My favourite line last week in literature is from Richard Yates' novel Easter Parade: "Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a contented life, and looking out back, it always seemed that the difficulty began with their parents' divorce." this is often an out of this world sentence, not simply because it’s beautiful in and of itself. It stands out because Yates doesn't waste a second to inform you what the book is all about, which is extremely un-typical a piece of fiction, particularly a completely unique. If 'story' is all you take care of, there's no reason for you to read any longer. Viewed journalistically, the road tells you the "what" and "why" of the Grimes sisters' doomed lives.
But it derives its power from making you very interested in the "how".
The reason I bring this up is because the headlines for The MMS's newsletter aren't unlike this line. there's an inclination among journalists to be cryptic or cute with headlines to pique the reader's interest. in this regard, headlines can sometimes read like book titles.
But at The MMS, though, we wish to inform you right upfront what you’re entering into while also trying to form you wish to read the newsletter. we do not sacrifice clarity at the altar of cleverness. And this week's headlines were no different.
"Fatigue and FOMO: The span of Indian edtech VC emotions": We began the week with cross-check the evolution of the varieties of edtechs investors want to back. Yes, there's an entire world beyond BYJU's and Unacademy.
"The Interview: Mapping the planet with NextBillion.ai’s Ajay Bulusu": On Tuesday, our team had a desirable chat meeting with the co-founder of a Singapore-based startup that has custom navigation data to e-tailers and ride-hailing companies, among others.
"Corporates on notice as mutual funds find their voting voice": In our Wednesday story, I checked out how the capital of India markets regulator's mandate forcing mutual funds to vote on shareholder resolutions could finally hold companies accountable. But how far can mutual funds go when these very companies also are their clients?
"Xiaomi’s plans to gatecrash Apple, OnePlus’ premium party": The Chinese handset maker has been synonymous with cheap handsets. But, as we wrote on Thursday, Xiaomi now wants to be an aspirational brand. And it's overhauling how its phones are sold and the way its brand is perceived. But Xiaomi remainssure an uphill climb.
"Insurtech 2.0 wants to mend the loopy claims and complaints process. Can it?": Mis-sold policies and rejected claims are partly why insurance policies worth over $3 billion weren't renewed within the year ended March 2020. It's no surprise, then, that a brand new crop of startups wants to bring some order to insurance grievance redressal, reported in Friday piece.
That's all from me. Have a decent Sunday!
Yusuf Bhandarkar www.multimediastudio.net