RASHMI BANSAL - Arise, awake: the inspiring stories of 10 young entrepreneurs who graduated from college into a business of their own

Arise, Awake

Arise, Awake

The inspiring stories of 10 young entrepreneurs
who graduated from college into a
business of their own

Rashmi Bansal

westland ltd

61 Silverline Building, 2nd floor, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600095

93, 1st Floor, Sham Lal Road, New Delhi 110002

First published by westland ltd 2015

Copyright Rashmi Bansal 2015

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-93-84030-87-2

Typesetting by Ram Das Lal

Disclaimer

Due care and diligence has been taken while editing and printing the book, neither the Author, Publisher nor the Printer of the book hold any responsibility for any mistake that may have crept in inadvertently. Westland Ltd, the Publisher and the printers will be free from any liability for damages and losses of any nature arising from or related to the content. All disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of competent courts in Chennai.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

Dedicated to

My teacher, Sunil Handa
For the awakening in me

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To all who have directly contributed to the making of this book.

My transcription team Alekhya Rao, Shubham Singh, Abhijeet Yadav, Anchal Kumar, Priyanka (Writersmelon), Jyoti Arya and Sachin Whaval.

Saurav Roy of Idea Spice Design, for another crackling cover.

Pranay Gupta of 91 Springboard, for being a sounding board.

My partner, Niyati Patel, and my Man Friday, Ravish Kumar.

Aradhana Bisht, for her special touch as editor.

Gautam Padmanabhan, my gentle and ever-cheerful publisher.

The sales team at Westland KK, Rajaram and gang.

To all those near and dear to me.

This year has been a journey in solitude. A journey into my inner world.

I seek to harness the power of my mind.

To speak through intentions. To communicate without words.

My deep gratitude to all who have loved and supported me in this journey.

You know who you are. You are precious, you are part of my soul.

Arise! Awake! And stop not
till the goal is reached.

Swami Vivekananda

AUTHORS NOTE

I first wrote for a newspaper when I was 18 years old. It started out as a lark, a desire to see my name in print.

But when I sent my carefully typed article to the editor of The Times of India , all I received for my effort was a rejection slip.

I tried again and again, and yet again. Each time I got the same impersonal response.

I should have got the message. That I am not good enough. Instead, mujhe aur josh aa gaya . It became a sort of a game for me.

If I played long enough and hard enough, I could outwit the crocodile.

One fine day, I opened the newspaper and there I saw it my name in print. I will never forget that moment. That feeling. That one-hundred-rupee cheque.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. But the road is slippery and wet. You dont have the right shoes. You dont have Google Maps.

Yet, you must put that foot forward.

You will stumble, you will fall. You will get up again, you will learn to walk.

Many will say wait till you graduate. I say why waste time? Right now you are free to experiment, to walk on different paths.

Not just the path of mediocrity, well-travelled by others.

My college writing stint gave me clarity. At the end of my two years in IIM Ahmedabad, I opted out of placement.

I could do this because I knew what I am really good at.

This is a secret embedded within you. A secret no one else can unlock.

Life is a massive multiplayer game, waiting for you to log on. So don your avatar, do your thing.

Many lives and many adventures await your time starts now !

January 2015 Rashmi Bansal

Mumbai

CONTENTS

RANKERS

They cracked the toughest entrance exams in the country. And then took on new challenges. Challenges for which there is no coaching class.

Shashank N D & Abhinav Lal
(NIT Surathkal)

PRACTO TECHNOLOGIES

Born: Shashank: 8 June 1987;

Abhinav: 9 July 1988

It was the tenth out of 10 ideas they had to start a new business, and it clicked. This startup born in the final year of college is now a 20 crore company serving 10,000 doctors across India.

Sourabh Bansal (IIT Kharagpur),
Puneet Mittal (CA) & Sidharth Bansal
(IIT Delhi-IIM Lucknow)

MAGICRETE

Born: Sourabh: 15 February 1984;

Puneet: 19 November 1984;

Sidharth: 21 June 1985

In the year 2008, two freshers decided to shake up an age-old industry. Today, Magicrete is a 150 crore company, changing the face of construction across the country.

Prakash Mundhra (SCMHRD, Pune)

SACRED MOMENTS

Born: 1 February 1980

He entered a business-plan competition, just for fun. He exited campus with a ready-to-launch business. 8 years on, Prakash Mundhra is the CEO of a 4.5 crore company and has no regrets.

REPEATERS

The dudes who tried and failed but had the will to try again. Because nothing that is worth anything comes easily. And giving up is not an option.

Prabhkiran Singh & Siddharth Munot
(IIT Bombay)

BEWAKOOF BRANDS

Born: Prabhkiran: 13 September 1989;

Siddharth: 30 October 1988

As a third-year IIT student, Prabhkiran Singh started selling flavoured lassi. The venture failed, but taught him many important lessons about life. The lassiwallah now runs a 5 crore youth-focused online business.

Ankit Gupta, Neeraj Agarwal &
Dhruv Sogani (BITS Pilani)

INNOVESE TECHNOLOGIES

Born: Ankit: 7 January 1988;

Neeraj: 27 June 1989;

Dhruv: 10 October 1988

Two friends came up with a cool idea and found a way to make it a business. Innovese was a shining star in the startup sky, until interpersonal issues tore the company apart. But theres much you can learn from their experience.

Rupesh Shah (IET, Alwar)

INOPEN TECHNOLOGIES

Born: 15 October 1986

An internship at IIT Bombay changed the course of Rupesh Shahs life. A self-taught programmer, marketer and people person, his company, InOpen Technologies, now teaches computer science to over 5 lakh schoolchildren.

REBELS WITH A CAUSE

These mavericks strayed away from the
beaten path into weird and wonderful places. Because who you are is more than a
placement .

Aruj Garg
(National Law School, Bangalore)

BHUKKAD

Born: 9 February 1990

As a third-year student at NLS, Bangalore, Aruj Garg started a takeaway food joint to cater to the many bhukkads on campus. He now plans to take the Bhukkad brand of natural fast food to people everywhere.

Anurag Arora

(ICFAI Business School, Pune)

GANPATI FACILITIES

Born: 23 November 1990

Anurag seized the opportunity to set up a hostel business for the next batch while still a second-year MBA student. In its second year, Ganpati Facilities made 25 lakh in profit 5 times the salary he could have got through placement.

Apurva Joshi (CA Final Student)

FRAUDEXPRESS

Born: 10 April 1989

During her articleship, Apurva entered the unusual domain of forensic accounting. After working on dozens of cases, at the age of 24, she has launched a university-recognised course in the field of fraud-risk assessment.

Eshwar Vikas & Sudeep Sabat
(SRM Engineering College, Chennai)

DOSAMATIC

Born: Eshwar: 14 June 1991;

Sudeep Sabat: 19 April 1990

Two young engineers set out to create an automatic dosa machine. 3 years later, they have succeeded in producing the worlds first tabletop dosa printer and secured orders from 100 restaurant owners.