MADAN SABNAVIS

T IS A well-known fact that most

startups tend to fail within a few

years of inception. Yet, there is a clar-

ion call to give a push to startups

because they bring in new ideas as well

as have the potential to become what are

called unicorn (companies valued at over

$1 billion). There have been several

instances of such unicorns spurting in

India, which houses one of the largest

numbers in recent years.

This is what is explored by Aditya

Arora and Surya Pasricha in their book

Startups of Bharat. They take the reader

through different success stories and

have certain lessons for those who wish

to get into such ventures. There has been

a tendency for several engineering and

management graduates to get into

something new; and with the spread of

technology, has become easier. These

startups have chosen the online route

often to deliver new products and ser-

vices to customers. In fact, as the authors

show, most of these ideas germinate

when they are studying in college and

fructify as they end their courses and opt

for this unconventional route rather

than try for the placements. This is

reflective of a very advanced level of

intellect where students are already in

this entrepreneurial role, albeit in the

mind, from an early age.

The authors claim that this is not a

book that teaches or preaches. It is more

a collection of various ideas that have

gone into creating startups that have

worked. Hence, one cannot ask about

those that have not worked. Each story

covered in the book gives a gist of what

the enterprise does and then traces how

these ideas came up and were imple-

mented. At the end of each chapter

there are key takeaways. This would

closely resemble a brief playbook that

could be adopted by anyone thinking of

such ventures.

Some of the questions that are posed

relate to the business, while others are

more behavioural, which will vary across

persons. Hence when they talk of being

Startups of

Bharat: Stories

of India's

Million-Dollar

Founders

Under Thirty

Aditya Arora,

Surya Pasricha

Penguin Random

House

Pp 240, ₹399

In India, several startups have focused on education and derived fair returns over time, writes

the author

It's all about the idea

Stories of successful startups and their strategies

resilient or dreaming big and being bold,

the concept may look fairly nebulous. But

talking on systems and not the product

or focusing on communities and not just

customers will be more specific thoughts

that need to be pursued.

These stories of entrepreneurs have

resulted into considerable amounts of

money being raised in the market, with

some achieving unicorn status. These

startups have not just brought in new

ideas but also created jobs. This is one

way to go for the economy as conven-

tional jobs become repetitive and prob-

ably scarce as technology-driven AI can

create a certain modicum of redun-

dancy of labour.

Trying to trace patterns in these

enterprises, the authors conclude that

there are essentially three prerequisites

that have to be met for a successful ven-

ture. The first is the product or service

(which they term as problem) should be

one with a large potential market. This

sounds logical because scale is important

when bringing in any technology as oth-

erwise there would be a levelling of

demand. Along with size of the market,

there must be what they call a 'problem

which is repetitive' so that the venture

can garner an income on a regular basis.

This too sounds fair, because for the mar-

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ket size to be maintained over the years,

there must be high growth registered

continuously or else the idea will wane.

Last, the product must be considered an

essential and not of discretionary value.

This is important because as economies

progress there are business cycles. If

products are not a necessity, then there

will be reduction in demand in the nat-

ural course. However, if it is essential,

then it would work well.

In this book, Arora and Pasricha pro-

vide several case studies to drive home

this point. The first thought that comes

to us would be education, which is

something that is large given the

demography of India. Several startups

have focused on this field and derived

fair returns over time.

Providing a platform for cattle is

another rather novel idea. We are aware

of a second-hand automobile market

which is conducted online by several

such enterprises. But trading of cattle is

different which eschews the bother of

going to cattle fairs. Besides the platform

and other technical issues that have to

be in place, there is a need to give wide

scale publicity to these ideas so that a

market is created.

They talk of another venture that cre-

ated India's largest student community

where one can come and learn new skills

and network with peers. Another exam-

ple provided is of a property manage-

ment app that helps landlords and prop-

erty managers automate rent collection

and streamlining tenant onboarding.

They also provide some guidance on

how one finds mentors as this is some-

thing that is useful for sure. Similarly,

they pose and answer questions on the

funding aspect of such ventures as well

as on where to register the company.

Raising money is always a challenge for

any individual, especially if the idea that

is being worked on is new and not tested.

These are useful tips where the sugges-

tions are not based on any theoretical

basis, but practical experience of how

various entrepreneurs did the same.

The 15 chapters that are included

here are what the authors quite appro-

priately call the 15 levels of simulation as

each level has advice based on a specific

company's experience. This book will

surely be of interest to anyone who is

looking to do something new as it does

do some hand holding from the stage of

ideation to making the project work. For

those who are not of this variety, the book

provides interesting reading as it talks of

how things got done for all these compa-

nies (the names have not been men-

tioned in this review as it would take the

fizz out from reading the book).

Madan Sabnavis is chief economist,

Bank of Baroda