Let’s talk business

Jayanti Roy

The reasons that the authors give for writing this book are many. The book, they say, is an ode to the new romantic notion of entrepreneurship and to the software industry. It is a paean to Bengaluru. It is also meant to give lessons of life to young entrepreneurs and is a tribute to the peers.  Most of the objectives are fulfilled, albeit the focus gets a little foggy. 

Stories of 10 first-time entrepreneurial ventures find place in the book, each charting a different roadmap. Some single-handedly run the business, while others collaborate. Some have sound-academic background, others learnt the skills on the job. Some started early, others took their time. The common thread that binds them is that they are all in the software domain and are established in the start-up city of Bengaluru, also called the Silicon Valley of India. 

The authors have experience in the field of software and product development, management and engineering. Likewise, the book is well-researched and smartly presented. It explores questions like why do people put their life at risks to become entrepreneurs, knowing that the price of failure will be too much to bear, are entrepreneurs born or made and what drives an entrepreneur in a society like ours to pave his own path. A lot of answers can be found in the interviews of these 13 entrepreneurs.

The stories are inspiring and reveal how these ordinary persons conquered the odds. The interviews specifically comment on the value orientation of the interviewees and highlights how values like simplicity, integrity, commitment, patience and not lust for power or aspiration for quick money helped them achieve their goals. All entrepreneurs come out as down-to-earth leaders with a spark, but unassuming and standing on solid ground, with no airs about them. 

The book rightly identifies five common attributes of an entrepreneur — passion, recognition of opportunities, inclination to deal with risks, self confidence and hard work. This is the take-home message that everybody, especially youngsters, can get from this book.

Writing about successful Indian entrepreneurs, who ventured out abandoning cushioned paths of secure lifestyle, has become a popular trend. This book is another one in the series, though it attempts to understand the leitmotif of entrepreneurship in India in addition to telling the stories of the courageous individuals. 

A drawback of such books is that after a few stories, the content becomes repetitive in the format of initial struggle, hiccups and finally conquering the hardships, one black-and-white photograph and boxed information about the venture. It is only because stories of each struggle are panned out in a different and unique way in this book that the reader is spared the boredom. A chapter on the evolution of technology in India and a list of handy website addresses helps the reader understand the concept better.

Out of the 13 entrepreneurs in the 10 stories, we get to meet only one woman, Meena Ganesh, who works as a team with her husband. One wonders if there are very few women entrepreneurs in the field or this is how the authors sampled the subjects. As the title of the book is, Start-up City — Bangalore, one expects that the role of the city will be investigated as well. But the title is a mismatch, as there are no examples of how the city moulded the entrepreneurial instincts of these persons and the book is certainly not about the city.