The Startup Journey

This article appeared originally in Businessworld. Reproduced with permission from the author. A conversation I had late last year with a leading investment banker was telling as it testified to the rise of entrepreneurs from middle India –the India that lives in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns inhabited by close to 70% of middle class India. He said, “We’re seeing an increasing number of deals outside the metros and we believe growth will come from those places. We’re therefore looking to hire people who can speak local languages fluently, have relationships in smaller towns, aren’t averse to traveling by train and bus and staying in non-5 star hotels!’ He was making an important point – wearing branded suits, speaking in clipped accents and doing business in the lobbies and coffee shops of 5-star hotels in metro India wasn’t where all the action was going to be! India’s secular growth trajectory is being propelled more by domestic consumption than by anything else. In turn, domestic consumpt...

Article appeared originally in Financial Express. Reproduced with permission from the author. A Professor from an international business school writes a book. The book is published by a highly regarded publisher. The book has examples from the US, Europe and India. Then gets the book written about by giving interviews to bloggers, journalists from well known international publications and the like. Naturally, lecture tours are the next step. Local industry associations are then contacted (subtly and not so subtly) to invite him for talking about the book. Soon the India chapters of these industry associations too are asked to invite him for talks. As a gesture of goodwill, he says he will waive his usual speaking fees but he’d be glad to have the publishers bring in copies of the book that people could buy, perhaps at a discount. Helpfully, he explains that the book has sold tens of thousands in India already since it has many Indian examples. And he’d be glad to sign the books, at no...

The CEO of the startup was conducting due diligence on a potential acquisition target. The Board (including him) had prepared a list of questions they wanted detailed responses to. These answers would then need to be cross-verified by the appropriate experts, lawyers and accountants. The founders of the potential acquisition target were known to the CEO for several years and they had done business together as well. The CEO believed that the acquisition would benefit his company and desperately wanted to make the acquisition happen as he believed it would double the size of his company, enhance offerings and customers and of course, provide some bragging rights since an acquisition tends to (at least initially) be an ego-booster. As the diligence process began, it started becoming apparent that the financial position of the target company wasn’t as healthy as had been conveyed or imagined. In addition, the customer base and sales pipeline too didn’t look as attractive. The Board started...