Rashesh Shah did it. Sanjeev Bikhchandani did it. Shantanu Prakash did it. 'Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish' is the story of 25 such IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose the rough road of entrepreneurship. They are diverse in age, in outlook and the industries they made a mark in. But they have one thing in common: they believed in the power of their dreams. This book seeks to inspire young graduates to look beyond placements and salaries. To believe in their dreams. The Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad aims at fostering innovation-driven entrepreneurship through incubation, research and dissemination of knowledge. Rs.125/- - ISBN 978-81-904530-1-1 R a s h m i B a n s a l CONTENTS - THE BELIEVERS - THE OPPORTUNISTS - THE ALTERNATE VISION p02 THE BOOK OF JOB Sanjeev Bikhchandani (PGP 1989), naukri.com 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. p18 ROCK WITH IT, ROLL WITH IT Shantanu Prakash (PGP 1988), Educomp Despite a regular middle class upbringing, Shantanu went into business while doing his BCom. 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. THE BELIEVERS p28 THE CAT WITH NINE LIVES Vinayak Chatterjee (PGP 1981), Feedback Ventures Vinayak quit his job at Pond’s because he didn’t see the point of selling People who knew entrepreneurship was soap for the rest of his life. Originally set up as a market research the Chosen Path. They took the plunge company, over the years, Feedback Ventures morphed into India’s straight after their MBA or after working leading infrastructure advisory and engineering firm. barely a couple of years. And they p40 SOFTWARE COWBOYS persevered until they made it big! Ashank Desai (PGP 1979), Mastek 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. p54 GIVER OF ALL GOOD THINGS R Subramanian (PGP 1989), Subhiksha 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'. PGP is the two year Post Graduate Programme in Management at IIM Ahmedabad. The year denotes when the student graduated. CONTENTS p02 THE BOOK OF JOB Sanjeev Bikhchandani (PGP 1989), naukri.com 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. p18 ROCK WITH IT, ROLL WITH IT Shantanu Prakash (PGP 1988), Educomp Despite a regular middle class upbringing, Shantanu went into business while doing his BCom. 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. THE BELIEVERS p28 THE CAT WITH NINE LIVES Vinayak Chatterjee (PGP 1981), Feedback Ventures Vinayak quit his job at Pond’s because he didn’t see the point of selling People who knew entrepreneurship was soap for the rest of his life. Originally set up as a market research the Chosen Path. They took the plunge company, over the years, Feedback Ventures morphed into India’s straight after their MBA or after working leading infrastructure advisory and engineering firm. barely a couple of years. And they p40 SOFTWARE COWBOYS persevered until they made it big! Ashank Desai (PGP 1979), Mastek 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. p54 GIVER OF ALL GOOD THINGS R Subramanian (PGP 1989), Subhiksha 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'. PGP is the two year Post Graduate Programme in Management at IIM Ahmedabad. The year denotes when the student graduated. CONTENTS p68 SWEET SUCCESS Narendra Murkumbi (PGP 1994), Shree Renuka Sugars 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 1000 crore company, and has changed the lives of hundreds of sugarcane farmers. p80 AT YOUR SERVICE Chender Baljee (PGP 1972), Royal Orchid Hotels 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. THE BELIEVERS p88 SUCH A LONG JOURNEY Madan Mohanka (PGP 1967), Tega Industries People who knew entrepreneurship was 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 the Chosen Path. They took the plunge engineering and today, Tega Industries is the world's third largest straight after their MBA or after working company designing solutions in the field of mining equipment. barely a couple of years. And they persevered until they made it big! p102 THE ALCHEMIST Sunil Handa (PGP 1979), Eklavya Education Foundation/ Core Emballage As the force behind the LEM (Laboratory in 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. p120 YEH HAI YOUNGISTAN MERI JAAN Vardan Kabra (PGP 2004), Fountainhead School 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. CONTENTS p68 SWEET SUCCESS Narendra Murkumbi (PGP 1994), Shree Renuka Sugars 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 1000 crore company, and has changed the lives of hundreds of sugarcane farmers. p80 AT YOUR SERVICE Chender Baljee (PGP 1972), Royal Orchid Hotels 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. THE BELIEVERS p88 SUCH A LONG JOURNEY Madan Mohanka (PGP 1967), Tega Industries People who knew entrepreneurship was 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 the Chosen Path. They took the plunge engineering and today, Tega Industries is the world's third largest straight after their MBA or after working company designing solutions in the field of mining equipment. barely a couple of years. And they persevered until they made it big! p102 THE ALCHEMIST Sunil Handa (PGP 1979), Eklavya Education Foundation/ Core Emballage As the force behind the LEM (Laboratory in 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. p120 YEH HAI YOUNGISTAN MERI JAAN Vardan Kabra (PGP 2004), Fountainhead School 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. CONTENTS p130 TRIPPING ALONG Deep Kalra (PGP 1992), makemytrip.com 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. p144 BLOOM AND GROW Rashesh Shah (PGP 1989), Edelweiss Capital 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. p156 IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HONEY THE OPPORTUNISTS Nirmal Jain (PGP 1989), India Infoline 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 These entrepreneurs did not plan to take Infoline is one of the country's biggest online trading platforms. this path but when opportunity knocked p166 IT'S NEVER TOO LATE they seized it. Their stories go to show that Vikram Talwar (PGP 1970), EXL Service you don't have to be 'born with it', you can After a long and distinguished career with Bank of America, Vikram develop an entrepreneurial bent of mind at Talwar could have spent the rest of his years playing golf.