The Startup Quiz

Entrepreneurs take risks to establish new businesses. They are key players in capitalist societies, creating wealth and jobs, identifying gaps in the market and ways to satisfy them. Check if you know some unusual facts about some well-known entrepreneurs.

1. A philanthropist-entrepreneur, this man financed and founded the aviation departments of Imperial College, London, and of the University of Paris. He made a vast fortune from arms deals, as the chief agent for the Maxim machine gun, among other weapons. He’s rumoured to have financed both sides in several wars. Who was he?
2. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple. But long before the company was formally launched, they sold their first product, named the Blue Box. What exactly did the Blue Box do?
3. A pioneer in business communication, this man wrote a massively popular self-help book and established a 103-year-old course in communications that has been franchised across 90 countries (at least). Who was he and what was the best-selling book called?
4. This man started life interning as a financial analyst for the Bank of Nova Scotia. He has claimed that he will one day “build an intelligent car capable of not believing in God”. Who is he?
5. The annual market of this product is about `500 crore. It is named after a mythological medicine the Ashwini Kumars used to rejuvenate a sage. Name the product and the rishi?
6. Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a short story which inspired the name of a famous personal care product. Name the short story/product and the company?
7. An Indian fashion brand “borrowed” its name from a French opera. Which opera and which brand?
8. The Gruen effect and variations of it are considered important in which industry?
9. This Indian entrepreneur’s father almost ended up as the first finance minister of Pakistan. For many years, the bulk of his company’s income came from cooking oils. Nowadays, his flagship company is better known for providing IT services. Who is he?
10. Slogan: Life is short. Have an ------” Complete the slogan and name the innovative business which uses this?

Answers

1. Basil Zaharoff
2. It hacked into tone-dialling systems and allowed users to make free phone calls. (Illegal, of course.)
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
4. Elon Musk (of Tesla, SpaceX, PayPal)
5. Chyawanprash, for Chyawan rishi
6. Head & Shoulders (Proctor & Gamble)
7. Lakme, a French adaptation of Lakshmi
8. Retailing. Austrian architect Victor Gruen designed the deliberately confusing internal layouts for malls and supermarkets, where confused shoppers end up buying unintended things. 
9. Azim Premji. His father, Hasham Premji, refused Jinnah’s offer. Azim set up Wipro’s IT division in 1980.
10. ‘Life is short. Have an affair.’ Ashley Madison, the online dating service specialising in adultery.

Quiz created for Outlook by Devangshu Dutta