“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” is a very catchy phrase, which was first used by Steve Jobs in his speech for the convocation of students at Stanford University, however, title apart, the Book has nothing to do with Apple or Steve Jobs. On the other hand, this book is an amalgamation of entrepreneurial achievements of 25 alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad. The book has been published by Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIM-Ahmedabad in 8 languages, and it topped the as the #1 Best-Seller in India Today’s “Non-Fiction” category.
As per Rashmi Bansal, the Entrepreneurs in the book, and by extrapolating this logic, even elsewhere can be broadly classified into 3 categories.
THE BELIEVERS:
People who knew entrepreneurship was the Chosen Path. They took the plunge straight after their MBA or after working barely a couple of years. And they persevered until they made it big!
THE OPPORTUNISTS:
These entrepreneurs did not plan to take this path but when opportunity knocked they seized it. Their stories go to show that you don't have to be 'born with it', you can develop an entrepreneurial bent of mind at any age.
THE ALTERNATE VISION:
These individuals are using entrepreneurship to create social impact. Or as a platform which allows them creative expression.
The Praises (Positives)
The language used in the book is very lucid and straightforward. Also the book comprises of short interviews of each of the chosen-25, which is followed by their advice to the aspiring entrepreneurs. This “pearls of advices” are a concise version of what they have learnt in their years of hard work and struggle, and hence very inspiring to both the prospective and the struggling entrepreneurs.
The other wonderful thing that has been taken care of here is that the entrepreneurs are chosen from different aspects of the business world, unlike the so-called technocrats who have had a huge share of the limelight, thanks to the IT Revolution. Except the “software-related” success stories, the book also covers the conventional fields of hotel management, pharmacy, polymer-related water tanks and the sugar industry. However, the thing that touched my heart was the fact that the book also covers the Social-Responsibility aspect of the Entrepreneurship and covers Educational institutes and Financial Institutes which help the rural development among others.
In reading the real-life experiences of the interviewees, you will be able to relate to your dreams, your aspirations and even some of the experiences, which you have already undergone, are undergoing, or will undergo in the future, if you take the bold step in direction of entrepreneurship. To be really honest, reading all these stories, not only rekindled the entrepreneur in me (after all, most Gujatratis want to own their own business), but it also aroused a feeling of nostalgia for all the Business-related case-studies we used to work on during our college days. I guess, this book can be a starting point for the B-School students, when they want to look into case-studies, however, they would need to do more research on their own.
The Brick-Bats (Negatives)
The book also has some short-comings, which can turn people off from reading it. Since all the people featured in this book are from IIM-A, it seems more like an Alumni-Achievement Report, and hence people cannot directly relate to it. Also, the main thing that turned me off was the fact that most of the people considered did their MBA from IIM-A in 1970s and 1980s, when getting into the institute was much easier with a lot lesser competition and once they got a job, the job profiles they got as freshers were a lot higher than where any of the average people with a similar education history, which directly stops us from correlating their stories with the current market situation.
Moreover, about 15 of the stories have the same “abstract”, where the interviewee's story goes like this, my parents were ignorant or passive, I took CAT, made it to IIM-A, toiled at an MNC for a few years, got a great idea, worked on my new idea, and here I am, owner of a multi-million dollar organization. It almost seems like reading the same story over and over again. On a personal note, I felt that there could have been some more optimizations w.r.t. the people selected for the book. There is no mention of people like Chetan Bhagat (who is also an author) and Harsha Bhogle, who too are IIM-A Alumni, who left their MNC jobs to follow their hearts’ passion.
Another thing I found amiss here is that the level of research done for the entrepreneurs mentioned in the book is pretty less as compared to what is expected. Barring a few exceptions, the stories are missing the people around the interviewees, i.e. their families and friends who supported them in the ups and downs of their journey. The book also misses explaining some terms, and some business models in detail, which lead the readers to a state of not being able to completely grasp the stories. Also the English version book has places, where suddenly in the middle of a line; the author mentions some thoughts in Hindi, which break the flow of language.
Final Verdict:
All said and done, irrespective of the shortcomings with language, depth or any other criticisms, “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” still manages to convey the ideas crisply in few pages and that's the essence of the book.
At just Rs 125 for a new copy, the book is cheaper than having a lunch/dinner at most of the Restaurants. However, even if you skip a meal to buy this book, since the book is bound to imbibe some wisdom into you, you won’t be able to “Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish”.
