Six Areas Tech Can Help Start-Ups Stay Ahead According to Aditya Ghosh, who has served at leadership positions at several places including hospitality Unicorn OYO and is an advisory board member at consumer-focused VC firm Fireside Ventures, product innovation and understanding customer needs are some of the key areas where technology can help start-ups stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.

2020 has begun and an entire year of opportunities lies ahead for the Indian start-up ecosystem. The space has bustled about quicker than many would have imagined and while there have been downs, the ups have been far more overwhelming. That famed entrepreneurial bug slowly finding its way past the select few to several venture capitalists propping up in the last few years, the ecosystem has evolved at a breathtaking pace.

And as the growth has happened, one of the major areas of focus has been technology and how start-ups seem to be using it.

According to Aditya Ghosh, who has served at leadership positions at several places including hospitality Unicorn OYO and is an advisory board member at consumer-focused VC firm Fireside Ventures, there are six areas where tech can help start-ups stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Product Innovation

Even if one has a great product, it is necessary to keep making those small changes and trying to better it. This has become especially important now with competition becoming far more common.

Ghosh said start-ups must always ask: "Is there enough tech going in to continuously innovate on the product so that the product and/or service continually gets better?"

Understanding Customer Needs

Another important area where start-ups need to use technology is understanding what the customer really wants, said Ghosh.

He said companies should leverage tech to ensure that they can move past the noise that otherwise goes around. "I keep joking about it, customers want a lot of things. The only problem is they don't want to pay for it."

Increasing Efficiency

Ghosh believes as one builds a successful business, what got it there at the first place, won't keep it ahead.

That's where it is important to see if the business is using technology to become more and more efficient in terms of everything including structure and speed, he said.

Distribution

Tech is driving how businesses approach distribution. According to Ghosh, the speed, accuracy and the geographical spread with which one is reaching the end consumer is where start-ups can leverage innovation to stay ahead.

"Today when we go to an e-commerce platform when we are buying, even if somebody says expedited delivery is 72 hours from now, versus somebody says I'll give it to you by 9 o'clock in the evening, the consumer is going to move," he said.

Problem Solving Equation

"If you think of any problem solving statement, like mathematically, as an algebraic equation, then how many exponentially higher number of variables is that equation able to take care of?" he said.

That's where technology comes in, constantly improving with all the challenges that come in, and solving them faster.

Execution

Ghosh said during the actual execution of any business or product, use of tech can determine how much error or chances or error one is able to minimize.