Socio-economic growth and the sustenance of a country depend upon the entrepreneurial spirit and culture existing amongst its citizens. A new enterprise not only guarantees livelihood to people, but innovative products and services enhance the quality of life of the society.
In India, traditionally regional topography and caste structure dictates the ratio of people taking up a salaried job vis-à-vis starting on their own, however, recently many professional having prime educational background, like IIM and IIT professionals, have surely set a trend by chucking beaten path of fat paying campus jobs and setting off on their own.
‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ captures such 25 stories of IIM-A graduates who took the unconventional path of entrepreneurship. While some worked at prestigious companies like P&G, Citibank before deciding to follow their hearts, some took plunge directly. While some rode on VC-wave in the dotcom boom, some borrowed funds from every other source possible including their family and friends.
While some unlocked the value and gave up the control over their own company for the good, some still lead its day to day operations. However, every story either of success or failure is a lesson in itself. Basic rules such as managing the cash flows right, keeping the focus intact and never giving up the idea are coherent in all the chapters.
Few of the stories are really awe inspiring. Account of Rajeev Bikhchandani and his dotcom venture naukri.com is a case study in itself. (It is a popular case study in most of the b-schools). How his venture with GoI failed and he built naukri.com on the same platform when terms like internet and domain name were unheard of, the onslaught of foreign portals like monster.com and naukri.com survival, whole story is an epitome of self-belief, desire to create value and wealth-sharing.
So is the extreme story of Venkat Krishnan, who came under huge impact of ‘Communist Manifesto’ and Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, and devoted his life to social service, using his management acumen to form ‘GiveIndia’, an organization dedicated to promoting and enabling a culture of ‘giving’. GiveIndia has set high standards and benchmarks for the industry in which its operating.
Other remarkable sketches include the likes of Jerry Rao (mphasis BFL), Sunil Handa (Eklavya Educational Foundation), Rashesh Shah (Edelweiss Capital) and SB Dagayanch (Syntex). Priced at Rs 125, book is packed with all the *gyaan *you would want to learn.
About the Author: Those who were devoted readers of JAM, a youth magazine in their college days, would know that Rashmi Bansal is the founder-editor of this magazine and a graduate from IIM-A. Her blog is here.