The Golden Tap The Inside Story Of Hyper Funded Indian Start Ups

Ever wondered why global investors are willing to write million dollar cheques to young and inexperienced entrepreneurs? Why companies are no longer judged on their ability to make profits? Why the valuation of a startup can dwarf that of its well-established counterpart? Is it a bubble? Or have the rules of the game changed? Can these hyper-funded; technology driven companiesbecome global superpowers? Or is it an unsustainable phenomenon? The Golden Tap gives you the answers. In a remarkably honest, no holds barred account; Kashyap – himself a serial entrepreneur – demystifies the technology ecosystem that exists in India today. From the origins of Amazon and Google, to the remarkable growth of Flipkart and Ola, he meticulously plots and chronicles a connected global sequence of events. Set in this background he recounts his personal roller coaster of a life.A story filled with ambition, greed, vanity, fear and success that all young entrepreneurs can relate to. Is this the business model of the future? Or merely a game of poker played by master investors? The answers pour out of The Golden Tap.

The definitive account of India’s biggest startup that redefined e-commerce, entrepreneurship and the way we shop and live. IIT graduates Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded out of a Bangalore apartment what would become India’s biggest e-commerce startup. Established in October 2007, Flipkart began as an online bookstore and soon came to be known for its ‘customer obsession’. As the startup’s reputation grew, so did its value, with venture capitalists in India and abroad lining up to invest heavily in the company that stood for bold ambition, unabashed consumerism and the virtues of technology. Investigative journalist Mihir Dalal recounts the astounding story of how the Bansals built Flipkart into a multi-billion-dollar powerhouse in the span of a few years and made internet entrepreneurship a desirable occupation. But it is also a story of big money, power and hubris, as both business and interpersonal complexities weakened the founders’ control over their creation and forced them to sell out to a retailer whose dominance they had once dreamt of emulating. Flipkart’s auction involved some of the corporate world’s biggest names, from Jeff Bezos, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai to Masayoshi Son and Doug McMillon, an ironic testimony to the strength of what the Bansals had forged. Based on extraordinary research, extensive interviews and deep access to key characters in the Flipkart story, Big Billion Startup is the riveting and revealing account of how Sachin and Binny Bansal built and sold India’s largest internet company.

Leverage the framework of visionaries to innovate, disrupt, and ultimately succeed as an entrepreneur The Lean Entrepreneur, Second Edition banishes the "Myth of the Visionary" and shows you how you can implement proven, actionable techniques to create products and disrupt existing markets on your way to entrepreneurial success. The follow-up to the New York Times bestseller, this great guide combines the concepts of customer insight, rapid experimentation, and actionable data from the Lean Startup methodology to allow individuals, teams, or even entire companies to solve problems, create value, and ramp up their vision quickly and efficiently. The belief that innovative outliers like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have some super-human ability to envision the future and build innovative products to meet needs that have yet to arise is a fallacy that too many fall prey to. This 'Myth of the Visionary' does nothing but get in the way of talented managers, investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Taking a proven, measured approach, The Lean Entrepreneur will have you engaging customers, reducing time to market and budgets, and stressing your organization's focus on the power of loyal customers to build powerhouse new products and companies. This guide will show you how to: Apply actionable tips and tricks from successful lean entrepreneurs with proven track records Leverage the Innovation Spectrum to disrupt markets and create altogether new markets Use minimum viable products to drive strategy and conduct efficient market testing Quickly develop cross-functional innovation teams to overcome typical startup roadblocks The Lean Entrepreneur is your complete guide to getting your startup moving in the right direction quickly and hyper-efficiently.

The story of an entrepreneur who moved from a single, family style restaurant, to create a chain known across India. But his passion for hospitality did not stop there. Vithal Kamat had a dream to make a five star hotel. He went on to make THE ORCHID, a five-star ecotel, which won numerous awards for being the world^s best environmentally sensitive hotel. The Orchids multiplied and today stand as icons of hospitality. This is the story of what went into the making of this empire. This is an inspiring story of a man willing to face any odds for his dream, armed with determination, dedication and discipline. There are moments in our lives, where we feel like giving up on our vision and aspirations.This true life story of hotelier Vithal Kamat shows that all it takes to make it, is the belief in your dreams and the conviction to see them through.

A radical shift in perspective to transform your organization to become more innovative The Design Thinking Playbook is an actionable guide to the future of business. By stepping back and questioning the current mindset, the faults of the status quo stand out in stark relief—and this guide gives you the tools and frameworks you need to kick off a digital transformation. Design Thinking is about approaching things differently with a strong user orientation and fast iterations with multidisciplinary teams to solve wicked problems. It is equally applicable to (re-)design products, services, processes, business models, and ecosystems. It inspires radical innovation as a matter of course, and ignites capabilities beyond mere potential. Unmatched as a source of competitive advantage, Design Thinking is the driving force behind those who will lead industries through transformations and evolutions. This book describes how Design Thinking is applied across a variety of industries, enriched with other proven approaches as well as the necessary tools, and the knowledge to use them effectively. Packed with solutions for common challenges including digital transformation, this practical, highly visual discussion shows you how Design Thinking fits into agile methods within management, innovation, and startups. Explore the digitized future using new design criteria to create real value for the user Foster radical innovation through an inspiring framework for action Gather the right people to build highly-motivated teams Apply Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, Big Data Analytics, and Lean Start-up using new tools and a fresh new perspective Create Minimum Viable Ecosystems (MVEs) for digital processes and services which becomes for example essential in building Blockchain applications Practical frameworks, real-world solutions, and radical innovation wrapped in a whole new outlook give you the power to mindfully lead to new heights. From systems and operations to people, projects, culture, digitalization, and beyond, this invaluable mind shift paves the way for organizations—and individuals—to do great things. When you're ready to give your organization a big step forward, The Design Thinking Playbook is your practical guide to a more innovative future.

Commerce meets conquest in this swashbuckling story of the six merchant-adventurers who built the modern world, as told by “Canada’s Simon Winchester” (Globe and Mail). Through the Age of Heroic Commerce, from the 17th to the 19th centuries, a rogue’s gallery of larger-than-life merchant kings ruled vast tracts of the globe and expanded their far-flung monopolies to generate revenue for their shareholders, feather their own nests and satisfy their vanity and curiosity. Their exploits changed the world during an age of unfettered globalization, mirroring a world we know today. Merchant Kings looks at each ruling monopoly through its greatest merchant king and considers their stories together for the first time: Jan Pieterszoon Coen of the Dutch East India Company Pieter Stuyvesant of the Dutch West India Company Robert Clive of the English East India Company Alexandr Baranov of the Russian-American Company George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company Cecil John Rhodes of the British South Africa Company

This book presents a wide range of tools and techniques used in entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets. Among them, venture capital is perhaps the best known, understood, and researched mode of entrepreneurial finance. However, a significant focus of the book is dedicated to other modes of entrepreneurial finance such as ‘bootstrapping,’ angel financing, bank financing, and other alternative means of financing, which could include government assistance programs, business incubation, technology parks, or family financing. In addition, the book highlights how new and innovative financial technologies (comprised of software, business processes, and other modern technologies), known under the term of FinTech, may support, enable, and enhance the provision of different modes of entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets. The book also discusses entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets in the context of women entrepreneurs. A comprehensive analysis of entrepreneurial finance in emerging market countries, this book will appeal to academics, researchers, and students of entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and private equity, entrepreneurship, and international business.