What Startups can learn from Mahabharata by Dhawal Damania this ebook has been published by thednetworks.com and is for FREE, if you have paid for this book, please ensure that you inform us on our email, [email protected] so that we can take necessary actions. What Startups can learn from Mahabharata (Ebook) byDhawal Damania is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http:// thednetworks.com/contact-us/ If you wish to copy the content in whole or part, please feel free to do so, however, credit us by pointing a link to http://www.thednetworks.com as the source either inside the content or in the bibliography. Introduction You can get inspiration from anything and everything, being a Hindu, we have Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagwad Gita kept in our house and there are recitals quite often. But my thought was completely diferent towards it, having sat in my ofce working on a Product, it stuck me that Mahabharata has all the ingredients I or any startup would need to be successful, so folks this is your All-in-one-guide to get your startup moving, look no further. For those of you who don't know what Mahabharata, the legendary Epic is here are some Insights, trivia and facts about it • It was a fight between the members of the same family over the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by an Indo-Aryan clan call the Kuru. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kaurva and the Pandva. • There are several stories inside the Mahabharata, the battle of Kurukshetra is where we will be focussing since it was the battle for supremacy, where there would be only 1 winner, the richer powerful side or the poor weak side and you can only guess the winner! • It contain bufet of ideologies of friendship to kinship, from being loyal to your family (startup) or doing what is right and more • It was the second largest Epic after after The Life of King Gesar • It is one of the most important Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It consists of over 74,000 verses, long prose passages (approximately a 1.8 million words) which make it the second longest epic poem written in the world. It contains the Bhagavad Gita, which is an important text for Hindus. • Took place around 5574 BC about 7500+ years Ago • Date of Mahabharata War: 16TH OCTOBER 5561 YEAR B.C. • It had mind-boggling revelation about Astronomy: Existence of Uranus and Neptune Geography: Lands as far as Cambodia (Kamboja), Kazakhistan and/or Scandinavia (Uttarakuru) Mathematics: Number to the range of 10 raised to powers of 16 and -16 Descriptions of Weapons that resemble modern day weaponry including Nuclear and/or Chemical Weapons. Complex Military Formations and Strategies. Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Spirituality, Religion, Politics. • Learn More about Mahabharatahere Briefs about the Fighting Ends Kaurvas 11 Akshouhini (1 Akshouhini = 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 65,610 horses and 109,350 foot-soldiers (in a ratio of 1:1:3:5) • Bhishma • Drona • Karna • Shalya • Kripacharya • Ashwathama • Duriyodhana Kaurvas were in power for 13 years with Duriyodhana as the benevolent king, not only they had wealth and the power to rule of Hastinapur but also Indraprashtha, the kingdom Pandvas had taken labour to build which had surpassed the Hastina of old in all degrees. Karna has gone on a nation-wide conquering on behalf of Duriyodhana, they were national sovereigns (You can take them as the Big Fishes of your industry) Pandvas 7 Akshouhini (1 Akshouhini = 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 65,610 horses and 109,350 foot-soldiers (in a ratio of 1:1:3:5) • Arjuna • Bhima • Dhrshtadyuma • Abhimanyu • Ghatotkach • Shikhandi • Satyaki On the other hand the Pandvas were in exile for 13 years, had no kingdom of their own, however, their main strength depended on their friends and relatives(The Pancalas, The Yadavas, The Magadhas and The Chedis.) both in terms of political and financial, I am sure you guys must have guessed it that this is Us the Startup guys Results of the war at Kurukshetra and the Winner is Pandvas, ha? how did this happen? they were the underdogs? weren't they, weak, depended on other, no kingdom of their own, not even in a position to war, let along the might rich warriors who ruled almost the world. War lasted in 18 days and only strategy and the will to live and Win separated the Winners from the Losers. So just how did the Pandvas Win the war? Here goes the strategy you could apply to your startup and win against all odds in your way. 1. Prepare before hand and turn your weakness in to your Strength Kauravas has a upper hand which was also a lower hand in the war, Karna went to a country-wide tour to acquire kingdom and their wealth, but it also meant that they had losses in terms of both men and money and also created a few enemies. Pandavas on the other hand, were in exile and had more time to focus and improve their weaknesses. • Arjuna set out on a mission to acquires Divya-astras. • Bhima met his brother Hanuman and got a blessing of enhanced strength • Yudhishtira acquired teachings from the various wise rishis, and also learnt the Game of Dice from Gandharava Chitrasena, lest he was challenged to yet another dice game. Its said that he had become un-defeatable As a startup the less you have the better it is, since you don't have enough money, you learn to save money and do things in the most cost -efective way, since there is a less of expertise on a domain, you spend time learning it yourself so that you could acquire the knowledge and help yourself and the startup grow. I could give you n-number of examples but would just want to quote the greatest mind of all times. In the middle of every difculty lies opportunity. - Albert Einstein 2. Make powerful Allies Kauravas, had a central control of power system, it was the greatest empire of the time. However, there were not many powerful allies, except from old relations from far of places like Gandhara (Shakuni), Sindhu (Jayadrath) and Kambodia (Camboja - Bhagadutt) Pandavas had No wealth. No power of their own, but had made powerful allies all over India. • Panchala through Marriage with Darupadi. • Dwaraka through marriage with Arjuna and Subhadra. • Magadha through marriage of Shadeva and Vijaya. • Chedi through marriage of Nakula and Karenmayi. • Kasi through marriage of Bhima and Balandhara. • Kekaya through marriage of Yudhisthira and Devika. • Matsya through marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttara. • The Rakshasas through marriage of Bhima and Hidimba. • The Nagas through marriage of Arjuna and Uloopi. As startup, connection matter, focus on quality over quantity, I believe that every connect is a +1 point to you as a startup and will make you move in the direction of your goal. There will be people you find in your way as you move, you want them to be your friends not strangers, as they are also moving in the same direction and if they succeed before you they can help you reach your goal and vice-versa. If you have more allies, help is just a call/email away 24/7 without any restriction. 3. Share your responsibilities Kauravas has centralized leadership, one head of the army at a time, who had a supreme authority of 11 akshouhini Army. Pandavas: It had Distributed leadership, had seven commanders all leaders, in various fields (1 man commanded 1 akshouhini each) • Virat (King of Matsya). • Drupad (King of Pancala). • Sahadeva (King of Magadha). • Dhrshtaketu (King of Chedi). • Satyaki (Only warrior from Dwaraka). • Shikhandi (Prince of Panchala). • Dhrshtadhyuma – Commander in Chief. • Arjuna – Supreme Commander. • Krishna – Arjuna’s charioteer and counselor. Having a team of Rockstars who are self motivated has its perks, use it well, the team that you choose for your startup will definitely have all the ingredients to be a Superstar company one day, the only thing you have to do is, distribute the responsibility wisely according to each person strength and the results will always be greater than the sum of individual eforts. My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people - Steve Jobs 4. Teamwork succeeds where individual eforts fails Kaurvas has no team spirit, they all fought their individual war, didn't know about each other strength and weaknesses, everyone had their own reason for the way and they were all diferent reason, they didn't get well with each other, It was like a bees, hornets and mosquitoes put together in a jar. Pandavas had One team. One Goal. As men, they all had huge respect for Krishna and Yudhishtira. While as warriors they were in complete awe of Bhima and Arjuna. Most of them were close relatives – cousins, brother-in-laws, father-in-laws. More than that they all were part of the decision-making process. It was their “common” war. Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.