Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the government was working on more steps, including rationalisation of personal income tax rates, to revive the sagging economy.

The government had taken several measures during August and September to boost the economy, Nirmala Sitharaman said at the HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi.

Finance Minister Nirmala SitharamanShe added that public sector banks had disbursed nearly Rs 5 lakh crore without compromising on prudential norms in the last two months to boost consumption in the hinterland.

Asked if there could be more measures announced to bolster economic activity, she said, “If I say yes, it will be when and if I say yes, it's also going to be back to me saying ‘are you not too close to the budget’.

I handle it,” Nirmala Sitharaman said. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575781206.2558885/Government-working-on-more-measures-to-boost-economy,-says-FM-Nirmala-Sitharaman?ref=audio_experience

Additionally, Grishaver will be in charge of developing the company’s internal product team, as well as designing the company’s long-term global strategy.

Grishaver previously served as senior vice president of product at Etsy, helping the company grow its mobile gross merchandise sales by 47 percent.

He also served as vice president of product management at Pandora.

Prior to that, Grishaver worked at LinkedIn as the head of its product management and monetization.

The startup has appointed Andrew Aziz as executive vice president of business development, and Kian Rafia as managing director and head of US distribution. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575780186.172225/Today-in-hires:-TextNow,-d1g1t,-Volta?ref=audio_experience

YC Partner and Tutorspree cofounder Aaron Harris on who founders should listen to for advice.

Topics00:00 – Who should founders listen to for advice?

00:55 – Your job as a founder is to build a company not just get advice1:35 – Pick someone and “Make for yourself a Rabbi” – https://blog.ycombinator.com/what-to-do-with-too-much-advice/2:25 – Pick an advisor who gives nuanced advice3:25 – Pick an advisor who’s seen the game multiple times3:55 – Pick an advisor you get along with4:20 – At the end of the day you need to evaluate the advice on its own merit | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575778389.3452945/Who-Should-Founders-Listen-To-For-Advice??ref=audio_experience

Prior to Oracle, Des was the CMO of Kerio Technologies, marketing to over 60,000 SMB customers and 5,000 channel partners.

If we start with an element of causation, why do you think customers today are more unpredictable than they maybe were before?

Des Cahill: That’s a great question, Harry.

Des Cahill: I try to learn about the product from your website or third party websites, by talking to my friends.

Des Cahill: The second thing I’m spending a lot of time on is the intersection of adtech and martech. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575776583.5974998/SaaStr-Podcasts-for-the-Week-with-Oracle,-Salesloft,-Zoom,-and-FireEye-—-December-6,-2019?ref=audio_experience

Technology use among small business owners: This quarter’s Index spotlights small business attitudes towards adopting technology for their businesses.

Amazon U.S. Small Business Spotlight AwardsAmazon announced the U.S. winners of the Small Business Spotlight Awards, including: Small Business of the Year, Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year, and Small Business Owner Under 30 of the Year.

Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year: 1818 Farms – Mooresville, AL-based small business 1818 Farms began as a family project for Natasha McCrary in 2012 and evolved quickly into a booming business.

The 2019 Independent Small Business of the Year AwardArt Lounge in Spartanburg, SC is the winner of the 2019 Independent Small Business of the Year award.

“The Green Business Bureau mission is based on the concept that good business and green business go hand-in-hand.” says Tom Permatteo, CEO of GBB. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575774788.8652792/Small-Business-Owners-Are-Confident!-Do-Robocalls-Work??ref=audio_experience

In the earlier 410 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery.

world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

Her art works are priced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000.

Becoming an artist calls for patience, passion, creativity, and imagination, she advises aspiring artists.

She has a string of favourite festivals: India Art Festival, Kala Ghoda Art Festival, Goa Art and Literature Festival, Nandan Mela, Calcutta Book fair, Delhi International Book Fair, Jaipur Lit Fest, Chitra Santhe, Konark Dance Festival, Khajuraho Dance Festivals, and India Art Fair. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575772207.638525/Imagination,-observation,-dedication-–-what-these-artists-teach-us-about-the-journey-of-creativity?ref=audio_experience

The young CA, after all, seemed to have it all: a cushy job at ICICI’s corporate office in London, the financial capital of the world.

Harsh and friend Mukul Sachan felt there was a big gap that the existing financial models weren’t able to solve.

In all the 70,000 loans, we have disbursed we have had only 38 frauds,” Lendingkart CEO and Co-founder Harsh says.

Harshvardhan Lunia, CEO and Co-founder of Lendingkart TechnologiesThe idea was that entrepreneurs in the 35-45 years age bracket needed short-term working capital loans for their SMEs.

Co-founder and COO Mukul is no longer a part of Lendingkart, having left his full-time role in the startup in September. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575770405.905743/[The-Turning-Point]-Why-this-CA-decided-to-leave-his-cushy-job-in-London-to-start-Lendingkart?ref=audio_experience

Ritvik SahoreEchoes of Earth, Bengaluru’s very own music festival and India’s greenest music festival, is scheduled to be held this weekend.

Make a beeline to this festival to enjoy great music in an eco-conscious environment.

Echoes of Earth Music Festival will be held in Bengaluru this weekendWhen you think of Thailand, images of delicious street food, floating markets, a bustling nightlife, and golden beaches come to mind.

Statement sneakers were very trendy in 2019What is you favourite comfort food?

YS Weekender caught up with Praneet Singh, culinary head of food venture The Khichdi Experiment, to talk about khichdi, which is often described as the ultimate comfort food. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575768606.456118/Best-of-Weekender:-A-tête-à-tête-with-Ritvik-Sahore-of-'Dangal'-fame,-enjoy-India’s-greenest-music-festival,-and-sample-some-comfort-food?ref=audio_experience

The highlight of this week was probably when the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and Chairman of the Tata Trusts, Ratan Tata, put together a startup pitch deck template for entrepreneurs on Instagram.

The startup pitch deck – a 16 slide PowerPoint presentation, watermarked Office of Ratan Tata – details the most important aspects that should be covered in any pitch by a first-time entrepreneur.

The illustrious industrialist added a 'Notes that might help' section at the end of his startup pitch deck.

Here, Ratan Tata emphasises that entrepreneurs validate every possible slide with data.

Apart from increased consumption patterns and growth, 2020 for startups in Bharat will be about focussed growth and mentorships. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575766807.4320598/Ratan-Tata-posts-a-startup-pitch-deck-template-for-entrepreneurs-(and-other-top-stories-of-the-week)?ref=audio_experience

With event marketing technology, you’ll know, and be able to boost those numbers too.

Learn how you can fold event tech into your existing marketing automation platform and CRM and win demonstrable results in this VB Live event!

Those are too often only tenuously connected to the rest of your marketing strategy, with data gathered manually and then also input manually into your existing system.

For 24Notion, a key signal has been location, which can inform the next steps in an event marketing strategy, Lukas says.

Event technology enables you to scan attendee badges and connect that attendee’s information and location to your own CRM. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1575765782.8137975/Event-marketing-tech-reveals-what-attendees-actually-care-about-(VB-Live)?ref=audio_experience