Startups are the in-thing in India, indeed – in the
world nowadays; thus, when I spotted a book on the Startups in India and
lessons to be drawn from them, I not just picked it up immediately, but also
placed it at the head of all other to-read books; I normally have a stack of
4-5 new books which I routinely pick up on my surfing and touring. This book
was of so current & important and so relevant a topic, that it moved to the
top of the pile on the strength of its premise alone – being titled “Flight Of The Unicorns: Lessons From India’s
Startup Bubble.”
The book is a look at the start-up scenario in
India, divided into two parts : Rise and
Fall of the Startup Ecosystem, and Trends
and New Rules of the Game being the second section. The first section is
way too short, concluding in all of 54 pages, around 25% of the book; this is
too short a space and time devotion to this rather vital aspect, as it tries to
cover too wide a scope in short, summary format. There are advantages to this approach
as well; it creates a great overall picture, suitably buttressed by real
examples and anecdotes from RedBus, Snapdeal, Flipkart, IndiaPlaza and many
more.
The book sets the trend of the book early on – Going
Global – with the very next chapter, with anecdotes on Sulekha, Justdial etc,
and very correctly analyzing the trend of a success in one industry / nascent
industry by a startup leading to hotting up of competition from the
international players, and how the digital world is a global space. It is here that the first problem emerges in
the book – it implies startups as being synonymous with cutting edge-technology
& internet / cyber-space, ignoring the scope for other industries where
digital and technology is not the be all and end all.
In the next 24 pages, it winds up the initial
section, moving on to section two; while this is in keeping with the objective
of the book as stated in the introduction / foreword, it is nearly diametrically
opposite to the title, which implies a study of how we went wrong and why as
the primary focus. Here, my humble
submission to the author – how many people read the introduction and the
foreword? Precious few do; thus, the intent of your work will, or rather,
might, create mild dissonance in the reader.
To be fair, the book has, in this short but exceedingly
sharp analysis, summarized most of the problems ailing startups in India {This includes; inefficient operations;
overestimate market size; Tier-2/3 city issues; scalability issues; compensations;
systemic inefficiencies; process issues; shoddy Busines Plans} … an
achievement of some note, and shows the research and effort that has gone into
the book. I hate to give it a comparatively low rating – but am forced to rate
it only 3 or 3.5 stars – it certainly deserves more. The reasons will become
apparent as we go ahead in this review.
Domestic
Vs Global : It does make a few errors,
though : for one – identifying Domestic Market focus as an error. With the
deeper pockets of established companies of the Developed World, it is of
primary importance that you home market be well penetrated and you be
well-established in it. Going global with inadequate resources, or taking high
funding just to go global without first having a strong brand internally does
not make sense to my mind. As we saw in my review of The Google Story – Reviewed Here
– the dynamics abroad are very, very different, with deep university / research
/ incubation, talent, opportunity and funding support being readily available.
The
Second Section starts off with a nice revisit to the
fundamentals, and tries to arrive at a set of principles of what make a good
startup, and how to go about it. This is a first effort – subsequent research
will of course break new ground – but the model presented is worth a look and
does make a lot of sense. The best part is that it doesn’t stick to the
superficial – but goes deeper, looking into specific process areas for focus,
which is very welcome. Then it moves into completely unrelated territory, with
a rather too detailed look into the Indian realities, background, SME Sector
and its pitfalls, and so on.
The last part of the second section look into 3 example
areas where Startups can add value – Education, Healthcare and Financial
Inclusion. While the areas identified are excellent – the presented arguments
are not as perceptive as in the paragraph above, with its look at deep
fundamentals of how to set up a successful process-oriented, lean, fit startup
that has a viable business model. This part comes across as merely a telling of
anecdotes – sure, anecdotes that have deep learning; but anecdotes all the
same.
The book then concludes with a section – a rather
detailed and long lecture on the upcoming technologies and developments,
keeping to its assumption of technology being the sole main plank for a
startup. The problem in that is too many people have focused too much on
technology – it is the application of
the technology that matters, the business model, the market- present and future
trends; the processes; the GTM strategy.
Technology by itself is just an enabler – and while we do need to keep updated,
or risk obsolescence {Kores, Nokia} – by itself, it is nothing.
Any number of examples from business exist when
technologies have failed to succeed in the market without the attendant factors
being present in the ecosystem. What was required was a detailed look at the
startup scenario – not basis Anecdotes – but detailed case studies. This is
present – the problem is the anecdotal and friendly narrative style, that lessens
the impact of the book. The points are all there; the research and the
brainwork is clearly evident – as is the expertise of the author. The
presentation, though, I am sorry to state, leaves a lot to be desired for. That
said – all in all, this is a must read for anyone who is a startup entrepreneur,
or a student of the Indian Startup scenario, or manager in startups in India or
indeed, the world. a
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