Hello Book lovers,
In recent times I have tried to diversify my reading journey. In my quest to do so I have started exploring inspiring stories of individuals or organizations form different industries. Despite that my love for startup stories remains intact. That love made me stumble upon yet another collection of wonderfully crafted startup stories. But this one is different from the ones I have read earlier considering this book has narrated stories of four of the most successful Internet startups of India but with a focus on a single common factor. To understand what that factor is and how this book is different from the earlier ones we have to dive deep. Let's go then.
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| Image design: Bala Kumar |
What's Different With The Earnicorns
The book I am talking about is The Earnicorns by Dhruv Nath. The book has quite a few interesting features that made me pick it. Firstly the title itself is quite unique. But those who keep regular updates on various developments in startup world or are aware of various terminologies associated with modern day business can probably understand the significance of the title (I am assuming so). Secondly the content of the book was something that I was really keen on as it covers the stories of four successful startups which are not just successful in terms of big revenues, big brand value or a large number of customer base. Instead all four of them have managed to successfully prioritize the most important component of a sustainable business & that is profitability. Yes, profitability is the single most focused factor of this book. That is something which caught my attention.
Most of the books focused on startup stories try to emphasize on factors like brand value, amount of funding raised, customer base, number of geographical areas covered or social media following. But this book is different as it is focused on the stories of real businesses rather than just outside noise. Also I was personally interested in one of the stories depicted in the book( Name of that story will be revealed further in the post:)). Lastly throughout the book you can find the glimpses of author's exemplary sense of humour. I have rarely seen somebody narrating even a serious business related topic with a tinge of humour with such ease. But I felt somehow that made it an interesting read.
What's There In A Name
Title of this book is definitely a striking one. Short & crisp to be more précised. Though the author has explained the logic behind the title at the beginning of the book, let me also explain it for you people. The term Earnicorns is a combination of Unicorns (Stands for companies with a billion dollar valuation) & the ones which are earning good or are profitable. That makes the title completely apt with the content of the book. Credit goes to the author for being so innovative in picking a title that nicely resonates with the overall content.
Let's Know The Creator
Before talking about the book we must talk about its creator. Author of this book Professor Dhruv Nath wears multiple hats. He has been an angel investor & mentor to many startups besides being a professor at MDI, Gurgaon as well as a senior professional with NIIT during his career. The work that he has been doing in his role as a mentor or as a director with Lead Angels Network and the knowledge he has gained over the years about startup culture is clearly visible in his latest book. Prior to this book he has authored few more on startup world as well like Funding your startup, The DREAM Founder. More can be read about him @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhruvnathprof/
Content Is Really The King Here
Author has kept the entire narration simple & to the point. He started with a small chapter on whether one should pick this book or not and if yes then why followed by a briefing on the title, current scenario of the startup world & reasons behind selecting four stories amongst too many. Apart from talking about each company's journey in detail he has also tried to analyse all the four companies & their founders on basis of two of his self created models named as PERSISTENT business & PERFECT attitude. I will leave it to you guys to find out the detailed explanation of both the above mentioned phrases and whether all the four startups and their founders pass these two tests or not.
All the four journeys have been narrated in depth in the form of small chapters showcasing some really inspiring stories. All the four companies have been adjudged on basis of some common parameters which are essential to understand the overall well being of an organization.
Interestingly among the four organizations picked for this book two (Infoedge & Dream11) are funded & remaining two (Zeerodha and Zoho) are bootstrapped. This combination makes it an interesting read since we get to understand the differences of running an organization with others' money (VC funding in this case) or own money with one common goal of profitability. I was personally interested in knowing the story of Zerodha since I was following their journey for a while now. Throughout the narration you will get to know several information about these four market leaders which probably is difficult to find in social media pages.
Along with company's journey author has elaborated on specific characteristics of the founders that make them successful. Every individual is different and so the founders. But through the mention of some of the common traits that these individuals possess author has tried to sketch a clear version of a successful entrepreneur. His PERFECT attitude model is one such combination with all the possible required traits for being a successful entrepreneur.
Entire narration has been in extremely simple language with not much use of difficult business jargons. Infact author has simplified every new terminology associated with startup world for the understanding of someone who is not well versed with them. One more interesting aspect of the book is its focus on qualitative facts rather than quantitative ones. Author has not delved much into the numbers game like revenue, EBITDA or P&L unless it's absolutely necessary. Rather he has emphasized more on various strategies implemented by the founders in the early days and how those decisions brought fruitful results in long run.
What's Not That Great
While going through the chapters of analysis of PERSISTENT business & PERFECT attitude for each business it felt like the facts have been repetitive. The same can be said for the chapters narrating the common & differential factors among the four companies. Probably as a reader after going through the first few chapters I was eagerly waiting for some more interesting facts in the later chapters. But that's not the case here. Probably through the initial narration of every company's story both the models could have been explained as well instead of separate chapters. Nevertheless that doesn't affect the overall impact of the book much.
There are always some goods & not so goods when a book is written. But what matters is the message that it delivers and its relatability. Kind of business journeys this book covers & the impact those businesses have been creating on Indian economy is definitely appreciable. This book leaves a plenty of lessons for the budding entrepreneurs. I am sure if The Earnicorns is there in your reading wishlist or already picked up but not yet read, you won't be disappointed after reading it. You will certainly be enlightened with a lot of wisdom.
Stay tuned here for more interesting book reviews.
Image Credit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ZOHO_logo_2023.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerodha#/media/File:Zerodha_logo.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dream11_Logo.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Infoedgelogo.png
pixabay.com, amazon.in
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