Hello Friends,
Hope all of you are doing fine. As promised here I am today with my first post. Hope to make your busy Monday a little more interesting. Today I am gonna share review of one of the books which I finished recently. Few weeks back when I was planning to start my book review blog, was in a dilemma regarding which book I should start with as the list was quite long. But once I finished reading this amazing piece named “ Failing To Succeed” by Mr. K Vaitheeswaran who is Popularly known as ‘The father of e-commerce in India’, made up my mind in a moment that there can not be anything better than this to start my journey as this book also narrates the story of many firsts in the Indian e-commerce industry. Let's start then.
Why shall someone tell the story of his failure to the world?? Yes, that’s the first thought came into my mind when I came across this book. But is it really a story of failure? No, in my opinion. This is a brave & fascinating tale of an ambitious and enthusiastic engineering graduate’s journey to inspire the world where we are used to hear only stories of success. It is the story of India’s first e-commerce company Fabmart/Indiaplaza. Kudos to the author for narrating his journey which can really be inspiring to all the budding entrepreneurs.
The story starts with an engineering graduate from a middle class family who is said to be an accidental entrepreneur in his own words. It is never easy for any working professional to come out of the comfort of his regular paid job & start chasing his dreams. But for him it's his passion & enthusiasm to explore something new that brought him to the world of entrepreneurship along with five of his colleagues. There are so many lessons & advises for budding entrepreneurs throughout the book, but the one which stands out for me is to be ‘Brupid’ (Brave & stupid) while starting up your own venture.
The journey of Fabmart which started as India’s first online store for audio cassettes & CDs, was never easy. Challenges were plenty especially considering that the concept of e-commerce or online store was hardly known in India during 90’s. It was a commendable step taken by the founder group. Every chapter of the book contains end number of valuable lessons, be it related to traits of early stage entrepreneurs or differentiation of products/services from already existing ones in the market or behavioral traits of modern day Vcs and what not. As we keep hearing that a startup journey is a roller-coaster ride, it was no different for Fabmart team. They were loaded with challenges like business model, office space, founders’ remuneration , mode of operation and many more. At the same time there were quite a few victories as well like winning initial funding round from an industry giant or getting a renowned music artiste for online store launch. The journey goes on combating each of the hurdles coming their way. They went beyond music and added books, jewellery, kids’ toys, computers not only to diversify their business but also to have an edge over the competitors.
Further chapters take us through their journey of going offline(Fab mall),splitting online & offline businesses, the arrival of much anticipated Vc funding along with its own challenges combined with complex Govt. Rules. The author’s explanation of the tough journey he had which includes dealing with Vcs, pivoting of business, running the show during fund crisis, facing the angry customers & finally getting sacked from his own company is really inspirational not only for entrepreneurs but also in general conveying the message that best lessons in life are learnt through pain.
I would not say this book is only for entrepreneurs but for all of us who fight to survive & succeed everyday in their own journey . My hearty congratulations to Mr. Vaitheeswaran for bringing up such an inspiring story to us in such a simple yet strong manner. This book is equipped with many a lessons from business world along with the author’s personal learnings which can motivate someone who is planning to take the plunge or has already taken. Hence, you must add this title to your shopping cart for a great experience.
The story starts with an engineering graduate from a middle class family who is said to be an accidental entrepreneur in his own words. It is never easy for any working professional to come out of the comfort of his regular paid job & start chasing his dreams. But for him it's his passion & enthusiasm to explore something new that brought him to the world of entrepreneurship along with five of his colleagues. There are so many lessons & advises for budding entrepreneurs throughout the book, but the one which stands out for me is to be ‘Brupid’ (Brave & stupid) while starting up your own venture.
The journey of Fabmart which started as India’s first online store for audio cassettes & CDs, was never easy. Challenges were plenty especially considering that the concept of e-commerce or online store was hardly known in India during 90’s. It was a commendable step taken by the founder group. Every chapter of the book contains end number of valuable lessons, be it related to traits of early stage entrepreneurs or differentiation of products/services from already existing ones in the market or behavioral traits of modern day Vcs and what not. As we keep hearing that a startup journey is a roller-coaster ride, it was no different for Fabmart team. They were loaded with challenges like business model, office space, founders’ remuneration , mode of operation and many more. At the same time there were quite a few victories as well like winning initial funding round from an industry giant or getting a renowned music artiste for online store launch. The journey goes on combating each of the hurdles coming their way. They went beyond music and added books, jewellery, kids’ toys, computers not only to diversify their business but also to have an edge over the competitors.
Further chapters take us through their journey of going offline(Fab mall),splitting online & offline businesses, the arrival of much anticipated Vc funding along with its own challenges combined with complex Govt. Rules. The author’s explanation of the tough journey he had which includes dealing with Vcs, pivoting of business, running the show during fund crisis, facing the angry customers & finally getting sacked from his own company is really inspirational not only for entrepreneurs but also in general conveying the message that best lessons in life are learnt through pain.
I would not say this book is only for entrepreneurs but for all of us who fight to survive & succeed everyday in their own journey . My hearty congratulations to Mr. Vaitheeswaran for bringing up such an inspiring story to us in such a simple yet strong manner. This book is equipped with many a lessons from business world along with the author’s personal learnings which can motivate someone who is planning to take the plunge or has already taken. Hence, you must add this title to your shopping cart for a great experience.
Image Credit: amazon.in
Personal Recommendation (Startup stories)
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My Review Click Here |
My Review Click here |
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