T N Hari

• T N Hari is an advisor and sounding board to numerous young entrepreneurs and startups. He is also a Strategic Advisor at ‘Fundamentum’, which is a homegrown growth phase VC fund set up by Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal. Sanjeev is also his Co-Author for this Book.
• Changing consumer behavior is expensive. So if VCs with deep pockets are willing to invest in daring ideas, it’s good for entrepreneurs with ambitious goals. Some ideas do work out, but others don’t – so some startups just disappear while a few become unicorns.
• VCs like to back ideas that can be disruptive. In that, they as well as the entrepreneur must take risks. The initial goal is to create markets where none exist. Profitability is not the primary concern at that point.
• The book provides insights that can help entrepreneurs scale their startups. It is partly a manual but also shares real-life stories. It discusses 9 determinants of success, for example, that to be a unicorn you have to invest in a mega-trend, such as say urban transportation. Companies also have unique cultures, which are critical in determining success.
• The book makes comparisons between the startup ecosystems of India, China, and the US, and shows how the history of innovation in these countries makes a difference to the success of the industry.

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with T N Hari

Run time – 44.20 mins.