Simply an amazing book! If you are the CEO of a startup that is scaling and you are looking for a collection of learnings that could help you develop multiple perspectives about what the options that are available are, this is the book.
Horowitz talks about several dilemmas that run through the minds of the entrepreneurs. In addition to sharing the personal war stories and several of the other companies that you may have heard about, he gets the challenges to the fore. The issues he talks about cover demoting/firing a friend; using titles and promotions; hiring from a friend’s company; managing personal psychology; hiring the smart people and what to do when they are bad employees; when to sell your company; and many more.
I have recommended this book to several entrepreneurs who I believe are in the stage of looking if they have some right answers. If you are too, get yourself a copy.
I have known Nagaraja Prakasam (Naga) since 2014, when he became the resident mentor at NSRCEL. He used to regularly sit at the “Naga Tree” close to IIMB and mentor startups who came to see him. Over the years he has invested in several of startups, and a recent post of his where he mentioned his debut book won the GLF-WWF Green Honours award suggested the count stood at 18. The book focuses on building how Naga is helping build a sustainable future through his work with entrepreneurs and several ecosystem enablers.
I had not purchased the book and had been postponing that, but Naga was keen on developing a course on social entrepreneurship and sought some assistance. When I mentioned I had not yet read his book, he got it couriered right away. I finished reading the book—actually, the book is a breeze to read—and written in simple language.
I believe the book is inspired by “My Experiments with Truth” (MET by Mahatma Gandhi). Naga does mention the impact this book had on him, but in here I feel the style also seems to mostly match. MET shares several experiments that Gandhiji had conducted in his pursuit of truth; in here, Naga shares a lot of these interactions with social entrepreneurs, enterprises, and life-altering conversations. As a reader you will know Naga more closely—the thoughts that motivate him and the perspective he carries.
I, however, felt the number of experiences he shares was a bit too many to my liking. As someone who has been used to thinking and working with and towards some framework, I felt this section has been missing from the book. I wish several of the thoughts could be structured to create a pathway for others to refer to. But that is also possibly not Naga’s fault. It is me as an academician looking for generalization— as a reader, you may be perfectly fine with the rich stories he shares.
