A Costly Ambition

Hello Friends,

Most of the startup stories that we learn about showcase how a small idea or a personal experience related to the founder/s ignited the spark to create a game changing venture. In most of such stories the journey of the founder both personally or professionally becomes the topic of the discussion. How he or she overcame all the hurdles while building a sustainable venture, how resilience became the saviour throughout the journey, helping him or her eventually reaching the peak of the success pyramid are generally the highlights of the story. But a very relevant question that rarely comes to our mind is what after reaching the peak of your success? Where is the end of chasing the series of yet to achieve milestones? And most importantly in the quest of fulfilling our ambitions or achieving greater success how far can we go?

In a world where the concept of bigger the risk bigger the reward gets glorified every now and then sometimes a truly ambitious person can't limit himself or herself to the risks he or she can take. In this never ending game of risk taking we forget that no risk is worth our well being or life itself. By the time we realize that we have gone too far in order to achieve our ambitious goals we find ourselves in an illusionary world of loneliness where we seem to take all the burden on ourselves without asking for help. In our today's book review section we are going talk about the journey of one such ambitious entrepreneur whose journey became an inspiration of how to work hard to achieve your dreams as well as a warning of how drawing a boundary is so important to sustain for a long period of time.

Story of Siddhartha VG, founder of famous Cafe Coffee Day brand (Popularly known as CCD) is an inspirational one for the fact that coming from a humble background he reached where very few could dream of. At the same time the way his life ended was a dreaded signal of not being able to cap off one's ambitions or to take care of one's well being in a world of fierce competition. Recently I stumbled upon the book named Coffee King: The Swift Rise And Sudden Death Of Cafe Coffee Day Founder which kind of depicted the journey of this ambitious entrepreneur in a nearly perfect manner with a truckload of facts pertaining to his multiple businesses.

Image Design: Bala Kumar

The Terrific Duo

First of all kudos to premier journalist duo of Rukmini Rao & Prosenjit Datta for working relentlessly to produce such a beautiful piece of narration that has plenty of lessons for modern day entrepreneurs. You can visit their profiles @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rukmini-rao-14303434/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/prosenjit-datta/

Who Is Siddhartha

The book has simultaneously portrayed two pictures of Siddhartha. One who was an epitome of ambitious, hard working & passionate professional. He was extremely optimistic about coffee business & its future prospects. The second one who wanted to achieve enormous success in whatever he does but mostly preferred to do it on his own despite having several high profile contacts. Probably his do it yourself mentality became one of the major factors behind such an abrupt end to such a bright soul.

The narration starts with the mysterious missing case of CCD founder back in 2019 which eventually turned out to be a shocking suicide by this charismatic entrepreneur from Chikamagalur district of Karnataka. Further the story moves towards revealing the early days of his journey which started small and reached its peak in the Garden city of Bengaluru.

The Good & Not So Good About The Coffee King

A detailed narration can be found with regard to his education, early life ambitions, beginning of professional career, entry into coffee business & eventual transformation into a serial entrepreneur. One aspect of his character that set him apart and made him popular among his family members, colleagues & business network was his humility despite achieving enormous success. His helpful nature has brought him several well wishers. The book also talks about his hefty political connections courtesy his father- in-law S M Krishna, former Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Despite having such powerful political connections there were hardly any instances where he misused any of those. In true words he was a self made man though the influence of his father in getting him into coffee business can't be denied. Further chapters dive deep into how Siddhartha through some faulty financial decisions dug his own grave. Special appreciation for the authors for including each & every incident related to his business dealings that had direct or indirect connect with his ultimate fate.Very few would be aware of his involvement in building Global Tech Village in Bangalore or Mindtree fiasco. I am sure readers will be delighted to read such interesting stories about Siddhartha's career.

Authors have accumulated detailed financial data about the entire debt trap that eventually led to his suicide. Though his suicide garnered several headlines years back but I am sure the facts & stats that have been included in this book will be a real surprise for the readers. The concluding chapter also throws light on how post his demise his wife Malavika took charge of the faltering business empire and initiated the rebuilding phase.

A Journey Well Depicted

Once you read the book you are bound to get into the dilemma of whether Siddhartha himself was responsible for what happened to him or it was more of the circumstances that led him to take such a drastic step. Authors throughout the narration have not tried to pin point any particular incident or decision or person including Siddhartha himself for how a life ended. But on a hindsight if we are asked whether he could have refrained himself from taking such a drastic step or the entire financial circus depicted in the book could have been managed in a better & professional manner the answers to both the questions would be yes. As mentioned earlier his life was both inspirational as well as a warning for modern day entrepreneurs. No amount of success or financial burden can justify ending one's life. Nobody should meet such fate.

As far as the narration is concerned it's in simple words and spread through small chapters. Talking about business jargon and complicated financial data, there are quite a few in the book which might not be easy to understand for some of the readers. But again those are the essence & backbone of this adventurous yet tragic journey. Title of the book is also kept simple and apt with the journey that Siddhartha had. The title also reminds people that though he owned several businesses but his true legacy was created through coffee business. Also throughout the narration it was clearly evident that the coffee business was always in a better shape compared to his other ventures.

If you are someone who has spent your teenage days seeping coffee in CCD outlets during late 90s or an ambitious individual who has already ventured into the journey of entrepreneurship or an individual with a burning desire to do big in life this book is for you. As the famous saying goes you can't do all the mistakes in your lifetime, so learn from others' mistakes. Siddhartha's life journey can truly be an eye opener for all of us. And this book is an ideal way to relive that journey. Importantly as the cover page of the book declares that the story is soon going to be converted into a web series is another reason for all the OTT lovers to grab a copy of it and enjoy with a cup of coffee before getting the opportunity to witness it digitally.

Cover Image: Muzammil, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Book Image Credit: amazon.in

Personal Recommendation (Startup Journey)