Tourism has entered into a great crisis due to the worldwide panic of the Corona Virus pandemic. Till this moment of time its duration and scope still unknown which is creating a great destruction in the economy of the most of the countries. This has also lead to the stock market crash continued for a week to all the giants of the sector in different countries. One of the point which comes in the mind of most of the people is the impact of the COVID-19 Corona Virus on world tourism. This is one of the unanswerable question for us, and the authorities’ forecasts are based on previous experiences with similar crises such as that of H1N1 and SARS and many other dreadful diseases. Let us discuss the impact of COVID-19 corona virus on the tourism industry of different countries.
Effect on Tourism Industry of different countries.
Effect on Tourism Industry of different countries.
Let us first check the contribution of tourism industry in the GDP of the top countries.
United States ($488 billion)
India ($230 billion)
China ($224 billion)
Germany ($130.8 billion)
United Kingdom ($103.7 billion)
France ($89.2 billion)
Italy ($76.3 billion)
Spain ($68.8 billion)
Brazil ($56.3 billion)
Most of the countries in this list are the one having the beat medical facilities in the world. They are having a huge GDP and this is all possible due to the big contribution of tourism industry in their country. There is a drastic effects on Tourism Industry due to COVID-19. We can calculate from this stats that many of the people will be going to refuse or going to reschedule their plan of vacations due to this pandemic in these countries, which are adversely affected.
China was the first country to suffer from this dreadful pandemic and so China’s tourism industry will be most affected due to the virus. The Chinese tourism industry represents 11% of their GDP and even growing in the last few years, will be going to get worst affected even after many years of this pandemic.
In 2020, Italy is expected to see a decrease of roughly 28.5 million tourist arrivals due to the impact of (COVID-19) coronavirus pandemic on the country’s tourist sector the GDP of the whole country. Same situation will also be there in Spain for few, till this situation gets controlled by us. According to the estimate, some of the parts of Italy like the region of Veneto can record the highest drop with a decrease of roughly 4.61 million arrivals due to this pandemic. Similarly, Lombardy is expected to register a decrease of about 3.87 million arrivals in 2020 which can change the future of the whole country.
Effect on Tourism Industry and other businesses connected with it
Effect on Tourism Industry and other businesses connected with it.
There are many other businesses which are drastically effected by Tourism Industry due to COVID-19.The tourism industry is connected with many other businesses like Hotels, airlines, and cruise operators which are also going to suffer. The pandemic has outbreak during the Lunar New Year which is one of the busiest travel seasons in Asia- the largest continent and thus a bigger source of investment in tourism industry.
As a result of (COVID-19) coronavirus pandemic, it I predicted by most of the market leaders that the global travel and tourism market is going to see a loss of 75.2 million jobs worldwide in 2020 due to almost no business in this sector. The region that is supposed to see the biggest loss from COVID-19 is the Asia Pacific region which can see a lose of approximately 48.7 million jobs, while European countries is forecast to be the second hardest hit with a forecasted employment drop of 10.1 million due to this pandemic.
What is college life? Some students associate it with lectures, classes, seminars, and workshops. Others recall part-time jobs, all-nighters, and wild parties at the mention of college. But, in fact, there is much more to college than meets the eye. It is the period in life where young people explore their intellectual, mental, and creative potential, learn lots of new things, understand what they are really passionate about, focus on a career, and start translating their ideas into reality. Students are extremely enthusiastic, full of energy, and bursting with innovative ideas. No wonder, lots of them decide to break into the startup world while still in college. Some students even venture to skips their classes, sacrifice their sleep, and look for qualified writers, which are not new to writing essays for money, to devote more time to developing their entrepreneurial ventures. If you’re also eager to invest your time and, probably, spare money into a startup, but don’t know where to start, check out the top 3 startup ideas below.
1. Resume Writing Service or Portfolio Website
As the labor market gets more and more competitive, it’s critical for a job applicant to have a killer resume or a professional portfolio to crack an interview. As a student you’re well-versed in technical, creative, and business writing. So why not monetize your skills?
Starting a business in the 21st century always involves creating a website. You can advertise your services and showcase the samples of resumes and portfolios created for clients. This will help you build your brand awareness and reach out to the audience that can be specifically interested in your services.
As you might have guessed, they are not only job applicants that might be interested in your services. Artists, web designers and startup companies also seek help when in need of a professional portfolio. So, of you or your business partners are adept at programming, coding, or/and web development, your venture’s chances of success will increase manifold.
2. Babysitting Network
It’s not only a good man but also a good babysitter that is hard to find. The overall duration of maternity and paternity leave is conducive to the widening of the babysitting market. So, why not take advantage of that? If you have experience in babysitting, possess communication skills, and have a way with kids, you can try your hand at a similar business.
First things first, conduct a quick research on the market to figure out whether there is demand for babysitting services in your area. Once you have ascertained that there is the niche for you to occupy, you may proceed to kick start you venture. To boost your chances of success, consider signing up for Child and Babysitting courses conducted by YMCA. It’s also a good idea to obtain the Basic First Aid and CPR/AED certification.
Don’t forget about marketing your business. As with any business, create a dedicated website where you can describe the services provided by your company and outline the benefits of using it. To build your reputation, ask our satisfied clients to spread the word about your babysitting services and share their feedback on your website.
3. Social Media Consulting Firm
Social media is quickly becoming a vital part of online marketing activities for all types of small businesses. So, you can hardy find a single business in the world that doesn’t rely on social media for advertising and promoting their products or services. The problem is services and techniques change frequently, and many business owners simply don’t have enough time or experience to keep up with it all. That is where social media consulting firms come in.
Though social media consulting business can be a lucrative business, it can take much time to gain the experience and knowledge needed to build a successful firm. In this evolving field, you’ll have to be aware of the new technologies being created on a daily basis. A strong background in marketing and computers is also a great advantage. So, you may want to take some courses relevant to your needs.
Once you make sure you possess the necessary skills and knowledge, locate a small business in your area you’re willing to help to grow. You may offer your services at a discounted price or for free. By doing so, you’ll manage to gain both the first satisfied client and valuable experience.
Once you expand your client base, you can launch a freelance career. There are a lot of websites like Craigslist, Upwork, or Fiverr that aid freelance companies in getting gigs. So, make sure to avail yourself of their services if you’d like to go online and get more clients.
Hope the startup ideas listed above will help you launch a successful startup in college that will flourish and bring in solid revenues.
Due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19, UPI has recorded transactions of less than one billion for the month of April after 12 months of constant growth. This is the first time in the past seven months that UPI volume went below the one billion mark. According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI has registered 0.99 billion transactions amounting to Rs 1,51,140 crore(Rs 1.51 trillion).
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an RBI regulated entity. UPI can be used through various apps like Google Pay and PhonePe to make direct payments from one bank account to another.
The lockdown imposed by government due to COVID-19 has caused everything to shut down or just semi-operational. The coronavirus outbreak has devasted many sectors of human life, let it be financial sector, industrial sector, etc. resulting into economic crisis. Yet, India’s success with unified payments interface (UPI) has continued to bring essential services to consumers amid the lockdown as well.
Though the government was able to transfer the relief money through UPI in the bank accounts of crores of Indians, UPI witnessed 20.8% drop in volume and a 26.7% fall in value as compared to the previous month. As corona effect, UPI had registered a little drop in payments volume in March resulting from 1.25 billion transactions worth Rs 2,06,462 crore or Rs 2.06 trillion.
Moreover, along with UPI, NPCI’s real-time payments service IMPS has also registered a sharp fall in volume as well as the value of transactions. In April, IMPS processed 122.47 million payments worth Rs 1,21,140.79 crore which is almost half of the previous month. In the previous month i.e. March, the figure was 216.82 million transactions worth Rs 2,01,961.70 crore.
The decline is shocking as in February 2020, the RBI governor, Shaktikanta Das, had highlighted that digital payments accounted for almost 97% of the daily payment system transactions in terms of volume. He also mentioned that digital payments had accelerated by 50% in terms of volume in the last five years.
However, UPI body NPCI’s CEO Dilip Asbe said, “ For the last five years, the number of transactions of UPI has been growing continuously month-on-month. But now there has been a slight drop in the volume due to the lockdown. The drop in volumes is due to near-zero restricted spends such as on e-commerce, travel, and similar online platforms. We expect volumes to pick up soon.”
Reasons behind the Drop in Transactions
It was anticipated that a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic would affect the digital payment volumes. However, financial experts were assured that digital payments will not get affected adversely but rather continue to grow as people would rely on digital transactions to avoid physical contact.
During the initial days of the lockdown, e-commerce, foodtech, grocery as well as other online platforms were unable to operate. This led to gradual fall in transactions but later the government had allowed essential services to continue. Moreover, payments to PM-CARES via UPI have been the driving force behind UPI’s growth which is still 20.8% drop and these numbers are only in a few million.
Yet, transactions did not comeback to the normal as government only allowed transactions on essentials. Hence, a majority of e-commerce services are still waiting for government orders. Soon, the government is likely to relax the norms for e-commerce platforms and allow them to deliver non-essential goods as well.
According to payment gateway Razorpay’s digital transaction report, for the month of April the transactions in the logistics have dropped by 96%, the travel sector has declined by 87%, food, and beverage by 68% and groceries by 54%. In the last 30 days, transactions in cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chennai took a hit of 43%, 32% and 25% respectively. The report recorded transactions between, when the lockdown was announced.
Razorpay’s report also stated that UPI emerged as the most popular digital payment method from March 24 to April 23, with 43% of the total transactions during the period. It was followed by card payments with 39% and net banking with 10%. However, compared to previous month, transactions through UPI declined by 37%, cards by 30% and net banking by 28%.
Government has asked people to prefer Contactless Payment
Travel Restrictions affected the Digital Payments
The fall in UPI and digital payments is not only because of global and national lockdowns and restrictions on non-essential segments but due to restrictions on tour, travel as well. During the lockdown, people are not allowed to travel by train or aeroplane. This resulted into massive fall in transactions as people cannot book tickets of train or plane.
The report revealed that the metro cities were affected the most and the impact was still limited in other cities and towns. This difference in impact is more significant in metro cities because the number of people travelling by air, especially for work, is also higher in the metros. The report added that leading firms are also processing fewer online and offline digital transactions with air travel, hospitality, and retail being the three most-impacted sectors.
As of now, NPCI seems prepared to handle the lockdown. CEO Dilip Asbe said that NPCI can multiple sessions and has a spare capacity to handle the demand. In order to ensure that everything keeps running smoothly, around 5% of the NPCI’s workforce is still going to office.
NPCI has already devised a plan for the situation with due consideration of all the factors. Asbe said that NPCI has received complaints from some businesses about delays in cheque clearing. He added that there could be issues on the last mile. While we are in touch with banks, there might be some issues with uploading because of the lockdown.
These issues are might be hard to resolve now as most of the workforce isn’t available now. However, Asbe said that the main objective here is to keep employees safe. If they are safe, the operations can be managed. There are things we cannot disclose, but there is enough backup in case something goes wrong.
Government is also using UPI technology for facilitating the transfer of money in the bank accounts of beneficiaries within a day under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). He noted that besides this transfer of relief funds, the government has been using UPI for transferring monetary perks in various schemes such as Ujwala and MNREGA.
After the success of the implementation of UPI in these schemes, many state governments are now relying on UPI technology to transfer funds under various schemes. Madhya Pradesh government which recently transferred some relief money in the accounts of lakhs of construction workers. PM Narendra Modi has urged people to go for digital payment to ensure safety from the infection.
Meanwhile, several big names in the Indian startup ecosystem have come forward to appeal. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog and Rajan Anandan, managing director of Sequoia Capital India, have been encouraging people to make online payments. Both Kant and Anandan through social media have emphasised that digital payments are the safest way to make payments to ensure minimum exposure to coronavirus.
Vizag is an industrial centre and the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh. Vizag is formally known as Visakhapatnam. Being the industrial centre, it’s not alien to technological advancements and the impact of startups. People of Andhra Pradesh are now adopting new technology like never before and the startup ecosystem in Vizag is gaining traction as well. The team at StartupTalky has compiled a list of the hottest startups in Visakhapatnam that are taking innovation to the next level.
One of the biggest startups of Vizag, AcroMarc provides excellent offline shopping experience. Shoppers can buy any product from any store in an Indian city seamlessly (with a delightful checkout experience) using AcroMarc.
The AcroMarc app is the intersection of private sharing and online shopping, focusing on one-to-one and small group conversations. It analyses massive amounts of data and scales down complexity into a simple, personal style rating and size just for the user based on his or her body, fit, style preferences, and performance needs. With the help of a virtual styling room, users can get the best suggestions about budget-friendly products that make them look stylish and sophisticated.
Wellness Hub
Founder: Akash Sinha
Wellness Hub Logo | Visakhapatnam Startups
Akash Sinha is the director of Wellness Hub, which he founded in 2012. Wellness Hub focuses on helping people achieve optimal wellness through proper diet, exercise, sleep routines, stress management, and much more. It bridges the gap between therapists and clients.
The Visakhapatnam startup wishes to make the process of being counseled as seamless as possible for its clients. Be it an in-person session at its hubs, a video session, a chat therapy using its mobile app, or a phone session on the official website, Wellness Hub wants to make fitness accessible to all.
My Vedhika
Founder: Sarat Adireddi
My Vedhika Logo | Event Organizers in Vizag
My Vedhika is an application, a mosaic one-stop solution to host wonderful events you may have only dreamt of. It’s a quick search engine for everything related to event organization and management like function halls, catering, decoration, event organizers, sound and lighting, etc.
Shopping carts with the best deals and offers allow users to book their requirements for events based on the various budget ranges in different categories. Customers can easily find out dine-out restaurants, places for drinks and nightlife, luxury dining, buffet places, international restaurants, etc. in Vizag.
Adnest
Founder: Renuka Rathode
Adnest Logo | Vizag Startups
Adnest is an online platform that allows offline stores to promote themselves online. It is done through a massive customer network Adnest has built overtime. Adnest also offers discounts to customers who like to touch and feel the product before purchasing it.
Kalpah Innovations
Founder: Udaya Yayati
Kalpah Innovations Private | Vizag Startups
Kalpah Innovations Private Limited is a private entity incorporated on 31 March 2015. It is officially registered as a non-government company and is registered at Registrar of Companies, Hyderabad. Its authorized share capital is Rs. 100,000 and its paid-up capital is Rs. 100,000. Directors of Kalpah Innovations Private Limited are Malla Udaya Bhaskar and Boddeti Madhuri Satya. Kalpah is involved in software publishing, consultancy, and supply.
NextTrade
Founder: Gopi Bulusu
NextTrade Logo | Vizag Startups
Gopi Bulusu, the founder of NextTrade, is offering mutual fund managers, HNIs, and traders insights into the global stock market trends; NextTrade allows customers to pick up a time for the purchase and sale of the product. NextTrade’s vision is to increase its presence in the state then spread nation-wide. This Vizag-based startup offers services via mobile and e-mail based on subscription and application.
Struck
Founders: Dushyant Rathi and Veddant Rathi
Struck Logo | Startups in Vizag
Struck is a online and offline resource to find the best in-town deals, sales, and offers. Customers can place their orders online through Struck. The company can place your order on an e-commerce portal and process the order on your behalf. Struck works with smart city vendors, sellers, artists, designers, and many others. The online venture celebrated the change and expansion Visakhapatnam has gone through in the last decade and aims to promote initiatives in the city through its online platform.
This action by Struck will raise awareness among both online and offline shoppers about Vizag’s reputation as a ‘shopping heaven’ while effectively promoting the city’s shopping infrastructure.
Absolin
Founder: Gopi Saragadam
Absolin Logo | Startup Software Company in Vizag
Absolin was founded in 2014 and now has more than 50 employees. It is a software services provider in Visakhapatnam with the skills and expertise to facilitate complex business solutions.
This startup from Vizag offers services in software development, web development, content management solutions, and creative design.
Brilliance Tech Sols (P) Ltd.
Founder: Pradeep Narava
Brilliance Tech Logo | Technology Startup in Vizag
Brilliance Tech Sols. (P) Ltd. was founded in 2012. It guides people through the latest technology and tools required for business growth.
Brilliance Tech has a team — consisting of marketing experts and technical champs — that provides consultation to clients.
Mojoreads
Founder: Kiran Pasavedala
Mojoreads Logo | E commerce Platform in Vizag
Headquartered in Berlin, Mojoreads is building an influential product of the web era. It is creating the largest digital books library. Mojoreads is also crafting a neoteric social e-commerce platform that will enable users to monetize their content expertise. With Mojoreads, anyone can be a publisher, writer, curator, or reader.
Lucidchain
Founder: Prasanth Kumar Owk
Lucidchain Logo | Vizag Startups
Prasanth Kumar Owk is the CEO and founder of Lucidchain. Lucidchain’s DigiC platform helps with smart contracts in private blockchain scenarios. It is fully homomorphic and compatible with platform agnostic integration points.
Imaginnovate
Founder: Krishna Vattipalli
Imaginnovate Logo | Digital Agency in Vizag
Imaginnovate is a digital agency specializing in the development of mobile applications for iOS, Android, HTML5, and ROR technologies. It was founded in 2013. Imaginnovate is built on the core principle of delivering quality products with pixel-perfect precision. Imaginnovate delivers exceptional- quality work at low costs.
GOEFCO
Founder: Uday Bhaskar Pydi
GOEFCO Logo | Construction Companies in Vizag
GOEFCO is an e-commerce platform that provides a massive catalog for construction materials. It offers users the best possible choices for hassle-free constructions. It aims to become the “A-Z platform” for construction. GOEFCO claims to be India’s first hyperlocal market in the construction segment.
Saif Automation
Founder: Aliasgar Calcuttawala
Saif Automation Logo | Startup Company in Vizag
Saif Automation was started in 2018 by Aliasgar Calcuttawala with support from his father Ahmed S Abdeally and his brother Taher Ahmed. Saif Automation helps reduce drowning incidents with the help of water drones named ‘Saif Seas’. These drones can be deployed in emergency situations at sea or in other water bodies. Once thrown into the water, crew members can control the drone such that it can navigate and pick up a drowning person and bring them to safety.
Advoge
Founder: Vajahaarth Hussain
Advoge Logo
Advoge is the first choice solution of content brewers for monetization. Advoge acts as a facilitator and aggregator for merchants, affiliates, and ad promoters — creating a massive revenue stream for the content brewers and itself.
The company aims to expand beyond Vizag and become known country-wide.
Symbiosys Technologies
Founder: Shri Naresh Kumar
Symbiosys Technologies | IT Startup Company in Vizag
Symbiosys Technologies is one of the top IT companies in Visakhapatnam that provides services to a spectrum of clients in a variety of industries, including financial services, retail and distribution, manufacturing, healthcare, public sector, telcos, utilities, and transportation. Symbiosys offers project delivery capabilities to its clients through options such as onsite development at the client’s facility, or offsite at one of its offshore development facilities in India.
Conclusion
Vizag is rapidly advancing towards the tag of an “Indian entrepreneurial hub”. If you know about any other startup or entrepreneur in Vizag, let us know in the comments. We would love to feature them in this list.
Delivering a package is an exciting task as it allows people to travel to various places around their cities and see the joy on people’s faces when they receive their orders. Interesting experiences are gained along the road while travelling for delivery. How to Reduce Hassle of Intra-city Delivery? Delivery denotes the carrying of goods from one place to another, either in the city or outside. There are various ways in which delivery can be done; it can be delivered by the hand or by vehicles like vans, cars, carts, motorcycles and much more. For big companies that require a huge amount of goods to be delivered big delivery trucks are used.
For small businesses, it is difficult to deliver their goods from one city to another because most of them are new businesses with very little coverage area. However, once the business start to grow it requires a wider coverage area, hence, extending its horizons needs more means for delivery. There are businesses that take the risk to send it via courier and put extra fees on the goods for shipping fee, but that does not Reduce Hassle of Intra-city Delivery.
For bigger wholesale orders, sending them via courier costs a lot of money. A solution to this problem could be to own delivery vehicles. Nevertheless, owning a vehicle will add to the maintenance budget. Therefore, a better idea would be to outsource a logistics company. Below are some steps to Reduce Hassle of Intra-city Delivery.
However, before doing that some points need to be considered to Reduce Hassle of Intra-city Delivery,
Planning The Kind Of Vehicle Needed
One cannot just choose any vehicle available and start to use it, proper planning according to the needs and demands of the company is required. The vehicle which is really required for the task should be the one chosen and bought.
Check Out The Goods To Be Delivered
Knowing the goods that are to be delivered will help in choosing the best vehicle for it. Estimate a number of goods to be transported and select a vehicle according to that.
Consider The Orders Placed By Clients
The order list will always give an idea on how much goods are going to be delivered. The quantity of these goods will decide the type of transportation required and how cost-cutting can be done.
Inquire For An Outsourcing Logistics Company
There are many logistics companies that take up outsourced work. Hence, all that is required is to find the right one. Look for the one that can best suit the business and do thorough research about the company before starting negotiations.
Have a meeting with the members of the logistics company to get an expert advice on how to go about the delivery. The logistics company will have better insights on transportation pros and cons as they deal with it on a regular basis.
Keep Records Of Everything
Although you may trust the logistics company yet it is important to keep a track of the whereabouts of the order. Once the order is near the client, call them to notify that the delivery is on its way. This way the client also stays updated and Reduce Hassle of Intra-city Delivery.
Do Not Delay Deliveries
The goal of the company is to meet the needs of their clients and gain their trust and support. Getting their orders delivered on time will ensure that the customers are satisfied. Having a business grow is fulfilling to the heart. But, when it is not managed well, stress and tension take the forefront in life. Having lesser profits is better than having negative feedbacks from clients. Gaining a client’s trust is the key to success. Therefore, satisfy the customers as much as possible and provide them with good service experience and Reduce Hassle of Intra-city Delivery.
The COVID-19 has not given us anything where as a long span of free time. This time can be either utilize this time or can waste this precious time. It is the well-known fact that- It takes only 21 days to change your habit i.e. you can add any good habit in your habit collections or you can delete any of your bad habit. The choice is yours, in which you want to work. Let us see about the positive sides and discuss some of the productive ways, how to stay productive amid pandemic.
There are some of the ways- how to stay productive amid pandemic which are followed by most of the people including the market leaders and many other who wants to be in such position. They are:-
1) Learn a new skill
Stay Productive with learning a new skill
Whenever, you are bored by the work you are doing, you always think to learn a new skill in which you are interested. It can be anything i.e. coding, dancing, singing, photography or anything else.Now it is your time where you are having a good amount of time to learn a new skill. So, you can invest this lockdown period in improving these skills so that you are better equipped to make progress with your project once the world is back to normal and can be act as a value addition in your personality. There are many online course platforms like Coursera, edX, Udacity, Udemy, etc. which are giving you offers on your favourite courses that you can choose from. Some of these courses are affiliated to universities so, you will be getting the Certificate which can be include in your CV. Check today about the discounts on some of your favourite online course platforms during the pandemic which can help you in getting a new skill.
The COVID-19 has only one solution i.e. social distancing from other people. This is the time where people are spending their most of their time on social media taking care about social distancing. Take advantage of this opportunity to build a great networks and connections. Try to make your social media presence stronger by participating in different talk with the people, you want to make connections.
If you are thinking about- what to talk to a person sitting far from your home then, I can give you an instance which will get fit in all situation. This instance can be about COVID-19 as, everybody is now talking about COVID-19 and sharing the challenges they’re facing, so it’s really quite easy to join the conversations right now and make yourself known. Since everybody’s working from home and likely missing having people around, they would be more open to engaging in conversations and will make you and the person talking with you, more comfortable.
3) Keep yourself updated
Stay Productive by keeping yourself updated
While working, if you are not able to catch up all the updates about anything you want then, now is the time to look up on those updates which you have missed. You can bookmark or manage all the items, you want to serious complete it. This is also a new and alternative way to give yourself a break from reading COVID-19 news. Now this can be the best time to keep track of the goings-on in the world by staying up to date with industry news and trends and which can help you in taking your future decision at any point of time.
4) Planning
Stay Productive by planning for your future
Plan yourfuture steps of your career or your any part of life. This the ultimate time where you can take time to decide every step of your life and work according it to get a great success in your future life. You can also about all the mistakes you have done in your life and how you can overcome them if they comes in front of you in the upcoming future.
This planning can also consist of the financial planning which can be very beneficial in your future. You can plan about the investment options and many other options where you can grow or multiply your savings of your life. The ultimate goal behind this planning is just to grow in your life and donot have such situations in your life, whose solution is not there in your mind.
Conclusion
The ultimate goal behind this section of blog is to guide you to properly utilise your present moment of time as, such free time will not come in the future for such a long span of time. Once you able to make a good you of this time then there can be no looking back i.e. you will be able to get a good output in your upcoming life due this time where you have worked on yourself and not on such thing which you don’t like or don’t want to do.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.
All of us at different times have gone through the struggle of finding the right courses online. Either we get mixed results or the paid advertisements take over the real organic results and we end up in a mess. To create an effective solution to this problem, Mr. Keyul Shah launched Coursesity in 2017.
Coursesity is a search engine to discover the best online courses and tutorials available on the internet. Coursesity aggregates online courses from different education providers and E – learning platforms and categorizes them. Coursesity makes it easy for learners to find and compare different courses for their next learning.
Coursesity as a platform makes it easy for the students to correctly locate the courses they want to study. This is how it works. Coursesity lists all the courses available on different online learning platforms and MOOCs in one place and categorizes them based on topic, price, ratings, and reviews. For users, it is a one-stop solution where they can search and compare the courses on the various subjects they want to learn. This saves a lot of time for users. Users don’t need to waste time visiting each eLearning or MOOCs sites and then look for the course.
Coursesity Website Image
Initially, it started as a search engine for only programming courses, but over time they made a little pivot and expanded to different categories including design courses, marketing courses, business courses and so on.
Coursesity – USPs and Innovation
Coursesity empowers students and learners to achieve their career goals by learning new skills.
Some USPs of Catalyst Group are:
It lets the users discover free and the best online courses across 200 different subjects including programming, design, marketing, business, personal development and so on.
It records & tracks the progress of the courses they are taking online.
It connects the users with other learners at the same level to get help in learning.
E-learning is estimated to be a $325 billion market by 2025. So ideally the opportunity for a successful edtech startup is huge. Globally, $107 billion is spent on online education. In addition to this, the market size of coding boot camp is estimated to be $260 million. In India, with major players like Unacademy, Byju’s, Gradeup, Toppr, and Vedantu, the online education market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of over 20% during the forecast period.
In recent years, the online education industry has already seen some large acquisitions like LinkedIn acquired Lynda for $1.5 billion, and General Assembly, the largest coding Bootcamp, was acquired for $412 million.
Coursesity – Founder and team
Coursesity is founded by Mr. Keyul Shah.
Keyul is a serial maker and software engineer. Before launching Coursesity, he has launched many products including Bot Stash, Entry Level Jobs, an android app, messenger chatbot and so on. He has graduated with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Arizona State University, USA.
How was Coursesity Started
Three years back, Keyul was preparing for the software engineer interview. That time, he looked for online courses that could help him to revise the technical concepts and technologies.
In this process, I realized that I had to spend more time looking for right courses on various e Learning platforms instead of spending time on actual learning – says Keyul.
This experience resulted in him collecting all free programming courses from different e-learning sites and categorizing them based on the programming languages, frameworks, and tools. After collecting, he uploaded the list on GitHub and shared it on Reddit. It became an instant hit on Reddit. Different blogs & sites copied the list and posted it on their sites. Around 17,000 courses were visited in just four days from that list. And this validated the potential of the idea.
Coursesity Featured Courses
Post validating, he started brainstorming the features that need to be on the first MVP. The site aimed to keep it simple and easy for users to find programming courses. It took six weeks to build the first working version of the site.
The name “Coursesity” reflects the vision of the company. It’s simple! Course + University = Coursesity – A university of online learning.
Coursesity Logo
Coursesity – Startup Launch
After creating the first MVP of the site, the next step was to launch the first version to the public. Keyul posted the site on Product Hunt. It became the “number 1” product of the day on ProductHunt. In three days, 10,000 people visited the site just through Product Hunt.
The Product Hunt launch helped the Coursesity team to get the word out. When the word got out, a few technology press & blogs also wrote about the Coursesity launch. To diversify the audience base, they started a campaign that focused on a niche market. Reddit and Facebook groups are the best places to reach out to the niche audience. They have also started a publication on Medium for programmers.
Coursesity – Business Model and Revenue Model
Coursesity is currently working on two business models. These are the advertisement model and revenue sharing model.
Coursesity – Startup Challenges
As an entrepreneur, one always wants to ship the product with all the features but it takes so much time to build everything and there’s no definite way to know which features will the consumer use. So the idea of Coursesity was to focus on the features that solve the actual pain points of the audience. Build those essential features first and launch the product.
Never wait for your product to be perfect. Always measure the usage of the various features and keep iterating the product over the period. Set one metric and focus on how to grow it. This is an important trick that we learned when we were part of 10 weeks YCombinator backed Startup School – says the founder of Coursesity.
Coursesity – Competitors
Coursesity is a search engine to look for courses on all subjects and categories. While other platforms like Educart, Simplilearn, Dexler Education, etc are just focused on one or two categories, Coursesity is well diversified into all the categories. Coursesity also empowers learners to do more things in their online learning.
Coursesity – Funding and Investors
Coursesity is bootstrapped from day one. But it’s looking forward to raising funds from the right investors to expand the platform.
Coursesity – Advisors and Mentors
Coursesity team is learning from Combinator’s startup school and the Launch podcast.
Coursesity has more than 5,000 courses listed across 200 different subjects. And approximately 30,000 courses are viewed by users every month on the site.
You have just completed an e-book. But you don’t know how to market it. Also, you don’t have that much money to advertise it online. So, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your e-book and just pray for some miracle. You can still earn a lot. All you have to do is to ask people to share your content. You may think no one does that. But what if they can pay you with their post? Yes, in this post, we are going to discuss what is “pay with a post” strategy.
By providing people with an option to earn a discount just by sharing your content on their social media, you can reach a lot of people. Everyone loves discounts. You can provide options like “share this on your Twitter and get a 20% discount” on your e-book. If every 1 person from 5, shares your content, you are still going to get pretty good traffic on your website. The most popular website for this purpose is PayWithATweet.com. This is the complete idea behind the ” PAY FOR THE POST TO PROMOTE ” Strategy.
Advantages of Pay with a post
1. GoViral
This tool or I should say, this strategy helps you to go viral for your product. People will share your content and bring you more leads.
2. Customizing
In most of the services, you can customize the message according to your website. It will make you look more professional for your product.
3. Monitor
You can monitor all your users. You will know if they are sharing your post, how much traffic they are bringing, etc. This data will help you to make better strategies.
4. MoreSales
People are more likely to buy the product if they have already shared it. So, once you made someone post about your product, they will more likely to buy it. The chances of backing out will decrease. In this case many sales softwares are there in the market, which can help you and your company to handle this section.
5. MultiplePlatforms:
People can share your content on the various platform they like. However, you should only consider face book, twitter, and other famous social media platforms.
1. People: Not many people like to show what they are doing in their personal lives. So, many people will back out when they see “share about us on your face-book to download this e-book”, they are just gonna close that tab.
2. HugeApproach: If your visitor doesn’t have a very huge following on Twitter, you are not going to be viral quickly. Research says that the content reaches only 10% of people through social media.
3. SocialMedia: Not everyone is on social media. Some people still prefer not to use social media. So, you might lose those customers. So, social media will not be able to fulfill your requirements but, you can once on some of the most popular social media platforms.
Pricing
For the most famous website in this field, the pricing starts from free for the basic version. The basic version contains one free campaign and other main features only. While the paid version includes unlimited campaigns, email support, customization, etc. You can get these services for $49.99/month.
As we already said, the best one in this field is pay with a tweet.com, but if are not impressed by their pricing or service, then you can go for:
● Girafi. co– It is a software that provides engaging interactions between companies and customers. It has a review of 5 stars . The pricing is $ 59 /month/user. It comes with a free version and a free trial.
● Social Seeder – It is an all-in-one ambassador marketing solution that gives the ambassador a simple way to amplify the brand ‘s reach by sharing the brand stories across social media. It has 4.75/ 5 stars. It comes with a free trial and subscription. It charges EURO 500/month.
● Refersion-It is a simple -to-use and integrated affiliate marketing platform .It has a 5 star review . It charges $19 a month for its starter and $89 a month . It also comes with a free-trial with it.
● Swagbucks – It is a rewarding and loyalty program operated by Prodege . It is available in English language and based in California .
How to Setup?
These are the steps you will have to follow while setting up on Pay With A Tweet’s website. You can find tutorials on other websites too if you chose to. We are choosing this website as it is most famous for this purpose we found on the internet.
Go to their website and click on “create campaign”.
Fill in all the required details.
Chose the platforms you want people to pay with. For instance, face book, twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You can choose more than one if you want to.
Enter the text you want people to share and the URL on which people will land on by clicking the links in the tweet or posts.
Insert the access link which is the link to the file people will get to download.
Once you get to the “Embed in your Website” step, you can either grab the direct link or take the HTML code that is given for pre-made Pay with a Tweet button.
Conclusion
However, people will be glad to receive discounts or the product for free, you don’t have to provide this option only. You can also add the option to pay for the product without sharing your content. This strategy will work more efficiently if you let people subscribe to you first. Once they subscribe, they will more likely to share your content. You can use this feature in many other ways. Just use your creativity. Comment your thoughts about this strategy. Would you do it on your website? Share this post with all your friends. Don’t forget to check out more articles from Startup Talky .com
You have a business or a startup or maybe just handling your family store, then you must always think about customers. Business is everything about customers. So, why don’t do anything extra for them?
Toll-free numbers are not that tough to get. And als o not that expensive too. However, it is the age of “everything for free”. Everyone has a free unlimited calling on their phones. But, giving toll-free number is not all about making it free. It is also about valuing your customers. Toll-free service providers make this job much easier. But there are so many service providers out there. You cannot just roll a dice and pick one up. You have to learn everything about this field. But we value your time, so here is everything in as brief as we could make it.
Who Are Toll-Free Service Providers?
To get the number registered and usable by your customers, there are companies that help you in this process. There are so many companies that do this. You can even choose an international company for this. In case, you don’t trust any companies, you can also go for companies like Tata Teleservices.
Companies nowadays also provide additional services besides giving a toll-free number. Like cloud telecommunication, which is a service that lets you access your toll-free number from anywhere in the world along with SMS and WhatsApp support. While buying the plan, you have to let them know how many incoming calls do you expect. Also, how many of your people will be there to serve the calls.
What Are Vanity Number?
Ever received a message from our Hon’ble PM N. Modi from a number like “JG-PM Modi”. This same number is called a vanity number. You can customize them according to your needs. They are very helpful when you want to send bulk messages for promotion purposes. Remember those old-school phones? To type “Hi”, we used to press 4 two times and again 4 three times. This system works on the same concept.
While choosing your toll-free service provider, make sure you ask about the following things to the provider.
How to choose toll free number service provider?
ResOrg
ResOrg stands for Responsible Organisation. It is the certification standard for toll-free number providers. Make sure whichever company you choose, they are ResOrg.
Fail over Protection
These all are a piece of machines. You cannot say when will they fail. So, in situations when the system fails, some companies give failover protection. When anything goes wrong, the primary network automatically switches to the redundant network. And no calls get missed.
Additional Charges
This is in every field nowadays. They say this product is free, you only have to pay for shipping and the shipping charges turn out to be more than the product’s price. Ask them about any additional charges and if possible record it.
Portability
Make sure you don’t forget this one. Ask them about the portability of their number. Do they offer it? If that toll-free service provider is Responsible Organisation, then there are strong chances they provide number portability.
Reasons To Get A Toll Free Number
This is 2020. Most of the people have unlimited call plans. You may ask, nobody cares about toll-free these days. Let’s burst your bubble.
Reasons to get a toll free number
Easy To Remember
Toll-free numbers are much easier to remember than any other ordinary numbers. If your number is short or if you have a vanity number, then people are more likely to call you.
Looks More Professional
These numbers make you look more professional in your market. People will think that you are very serious about your business, which is true. More professionalism means more sales, means more profit.
Increase Satisfaction
When the customers will have a separate line to get listened to from even a small store, they will be much more satisfied than anyone else. Customers want attention. So, toll-free numbers which are especially for them will give them attention.
No Need Of Separate Department
Nowadays, you don’t need a separate department for customer service. In fact, you don’t even need a separate business phone. You can do anything from your personal mobile phone. You can talk to them from anywhere. The technology is advanced so your business should be too.
We think these reasons are enough to let you decide about it.
Which Toll-Free Service Providers Should You “Not” Go For?
Although you already know that you should not go for any toll-free service providers who are not ResOrg, there are some more things to know. Getting a toll free number is not a game. You have to take it seriously. There are many fraud companies who provide toll-free numbers.
You have to research well about each and every option. The best thing you can do before deciding the company is to search for the company on consumer complaint websites. Make sure there are no or fewer complaints about that company. Moreover, you can search about them on forums and social media like Quora where people share their own experience.
One of the best examples of these types of companies is Sarv.com. Their website is damn amazing. But when we researched deeply about them, it turned out there were many complaints against them. Also, if there is a chat option available on any website, then don’t hesitate to use it. But don’t give them your details. When we asked about the services of Sarv.com on their chat option, they didn’t even know about their own potential. So, please read, research and observe companies before making your final decision.
If you want some genuine names, then you can also go for companies like Tata Teleservices and Knowlarity. You can also opt for MyOperator. But, whichever you choose, just research well and if possible ask about it from the old users.
Conclusion
Toll-free service providers can be fraud or genuine, but a toll-free number will always be your best friend in the business. It will help you to grow your business. So, don’t think too much to have it in your office, or at your store. If you have customers, you will definitely need a toll free number.
Any customer calls to customer care, mostly in emergency situations, and the emergency might be “no recharge”. I know, I’m talking to another level, but the truth is, toll-free numbers are really important. So, call toll free service providers now, and get the details.
Comment on the use of toll-free in your business in the comment down below.
Technical education is of utmost importance for developing the human resource of a country. Technical education produces manpower that has practical knowledge of modern and advanced technology which is much required for the development of any country. In modern times, the demand for technical education is increasing globally and India is also experiencing the same trend.
Besides, technology is not something which can be learned once and for all, it is must to keep oneself abreast of the new developments. While it is not possible and convenient to go for formal offline education at all stages of one’s career, online technical education can do a lot to keep one up-to-date of new technologies, without giving up the current job or alongside another course.
However, it is important to check the quality and credibility of the courses while opting for any online technical course. Techved Academy of Design (TAD), initiated by Techved, a Mumbai based design company is offering certified courses on many technological areas, that are just perfect to upskill and uplift your career.
StartupTalky interviewed TADCourses co-founder Neha Modgil to know about the story behind this initiative.
TAD stands for Techved Academy of Design. TAD Courses is an initiative of Techved, a leading global user experience company based in Mumbai. To meet the shortage of skilled manpower in the field of User Experience (UI/UX), Techved started TAD Courses which initially offered just courses related to UI and UX. However today TAD courses is offering online courses in many other technological areas.
The TAD team believes that everyone should have the opportunity to create progress through technology and develop the skills of tomorrow. TAD Courses offers assessments, learning paths and courses authored by industry experts. The platform helps businesses and individuals close skills gaps in critical areas, innovate faster and deliver on key objectives.
With a mission to become the one-stop channel for Technology education, TAD has been providing quality training and education, aspiring masses in the realm of creativity. Combining the passion for technology and education, TAD set up the online learning platform with the sole vision of increasing accessibility in education, thereby elevating itself as a reliable and esteemed global education brand.
“We desire to endow individuals with an intrinsic inclination and pursuit of technology and design,” Neha says emphasizing on the company’s vision.
TAD Courses was co-founded by Neha Modgil & Mohar V.
Neha Modgil | Co-founder and CEO of TAD Courses
Neha Modgil, Co-Founder and COO of TAD Courses, is a thought leader with a fertile mind and woman with great passion towards the work. She has around 10+ years of experience into Designing and Innovation industry. Her passion lies in inventing new and powerful ways to make consumer’s digital experience better. She has an educational qualification in design and management.
Mohar V | Business Evangelist of TAD Courses
Mohar V, is an experienced Business Evangelist, Digital Strategist and a UX Design thinker. His 19+ years of experience into Technology innovation, UX/UI Design, Digital Strategy, Software Development, and Project management have helped him to sweep the tech world. His conscientious qualities and ideas have always touched the zenith of success. He has a stellar track record of business innovation, market presence, and creative mind into various business verticals. He is an MBA person with a tech background.
How was TAD Courses Started
TADcourses is a member of NASSCOM and was started under the leadership of TECHVED Consulting. Techved has over a decade of experience and an ardent passion in the field of UI/UX. The leaders of TECHVED – deemed as the top UX/UI Company by Silicon India – wanted to cultivate a talent pool of aspiring professionals in design and technology. Thus, TAD was founded as an oasis to quench the growing scarcity of UX professionals.
“In a decade, we have conducted a lot of workshops and meet-ups for industry professionals. These experiences explicated the gaps in skilled individuals in the industry. Therefore, TAD courses have been launched for bridging these gaps” says Neha.
Apart from UX/UI related courses, TAD Courses now offers several other technical courses too.
“Initially, we have discussed with COO’s and CTO’s of Technology to know what challenges they face while recruiting the right candidate and that lead to the need of industry ready professionals. Today there are so many working professionals who lack contemporary skills, which results in great disappointment. Looking into the responses, TAD courses set up the online learning platform to build and enhance the critical professional skills required in today’s in-demand fields” Neha added.
TAD Courses – Name, Tagline and Logo
The name TAD stands for Techved Academy of Design.
TAD courses are the short online courses in cutting-edge technology for both beginners and professionals to cultivate their talent.
The courses are divided into ‘Foundation’ and ‘Advanced’ based on the levels of knowledge and expertise. TAD courses offer specialized video tutorials forArtificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain Technology, User Experience, and Big Data Analytics in multiple languages. A graduate in any stream can apply for these courses.
Major USPs of TAD Courses are: • Mentors with hands-on industry experience. • Premium content • Industry Recognized Certificates • Placement Assistance
The company is trying to reach out to the Tier II and Tier III Cities by creating an extraordinary technology learning experience for them to make their future with these buzzing and dynamic technologies. Besides TAD Courses also boasts to be the first Indian online learning platform to teach the updated technologies In multiple languages.
TAD Courses – Funding and Investors
TAD Courses has not raised any funding until now. It is powered and invested by its sister company Techved Consulting. The company uses a major fraction of its funds in creating quality content videos with the right mentors.
TAD Courses – Startup Challenges
Getting the right mentors on board was a challenge for the TAD Team.
“Our objective was to find industry experts to train our students to increase the employability in the tech industry. It was a very challenging task, to find the right product person who has the vision to run this. But we effectively pulled it off by bringing industry experts and subject matter experts to the board” says Neha.
TAD team chooses to learn from the various players in its domain rather than seeing them as competition.
As Neha says, “We have learned and reaped inspiration from many platforms; each one of them has their own presence in the market to stand out. We have willfully started this because we are already into tech Industry witnessing 100’s of newcomers in the market who are unable to stand firm due to lack of Ideas and concept. Therefore, we have learned the pros and cons of their platform, which has motivated us to build our platform into a unique platform.”
TAD Courses is focusing on making its service better for the learners and make technology easy to learn
“The moment we began to look at others as our competitors, we descended and categorized ourselves comparing another platform with some similarities. Thereafter, we decided not to consider anyone as our competitors, we take everyone as a learner because everyone is trying and practicing new things to be prominent out of which some people strike the right platform enlighten the people and some later”, added Neha.
TAD Courses – Future Plans
Having successfully created a high-quality user experience in its platform, the TAD team will keep on improvising the content and teaching methods by incorporating new ideas. As they are evolving with the current technologies, the industry will consistently evolve as well.
Along with the evolving industry, TAD courses will further improvise teaching methods by introducing new ideas into the courses. However, their objective of providing a high-quality experience will remain the same. Their goal is to increase employability in the Tech Industry. Hence, they will continue to transform our students into a job-ready professional.
