Rasmi Bansal’s Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is a treasure trove of knowledge and inspiration for start-up entrepreneurs. Every line of the book tells story that you can’t ignore. I often revisit pages of the book in search of further jewels or when I feel kind of stumbled. The book is a remix of experiences of 25 IIM graduates who chose the rough road of entrepreneurship. The best part of the book is its diversity and intensity of spirit. Bansal herself did a magnificent work and each interview in the book tells the story both in-details and with unwavering insight. Today I explore this intriguing advices for young entrepreneurs from Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder Naukri.com, which is the first interview of the book.
Be early. You can make your mistakes while it’s cheap to make them, when there is no competition.
Don’t exaggerate in your business plan. Under commit and over deliver.
Get great people- sell them the vision, the idea, and share the wealth, be generous with offering stock.
Importance of money often demoralizes the importance of passion. You can earn money in many ways but you can’t build a company with that flexibility. Starting for money is a kind of opening a second door to escape when bad time comes.
If you are starting a company to make money, don’t do it. chances are that you’ll fail, because there will be hard times. And if your motivation is not something beyond money, those hard times will test you. You’ll quit and go back to your job. But if you are doing something other than money, you’ll rough it through the hard time.
And do keep in mind that every choice you make impacts the family. If you live in a particular part of town, it will obviously impact the kind of school your kids go to. Frankly, there were the choices, the implications of which I did not consider. Thankfully, things have turned out well; the children also, the family also.
