Beginner’s Guide to Entrepreneurship - Book Review

Book Review (Published in TISA Sep 2013 Issue)

Beginner’s Guide to Entrepreneurship

Subroto Bagchi.

The High Performance Entrepreneur 

Penguin, New Delhi, 2008. pp. 242, Rs. 173 (Flipkart)

This is a good book on Entrepreneurship that is straight and sharp. The author Subroto Bagchi, is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Mindtree Consulting. This book is written by someone who has been there and done that.

The book goes through each step from identifying the opportunity to writing a well – rounded business plan. The author touches upon crucial topics like finding an investor, recruiting good personnel and building a brand. Each chapter is focused on a particular topic thus making the book a comfortable read. The simplicity of language makes it easily comprehensible for an average mind.

One of the key highlights of this book is the chapter on why start-ups fail. This is the segment which readers should probably read first. Start-ups mostly fail in the initial years. The ones who can weather the preliminary obstacles create enough traction to survive and sustain.

What I liked about the book are the first chapter which discusses our readiness to launch a venture and the sixth one which is about how we differentiate ourselves from others. It is vital that we embark on our entrepreneurial journey with a certain amount of readiness to avoid failure. A great idea is simply not enough.

Launching an IPO is quite a critical decision and requires a lot of consideration, preparation and precise execution at multiple levels. Towards the end, the chapter on “From Idea to IPO” provides a wonderful insight though probably not a serious requirement of new entrepreneurs.

The time invested in reading this book will prove valuable for new entrepreneurs or anyone with a great idea trying to crack the idea to execution code. This book has the potential to energize fence-sitters who probably have an idea but not the strength, drive or determination to go ahead on the entrepreneurial path trying to realize their dream and build a name. At times all it takes is a little push and this book is the right dose for such cases.