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Unfortunately, for fans of the Robin smartphone this means the end of the product

Razer, the US-based gaming company with Singaporean roots, has made a move into the smartphone industry with the purchase of Nextbit Systems Inc. — the company behind an ‘indie’ smartphone named Robin.

Robin, which focussed on seamless integration between the Android OS and the cloud, is a casualty of the deal and will be discontinued moving forward. Nextbit will continue systems support and updates for phone owners for the next six months.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed but Razer did acquire the majority of Nextbit’s assets. Nextbit will operate as a standalone business under its new parent company.

“Razer has a track record of disrupting industries where our technology and ability to design and innovate have allowed us to dominate categories with longstanding incumbents, such as the peripherals and laptop categories,” said Razer Co-founder Min-Liang Tan in a statement.

“With the talent that Nextbit brings to Razer, we look forward to unleashing more disruption and growing our business in new areas.”

Nextfit Co-founder and CEO Tom Moss said a major motivator for the deal was to reach a wider audience by joining-up with a larger brand.

““We’re lucky to have found a company in Razer that shares our value of pushing the boundaries of what our devices can do,” Moss said.

Also Read: The mother/founder paradox and what it means for all entrepreneurs

Razer should have plenty on cash on hand as, according to Crunchbase, the gaming company has raised US$125 million from the likes of Accel Partners, IDG Capital Partners and Intel Capital. US$75 million of that was raised in a Series C round in February 2016.

In October, 2016, Razer bought George Lucas’s pioneering audio company THX for an undisclosed amount.

Nextbit has publicly raised just under US$20 million so far and the two companies share an investor – Accel Partners. It ran a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2015 that netted Nextbit US$1.36 million; in large part because the Robin phone was heaped with much praise for its approach to software and storage.

Robin was released last year and Nextbit should consider the launch a success. The company released what the industry considered a “pretty good phone“. It did not upend the industry, but launching a competent competivie phone with Netbit’s resource disadvantage should be lauded.

Also Read: Early childhood educator simplifies personal data protection requirements

Razer is based in Irvine, California and claims to serve a gaming community of about 1 billion people worldwide.

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IoT is finally taking off. Businesses can benefit, but we all need to make some adjustments

Internet-of-things tech has finally started to gain pace. With so many developments in IoT,  it’s reasonable to say that such connected technologies will finally begin to take off this year. We can already see its use in several industries like automotive, energy, healthcare, transportation, and in smart manufacturing, as well as in various home applications like door well cam, air tracking, smart electricity plug, security system, intelligent oven, thermostat, and several others.

So is your business IoT ready? How businesses will be affected by IoT? This is what this article is trying to find. Let’s begin:

1. More data available

Data is the key for any business to thrive in any market today. The more data a business owner has, the more the company can connect with consumers. And of course, being able to engage this way will generate more revenue, too. Connected devices are now designed to collect the more data than ever before — the aim is to provide more targeted services to users. An IoT-ready business is able to track and record consumer behaviour patterns, which can then be used to optimise marketing/advertising strategies, which prove to be more effective in targeting demographics on a more precise level.

With accurate data in hand, businesses are able to make intelligent product recommendations and customise searches, in order to attract more customers.

2. IoT-enabled inventory management processes

IoT is also revolutionising tracking and management of inventory. A business depending on warehousing, manufacturing, or storage can implement IoT-enabled remote scanners helping workers easily track inventory of items. We can also expect a completely automated IoT based inventory management solution, freeing up companies from any sort of manual inputs, which often cause many irregularities. So IoT isn’t merely about ‘smart home’ or ‘smart appliance’ but it is also about ‘smart office’, ‘smart warehouse’, and so on.

Also Read: Asia Pacific will be a driver of global IoT growth in the next 5 years

3. Better efficiency from remote working

IoT offers pretty good possibilities for those who want to work remotely, particularly within their own company premises. For example, IoT technology is coupled with wireless technology, enables employees to check in and out of locations without the need for extra intervention.

IoT sensors and devices “know” who you are, and saves time by allowing users to conduct transactions seamlessly using mobile or connected devices they bring with themselves, such as a smartphone. The same can be done with workers in an office building or a factory floor.

4. Faster sales and buying cycles

The buying cycle will turn out to be shorter as better data collection enables consumers to access products faster. This will be optimised or customised according to their needs. Searching items will be possible even with a handful of spoken phrases, which can help consumers find the exact products they are looking for. Yes, consumers will demand for quick delivery, and fortunately, e-commerce partners such as suppliers and logistics service providers will also implement IoT-enabled practices at their workplace, which will result in faster processing of orders.

Also Read: 2017 will be big year for AR, but we are still not ready yet for voice search

5. Better efficiency and productivity

Speed isn’t everything. Businesses also need to complete their operations productively and efficiently. IoT will really increase the speed of several business processes without any compromise to efficiency and productivity. Latest developments in IoT will empower your workers to accomplish big tasks quickly with reduced risk of errors. Also, companies, businesses and factories will be able to complete their operations with fewer staff members.

6. New consumer needs

While empowering your business with IoT, don’t forget customers using IoT-enabled devices will have new needs. They will also want things they have never asked before. Of course, they will expect more out of every new purchase they make and every new order they place. This is where IoT-powered smart devices play a crucial role, particularly with new standards for appliances, gadgets, accessories, tools and everything that can have the web or computer connectivity.

7. New employee skills are also required

While IoT will inevitably reduce manpower and staffing requirements for some industries, it will also come with increased need for skills related to technology and connectivity. Your business will require new staff members, or you can train existing ones, in order to adapt better with these new technologies. You will certainly need experts who can handle IoT operations and successfully integrate these IoT-devices into your current processes.

Wrapping up

But how quickly is the IoT going to take off? The initial estimates were fairly ambitious a few years back. There were several overestimations on how rapidly people would adopt these devices, but it still took several years. The technology of IoT is gradually finding its place in the world, and as many reports suggest, 2017 will be the year wherein we will see IoT devices exploding in popularity, particularly for general purpose computing tasks. Let us wait and see.

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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

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Five very early-stage Indian startups, dabbling in cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and chip design, have got seed funding and incubation in Hyderabad. They have been chosen for incubation at a deep tech accelerator program at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad, which has funding support from Hyderabad-based 50k Ventures. The startups will receive INR 1 million (US$15,000) in seed funding in exchange for 2 percent equity, in addition to six months of mentorship.

Niche.ai

This startup is building a visual studio with artificial intelligence. Its engine automatically identifies and tags images. These could be shopping objects like shoes, or dangerous objects like guns; it could also be used to distinguish a pet from an intruder. Two young graduates of NIT Rourkela, Soham Acharya and Saurabh Arora, along with an IIT-Madras grad Venkatesh Mondi, are behind it.

See: Meet the 10 Indian startups taking off for the UK

DreamVu

This startup is innovating with optical technology to make VR headsets more compact and easier to use. It has a coffee-shaped filter in its camera to capture a wide range of light rays. This aims to do away with the need to capture multiple views and stitch them together with extensive algorithms. Rajat Aggarwal, an MS in computer science working as a teaching assistant at IIIT Hyderabad, founded the startup. His co-founder is a fellow IIIT-H grad, Rohan Bhatial, who hails from Jammu in the foothills of the Himalayas.

See: These 4 startups got funded on the spot at a college fest

Docturnal

This startup is developing non-invasive apps for detection and diagnosis of diseases like tuberculosis and diabetes. One of its products uses spectral analysis (analysis in terms of a spectrum of frequencies or related quantities (PDF )to detect signs of TB from the sounds of users’ coughs. Another one leverages APIs (application programming interfaces) from wearable devices to monitor blood glucose levels. Its founder, Rahul Pathri, is a biology grad with an MBA from IIM Calcutta, who worked in the US on Oracle products before turning entrepreneur. His co-founder, Arpita Singh, brings marketing expertise from working at Gartner and Oracle.

See: Half the work people do can be automated: McKinsey

Authbase

This is a cyber security startup initially incubated at the T-Hub in Hyderabad. It started by helping startups with securing their apps. Its founder, Umesh Thota, soon realized that most startups were obsessed with product and UI, paying little attention to the security vulnerabilities in their tech stack. He’s now building a product and services company to enable startups to monitor and eliminate security threats from bots, hacks, crawlers, and scrubbers.

See: 45 hot software product startups from India and their cool ideas

Blue Semiconductors

This startup is the brainchild of Sunil Kumar Maddikatla, a research scholar at IIIT Hyderabad. He aims to build chips suitable for use in IoT, wearables, and biomedical devices. Sensors and batteries hold the keys to the efficacy of these devices. The startup’s first product is a low-cost, low-power compact temperature sensor.

See: 25 failed startups in India this year and what you can learn from them

Converted from Indian rupees. Rate: US$1 = INR 67.89.

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Your considerations are a mix of risk, culture fit, excitement and career growth

Singapore has an incredibly strong startup culture, where a large number of recently launched companies are vying to be the next Google or Facebook. Blk 71, which was an ageing industrial estate slated for demolition in 2010, has become Singapore’s startup hub with hundreds of tech firms located within its premises.

Many young Singaporeans are being increasingly drawn to the attractions that startups offer: A reasonably high salary, the opportunity to work with highly motivated and talented colleagues, and above all, the prospect of being part of the founding team of a successful multimillion dollar company are just a few of the reasons why people pursue this career path.

But is a job in a startup all that it is made out to be? Would you be better off joining an established multinational firm that offers a better salary and greater stability?

The answers to these questions lie in understanding a little about the startup that you intend to join. Here are some of the factors that you should consider:

1. What stage of growth is the company at?

If the startup that you are planning to join is still in its infancy and has yet to sign up its first customer, you are taking a fairly big risk. According to a news report, 29 of the 145 startups promoted under the Technology Incubation Scheme, an initiative of the Singapore government’s National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise program, have already ceased operations.

A failure rate of 20 per cent is not very high, but you need to remember that these are companies that were sponsored by the government, and that they are relatively bigger than your usual set of “early stage” startups. Companies in their inception are generally accepted experience a failure rate of above 80 per cent. If that happens to your newly launched tech firm, you will be left without a job.

On the other hand, your prospective employer could be a startup that has been in existence for some time and has a growing list of paying customers. If this is the case, the probability of the company shutting down is significantly lower, and your decision on whether or not to join would be much easier to take.

2. What’s the pay like? Will you be getting any stock options?

Startup salaries will often not match the pay that a multinational can offer. If your only consideration for taking up job is to earn a great deal of money right away, then working at a startup is not for you.

However, salaries at Singapore’s startups are reasonably high. According to our study of the average income of startup employees, some Singaporean startups pay as much as startups in Seattle, USA, and France. Not only that, your monthly salary is only one part of the total compensation package. If you receive stock options and the company gets sold or goes public, you could become seriously rich.

Remember that there are various types of stock options. To get the opportunity to exercise your options, you may be required to work with the firm for a certain minimum time period. Of course, if the firm fails, your stock options will be worthless. You can read more about how your startup’s stock option plan works for some useful advice.

Also Read: Pro bono: Practical legal advice about startup fundraising from lawyer Yingyu Wang

3. Who’s the CEO? Who will you work for?

Most startups are very small, with just a handful of employees. It is one thing to work in a large company with a well-established hierarchy and clear reporting relationships. It is quite another to be a part of a startup where every day can be a challenge and the work that you do could have an impact on the survival of the organisation. In these circumstances, the CEO’s role becomes extremely important. The abilities and business acumen of the CEO will be responsible to a great extent for the success of the startup.

Before committing yourself to a startup, ask youself a few questions. Does the CEO of the firm that you are planning to join have a good track record? What is the background of the other members of the management team? Do they seem like they could be a great team with strong leadership? Will they a great boss and colleague to you?

Spend a little time in gathering this information. It could be of great value in helping you to decide about joining the company that has made you an offer.

4. How successful has the firm been in raising money?

Many of Singapore’s startups start with government-backed funding. The iJam program has been very successful in providing development grants and pre-seed money to a large number of Singapore’s new tech firms.

After a company established itself, it will have to find investors to enable it to scale up operations. Some of the high-profile investors active in Singapore are Sequoia Capital, Crystal Horse Investments, and East Ventures.

It will be worthwhile to enquire about your prospective employer’s investors. Do they have a record of picking the right companies? If they have a history of profitable investments behind them, it is a sign that the company that you are planning to work for could have a successful future ahead of it.

5. What is the company’s culture like?

While culture is a fuzzy concept, it is possibly the most important issue that you should consider before taking up a job offer. Will you fit in with the employees already working at the firm? Or does the very thought of spending the whole day with the people that you have just met make you uncomfortable? Startups work a lot, and you will likely be spending more hours with your colleagues than with your own family. Make sure you sincerely feel comfortable getting along and feeling vulnerable with them.

If you need more advice, take a look at What You Should Consider When Choosing a Job; it will point you in the right direction.

A job at a startup will give you valuable experience

Taking up a job at a startup usually leads to the acquisition of expertise in new areas. Because small firms do not have the luxury of employing large numbers of staff for specialised tasks, you will have to use your ingenuity and learn new skills on the job. Even if the startup that you join closes down, the experience that you gain working there could stand you in good stead for your future career.

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This article originally appeared on ValuePenguin.

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

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Working mothers are perceived to be more distracted and less productive since they have children for whom they need to provide, while working fathers are believed to be more stable

After spending much of our engagement diving into data and testing many new business ideas, my husband and co-founder Danny Boice and I finally decided to pull the trigger on our on-demand private investigator startup during our honeymoon. That same year, we had a baby.

I spent the first months of the company’s founding nursing a newborn and advising from behind the scenes. We had exponential growth from day one, and that immediate traction meant that Danny and I were working around the clock. All the while, we were caring for a baby, being the best parents we could to our four other children and building our company into everything we knew it could be from our data and research.

Also Read: Female entrepreneurs in Asia: Here are 8 things you need to know now

Fast forward to today, and we closed our second round of funding. Many in the startup community have asked how I am able to raise a baby, mother four young children and raise funding. I understand the question.

Founding a startup is hard. It takes 100 per cent of your focus; you have to be all in with your time, your talent and your treasure.

The raised eyebrows, perplexed looks and voiced disbelief as to how I can juggle it all as a female entrepreneur and mother of five originally left me feeling like I needed to defend my life and my ability to manage it well. After a few months of these constant questions, I stepped back and thought, “Danny is never asked the same questions. No one ever asks how he does it all as an incredibly engaged father of five, a coach, a room parent and a school auction chair.” There is this misconception that motherhood, or at least young motherhood, is mutually exclusive from founding a startup. But as a mother myself, I couldn’t disagree more.

Women in Tech by the Numbers

According to the 2016 CrunchBase Women in Venture report, only 7 per cent of partners at the top 100 venture firms are women. Twelve per cent of the partner roles at accelerators and corporate venture firms combined are held by women. Between 2010 to 2015, only 10 per cent of the world’s venture dollars, which totalled US$31.5 billion, funded startups with at least one female founder. Seed and angel rounds were a little higher, with 17 per cent of the money funding startups with a female founder.

However, there is progress. Many venture firms buck these trends by surpassing the global averages. Between 2010 and 2015, 54 venture firms surpassed the aforementioned average of 10 per cent, and 51 firms surpassed the seed/angel average of 17 per cent. Furthermore, in 2009, nine per cent of funded startups had at least one female founder. In 2014, that percentage doubled to 18 per cent.

The Mom/Founder Paradox

According to the CrunchBase report, successful startup founders are between the ages of 24 and 31, but recent data shows that the average age women first give birth is 26.4 years old. This adds another layer of complexity for women.

Motherhood is a well-known obstacle for women in tech, as recent press surrounding egg-freezing as an employee benefit indicates. Recent articles highlight the struggle female startup founders face while believing they can build their company while building a family. And Michelle Budig, author of The Fatherhood Bonus and the Motherhood Penalty found that working mothers are perceived to be “more distracted and less productive” since they have children for whom they need to provide, while working fathers are believed to be more stable.

Also Read: Startups need to balance customer feedback with own vision: Stephanie Crespin of StyleTribute

These antiquated notions of male and female roles at home and in business must be overcome. Tech startups should be just as forward-thinking and disruptive in breaking outdated cultural norms as they are in creating the next big technology.

The Advantages of Motherhood

While the numbers may not be in my favour, I believe working mothers have much to bring to the table. Many mothers (and parents in general) rely on the unique skill sets that come with having a baby: the ability to multitask, to work all hours of the day without needing a break, to focus on numerous tasks simultaneously, and to have no option but to do them all with excellence.

Before I had kids, I was working for me. I had a love for the game and wanted to advance in my career. Now, I recognise there is no room for failure. I have five mouths to feed and five little humans looking up to me for all I do. I have to succeed. That drive only came to me by being a mother.

Plus, young women make for ambitious entrepreneurs, even if there are fewer of them. According to the 2016 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur report, which surveyed 2,600 high net-worth entrepreneurs from 18 countries, female founders of child-bearing age are outperforming their male counterparts. Nearly 90 per cent of female entrepreneurs expect their company’s gross profits to rise or remain stable in the next 12 months. Seventy-five per cent of millennial female founders also expect their profits to rise. Furthermore, female entrepreneurs between the ages of 22-34 reported higher revenues — 22 per cent above the overall male/female average.

Just Do It

Founding a venture-funded startup is a daunting task, even for a male serial entrepreneur with no children. Taking the first step is the only way to start. It won’t be an easy road, but there is plenty of support from fellow female founders out there.

More than ever, female founders need to showcase that it can be done, as it’s our responsibility to mentor fellow mom entrepreneurs and ensure our ranks keep growing. The landscape is changing, and we need more women among our #FemTech ranks! Sixty-four per cent of female entrepreneurs have a history of entrepreneurship in their family. You are leaving a legacy for your children that is far greater than your startup.

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The author of this article Jennifer Mellon is the Founder of Trustify, the first tech platform to connect clients to a nationwide network of private investigators.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organisation comprising the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship programme that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

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Modern Montessori International spares no effort to ensure all stakeholders understand the requirements of the Personal Data Protection Act

Implementing its personal data protection policy has been a relatively smooth journey for MMI, which made staff and customer acceptance of the new policy a priority.

Having helped early childhood educator Modern Montessori International Group (MMI) meet a series of international and industry standards, such as those developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), MMI’s Manager (Chairman’s Office), Mr Steven Kho, is no stranger to implementing processes.

So when tasked to ensure that MMI was Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) compliant, he was clear about what he needed to do.

“We identified all the personal data we have, followed by the situations where our staff needed to use these data,” says Mr Kho. “This allowed everyone to be clear about how to handle and process personal data. We identified areas that could go wrong and focused on developing solutions for those areas.”

CHALLENGES

The PDPA presented MMI with the opportunity to develop and implement a more wide-ranging and comprehensive personal data protection policy, but not without initial resistance from internal stakeholders.

Raising standards

A Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), MMI provides pre-school education for children through 30 centres in Singapore, as well as in other parts of the world such as India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand and Vietnam. It also conducts teacher-training courses for adults, offering diplomas in the Montessori method of education and early childhood care.

“Before the introduction of PDPA, we were more concerned about copyrights relating to the use of a child’s image in our marketing and publicity materials. As a result of the PDPA and its mandatory requirements, our data protection policies now cover more processes and are more comprehensive,” says Mr Kho.

Enrolment, for example, is one key process that has been enhanced. During registration, parents are required to fill up a form containing personal data such as contact details, birth certification numbers and other relevant personal data.

As a personal data protection measure, MMI explicitly seeks the parent’s consent for the use and disclosure of the data to support the provision of service. This includes sharing the personal data with pre-school education industry regulator Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), providing vendors with the student’s data for the organisation of extra co-curricular activities, and using pictures or videos taken of students during activities for MMI’s online and offline publications.

To ensure that there is no misunderstanding, MMI also consolidates what parents have consented to in a list that is distributed to parents along with its standard enrolment handbook.

In its dealings with third-party vendors and contractors, MMI places personal data protection- related conditions in the contract agreements.

“There are times when we have to share personal data with third-parties such as bus operators, field trip organisers and event managers. Through the conditions, we can hold them to agreements not to misuse the information we provide them and not to share that data for unsolicited marketing calls or other unauthorised purposes,” Mr Kho says.

 

STEPS TAKEN

– Chief DPO attended a training course and drafted an enhanced personal data protection policy with the help of a lawyer

– Mapped out areas where personal data are collected and used and set out policies to deal with these areas

– Entrusted responsibility of data protection to all staff members, particularly heads of departments, centre managers and principals

– Broke the PDPA into relatable, bite-sized information for staff members to understand their role in protecting personal data

Entrusting compliance to the whole organisation

It is no mean feat managing the personal data of more than 3,000 students and some 300 staff members across 30 education centres in Singapore. As such, PDPA compliance is a shared responsibility at MMI.

“We believe that everyone in the organisation has a responsibility to protect personal data,” says Mr Kho. “All department heads at MMI headquarters play a crucial role in enforcing our personal data protection policies. In our pre-school centres, the centre managers and principals take on the role of data protection officer.”

Mr Kho is the chief data protection officer (DPO) for the organisation. To familiarise himself with the relatively new law at the onset, he enrolled for a course that provided an introduction to the fundamentals of the PDPA which was designed for non-legally trained persons, offered under the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) Business Management Workforce Skills Qualifications framework.

He found the curriculum straightforward and useful in his development of MMI’s enhanced data protection policy. He then consulted a lawyer to firm up the overarching policy.

Implementation of the new processes took three to four months, and the transition was fairly smooth apart from some internal resistance.

Mr Kho recalls that the most often asked question was, “We haven’t had problems before, so are these changes really necessary?”

To help staff members internalise the requirements, he explains the obligations of the PDPA in parts and how each applies to MMI’s operations during the training sessions. He feels that showing how the new data protection procedures are relevant to each staff member’s area of work helps increase acceptance of these measures.

“When you do it this way, staff members will be keen to learn as they are familiar with the operational situation,” he shares. “They may even be able to provide feedback or suggestions to improve the data protection policy.”

He believes that MMI is now more systematic in its handling of personal data, which increases efficiency. He also feels more confident when speaking to parents and students about the security of their personal data with the organisation.

BENEFITS

– A more comprehensive and systematic policy, which plugged gaps in the operations

– Processes are more systematic, resulting in greater efficiency

– Armed staff with a better understanding of the processes to protect personal data

– Greater confidence in the use and protection of parents and students’ personal data

Overall, MMI spent an estimated $20,000 in the development and implementation of an enhanced personal data protection policy in line with the PDPA. The bulk of this cost was expended on man-hours used to draft and implement the new procedures, staff training, and the upgrading of MMI’s information technology (IT) systems to include access control and boosted password protection.

When asked what advice he might have for other SMEs, Mr Kho says, “They should not feel that the PDPA is difficult to comply with. What they need to do is to understand how the PDPA relates to aspects of their company’s operations. Once they are able to identify the processes that have to be improved or put in place, they will not find it difficult to develop the policies.”

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Because happy employees are productive employees

Employee wellbeing plays a growing role in ensuring productivity in the workplace. Recent studies in the UK, for example, cite how workplace stress affects health, and how issues arising from occupational stress result in productivity losses. Stress is likewise cited as the leading cause of absenteeism from work in a recent Asia Pacific study by Willis Towers Watson.

This means that managers and leaders need to take initiative in ensuring team members are well taken care of, in terms of working environment. Each organisation has unique needs and cultures, and this results in different approaches to managing the workflow and motivating employees toward better productivity. Even so, every organisation can adopt certain practices that can help boost the team morale to a great extent and motivate everyone to achieve greater heights together.

These 9 tips can be easily implemented across your team without affecting your work schedule. And even if it does affect the schedule somehow, you will eventually observe enhanced team collaboration and improved productivity, which will more than compensate for the effort.

1. Yoga

Hold regular yoga sessions, and practice them together every day. You will need to have a common area for such activities. Or, you can rearrange or repurpose other areas, such as the conference room!

Yoga is a great stress-buster, and it improves blood circulation. It is a great way to relax as well as strengthen the body muscles. The benefits of Yoga are multi-fold from medical to cosmetic. Group sessions encourage teamwork and motivate the members to practice together regularly.

Regular practice of Yoga can combat many lifestyle diseases like hypertension, increase metabolism, reduce excess fat in your body and make you generally more flexible. Aside from helping boost overall confidence and health, Yoga can also help improve productivity.

2. Meditation

Meditation helps increase concentration and is also a great stress-buster. By helping you detoxify and clear your mind of all unnecessary stress, meditation helps improve your thought process and helps in finding innovative solutions to pressing problems.

Also Read: 50 productivity tools for startup founders and entrepreneurs

Meditation helps you empty your mind from all disturbing thoughts and lets new ideas get into your mind. You do not need a particular ambiance to meditate. You can just close your eyes and meditate right where you are to get refreshed. Teach your team to meditate and encourage them to de-stress. This helps people find new perspectives and approaches in problem-solving.

3. Exercise

Establish a small gym in the premises, and encourage your team to work out on their own or as a group. Exercise is a great way to de-stress, and it gets your body in a healthy state. Apart from helping you sweat out some calories, exercise helps improve blood circulation to your brain, which can be helpful in improving focus.

If space and resources do not permit setting up of your own gym, you can sign up your team for memberships with a local gym. Or, you can bike, hike or run as a group.

4. Food

Hold potluck parties in the office every month, and let the team members cook and bring their own contributions. This is a great way to forget about work once in a while and enjoy the simple pleasures of life like good food and the company of people.

Cooking can be a great way to release stress. Sharing and eating together can be a good bonding activity, which can help foster good working relationships. Home-cooked food is also a healthier and cheaper option than hotel fare, and hence it keeps a check on the budgets and wellbeing of employees.

5. Group outings

Take the team out often. This helps melt the ice, and your employees can feel more comfortable bonding with each other outside of the usual office setup. This is usually most effective when you use such outings as an incentive for achieving team goals and milestones. Ask your employees to actively participate in deciding where to go and what to do, so they can feel their importance as part of the team.

6. Open forum

Establish open communication lines on anything and everything. This can be through digital means (digital forums or posts on the intranet), or through regular stand-up meetings. This can help boost people’s confidence, and your team members will start becoming more vocal about their inputs and opinions. This will help them communicate their thoughts and opinions about work-related matters, too.

Also Read: 10 productivity boosting tools for startup founders

7. Measurable achievements

Set measurable targets for the organization and individual members, and review them on a regular basis. Encourage everyone to help each other in achieving these targets. This can be done in a gamified environment, which can make reaching achievements even more exciting.

The important thing is to establish that it’s teamwork that matters and not individual achievers. Let only the positives reflect in the appraisals. This will motivate the team members to help everyone else, and the team’s overall productivity will surge.

8. Reduced limitations

Have fewer rules so that the team gets the space to move around and think out of the box. An excessive number of dos and don’ts might only result in confusion, and people might become more defensive rather than proactive. You don’t have to let go of rules altogether. Rather, establish a general set of guidelines that are in sync with your company’s broader goals. It definitely keeps the stress levels low and encourages people to become more involved and proactive in their work.

Many of Google’s best products came about as part of its 20 per cent rule, for example—they allowed employees to work on their personal projects on company time.

9. Involve family

Encourage team outings with families once in a while. Everyone needs quality time with their loved ones. When an organisation involves the entire family, it helps improve the team dynamics, particularly when people get to know each other better.

Also Read: 9 things startup founders wish their employees would start doing more of tomorrow

Team members’ families also get to familiarize themselves with the people they work with—it also helps reduce stress at home. It also encourages the team members to address some personal issues potentially affecting their productivity, such as domestic or childcare issues. This way, the organization can help find a good solution that addresses everyone’s needs.

Conclusion

These are just some of the basic and straightforward ways you can help improve the mental, emotional and physical well-being within your organisation. Remember, happy employees are productive employees. And any productivity improvement will inevitably lead to a better bottom-line.

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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

Featured Image Copyright: fizkes / 123RF Stock Photo

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This week’s featured startups are a nice snapshot capturing the development of the Japanese ecosystem. Two deals feature angel investors who were leaders of massively successful companies (Colopl and Mixi). Three of the deals are follow-on investments. The one seed deal is by a new fund (also backed by Colopl) dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs under 30.

Full details below.

LaFabric

Photo credit: Ben Rosett.

LaFabric is a custom clothing service. Targeting men, the startup lets shoppers get tailor-made clothes for the office or the weekend. Its US$3.5 million series B sees IMJ Partners, Chiba Bank Capital, and Future Ventures joining previous investor Nissay Capital. Well-known angel investor (and founder of gaming giant Colopl) Kotaro Chiba chipped in as well.

The latest funding will go towards expanding the apparel business and making a production platform for those products. Readers in the market for a new jacket can also swing by the company’s physical store in Tokyo.

Hachidori

Photo credit: martialred / 123RF.

Hachidori is a startup that makes chatbots for marketing and customer support. It just took home an undisclosed amount from a new VC fund – the Colopl Next New Generation Entrepreneur Fund. The fund is for founders under 30 and is not limited to Japanese companies. Hachidori’s founder, Takashi Van, started the company after living and studying in Australia, Japan, and the United States, and doing a stint in an investment bank. Chances are the new fund will target more founders like him in the months to come.

Andpad

Photo credit: Pexels.

Andpad is looking to make life easier for construction companies. Similar to Photoruction, which took US$130,000 in funding last December, Andpad lets workers collate their materials and digitize the paperwork side of construction.

Andpad has a good head start on its competitors. The company announced it has the winning market share with installations by 350 companies. It has another advantage in the form of a new funding round. Though details were not shared, the startup revealed that this round was made up exclusively of angels. Yusuke Asakura, the former Mixi CEO who helped turn that company around, adds more firepower through his new role of strategic advisor.

Compathy

Photo credit: David Stanley.

Compathy, a startup where users can share travel itinerary and tips from successful vacations, has scored a series A of US$1.1 million, according to The Bridge. Mobile Internet Capital led the round, which was also joined by SMBC Capital.

The Bridge notes that the company has 1.5 million active users and 40,000 vacation records.

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Photo credit: Retna Karunia

Priyanka Sharma* was writhing in pain. The 20-year-old was on the second day of her period, and the cramps were getting unbearable. But instead of handing her the usual painkiller, her mother reached for a packet, pulled out a strip that looked like tape, and stuck it across her lower abdomen.

A few minutes later, the pain eased. What was this? Magic?

Girls and women who go through the agony of severe menstrual cramps every month may find it hard to believe that such a simple, non-intrusive, non-oral, and non-chemical remedy can exist. But that’s exactly what the Sirona Feminine Pain Relief Patch is attempting.

It comes from the same bootstrapped startup that has been trying to solve “intimate hygiene issues” faced by women in India – First Step Digital.

The period pain relief patch is herbal, based on ayurvedic formulations, and was launched under the company’s Sirona product line around two months ago. “We did an exclusive launch on Purplle.com. Within a week, we’d sold 1,000 packs,” founder Deep Bajaj tells Tech in Asia.

Tech in Asia earlier wrote about Pee-Buddy, the device that lets women stand and pee when a toilet is too dirty to sit on. Even today I don’t step out for weekend trips from Delhi without Pee-Buddy (the company claims to have sold over 100,000 packs last year).

A promo image created by PeeBuddy.

“Women have a lot on their plates, they manage work, social life, and personal commitments and while they are at it, they face multiple challenges, most of which men don’t understand as it doesn’t affect them,” says Deep.

Evidently Deep and his brother Mohit – the two founders – do. The two were joined by co-founder Deepak Thareja a few months ago. “We are growing at 5 to 7 percent month-on-month across categories,” says Deep.

It happened one night

The Sirona range of the Delhi-based startup came up in mid-2016. It includes underarm sweat pads that keep clothes odor-free and stain-free (why didn’t anyone come up with that earlier in my hot and humid country?).

They also make plastic applicator tampons. Deep says they focused on applicator tampons as digital tampons – which are inserted with fingers – were already available in India.

Biodegradable sanitary disposal bags are among the company’s top sellers. That’s because Indian women typically wrap used sanitary pads in old newspapers for disposal. What’s more, these bags are biodegradable – one would take about two years to turn into powder.

“In our case, all product inspiration – and criticism – comes from observing the women in our life!” says Deep, who studied management at Australian National University.

Founders Mohit and Deep Bajaj (on the right).

The idea of a pain relief patch was born one night when he saw his wife in agony. “She has a tormenting day one, and I had to go midnight to get a painkiller. That night we spoke about it at length, and she explained how pills are not only harmful but also don’t last that long.”

The next day, he reached out to a few experts, among them gynecologists. “We realized we could solve the issue using mother nature’s remedies,” says Deep. The patch uses menthol and eucalyptus oil, which can help relax the muscles. “These have great medicinal properties and can ease cramps.”

Clinical trials show that one patch can be effective for 8 to 12 hours at a stretch, the company claims. Priyanka, the college student I spoke to, however, said the effect wears off after about five to six hours, and works locally – that is, only under the applied area on the lower abdomen and not around it.

You can try it for pain in the lower back or calf muscles too. It certainly sounds like a good alternative to popping pills, using sprays, or hot and cold therapy.

Meena Guha, a gynecologist who consults at several clinics in Kolkata, says, “Such remedies do work, though they may not be equally effective for everyone. The good thing is, they do not create gastric side effects in patients.”

Will millennials pay the price?

Photo credit: First Step Digital.

The patch is available on the First Step Digital and Pee-Buddy websites, and at major ecommerce outlets like Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal. The average transaction value of their online sales is US$5.80, says Deep.

The patch is also available offline at stores like Le Marche, Twenty Four Seven, and Religare in Delhi, and Health & Glow in Bangalore.

But I wonder if the pricing isn’t a little steep at US$4 for a pack of five.

Women often suffer from acute pain for a couple of days, which means they would need more than one pack every month. Can teenagers and college-going girls – who are the most likely to need it (women with children usually don’t get menstrual cramps) – afford it?

Deep thinks it’s not a problem. “For the millennial population, the fact that our range is solving their intimate issues is a big enough reason for them to buy the products again and again. I am sure prices will come down as we scale.”

While the startup often gets called a social enterprise, he would rather avoid getting slotted. “We are just trying to make life easier for women!”

*Name changed to protect privacy.

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View of IIT Bombay from Sameer Hill in Mumbai. Photo credit: Wikimedia.

IIT Bombay is among the top engineering colleges in India. Ola founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, along with founders of Housing, MadRat Games, Webaroo, and several other startups have their roots there.

The entrepreneurial cell at IIT Bombay holds an annual summit, which includes a pitch-fest of curated startups. This weekend, four startups got approved and funded on the spot by a large panel of angel investors, including Ajeet Khurana, VC Karthic, Sanjay Mehta, Miten Mehta, and Anirudh Damani. Here are the startups they picked:

Intuit Things

Intuit Things is an IoT startup for home automation. From controlling temperature and light to scheduling appliances and detecting an unwanted presence, it claims to have a “sixth sense” to anticipate your needs. It aims to do all this at more affordable price points than similar imported products in the market.

The Mumbai-based startup’s founder, Neil Savant, has a master’s degree in engineering from Ohio State University and worked in the US for a few years before returning home to be an entrepreneur. Angel investor Sanjay Mehta led the funding commitment of US$100,000 into this startup.

See: This IoT startup gets Deutsche Telecom backing for disrupting GPS

Cloudrino

Cloudrino provides companies with virtual servers on the cloud. Its APIs (application programming interfaces) enable developers to integrate their apps with Cloudrino. It claims to have a scalable architecture enabling quick upgrading or downgrading of services according to requirements. Cloudrino has nodes in data centers in India, Australia, and the US. The Delhi-based startup got a commitment of US$22,000 in funding from the angels at IIT Bombay.

See: How this pioneer built a SaaS hub in Chennai without VC money

FabX

FabX is a marketplace for refurbished furniture. Along with the listing of each product, details of the refurbishing are given. There are also buyback options. Currently, it operates only in Mumbai. The founders – Kunal Mehta, Prasanjeet Suradkar, Abhijeet Pawar, and Piyush Chauhan – are IIT Bombay graduates. The startup got a commitment of US$66,000 in angel funding at the e-summit.

See: Zefo bags $6 million to take the distrust out of used goods trading

MapTags

MapTags takes the pain out of filling out addresses. Instead, users can choose an available word or phrase to map to an address. For example, if ‘Nandini’ is your tag, entering Mapta.gs/Nandini will pull up the address on a user’s phone, along with pictures that make it easy to find the location. This is useful both for guests coming over, as well as food or ecommerce delivery people.

An interesting twist is to book cool tags which could later be resold, such as the resale of internet domain names. The Bangalore-based startup got a commitment of US$18,000 from the angels at the IIT Bombay e-summit.

See: Dot com to dot love: How to use the web’s new domains to get noticed

Converted from Indian rupees. Rate: US$1 = INR 68.13.

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