Book review on

THE NEW AGE ENTREPRENEURS

Mayuresh Chavan MMS II 2011033 Operations

ENTREPRENEUR

An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea, an d assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome. He or she is an ambitious leader who combines land, labor, and capital to often create and market new goods or services. The term is a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish eco nomist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome. JeanBaptiste Say, a French economist, is believed to have coined the word Entrepreneur first in about at 1800. He said an entrepreneur is "one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor, acting as intermediatory between capital and labour". The word entrepreneur is often synonymous with founder. Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to someone who creates value by offering a product or service, by carving out a niche in the market that may not exist currently. The concept of entrepreneurship has a wide range of meanings. On the one extreme an entrep reneur is a person of very high aptitude who pioneers change, possessing characteristicsfound in only a very small fraction of the population. On the other extreme of definitions, anyone w ho wants to work for him or herself is considered to be an entrepreneur. The word entreprene ur originates from the French word, entreprendre, which means "to undertake." In a business context, it means to start a business. The MerriamWebster Dictionary presents the definition of an entrepreneur as one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or ent erprise. Management skill and strong team building abilities are often perceived as essential leadership attributes for successful entrepreneurs. Robert B. Reich considers leadership, management ability, and team-building as essential qualities of an entrepreneur. This concept has its origins in the work of Richard Cantillon in his Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en (1755) and Jean-Baptiste Say in his Treatise on Political Economy

SUMMARY
From the Mint Business Series come snippets from the journey of new age entrepreneurs. Have you wondered what goes on in the heads of entrepreneurs? What makes them tick? The New Age Entrepreneurs provides a peek into the lives of thirty successful entrepreneurs including N.R. Panicker of Accel Ltd, Ramachandra Galla of Amaron, and M. Murali of Sri Krishna Sweetswho established flourishing businesses borne out of innovative ideas. These trailblazers delved into diverse industries, ranging from information technology to luxury hotels and Indian sweets.With snappy, insightful, and motivating tales, interspersed with interviews and vivid profiles, The New Age Entrepreneurs is a collection of vignettes of men who made their own rules and set standards for the rest of the industry to follow. The cover page of the book, looks quite interesting. On the cover page it is shown that if you have a plan and you nurture it well then you are surely going to be Successful else you will end-up in a mess. Book covers the stories of 30 successful entrepreneurs from South India, including Mu-Sigma, Accel and other. The important thing about the book is that it covers the diversity. The entrepreneurs interviewed belong to different business fields including from sweets to IT and consultancy. This is a good point that, most of the interviewed entrepreneurs started their journey from scratch. Stories of most of the entrepreneurs are more than 10 years old on an average. This doesnt go with the books title New Age Entrepreneurs. Because the environment at their starting period was quite different. Most of the Entrepreneurs are either Second generation entrepreneurs or professional who left their jobs for startups. So it may mislead aspiring entrepreneurs to join the job first.

SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF THE BOOK

It always fascinates to know the stories behind any success or inspiration or even failure. The struggle with which any person achieve experience can motivate even a lay man to achieve his dreams. The book has introduced us with thirty Entrepreneurs covering thirty different businesses with thirty success stories to savor. The profiles of the Entrepreneurs were very carefully and smartly chosen, focusing on southern part of India. Actually, the book might be about bringing hidden gems of southern India to our radar. Though disappointingly, poor writing and execution has weakened the sort of vision of Publishers. In India we always tend to look things at quantitatively rather than qualitatively. This book showed same syndrome of failure. Instead of delivering the best, qualitative part was forgotten in midst of commercialization of the book. The idea of covering thirty Entrepreneurs was nave since space was limitation and each Entrepreneur due to which got less than deserved place. Even if we go with the idea of covering so many Entrepreneurs, the writing should have been very smart, what was restricted with the lack of space could have been covered by elegant writing. The stories are filled with statistical data, which make no sense since it is shown on standalone basis without any measure to compare. The pages just felt like fill up instead of having an interesting and engaging read. If you have no or very little idea what Entrepreneurs are then this book is for you. With snappy, insightful, and motivating tales, interspersed with interviews and vivid profiles, The New Age Entrepreneurs is a collection of vignettes of men who made their own rules and set standards for the rest of the industry to follow. The New Age Entrepreneurs is the first book in the Mint Business Series, published as a result of a unique partnership between Mint and Random House India. The book was launched on 16 May 2012 by Mr. R Gopalakrishnan, Director, and Tata Sons. The book is also the result of collaboration between the southern region offices of the confederation of India industry, catalyzed by Sequoia Capital. The four southern states arent recognized for the hotbed of entrepreneurship that they are. Over the years, entrepreneurs from these states have acquired their reputation of being conservative unimaginative and risk averse.

The book covers the stories of 30 successful entrepreneurs from South India, including Mu Sigma, Accel etc. The entrepreneurs are selected from a shortlist of a few hundred that was vetted by audit firm Grant Thornton by a panel comprising Ashwin Mahalingam, asst professor, IIT, Madras; C K Ranganathan, Chairman and MD, CavinKAre Pvt. LTd; R Ramraj, Sr. Advisor, Sequoia Capital India Advisors Pvt Ltd; Raja Ganapathy, VP, Marketing, Sequoia; and the like. From sweetmeats to software, entrepreneurs from the southern part of the country have launched new companies with significant success. Some of the businesses are old, yet the very fact that million dollar businesses can be built from such things as traditional south Indian sweets or poultry farming is unusual enough to merit their inclusion in this book. The important thing about the book is that it covers the diversity. The entrepreneurs interviewed belong to different business fields including from sweets to IT and consultancy. Most of the interviewed entrepreneurs started their journey from scratch. Most of the Entrepreneurs are either Second generation entrepreneurs or professional who left their jobs for startups. So it may mislead aspiring entrepreneurs to join the job first. A reader has to extract the knowledge on his own, No direct teaching is provided through the book.

SIGNIFICANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP QUALITIES

Stubborn:

All young companies face challenges. Many of them reach their ends multiple times in their journey. We rarely see a company with a bar graph that does not depict this journey. The Best entrepreneur we know refused to give up, they climbed dead end walls, create options out of no where and find sources of succor for their companies to tide them through the bad times. It is important to highlight that this Tenacity is best accompanied by the choice of the right market to demonstrate it in because there is not much value to be created when you operate in small or unprofitable markets. Talent:

It cannot be a coincidence that the best entrepreneurs also attract the best management talent. These entrepreneurs learn very early that they cannot do it all by themselves and go about building teams that can help them execute their vision. Many of the entrepreneurs I know have, at different stages of their growth, struggled with empowering their management teams and have found it tough to let go off control. But have soon realized its virtues and gone on to creat multiple leaders within the organization. Another important aspect of making the team feel empowered is to generously share the rewards of success as the business scales up. This allows the entrepreneur to create and distribute ownership of the company across the organization, and it is the best way to incent teams.

Passion:

Successful entrepreneurs bring a burning focus and passion to the business they are building. They rarely have personal interest and hobbies because they spend all their time, outside the family time, thinking and building their businesses. When entrepreneurs start having distractions, especially in the form of serious personal or business interest outside their main business, it is usually a red flag for us. It is easy to dismiss these driven individuals as quirky because they may not be as well rounded as the ideal VP-Business Development we meet in large corporate, but this single minded focus leads entrepreneurs to build great companies.

Customer service:

customer service is not just a department Successful entrepreneurs bring a maniacal focus on the end customer to their companies. Be it a B2B or a B2C business, this focus on the End customer frequently helps separate winners from the also-rans, even in categories with seemingly low product differentiation.

Leadership:

Being an entrepreneur a no lifestyle job. Many tough decisions have to be taken and being a leader is an essential characteristic of success. Having an unwavering focus on the end objective even as you navigate day to day vicissitudes call for true leadership. Taking tough and unpopular decisions, especially in times of pain, requires the entrepreneur to feel lonely at times, and the successful ones have repeatedly demonstrated this ability. Feeling lonely, however, does not mean alienating the team, successful entrepreneurs are able to take the uncommon path and inspire people in their direction.

Uniqueness:

Removing and deleting chaff takes tremendous thought and effort. Whether it is products, people, markets- the best entrepreneurs bring a razor to their view on what is required for their business. Simple as it sounds, the ability to remain lean and focused on whats core for a business usually separates the leader. The tough choice between thoughtfully sowing the seeds for the next stage of growth through investments vs. a tactical move that can generate incremental revenue is a real test that differentiates a truly successful entrepreneur from the not so successful entrepreneur. Apart from these six common qualities, each entrepreneur in this book has a unique story that stands out, and each one has a unique set of stories. To create a successful business out of nothing requires creativity, innovation, and a desire to be different that make them strong individuals who stand out in the crowd.

TWO MOST INSPIRING ENTREPRENEURS FROM THE BOOK

1. MU SIGMA: Founder: Dhiraj C Rajaram Year of founding: December 2004 HQ: Illinois, US. Website: www.mu-sigma.com Area of business: Decision sciences and analytic services. Uniqueness: After working with various business analytic units at Booz Allen Hamilton, now known as Booz and co. Dhiraj C Rajaram realized that neither business consultancies nor information technology firms were bringing applied mathematics to the table in helping companies address their problems and bring organizational efficiency. Today Mu SIGMA has an inhouse training program where new recruits are put through a rigorous training program in consulting principles, applied math and technology. The accolades have been pouring from Mu Sigma, INC magazine has named it one of that fastest growing entrepreneurial businesses in the world with a 3 year growth rate of 1500%. Mu Sigma has also ranked no 1 in Datamonitors Annual KPO, ranking ahead of IBM, Accenture, Capgemini and Infosys. The credit goes to its founder Mr. Dhiraj C Rajaram, who chucked his job to start Mu Sigma Inc. in 2004. His is a decision sciences company that wortks with clients to help solve business problems using data analysis. Having receieved an MBA degrewee from the university of Chicago, Booth School of Business, after training to be an engineer, Rajaram was working with various business analystics units at Booz when he realized the need for the company he went on to be found. Neither business consultancies nor IT firms were bringing applied mathematics to the table in helping companies address their problems and improve organizational efficiency. At the time, data was doubling every 18 months, the cost of computer memory was declining and computer power was increasing. These trends indicated that companies needed a combination of math, business consulting and technology to make better decisions on a consistent basis. So, with a business plan in mind, Rajaram, married and with a child, quit the job, sold his

house, and moved into a 600 sq feet 1 bedroom apartment. He put all his money into Mu Sigma. Business was slow to begin with and hiring talent was the biggest problem. Some promised to join later and others flatly refused. Luckily Rajaram was unbashed about asking for help. He refers to himself as a Chief apologetic officer of his company. After around 80 pitches to various compoaneis, Mu Sigma got its first client and a big one at that- MicrosoftCorp. Prior to the launch of Microsofts operating Vista, executives with Mu Sigma were coming up with a predictive modeling preoject that helped the software maker with a final design plan. It also helped Microsoft determine what customers to focus on/ With Microsoft as a client, business became easier. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. fast food chain McDonalds Corp, Marketing communications company McCann Worlgroup, and computer maker Dell Inc. also became clients. Today the data company counts 75 Fortune 500 companies among its customers. The sudden upsurge of interest in data given analytical expertise won over investors as well. First to the jump onto the bandwagon was Angel Investors, shelling out Rs. 7.2cr for an undisclosed stake in the company. Other institutional investors such as Accel, FTVentures, Helion Ventures, Sequoia capital etc also chipped in. however, Rajarams approach towards his investors was Never part with your equity easily, hold onto as much stock as possible Intellectual Property is a lucrative income avenue, the company has 20 intellectual assets, including Workbench, Marketing Optimization and Fraud Analysis tools. This has helped the company grow 40% every year for the past 5 years. The biggest differentiation of Mu sigma is that it offers the cost advantage of outsourced services- a data analyst in India is likely to be paid far less than its American counterpart. Thus the business plan of Mr. Dhiraj C Rajaram hs seemed to be beautifully materialized.

2. ACCEL FRONTLINE PVT. LTD.: Founder: N R Panicker Year of founding 1991 HQ: Chennai Website: www.accelfrontline.in Are of business: IT Revenue: Rs. 330.81 Cr in 2010-11 Profit: Rs.3.64 Cr in 2010-11 Uniqueness: with a clear plan to boost profit margins by tapping global clients- gain from strategic acquisitions for greater international business, Accel Frontline may well make a credible run at its goal of $500 million revenue in 5 years. What makes Mr. N.R. Panicker a great entrepreneur, is his perseverance and his appetite to take risk. Initially IT entrepreneur N.R. Panicker had been a part time farmer. In 1991, he found his company Accel Frontline Pvt Ltd, in Chennai. In 2011, Accel Ltd, Accel Frontlines holding company, bought about 51% stake of its joint venture partner BT Frontline-a unit of British Telecommunications Plc,-to reemerge as the majority stakeholder after more than 6 years. With Accel now holding 68 % stake, just as it did in 2001 before the first joint venture partner came in, Panicker is now free to pursue his plans for the company. Mr. Panicker dreamt big. He wanted to make his company a $500 million company in 5 years. Everyone in his company was aware of the dream that was to be chased. The entrepreneurial urge seized Panicker during an early stint with an IT company in Delhi, when he became a fan of the enterprising Punjabis he saw around him. But the seed was really sown when he was a child growing up in Kerala in the 1960s. A bright student with an impoverished home without electricity, and going to a minimally equipped Malayalam medium village school, he found innovative ways to enrich himself, visiting local tea stall both to listen to the radio as an aspiring professional musician, and to

listen to the heated political debates that were often a staple there. For extra reading, he would head to the local communist party office, where he would read the only literature available there : journals from the former Soviet Union and East Germany .on the street, he would often watch slogan chanting, red flag waving party workers march in rallies. Even at that young age the skeptic would think What we really need are jobs. Another thought that came to him when he was in college was If you dont have money, nobody gives you any respect. How long can you be an underdog? It was his second job as a customer service executive in HCL in Coimbatore and then in Chennai that gave him the confidence and contact needed to branch out on his own. In 1988 he was ready. He quit his position as a senior manager for customer support in charge of several regions to start a computer accessories business in which he believed it was possible to earn large margins. He believed that When you are confident, you can get sufficient cash flows, only then you should jump into it. For the next two years he saved and plan, and made the real jump in 1991 at the age of 36, this time to start a low capital computer maintenance and training school. His dream was to make it a Rs. 100 crore company in 10 years but he had no capital. The total capital he had was Rs 1 lakh. In the first year his turnover was Rs 51 lakh, with a profit of Rs 7 lakh. In the 9th year of business, aided by low cost acquisitions he achieved his goal of Rs 100 crore revenue. The success brought interest from private equity investor like ICICI Ventures and Intel Capital. In 2000, the company finally ventured out of the domestic market into the software services outsourcing business, when lightning struck Mr. Panicker is now in the process of starting Accel 2.0. In 1.0, they did a lot of

experimentation but now they have thing in place. It has taken last 10 years to grow from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore. Mr Panickers new dream is to grow it to Rs 2500 crore company in the next 5 years.