The Captainship includes first-person accounts by entrepreneurs, who trace through their childhoods the genesis of the successful men and women they have become
When one comes across a book that has names of successful entrepreneurs who started their businesses from scratch, one expects it to be another one of those ?how I did it? compilations. But The Captainship: First Gen Entrepreneurs is a refreshing surprise.
Diverging from the expected lines of tracing the genesis of business empires, the book instead focuses on the growing up years of these men and women. The insecurities of childhood, the turbulence of the teens and the subsequent values they imbibed, which later helped them shape successful enterprises, is what this book is all about. Wonder Years, in a nutshell.
Only, not everything was wonderful. Lacking the proverbial silver spoon, most of these entrepreneurs had tough growing up years. All of them had their own demons to fight. If it was poverty for some, others faced grim
family situations, procrastination or indecisiveness. But all of them managed to emerge unscathed, unharmed and phenomenally successful.
While all stories make for fascinating reading, some are particularly inspiring. For instance, Satya Narayan of Career Launcher writes about the importance of role models. As he traces his childhood dominated by cricket, he narrates how role models of all kinds exist in the world, explaining how for every bunch of rowdy cricketers taking to booze and the flash of money, there is a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid, and it is up to a person to choose which role models they want to follow.
Subroto Bagchi dwells on the schizophrenia that his father suffered from, recalling poignantly how it affected the atmosphere at home, but despite bouts of violence and helplessness, the family never lost its optimistic spirit. And how with this optimism he built the foundations of his business, believing that we need optimism to create the uncreated. His story is exceptionally well-written, making one wonder if he missed his vocation by not becoming a writer.
However, the most poignant account is easily Vijay Shekhar Sharma?s story. He explains the power of choice by narrating how he chose to break away from his family?s poverty and helplessness by deciding not to be a part of it. Determined to make something out of himself, he consistently refused to buckle to the pressure of a regular job and income. So strong was his streak of defiance, that he once gave up on the opportunity to earn a R16-lakh bonus just because he wanted to emphasise that he could not be bought for money. Brutally frank about his abusive father, his selfish sisters and the lows of his life, he insists that a person?s energy comes from his darkest hour, and for that alone, he wishes everyone gets hurt just a little?just enough to get that energy. Having founded One97 Communications, now valued at $300 million, obviously he had enough energy to get him going!
The only woman entrepreneur to be included in the book, Zia Mody talks about the pressures of being a working mother and how she made it in what is traditionally considered to be a man?s bastion.
Other contributors include Sanjeev Aggarwal of Helion, Girish Batra of NetAmbit, Sanjeev Bhikchandani of Info Edge, Ashish Dhawan of ChrysCapital and Ashish Gupta of Helion.
The Captainship: First gen Entrepreneurs
Edited by Anya Gupta
Bloomsbury
Rs299
Pp 163