Tuesday, March 24

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

I was initially very skeptical about reading this book by Rashmi Bansal. I prefer her blogs and the much more popular JAM-Mag. Most of you would already be knowing about her and the furor her blog had caused some years back. Well, the good madam has shown once again how to succinctly put together a practical book with an interesting theme – Entrepreneurship.

The point where it gets to be different is that each the entrepreneurs covered in the book are alumni from the top B-school in the country, thats right – the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The book is structured as chapters on each of these people, some who knew what they wanted at the outset, some who adapted their businesses to the demands of the market, some who struggled against difficult times – but all of those who have made a name for themselves in the end. Some popular names like – Naukri.com, Mastek, and even the company which I had worked for IRIS (Investment Research and Information Services) have been covered.

Altogether a good compilation, wherein each chapter tells us something about entrepreneurship.

4 comments:

anushka said...

There is quite an interesting breed of writers in India these days who aren't the 'old school' snobbish types and just drink wine and eat cheese. I loved SHSF and just finished Happionaire's Cash The Crash;Yogesh Chabria. I ended up reading it all Saturday night and got to learn a lot. What do you feel of this book Prasad? I feel a lot of old school MBAs might not agree with some of the radical views of the author.

Unknown said...

@Anushka - I agree, though I dont quite expect your typical MBA to agree with the book. Entrepreneurs and MBAs are mutually exclusive :)
Will give the title you mentioned a look see!!

anushka said...

Yes, but these days new MBAs aren't getting too many 'well paying jobs' and thus they are off to become entrepreneurs. Times are changing as they say.

Would be curious to know if you agree with the ideas shared in the Cash The Crash. I found them pretty radical and some of them even a bit odd. What do you think about philosophies such as "Lower Risks Mean Higher Returns"?

Unknown said...

@anushka - This philosophy can work if the person can really evaluate the risk very well. One way of looking at risks is to look at it as potential loss .. lowering that does translate into higher returns!! But one should also be aware of the opportunity cost of not taking that risk and find the correct balance between the two.