New Norms of the New World A new generation of founders is rewriting the rules of business, and a new breed of commerce is challenging the status quo.

By Ritu Marya

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Everything's getting smarter -- not just computers and phones, but personal care, refrigerators, shoes and shirts, and anything in between. Behind and beneath each of the particular smartening technologies is the inexorable advance toward artificial intelligence (AI). Many startups will convene these important discussions about the impact that AI, robots, genetic technologies, and other innovations eventually have on the workforce and everyday life.

As India completed a year living under the pandemic, our focus was to understand where the startup world has gone in the last year. In our current issue, we have some very interesting stories talking about pivots undergone to angel investment witnessing a rise in the last year. This year, with India setting the stage right for startups with new norms coming through SEBI, will also witness many tech startups heading for an IPO long-awaited. See our special story on the growing number of Indian startup unicorns all set to take the market by storm.

I also had a great conversation with one of the actor entrepreneurs who gave entrepreneurship the equal importance it deserves for a change. Kunal Kapoor the co-founder of Ketto brought to light how crowdfunding has evolved in the Covid era. We give you an insight into the conversation. The full conversation is out on our website. We also held the 10th Small Business Awards taking place virtually this year and had some great insights from the Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Shri Nitin Gadkari, who is working at the ground level to look at new laws and plans to solve MSME issues. We also saw the coming together of technology behemoths and financing companies all coming to lend a helping hand for small business revival. Also read small business Expert Melinda Emerson's expert advice in this issue.

We are very excited to bring to you our next Startup issue, which will focus on human resources witnessing new tech gameplay this year. It would be interesting to see the new tech frontier helping businesses to adapt to a new world.

(This article was first published in the April 2021 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)

Ritu Marya

Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur Media (APAC & India)

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