A new venue and a renewed focus at startups, Design Summit 2017 played host to a series of startups across the country that had a unique design element-be it the product, website or their approach to the business. Unlike at recent fests where the range of startups was restrictive, the one-day event focused on guiding startups along their individual journeys. Among the products were robots, cycles, bamboo-made chairs and some e-commerce platforms that had their own USPs. The crowd turnout was decent, while the on-stage sessions proved to helpful for many. There was a zumba session, music, guest sessions, all guided by a firm purpose. We pick some of the firms that stood out at the event.
StuMagz
StuMagz, an online platform founded by Sri Charan Lakkaraju brings students across several colleges under one umbrella. The network took off with the founder’s quest to help a college maintain a magazine for students to express their thoughts. StuMagz reaches out to college managements to build their student and alumni network within a built-in framework that also opens students to market opportunities and ensure practical learning. The platform mirrors the young blood, promises to be a hassle free experience for them to publish their content and unleash their creative interests.
Happy Minds
The country’s first selfie video resume app connects job-seekers to their ultimate goal with a twist in the medium. The platform reaches out to firms that accept video resumes of potential candidates who find it comfortable to express themselves through speech over the written word. While it provides job notifications, what it does additionally is to ensure campus and alumni connect for events that happen through the year, the same also goes for the corporates. Based in Hyderabad, Leeladhar Rao and Sridhar Sharma are its founders
Oh’ Look
A wacky online-fashion platform for men, the idea here is to enhance a man’s style quotient within a marginal expenditure. What it ensures you is a wardrobe comprising 20 shirts of top brands, handpicked by top stylists, sparing you from laundry needs, all at a cost of Rs 2500 a month. The service is aimed at not repeating your shirts everyday, taking your style needs into consideration through a styleform, available across packages like casual, formal and hybrid, while it also stays true to happening fashion trends across the world. Armaan, Arshad and Veerashekar co-own this city-based startup.
Jxtapose
Jxtapose is a forthcoming virtual-cum-realtime community that ensures like-minded collaborations between artistes of all kinds across the city including designers, artists, sculptors, architects, craftsmen, performers, writers, dancers, singers, actors regardless of barriers. The initiative is aimed to capture the essence of the city’s cultural identity and ensure opportunities to tap talent and inspire people. Gayathri Kondepudi, Shruthi Ramesh, Akshay Varma and Sravan Kavalipurapu are the founders of the community that grabbed eyeballs at the summit for designing a tree where people pinned together paper-leaves to various branches according to their interests.
The Makers of Things
TMOT is a startup ideated by Soumeet Lanka and Krishna Teja Madempudi to inculcate a design-thinking approach among children. Their initiative ‘Better by Design’ inspired from Stanford’s D-School idea encourages students to go beyond the educational paradigm to experiment and invent. Their out-of-the-box designs of a dog’s back-scratching machine, a high-five motor attracted many visitors to their stall. Technology is an integral element of their idea, where students work in teams to produce unique results.
