ENTREPRENEURIAL STORIES Links to stories of entrepreneurs from the popular book Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, published by CIE-IIMA

and funded by Wadhwani Foundation.

The book of job Sanjeev is India's most successful internet entrepreneur. For close to a decade he struggled on the sidelines but never gave up on his Big Idea. In 2006, naukri.com became the first dotcom to IPO on an Indian stock exchange

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Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 Download

The book of Rock with IT Despite a regular middle class upbringing, Shantanu went into business while doing his B.Com. The entrepreneurial streak continued after the MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. His company Educomp is today the leading provider of digital content for schools across India.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

The Cat with Nine Lives Vinayak quit his job at Pond's because he didn't see the point of selling soap for the rest of his life. Originally set up as a market research company, over the years, Feedback Ventures morphed into India's leading infrastructure advisory and engineering firm.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

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Software Cowboys In the early '80s, much before IT was a buzzword, Ashank Desai set up Mastek along with a couple of friends. Mastek was the first company to focus on India as a market and is today one of the top 15 IT companies in the country. Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Giver of All Good Things He quit his job at Citibank 15 days after joining, feeling restless to do something 'more'. That something is today India's largest grocery chain Subhiksha. Subramanian famously rebuffed offers from Reliance Retail as he believes the best is 'yet to come'. Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Sweet Success He shut down the first company he started after graduating because a Rs 5 crore turnover was not "large enough." His second venture Shree Renuka Sugars is today a Rs 1,000 crore company, and has changed the lives of hundreds of sugarcane farmers. Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

At your Service His family owns Baljee's, Simla's most famous hotel. Yet as a young management graduate, Chender decided to carve out his own niche. It took him 35 years but today Royal Orchid is a Rs 150 crore hospitality business.

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Such a long Journey In the 1970s it took Madan seven years to get government approval for a foreign collaboration. But he persevered with his dream of excellence in engineering and today, Tega Industries is the world's third largest company designing solutions in the field of mining equipment.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

The Alchemist As the force behind the LEM (Leadership and Entrepreneurial Motivation) course at IIMA, Sunil Handa has inspired countless students to become entrepreneurs. From a hard nosed businessman to an educational entrepreneur, his is a fascinating journey.

Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Yeh hai yungistan meri jaan In 2004, Vardan Kabra turned his back on an offer by multinational P&G to pursue his dream of starting Fountainhead School. He represents a new generation of young MBAs who are giving up seven figure salaries for the kick of being an entrepreneur. Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Tripping Along Deep went into business the way every entrepreneur dreams it will happen: a venture capitalist offered him $2 million to start up. But with the dotcom bust he had to invest his life savings and buy back his own company. Makemytrip.com is today India's leading travel portal. Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

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Bloom & grow In a world dominated by the likes of J P Morgan and Merrill Lynch, Rashesh Shah set up a large and successful homegrown investment bank in a single decade. But it wasn't a straight path to success - there were many bumps and detours.

Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Its all about the Honey Nirmal shut down his information services business in 1999 and put all his eggs in the internet basket. His gamble paid off and today India Infoline is one of the country's biggest online trading platforms.

Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Its Never too Late After a long and distinguished career with Bank of America, Vikram Talwar could have spent the rest of his years playing golf. Instead he chose to set up a company which today is one of India's largest BPOs.

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Drug Baron Raghavendra Rao has built up a $300 million dollar pharma company in 13 short years. The son of a working class Railways employee, he now dreams of making Orchid India's first $1 billion pharma company.

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The Banker who Blinked A career Citibanker, Jaitirth (Jerry) Rao was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug in his late 40s. He built up a large and profitable company (Mphasis) but recently sold out to EDS because business is about passion as well as knowing when to let go.

Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Itch bin ein entrepreneur Shivraman is someone who is always looking for the Next Big Thing. After a string of interesting jobs he set up one of India's first private colleges with a foreign tie up (Wigan and Leigh) and is now pioneering clinical research education in India.

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For Love not Money He entered entrepreneurship by accident and his first venture folded up. But Shankar and his team used that failure to get it right the second time with 'Marketics', an analytics company which recently sold out to WNS for an estimated $65 million.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Million Dollar Seamstress Ruby turned her hobby of designing clothes into a flourishing business. Her company Precious Formals is one of the leading suppliers of prom dresses in America.

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Order of the Phoenix Deepta worked with American Express and CRISIL before starting IRIS, a financial information management service.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Health is wealth Cyrus quit his private equity job in Singapore to launch Calorie Care, India's first professional, calorie-counted meal delivery service. His own battle with weight prompted the idea of the business!

Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

The Art of Giving He's worked with a newspaper, a television channel and as principal of a school. Venkat then launched GiveIndia, to promote the culture of 'giving' in India. He is an entrepreneur but his mission is one with a difference.

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Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 Download

Small is Beautiful After two decades in advertising Anand set up a brand consultancy called chlorophyll. He believes 'small is beautiful' because in the quest for size and scale you lose out on the joy of creation. This is an alternate model of entrepreneurship.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

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A Sense of Ownership He is not the owner of the company but in every other sense works like an entrepreneur. The man behind the iconic Sintex water tanks believes in constant evolution and creation of new products. And after 34 years with one company he is still passionate about it! Contributor : IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

Basic Instinct An IIT-IIM graduate, Vijay has devoted his life to addressing issues of inequality and social justice but through management techniques. He pioneered the concept of microfinance in India through an organisation called Basix which gives loans to the rural poor.

Contributor: IIM A | Stories | 10 Mar 2009 > Download

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