliver on their needs?
Give positive suggestions and solutions and let them know how you plan to optimize their business. Show the client that you understand their needs and are capable of delivering them.
Deadlines and Cost
Most freelancing projects come with their time restrictions and expenses.
Consider how much time would you need to deliver the project. And include it in your proposal with mutual agreement.
Will there be any overhead expenses? How much will be paid and on what basis? What would be the mode of payment? What will be the contract terms? These are some of the key points that ought to be discussed in the proposal as well.
While the above factors sum up the points of consideration for writing a great freelance portfolio, there are other factors as well that still need to be considered. For example, your client, the project undertaken as well as the pay scale offered. With these tips, however, we hope you craft an amazing proposal and win that dream project.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I write a good freelance proposal?
Keep your proposal short, professional, and friendly. Adding samples of your work at the beginning of your proposal. This might help in creating a good impression in the starting. Your proposal needs to be short so that your client do not lose interest also, you have to make sure you capture their attention with few witty lines. Clients are interested in knowing what is your reason or motivation of working with them. Simply they want to know how you fit the needs of their project. So, answer the question ‘why should I work with you’ very carefully and creatively. Not to mention add your relevant skills and experience.
What should be included in bid proposal?
A bid is a tools to persuade someone to choose your company over others. Most often people write it as if it is a information source, no wonder why it does not work. The bid should be written considering clients needs and expectations in order to let them know that you understand them clearly. Every client is different and so shall be your proposal, personalized. Also the proposal should include how are you adding value or if you understand them.
How many bids one gets on Freelancer?
Well, that depends on your membership type. Free Members get 6 bids per month. Intro Members get 15 bids per month. Monthly number of bids for basic, plus, professional and premium members is 50, 100, 300 and 1500 bids respectively.
India is one of the largest populated countries with over 1.3 billion people in the world with the biggest untapped domestic markets. Even this year, (2021), the Indian government has planned to spend $23.7 billion on building the transport infrastructure of which a huge part of the money would be invested in building airports. The aim is to comfort travelers by having easy access to airports as well as having efficient connectivity across the nation. This will also help increase the number of travelers to India and the travel and tourism of our country will continue to grow.
For Indian airlines this can be a boon to earn money, however, this is yet not the case. The airline companies in India do not have good earning sources due to many factors some of which are high operational costs, high fuel costs, taxes, etc. Due to such reasons, the airlines have started cutting costs in order to save money as well as earn profits. We’ve listed some strategies that the airline companies use to make profit below.
1. Overcharging for Overweight Luggage:
Overcharging for extra luggage is a good profit margin for Airlines
Airline companies want to save costs wherever possible. They earn through different ways as well and one of the most effective ones is to charge for overwight luggage. If any passenger crosses the weight of the luggage, the person will have to pay an extra amount.
2. Chargeable Food and Drinks:
Earlier many airline companies had tie-ups and partnerships with the restaurants here. The high-quality cuisine added more value to the passenger’s experience. After the Covid-19 pandemic hit hard, most companies have started taking extra caution money along with the normal food charges. Also, the companies who gave food and drinks complimentary have stopped these services so that the staff and passengers can be contactless.
3. Crammed Seating:
Often to save money the airline companies make the aircraft in a way where there is little or no space for a person to have comfort while traveling. In the same space, more people are accommodated.
Earlier, for long route flights and journeys, the passengers would get amenities like blankets and pillow to sleep, however, to save money, these companies have cut-down on these services and have now made them chargeable.
5. Optimized Allocation of Resources:
When the allocation of resources i.e. staff and equipment is deficient the airline companies need to pay a high amount of money. It is very important that the airline company uses optimization techniques for the robust allocation of resources.
6. Selecting Routes that have more Traffic:
Airlines take longer routes to take up more passengers
A lot of times when there is less number of passengers traveling to a particular destination, the flights tend to get canceled or the passenger’s tickets are upgraded. At such times the airline companies select routes where there is scope of picking up more passengers, so that the company gets little traffic.
7. Increasing Fares during Festivals, Holidays, and Weekends:
Even when the airline companies want to maintain steady airfare rates, they aren’t able to. During the times of festivals, government holidays, or long weekends, these companies start charging heavily to customers and sell tickets at a very premium price. This is one of the easy ways in which Indian airline companies save their money.
8. Giving Discounts on Last-Minute Empty Seats:
There are times when the airline company gives discounts to the passengers at the very last moment so that their vacant seats don’t go unoccupied and they save a little amount of the cost.
Many flights used to have in-flight entertainment for the passengers. Since even that carries a little weight per seat, the total weight was larger than expected and hence forced the company to have a larger amount of fuel. On the domestic flights, many companies have now adjusted to a more no entertainment journey.
10. Reducing Labor Costs:
In the airline industry, labor accounts for almost 30% – 35% of the total operating expenses. When these airline companies see that there are less or no profits, they cut down the labor costs by laying off the laborers or by reducing their pays, or not giving them any benefits. This is a consequence of being in a business where there is cutthroat competition. In such cases, the airline companies sometimes compete on the prices and not the quality.
Final Words
These are just some of the general ways Airlines make profit. Given the dire situation where they had to be shut for months at an end it is not unlikely that there will be hike in prices for tickets and penalties as well as have previously free services now chargeable. That being said, airplanes are still a very convenient and fast way to reach a destination so it will always remain unavoidable.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Which is the No 1 airline in India?
Going by the number of passengers that use IndiGo, it is undoubtedly India’s most loved low-cost carrier. They are also the largest one in the country.
Why airlines are not profitable in India?
Most Airlines in India struggle to turn a profit due to the high taxes, price ceilings, intense competition, and variable fuel prices.
Why do airlines take longer routes to reach shorter distances?
Airlines usually do this to pick up more passengers so that they do not waste any seat on the flight.
Digital media has grown exponentially during the course of this pandemic, and while it was thriving before it as well, lock-downs and home isolation have given them an immense boost. Podcasting is one such media that has garnered humongous popularity during this time, and has become a household term owing to its convenience. Although podcasts have been around since way before the pandemic itself, its prevalence has only strengthened recently.
What are Podcasts?
Podcasting is making an audio file available on the internet for download. The audio file can be downloaded in any format, mp3 being the most prevalent, and then played on any device such as a computer or a phone. Users can subscribe to a podcast using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) with a podcatching software, and every time new content is uploaded, it can be streamed or downloaded.
Podcasting is getting more popularity by the second, and is indeed going to be in demand in the near future. This is where platforms for hosting podcasts come in. For creating and uploading a podcast, and making sure your content has a good reach, you need a podcast hosting and audio editing platform. So below we compare the best platforms for podcasting and audio editing and publishing, to help you make your pick.
Anchor by Spotify is a platform that you can leverage to create, distribute, and monetize your podcasts without coding or spending a dime. Anchor comes with built-in tools for recording, editing, and publishing episodes as well as distribution to all listening applications. It also lets you host unlimited content and even use sponsorship and accept donations from your audience. Utilize the advanced analytics offered by Anchor to view insights into your episodes, and monitor your growth, all for free.
Features Offered by Anchor
Anchor allows you to host unlimited episodes for free with the rights to all your content.
It offers a one step distribution and automatically distributes your content to all the major listening channels, helping you reach a wider audience.
Anchor offers IAB certified metrics for insights into your reach and audience with a single interactive dashboard.
Along with a performance tool, Anchor tells you where your audience are tuning in and out, so you can focus on the content that sells better.
Anchor allows you to record straight from your device with intuitive editing tools and music integrations for the best podcasting experience.
Castup is a professional audio and video editing service for podcasters and podcasts. With a focus on proliferation of viewers and an expansive audience, Castup helps users with the editing and production part of the podcasts so users can focus more on the content and reach a wider audience. Castup always lets you have complete control over the creative aspect of your podcasts and episodes, and follows on the remainder aspects.
Features Offered by Castup
Castup offers avant garde editing tools to shape your episode in the best possible manner, while also attracting popular advertisers.
Castup also allows you to publish through videos and makes all the video editing a piece of cake owing to its robust tools.
With Castup, you don’t need to download or purchase other third party tools for professional editing purposes and cut costs.
Once you record a raw audio, Castup prepares a transcript for you within 24 hours.
All you need to do to remove unwanted parts of the podcast is to highlight them, and Castup takes care of them for you.
Pricing for Castup
Hobbyist
Poscaster
Vodcaster
This plan is suited for those who don’t publish regularly, and offers a ‘pay as you go’ pricing plan
This plan is suited for audio only podcasts and costs $120 per month
For podcasts published on both audio/video mediums and costs $360 per month
Edit credits available for $0.75 per minute
Edit credits worth 4 hours per month available for audio podcasts
Edit credits worth 4 hours per month available for audio and video podcasts
Edit credits for video podcasts available for $3 per minute
Additional Edit credits available for $0.40 per minute
Additional Edit credits available for $1.20 per minute
Simplecast
Simplecast Podcasting Platform
Simplecast is a podcasting management and analytics platform for independent podcast hosting and metrics. With a one click publishing to various popular channels including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, Simplecast is one of the most efficient platform for publishing audio based content. It also offers avant garde distribution, sharing, and analytics tools along with a powerful framework built for audio.
Features Offered by Simplecast
Simplecast offers a robust audio streaming infrastructure that has been functional for over 7 years with millions of episode releases per day.
The powerful analytics platform lets you know everything about your audience, from demographics to episode trends.
Simplecast also offers a Show Migrator that allows you to switch podcasting platforms without any heavy lifting.
Simplecast also furnishes its users with robust and intelligent web players, since that is where your audience will discover you.
Simplecast also allows for multiple shows and collaborators with permission levels and access grants.
Pricing for Simplecast
Basic Plan
Essential Plan
Growth Plan
Costs $15 per month
Costs $35 per month
Costs $85 per month
Offers 2 team member seats with unlimited storage and uploads
Offers 4 team member seats with additional web players
Offers 9 team member seats with detailed device analytics
Basic analytics along with customizeble show website
Location analytics with unique listener reports
Detailed location analytics with 5 episode metrics comparison
Also offers an embeddable episode web player
Web player and technology analytics
Network and technology analytics
Allows for 20K downloads per month
Allows for 50K downloads per month
Allows for 120K downloads per month
Descript
Descript Podcasting Platform
Descript is a collaborative audio and video editor that helps users with screen recording and transcription along with offering other services including overdub and podcasting. Descript furnishes users with robust AI tools for multitrack editing and filler word removing to publish accurate content. Moreover, it encourages team collaboration and can be used for sales, marketing as well as customer support.
Transistor is a podcast publishing platform where users can record and upload their audio, which can then be distributed to different channels and made available online such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify. With Transistor, users can start any number of podcasts without any extra charge and publish them over different channels. Moreover, you can even embed the podcast player in your own website and view insights on the number of downloads and other metrics on an intuitive dashboard.
Features Offered by Transistor
Transistor allows users for the hosting of unlimited podcasts in different formats for a fixed monthly cost.
Transistor also furnishes users with an Analytics page where you can view all the metrics of your episodes such as downloads and subscribers.
You also get to view what applications your audience prefer, where your audience live, as well as stats from other providers.
Audio clips can be seamlessly uploaded to Transistor, with a 1-click submit to different Podcast directories.
With Transistor, users even have the liberty to create a private podcast, and each of your subscriber can get an individual invitation as a mail.
Pricing for Transistor
Starter Plan
Professional Plan
Business Plan
Costs $19 per month
Costs $49 per month
Costs $99 per month
Advanced analytics along with 2 logins at a time
Advanced analytics along with 5 logins at a time
Advanced analytics along with 10 logins at a time
15K monthly downloads without private podcasting
75K monthly downloads with enhanced private podcasting
200K monthly downloads with enhanced private podcasting
Doesn’t allow private subscribers
Allows for up to 500 private subscribers
Allows for up to 1000 private subscribers
Conclusion
Podcasting is without a doubt on the rise, and podcasters definitely need a platform to edit and publish their content. While most of the above mentioned platforms perfectly serve the purpose of a podcasting platform, their plans make them unique in different ways. While Simplecast offers a robust analytics platform, Transistor has a more powerful editor, and while Castup is a more professional platform, Anchor and Descript can also be used by beginners. Hence, the choice of the platform entirely depends on the requirements and focus of the user, and any of the above mentioned platforms can be utilized.
If you are looking to manage your own savings, you will need a brokerage account, which offers a broad range of investments like stocks investment, mutual funds, etc.; then what sort of broker are you likely to pick? For many people, an online broker is better than a traditional broker. And do you know why? If you don’t know, then get it all right. Online brokers allow their clientele to handle their own financial stocks mainly over the internet or via mobile apps. Most online brokerage firms focus on giving low-cost financing options. If you are looking for extraordinary customer support or a distinctive sign-up deal, you will treasure a stockbroker ready to meet your transaction needs. And with the best online broker, you will treasure a wide variety of tools you can employ in managing your investments.
Benefits of online Brokerage Account
The following are some of the benefits of online brokerage accounts that make them the healthier choice for most individuals. The most imperative one is the price tag. Numerous online brokerages do not charge a commission fee on trades for bonds and exchange-traded funds (ETF). Other optional trading deals negligible charges. This is not the case with a traditional brokerage account. Secondly, an online brokerage account is more opportune for other breakage accounts. It gives customers’ aptitude to trades speedily on your PC or mobile instead of face to face talking. Online brokers can let you take advantage of information rapidly. Although traditional brokerages also give firsthand information, the charges on commission are still high. For better trading experience, online brokerages offer trading proficiency in a similar platform with online tools and research. Devising all you need for your investment in one spot makes it a lot easier to manage your portfolio. For you to use an online brokerage successfully, the following must be put into consideration:
For fruitful outcomes, never perform financial dealings when you don’t have internet access.
Online brokerage display places aren’t faultless. They were sometimes apt to short-term blackouts, particularly at high-volume times.
It’s advisable to check and recheck your data record before undertaking the definitive performance on your online trade needs.
Numerous online brokers have refined dealings for computer security like the two-factor validation that some find hard to pilot.
Online brokerage conveys the internet’s supremacy to your investment, and that’s a great gain in a business where time management is always key. The opportunities of online platforms for investing eradicates the necessity of communicating objectives to customer service. Numerous people find it a more resourceful technique for managing their investment.
What are currently the Best Online Brokers?
There was no heightened way of growing your investment in the past few years than capitalising in the stock market. However, with the off-beam broker, investing returns aren’t worthy. If you want an online broker who will make your investment fruitful, we have got you covered. Our financial connoisseurs have categorised and swotted the best online brokers for you. Are you ready to begin your investment journey? If so, then keep following the article.
The following are some of the best online brokers available for you.
They include:
Fidelity investment broker
Tastyworks broker
Charles Schwab broker
Interactive brokers
TD Ameritrade broker
Fidelity Investment Broker
Fidelity online brokers offer customers a comprehensive platform of investing gears and outstanding imperative executions. It has improved important parts of its mobile responsive website, and it’s still constraining itself to decrease the charge of investing for its customers. This online broker joined the gust to amend base commissions in late 2019. Still, it’s zealous to give fine investigation and instruction to its customers. This corporation is also devoted to making its customers earn profit by relocating unvested stock into a mutual fund. It also bonds the income produced from its stock lending program and consents customers to select the shares in their collections that can be loaned.
Interactive Brokers
Interactive online brokers are an ideal choice for advanced traders. This is due to its bounty tools for advanced stockholders and an inclusive pool of services and markets. It has the full capability to connect to numerous electronic exchanges. With interactive brokers, you can trade on equities, trade on options, etc. Its out-of-order execution appliance is always on the topmost to adjust all your orders to attain peak execution, price perfection, etc. There are more to enjoy with interactive brokers. Click here for more information.
Charles Schwab Broker
If you are looking to build a balanced investment portfolio, this is the online broker of choice. To define the best online broker for getting the most out of ETFs, excellent screeners, expert reports, etc., are employed. Whether you are considering investing or looking for a financial advisor, Schwab is the way to go. This firm has a multiplicity of platforms to cherry-pick from, plus full banking proficiency. The Schwab ETF screener is customisable, and your files can be preserved for future references.
Tastyworks Broker
Are you looking for the best online brokerage for your investment? Tastyworks are online brokers of choice for those with a low budget. Remember, no commission is charged, so regardless of your pocket’s size, this is the broker for you. In this firm, everything is premeditated to assist traders gauge explosiveness and the likelihood of profit. The execution process is faster, and it’s worth your trust.
Ameritrade Brokers
Ameritrade is one of the biggest online brokerage firms. It offers a platform for new investors, so if you haven’t invested before and are looking to get started, this is the broker. Being a platform for new investors offers a learning platform to help customers comprehend everything from rudimentary investing ideas to innovative strategies. With Ameritrade brokerage, you are free to open a brokerage account and survey before making a deposit. If you are looking to invest but don’t have a PC to manage your investment, Ameritrade offers a mobile device platform. Feel free and make your way into the investment world.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Sqrrl.
Today, in contrast to savings, the internet offers various unprecedented methods to spend money. One can easily see that spending have become increasingly easier and savings has become gradually difficult. To bridge this huge chasm between saving and spending patterns, Sanjeev and Samant decided to tap a new market – the millennials & GenZs , by launching Sqrrl.
Sqrrl is a wealth management platform founded by Samant Sikka (Chief Dreamer), Sanjeev Sharma and Dhananjay Singh. The Sqrrl team works to simplify personal finance for millions of young Indians. Sqrrl’s mission is to impact the lives of 3 million young Indians by helping them save, invest and prosper by 2021!
StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Samant Sikka (Founder & Chief Dreamer, Sqrrl) to know about the Sqrrl Success Story along with getting a glance on How Sqrrl started, Sqrrl Funding, Business model, growth, founders, products, future plans & more…
Sqrrl is a platform aimed at helping young Indians save their earnings while keeping things simple. With Sqrrl, it’s not about putting away large chunks of salary, but rather small sums with just a couple of clicks. Sqrrl is a wealth management platform. Sqrrl is an app-only platform with the MVP around savings and investment products powered by Mutual Funds.
Technology is being used for the greater good today, even in personal lives. It is an attempt to stay at the forefront of this new wave of technology by combining a great user experience with something substantial. The Sqrrl team works to simplify personal finance for millions of young Indians.
As of today (Feb 2021), Sqrrl provides 7 different products under their app —
Sqrrl operates in the personal finance space. The main target users are young Indians – both millennials and GenZs.
With an acute focus on the financial aspirations of the new age generation, Sqrrl is geared to capitalize on India’s 440 Mn millennials (390 Mn GenZ). The challenge here is that the younger generation finds financial products, boring, jargonized and not adding any value to their lives. The company wishes to change that by offering simple financial solutions that will bring a huge change in the financial wellness of its customers.
Sqrrl – Product/Service offered
The Sqrrl platform gauges the personalized investment needs of individuals and matches them with funds available in the industry. It is like a personal finance buddy that one can rely on to save and grow money. Sqrrl is an app-only platform with the MVP around savings and investment products powered by Mutual Funds.
As of today (Feb 2021), Sqrrl provides 7 different products — Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), Goal-based investment, Axe Tax, Sqrrl Away, Lump sum investment, Fixed Deposit and Personal Loans — under the app.
Samant Sikka (Chief Dreamer), Sanjeev Sharma and Dhananjay Singh are the co-founders of Sqrrl.
Samant Sikka (Founder & Chief Dreamer, Sqrrl)
Samant Sikka, the founder of the fintech has over 20 years of experience in financial services. He has major stints in Sales, Business Development, Strategy and Marketing with firms like Franklin Templeton, AIG Investments, Goldman Sachs & Axis Asset Management.
Samant Sikka, Chief Dreamer & Founder, Sqrrl
Sanjeev Sharma (Co-founder, Sqrrl)
Co-founder, Sanjeev Sharma, has over 16 years experience in financial services with background in business setup and expansion, financing and operational excellence with firms like Franklin Templeton Investments, AIG Investment & Pine Bridge Investments. Sanjeev and Samant have worked together in the past in Franklin Templeton and AIG and continued to be in touch.
Dhananjay Singh (Co-founder, Sqrrl)
The founders were very clear about the role of technology in solving the challenges for the customers and therefore, decided to bring in Dhananjay, who brought the Tech domain to the team which plays a critical role in our business. Co-founder, Dhananjay Singh is an IIT-Kharagpur graduate with an experience of over 20 years in data science and analytics, a professional with products and canned solutions background with firms like PWC, Tech Mahindra, United Healthcare and Axtria.
Sqrrl came into existence in early 2017 with the sole aim of simplifying personal finance for young Indians. The journey behind establishing Sqrrl is best described by Mr. Samant Sikka and Mr. Sanjeev Sharma who collectively have over 37 years of experience in the financial services.
Between 2006 to 2016, both Samant and Sanjeev observed an alarming trend with regards to savings in Indian households. India, which is generally described as a saving-oriented country, saw a huge dip in household savings in the last decade wrapping up in March 2016. Statistics show that household savings fell from 22% to 19% as compared to GDP’s ratio, which increased from Rs 0.23 lakh crore to Rs 1.36 lakh crore during the same 10 year period.
Today, in contrast to savings the internet offers various unprecedented methods to spend money. One can easily see that spending is becoming increasingly easier and savings is becoming gradually difficult. To bridge this huge chasm between saving and spending patterns, Sanjeev and Samant decided to tap a new market – the millennials & GenZs.
Before launching Sqrrl, they did a hands-on primary research by meeting with salaried millennials at coffee shops, eateries and even hosted ‘Pizza & Beer on us’ sessions. Sanjeev and Samant ended up meeting approximately 400 young Indians in the age group of 25-35. The intent was to understand their relationship with money and challenges, whatever they were. Through these sessions, they collected some very powerful feedback.
Sanjeev and Samant says – The biggest lesson that we learnt is that for millennials the value of money as a concept has completely morphed into money-as-a currency, a mere tool to spend on stuff that they like.
Along with that, the biggest revelation faced by the founders of Sqrrl was – that a significant portion of this generation is living from salary to salary with barely any savings. Even though they are starting to work earlier than the older generations and getting higher salary packages, they are still struggling to save for anything. Using this feedback, they built multiple financial products to promote both savings and investing.
The founders were very clear about the role of technology in solving the challenges for the customers and therefore, decided to bring in Dhananjay, who brought the Tech domain to the team .
As one would think, the name Sqrrl was inspired by the tiniest of animals, Squirrel.
Sqrrl Logo
The main reason behind it is that a squirrel, despite its small size, plans for the future carefully. It saves a small amount of nuts gradually to build a full stock for the winters. And it does so, by being prepared for even the most desperate times in advance. The sheer size of the whole affair – a small squirrel working hard to save small everyday to make a full pile for the winters is very motivating. The main idea to imbibe financial discipline into young minds through a new financial product – to promote both savings and investing which fortunately, was achieved very well by this.
That’s what the founders of Sqqrl wanted people to think of when they looked at the brand. They wanted to use a young, fresh and vibrant brand name which millennials will associate with. Saving a small amount of money over a long period of time can do wonders.
Sqrrl’s business model is a combination of B2B and B2C.
Sqrrl has an app that helps the customers directly in saving and investing in mutual funds and taking personal loans
Sqrrl also has multiple integrations with banks and NBFCs that helps in bringing a substantial amount of revenue.
The platform’s subscription called Sqrrl Prime is another source of monetization for the business.
Sqrrl – Startup Launch
For the first 100 users of Sqrrl , it was a soft launch. The initial users were mainly people from the founders’ network. Slowly, the team started communicating with its target users through educating them about the need for financial planning in today’s world.
With education comes awareness and we were banking on that awareness to drive our product further into the hearts and mind of people. Facebook and Google definitely helped us in increasing the traction during initial days and even now – Says Samant Sikka (Founder, Sqrrl)
The initial challenge faced by the Sqrrl team was to build a Minimum Viable Product(MVP). There is no debate that one will always have aspirations to build a fully loaded offering with scarce resources. Humans are very optimistic like but it was important to draw a line. Therefore, few of the important decisions that the team had to make were about saying NO. Say NO to many features that the various customers will need. Instead of that they focused on building a sharp cut around a user persona with a particular use case.
In Sqrrl case, the team decided to start with saving and investment products, powered by mutual funds, specifically converting the challenges that they had heard from the target audience into Sqrrl’s offerings. However, all the challenges get magnified in case of financial services as there are multiple regulations to adhere to in letter and spirit. The list of things that one cannot do is longer than the things that you one do.
Since the founders of Sqrrl came from the industry some of the industry partners were very encouraging and offered support in making the journey of Sqrrl less complex. The other important challenge was around theproduct, execution and team. The enough time was spent on studying the ecosystem to build a product that spoke to people in everyday life.
An important decision that the Sqrrl team took was not outsourcing the technology, which meant that they had to slowly but surely start to put together a handpicked team of competent and domain experts who had been able to deliver a great product in a short time frame. There are other challenges that need attention in early days which are Product, Team, Execution, Infra and Funding. Some of these factors can be a big drag on the founder’s bandwidth, the ROTI (Return on Time Invested) is not very high, especially in early days.
“We made some decisions that helped us keep ourselves away from distractions. For example, one of the most important agendas was to keep fixed costs low and flexible, therefore we decided to work out of a co-working space Sproutbox” Says Samant
Fundraise is another time sapping activity and a big distraction from the core of the business.
“We, in the founding team were coming with approx. 2 decades corporate experience. Each decided not to raise any monies till we have demonstrated our ability to execute and therefore bootstrapped the venture initially. These were the easier parts which meant that we kept ourselves away from distractions” Samant added.
During 2020, Sqrrl expanded its wings beyond the sphere of savings and investment. It launched many new products and features to solve various financial problems of the customers. These include income tax return e-filing, starting a Fixed Deposit (FD), offering loans, a subscription plan called ‘Sqrrl Prime’ and protection products like accidental insurance.
Sqrrl’s partnership for offering Goal based investments with ICICI bank’s MINE, a millennial banking platform has also gone live in October, 2020.
Sqrrl – Funding and Investors
After almost a year being bootstrapped, Sqrrl raised the the first round of funding from Equanimity Ventures in June 2018 for 1 Million USD.
Sqrrl is fortunate to be led by a team of fantastic mentors including Carl Richards, Advait Dikshit and Shripad Nadkarni.
Carl Richards
Richards is a certified financial planner and has been the creator of the Sketch Guy column, appearing weekly in The New York Times since 2010. He is also the author of the book called The Behavior Gap which has been a huge hit.
Advait Dikshit
Dixit has been a management consultant for the past 19 years and is an avid speaker.
Shripad Nadkarni
Shripad Nadkarni is a brand and marketing Guru and presently also the co-founder of Maverix, which is a Mumbai based startup in the food space.
Sqrrl – Competitors
Some of the Top Competitors of Sqrrl in the market are Groww, ET Money, Fisdom and Scripbox.
Sqrrl got selected at the Reliance GenNext Hub, a scalerator program run by Reliance Industries and Microsoft ventures amongst 23 startups picked from approx. 1200 applications.
Sqrrl also have been featured in #Hot100 Startups in India.
The Sqrrl app has been featured on multiple occasions by both the Google Playstore and Apple App Store for its design and features
Sqrrl – Future Plans
In the future, the Sqrrl app plans on offering international investing, and stocks to its customers. Currently, the company is focusing extensively on partnering with banks, NBFCs and other platforms to enhance its distribution and reach.
In addition to that, Sqrrl have tie-ups with banking correspondent platforms and many more of these interesting partnerships are already under integration and closure. With the fast and fantastic evolution of the company, it is constantly finding channels to raise resources by speaking actively with financial and strategic investors.
Sqrrl – FAQs
What is Sqrrl?
Sqrrl is a wealth management platform founded by Samant Sikka (Chief Dreamer),Sanjeev Sharma and Dhananjay Singh. The Sqrrl team works to simplify personal finance for millions of young Indians.
Who are Sqrrl Founders?
Samant Sikka (Chief Dreamer),Sanjeev Sharma, Dhananjay Singh are the founders of Sqrrl.
How much funding has Sqrrl raised?
The first round of funding for Sqrrl came from Equanimity Ventures in June, 2018 for 1 Million USD.
Who are the Top competitors of Sqrrl?
Some of the competitors of Sqrrl in the market are Groww, ET Money, Fisdom and Scripbox.
Disha
