Kaustubh Dhargalkar - It’s Logical: Innovating Profitable Business Models

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Genius is simple. Innovation is simple. It lies at the confluence of selfish interest and selfless interest. Dr Kaustubh Dhargalkar rightly calls it enlightened self-interest. Set precepts and theories of business are in a state of flux in times that are dramatically changing. Obsolescence is constantly snapping at the heels of innovation. In such times, Dhargalkar propounds a path that unfolds like the layers of a simple onion peel, deeper, yet deeper, till, at the core, we encounter the jewel of human connectivity. Empathy. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

Amish Tripathi, Diplomat, Columnist and Author of bestsellers
The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath
of the Vayuputras, Ram: Scion of Ikshvaku, Sita: Warrior
of Mithila and Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta

Dr Kaustubh provides a practical guide to innovation.

Dr Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor at
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College;
New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author

Simple, lucid, engaging, insightful a whack on the head opens up horizons of invaluable possibilities . Kaustubhs fantastic narration challenges every mind to seek beyond the constraints, opens up untapped reserves and follows through by actually showing how to make it possible. It unleashes terrific unexplored value and potential!!

Kush Kamra, Chairman and MDGOSC, Metlife Insurance

This book is a must read for all entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. The case studies chosen are very relatable and insightful that bring out the nuances of business model innovation. Provides a clear, non-jargonistic and applicable road map for creating breakthroughs.

Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer,
Innovation Cell, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India

As a Venture Capitalist, I have only one sentence to define the book: must read for entrepreneurs to avoid costly mistakes . The most liked chapter for me was A Cheat Sheet to New Product Creation as it provides a complete framework with ample examples. Kaustubh understands and addresses typical challenges an entrepreneur faces in their journey to success with practical examples.

Sanjay Mehta, Founder and Partner 100X.VC,
Mehta Ventures Family Office

There are very few experts who are able to demystify innovation and Dr Kaustubh Dhargalkar is the foremost among them. Innovation is what gives business ventures the growth that they desperately seek and in Kaustubhs book Its Logical: Innovating Profitable Business Models they will find all the answers they are seeking. The style of the book is very conversational and simple, shorn of any jargon making the topic look so simple that you will end up asking: how come I did not think about all this before? But then THAT is the secret of a consummate practitioner of this craft like Kaustubh. There are examples given from real-life situations which any entrepreneur can easily identify with, followed up with the logical reasoning and process that has enabled the innovation to come to lifethe logic being detailed can be easily applied by entrepreneurs to their businesses to get them the results. While this book would be useful for ALL enterprises, it should be made mandatory reading for all start-ups so that they do not get bogged down by complex moves to gain product superiority. Because, as this book teaches us, anybody can be innovative if they follow the logic!

There are very few experts who are able to demystify innovation and Dr Dhargalkar is the foremost amongst them. I compliment him on his monumental contribution.

Dinkar Suri, Co-Chair: TiE Academy; CEO and
Unconsultant, Retail Market Movers

With the convergence of an enviable demographic dividend, fast growing economy and rapidly advancing affordable new technologies, the time is ripe for Indian talent to seize the growing opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship to address various challenges of India and the world. Innovation successes are based not just on the technologies being leveraged but also on a host of other factors such as unique differentiators in the solutions being offered, business models being adopted, networks of relationships developed, financial strategies and having a clear road map to sustainable, profitable growth and expansion of the start-ups or ventures being created.

Dr Kaustubhs book is a timely intervention to all the budding innovators and entrepreneurs be it from the MSME, corporates or universities that provides valuable insights and some thought-provoking stimulation into developing such a clear but simple road map for themselves, both at a high level and breaking it down into smaller components. Breakthrough sustainable and profitable success of any venture is possible only when you also dive into the myriad details that need to be addressed. The book helps the entrepreneur understand, deliberate and creatively adopt models that would be most appropriate for their innovation or business in a lucid manner.

R. Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation
Mission; Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog

This book sits at the intersection of management, design and innovation, and merges the boundary between user-centred design and user-centred business innovation. The book is an excellent primer on user-centred business innovation and strongly advocates user first and technology later approach throughout the book which is a very welcome move in a tech-dominated world and also debunks the myth that great innovation necessarily has to come from high technology.

The book is written in a very lucid and storytelling format which makes it an interesting read. Dr Kaustubh has done a great job of explaining the underlying technical concepts in a simple language which makes it easy to digest for practitioners.

Another strength of the book is its emphasis on a systemic perspective of looking at the situation considering needs of multiple stakeholders involved in the situation. This is a great addition to the innovation methodology since most of the innovation methods focus on solving problem for a specific user and may not take into consideration the holistic situation with multiple stakeholders leading to the poor adoption of the solution. This is in accordance with a current trend in design field to unite systems thinking methodologies with design methodologies.

The author does not restrict himself only to whats happening in the industry but also goes deeper in reflecting about the Indian education system and how its killing innovative minds and nurturing a lack of empathy, at an early age, which is an eye-opener for educators.

Overall, this book is an excellent reference not just for innovation practitioners but anyone who needs to understand the value of being user centric in todays hyper competitive business environment.

Shrikant Ekbote, VP, Design Principal, Barclays Technology Centre India; Research Scholar, Department of Design, IIT Guwahati

Copyright Kaustubh Dhargalkar, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.