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Thinking Simple

So heartwarming to read about technology making a real difference to the most underserved. In this case making sure a person was actually paid for the sale

“Confirmation that money has come was a perennial issue for vendors,” Pai told Rest of World. “A lot of vendors had feature phones with SMS limits, and hence, confirmations of payments didn’t come in real time as SMS inboxes were full. Some asked to see customers’ phones or asked customers to send [the payments] again, which led to lots of arguments and a poor checkout experience. Sound box [services] seem to have solved that problem.

The customer for the solution is one I am very familiar with. They have not changed all that much since my childhood years in India to last summer when I was back home in Kolkata. It was always unclear to me how the small-time vegetable sellers with a little space on the side of the street was able to eke an existence. Just about everything was conspiring against their success. And yet they persisted year upon year making some sort of a living. Enabling them in any way possible to come out ahead is a big win. This is a great example of great simplicity coupled with proper execution - something to be inspired by for anyone looking to bring a product to market.

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