In India, there is an incredible number of entrepreneurs about whom we never really hear and when we do, it is mostly to make fun of them or their brands or their companies. I will admit I am a bit disappointed with the IIM people. They are India’s best brains and make no mistake I have tremendous respect for them and yet, if I were to ask you to name one guy who owns a “manufacturing unit”, who is from IIM, you may not be able to come up with an answer. (Of course, if you are from IIM, you might know someone). My dad’s job is such that he gets to meet these factory owners who...

All entrepreneurs and small business should keep reading and studying and you don’t really have much choice in this regard. You need to read books to gain inspiration, gain knowledge, new ideas and also to stay ahead of the competition. With this in mind, we are starting with our weekly series on Books. We are going to review books that we feel should be read by anyone who wishes to be successful in life. The first book in this series is: Think and Grow Rich. Think and Grow Rich is an amazing book which contains an economic philosophy of growing rich. Unlike most philosophical texts that...

When entrepreneurs are looking for inspiration and motivation, they read books about super successful people who’ve been there, done that. While that is of course, one of the great motivating factors, sometimes, inspiration can be found much closer to your home if only you’ll care to look. . I just returned from a great talk by one of my alumnus, Dr Gaurav Gandhi who has recently started up his venture mLabs, a company which aims to conduct research in cutting-edge circuit design for new technologies and substrates in nano electronics. (Yeah even I don’t know what that means but...

Ask any engineering graduate in India:” Have you ever thought about starting up?” And the standard reply that you usually get from them :” Oh yes. After 5 years of work experience I think i will start up some business of my own.” And to date, how many engineering graduates in India have started up is any body’s guess. The truth is: We are all too scared to take the plunge. All we want to do when we come to  any other top engineering college in India  -really all we dream about  is- getting into an ‘A’ grade company with a hefty salary package. Is this a healthy attitude to have? And is...