Work. Eat. SLEEP. Repeat - your startup fix to start the week

Arianna Huffington has one tip for people looking to succeed: GET MORE SLEEP! The author and businesswoman believes that we “are living under a collective delusion that overwork and burnout are the price we must pay in order to succeed”. So not true, says the woman who founded news website The Huffington Post and chose to step down to found Thrive Global, a startup focused on health and wellness information.

Along the way she wrote many best-sellers, including one that focuses only on sleep: The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time. “By helping us keep the world in perspective, sleep gives us a chance to refocus on the essence of who we are,” Arianna writes.

So why the sudden focus on sleep? Because we’ve just stepped into Sleep Awareness Week, which aims to educate people about healthy sleeping habits. Founded by the National Sleep Foundation, this week focuses on how good sleep is “heavily linked to weight gain and depression, a drop in concentration and productivity, can increase the risks of heart diseases and strokes, and can affect emotional and social interactions”.

Reason enough to grab those zzzzzs and make up your sleep debt? Take the time out today for it is Napping Day (yes, it’s a thing!), which encourages you to take time out for a childhood pleasure: the afternoon nap. And why not when the siesta continues to be a time-honoured tradition in the Mediterranean and our very own Goa?

After all, as Arianna says, “Everything you do, you'll do better with a good night's sleep.”

And once you are recharged and revived, get down to work with renewed focus and vigour. Our bouquet of startup stories is sure to provide plenty of Monday motivation.

This startup aims to make your clothing as VERSATYL as it can get!  Founded by Saneen Javali in 2016 on crowd-funding platform Fueladream, Bengaluru-based Emirate Fashions has created an online niche with a range of functional, affordable, and fashionable multi-utility jackets. And in just two years, the founder grew his investment of Rs 2 lakh into a turnover of Rs 5 crore!

Fitness first, we all know, but sticking to an exercise plan ain't easy. Enter a bootstrapped Mumbai-based startup that helps you get in shape, and - wait for it - earns you goodies as well! StepSetGo, which offers free products as an incentive to motivate users to get fit, claims to be adding 7,000 new users every day since it was launched in January 2019.

When you multitask all day, every day, shouldn't your clothes do too? Bootstrapped PostFold's casual workwear helps you seamlessly transition from professional to party mode. Launched in November 2015 by Ashish Gurnani and Aashray Thatai, the Gurugram-based startup has been growing steadily for the past four years with over 5,000 orders a month.

Suresh Kumar G, Founder of cloud-based theatre management system CiniCloud, is categorical that if “you tell a Rajinikanth fan that he can't do something, he will do it”. His Chennai-based CiniCloud can be the Zoho of theatre management systems, helping single-screen cinemas and multiplexes manage inventories, seat layouts, scheduling, and ticketing seamlessly over the cloud.

Fuel out, electric in. Automakers across the world have realised that going green is the way to the future, and India has also climbed on to the EV bandwagon. Enter an R&D specialist, who is hoping to take India by Strom with his all-electric urban car. Pratik Gupta launched Strom Motors to focus on sustainable mobility and is waiting to launch Strom-R3, a made-in-India electric trike that is efficient and economical.

Classmates at Wharton, Pushkar Mukewar and Neil Kothari were keen to start up, but did not have the idea. After a few years of working in the finance industry, they realised that lending was big business. Reason enough for them to launch California-based Drip Capital in 2015 and bet big on Indian SMEs. The trade finance company provides collateral-free, post-shipment finance to Indian exporters “with instant approvals and minimal documentation”.

Education, they say, is the most important weapon you can wield to change the world. Binayak Acharya realised this when he visited his hometown Cuttack in 2016. Now, this ex-World Bank consultant is educating 2,800 children with the help of over 100 local women. His startup ThinkZone has raised $208,000 in funding, and is looking to train over 10,000 children by 2020.

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