Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal

Title : Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Author : Rashmi Bansal
Publisher : CIIE, IIM
ISBN : 8190453017
EAN : 9788190453011
Binding : Paperback
Language : English

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It opens with the words by Steve Jobs in the commencement speech in Stanford University in 2005. "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish" is a compilation of stories of twenty-five entrepreneurs in the new age India. Just like the tone of Mr. Jobs in the commencement speech, this book tries to connect the dots between the new wave of entrepreneurs. It compiles a random set of 25 IIM-A graduates who are millionaires, oops.. billionaires now. (Millionaires seem to have become a cliche these days as there are so many of them).
The book is a nice read, especially for 'wanna-be' entrepreneurs who are also seeking an MBA degree. Ms. Bansal mixed her opinions along with the interview texts nicely in the book. The enthusiasm to start a venture leaving fat paychecks, pains of raising capital, convincing customers and family for continuing the business are facets of all stories involving successful entrepreneurs. The book comprises of birth stories of companies from different industry verticals like engineering, education, agriculture, hotels, investment banking, business process outsourcing, clinical research, analytics, and others, such as Naukri.com, Renuka Sugars, MakemyTrip.com etc.
Each story starts with the backgrounds of the entrepreneur, previous attempts at startup ventures and founding the company they are currently associated with and their rise to fame. Some words of wisdom for young entrepreneurs feature at the end of each story. All of the stories has something or the other to offer. How families reacted to the decisions of the entrepreneurs are different for each of them. Potential entrepreneurs must take note of those because support of the family is a treasure for the business personnel to sail safely in choppy waters and low tides.
My take away from this book are listed in decreasing order of importance:
1. Emphasis on the passion for the chosen field and viewing monetary gains as a great by-product.
2. Presence of a mentor or GodFather, who contributed great support financially and mentally.
3. Seeing through difficult times.
4. Strong support from spouse.
5. Associations with old friends as partners.
6. Public relations and maintaining contacts.
7. Lastly, Planetory alignments!!

The portions of the book covering the view of entrepreneurship in India shows the change from decades to decades. India's growth and opportunities largely depended on the rise of  indigenous companies in various sectors rather than FDI.
They say, an idea can change the world. But do all ideas transform our lives? For an idea to succeed, it needs to be gulped by someone who has the mettle to go all the way with it. There is bound to be obstacles, some so high that entrepreneurs need creative solutions to overcome them. Sometimes obstacles give rise to new ideas. Many of the stories here show this feature. Relentlessness is another aspect, lack of which can kill a business, that is shown in multiple stories in this book. Overall, one can gain interesting information about the lives of emerging businesses. I would recommend this book to parents and families of the young talented workforce, so that they prepare their children keeping this avenue open as a career choice. I come from West Bengal, where entrepreneurship is looked down upon compared to government service, yes, even in this age. I might appeal for a translated version of this book in Bengali to reach the bengali audience.
It is an extremely optimistic book that may encourage young entrepreneurs in India, but somehow I feel that it fails to show the downsides or rather failure scenarios. How did successful entrepreneurs handle initial glitches and times of slow business? She seemingly ignored to show the 'other side of the coins', such as the failed ventures and what strategy did the now billionaires adopt in order to get out of the whirlpool. May be some mention of the impact of education in IIMA would have been better.
But overall, it is a brilliant book and I hope it will be appreciated by a bigger audience. I wish the author all the best for her second book named 'Connect the Dots'.

Bookshops:
1. Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stay-Hungry-Foolish-Rashmi-Bansal/dp/8190453017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305826649&sr=1-1
2. Oxford Bookstore. India
3. Crossword bookstore. India: http://www.crossword.in/books/stay-hungry-stay-foolish-rashmi-bansal/p-books-8190453017.html