Mumbai-based venture capital firm Lightbox has led a $3.4 Mn (INR 24 Cr) funding round in social writing game HaikuJAM that allows people to make friends while writing together.

Besides Lightbox, Social Capital, Dunce Capital and HaikuJAM’s existing investor 2Enable Partners also participated in the round.

The social writing platform is planning to use this funding to strengthen and scale its artificial intelligence (AI) powered search tool, INSPO.

INSPO is a search tool on HaikuJAM’s portal that allows users to look up keywords to search for things other users associated with a given word.

Apart from just being a search engine, it also allows users to set writing prompts and get “inspiration points” around them within 30 minutes. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578785642.8462117/HaikuJAM-Looks-To-Innovate-Search-Tool-With-Lightbox’s-Funding?ref=audio_experience

SEO dominates the world of organic online marketing.

However, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising still has a place in business marketing, even in 2020.

It’s important to say that pay-per-click advertising might not work for all businesses or entrepreneurs.

But PPC marketing appeals to a certain kind of searcher and to pitch a certain type of product.

Unlike print advertising, online marketing is easy to fine tune, and problems are inexpensive to remedy. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578783606.966798/Is-Pay-Per-Click-Advertising-Good-for-Business?-–-Marketing?ref=audio_experience

I run a startup called apnacake.

apnacake would help customer discover awesome cakes at the local level.

Since Hindi is commonly spoken throughout India and quick to relate, apnacake was a natural choice at that point of time.

Know Your Startuptalker: Anthony stephen MendesChallenges FacedBeing a non tech guy, I feel late to the party at times.

We should contribute in every possible way, big or small. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578781817.4775362/Indranil-Deb:-The-Founder-Of-apnacake-Shares-His-Mantra-|-Know-The-StartupTalker?ref=audio_experience

The tech tools that businesses use for marketing, security, and communication can make a major impact on their success.

Protect Your Business From Data BreachesA data breach can spell disaster for a small business.

So if you want to improve the experience for customers, check out the insights in this Duct Tape Marketing post by John Jantsch.

Create Captivating MaterialThe content that you create for your business need to be truly captivating in order to help you create customers for life.

Optimize Mobile Marketing for Optichannel ROIAs mobile marketing evolves, more and more channels are becoming available to provide real results. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578780016.9478543/10-Tips-for-Making-the-Most-of-Your-Small-Business-Technology?ref=audio_experience

About MeI wish not to be the next Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, but the first sight of me projected onto a larger group of people.

Startup JourneyIn its 'idea' stage, I look forward to create online services that will mesmerize people before it benefits them.

Jaspreet is a young and energetic guy who uses events and happenings to his advantage and makes profit where people see a party.

I specialize in content writing and also use Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and FL Studio (a program for creating music).

Advice From MeYour business should do the dirty work so that your customers feel they are made of gold. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578778215.4275575/Anthony-Stephen-Mendes:-A-Jack-Of-Some-Trades-|-Know-The-StartupTalker?ref=audio_experience

In an interview with ET, Ganjoo speaks about the global drone industry and the complex regulatory challenges it faces.

In 2008, I transitioned to working with the US Department of Defense on communication and drone programme.

While working with drones in the defence segment, I saw their potential and huge opportunities in the commercial arena.

In terms of India as a drone supplier for global market, that is unfortunately a long uphill journey.

They are lessons learned from other parts of the world that can be leveraged instead of reinventing the wheel. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578776413.3989623/India-needs-to-leverage-drone-lessons-from-across-the-globe:-Amit-Ganjoo?ref=audio_experience

On Cadre, founded by Shalini Saxena and Kanchan Gupta, the resolution is done online through a website-based platform.First, one party approaches the platform, which contacts the other party.

It is helping resolve nearly 10,000 disputes with values of up to Rs 20 lakh after winning an E-Alternate Dispute Resolution Challenge 2019 launched by the bank and Agami, a non-profit.

Sama charges a commission for the services provided on its platform.Last year, Vikas Mahendra, a partner with law firm Keystone Partners, cofounded the Centre for Online Dispute Resolution ( CODR ), which positions itself as an institution that will administer cases online end-to-end.

A year ago, a Nandan Nilekani -led panel on digital payments suggested that all payment system operators “must implement a fast and fair online dispute resolution system”.Globally, ODR growth was fuelled by the e-commerce boom, with eBay and PayPal resolving millions of disputes online.

“Lawyers can now explore providing online arbitration and mediation services as a viable career option too.”Nevertheless, there is growing conviction that it is only a matter of time before ODR is adopted at scale in India. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578774614.565562/Online-dispute-resolution-is-beginning-to-find-takers-in-India?ref=audio_experience

So at little old team SaaStr, we historically did not really track social followers as a core metric.

So we decided to do a bit of a conceit and create a “Total Social Followers” metric.

And growth in 2018 for both our list and our social followers were pretty flat.

For us at least:on Twitter , folks want micro-blogs and new content (at least for us).

But some folks really learn the most from attending live events, and really thinking and learning from the speakers. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578772808.52494/SaaStr-Crosses-1,000,000-Social-Followers.-Lessons-Learned.?ref=audio_experience

It has had a huge impact on how I feel throughout the day and the overall quality of my thought process.

We are generally more focused on becoming profitable.That will be our focus for the next one or two years.

In fact, they find it easier to raise money in tough times because investors look at quality metrics more.

But if you have a good product that customers love, investors are always available.

A lot of good companies get started during a slowdown. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578771012.147679/Good-companies-can-easily-raise-money-in-tough-times:-Curefit-cofounder-Mukesh-Bansal?ref=audio_experience

Public speaking, it is one of the biggest phobias people across all segments experience.

On January 23, David Nihill, described by Forbes.com “as one of the best public speaking coaches out there” will hold a masterclass in San Francisco.

Additionally, he will impart actionable tips to apply immediately in your next public speaking engagement.

Register NowEvents, Contests and AwardsMore ContestsThis weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578769211.8115194/Public-Speaking-Coach-David-Nihill-Shares-Tips-at-this-San-Francisco-Event?ref=audio_experience