Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

The book is divided into 3 sections

* The Believers: IIM-A graduates who took the plunge straight out of IIM-A
* The Opportunists: Who saw an opportunity and capitalized on it
* The Alternate Vision: Social Entrepreneurs who cared about things beyond money

The book is written in a conversational format with the author thinking aloud before having a conversation with an entrepreneur followed by the conversation and a page of advice from the entrepreneur.

The sheer breadth of advice from entrepreneurs proves one big point, there is no consistent formula for success. There are examples and counter-examples of every strategy in the same book.

* There is no other way but to learn from one's own mistakes
* It pays to ride a wave in an upturn but then belief in one's ideas is as important to see through the trying times
* Bootstrap is good but sometimes there is no other way to scale up without a high leverage investments backed by a VC/PE fund
* Jumping straight into the rough is good but so is gaining some experience and building a nice nest egg before taking the plunge
* Its good to have equal partnerships with your co-founders but sometimes there needs to be a first amongst equals for smooth functioning
* You can plan really well and execute it with mathematical precision but sometimes the best of plans can be bested on first contact with the market
* Maintaining independence of your venture ('my baby') for long through the rough road is good but knowing when to let go even when the going is good is needed many times
* Government can be a very conservative regulator and prone to knee-jerk policy actions based on emerging events which can kill entrepreneurial ventures but sometimes they are the only ones who are willing to try out something new providing the much needed lifeline to ventures thinking ahead of their times.
* Small is beautiful but without scale the actual vision cannot be realised
* In all cases IIM-A alumni network helped a lot

I was curious about this book when I came across this somewhat unconvetional title "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". So I decided to pick up a copy and flip through its pages. After going through the first few pages, I knew that this is the book I am going to keep with me for life. It's not because of any sentimental value but beacuse it is so insipiring to read about the young men who took risk in career and got ahead of others.

The book talks about 25 IIM-A graduates who, at different point of their life, decided to take a plunge into the challenging world of entreprenuership. They risked their career and turned down high paying job offers to start something of their own. The ups and downs faced by them in their endevours to do something different makes one think how big dreams are achieved.

The book is well written in short, simple and crisp English. It doesn't require one to be a Management guru to understand the context. There are a few jargons here and there. But overall, the book is quite interesting and inspiring to read. Highly recommended, especially to all those who are starting out on their career path.

its excellent book. must for young genreation.

highly inspirational written in very simple and lucid english ,highly recommended.

One of the best reads of what skills and network u need to become an entrepreneur. Clear and open articultation by all the people featured in the book. Must have for anyone wanting to become an entrepreneur.

The book is truly inspirational and steping stone for the young turks who wants to become an entrpreneur. We are thankful to all the 25 IIMA grads who shared their thoughts. Once again thanks a lot.....

The book talks about 25 IIM-A graduates ,Entrepreneurs ,unconvetional title "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish",The book is well written in short, simple ,one can think how big dreams are achieved. phenomenial book....in every aspect.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish: the inspiring stories of 25 IIMA graduated who choose to tread a path of their own making. This book has been written to inspire youth and is a definite read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship. I was reading the nth story and I thought that this is the best story this book could have got. I thought the rest would not be as par to this one. When I hopped to the next one I found that was best not the previous one. Similarly one after another I found each story was better than the others in some respect. I read this book with a pencil in my hand, marking all the advice and important mantras that pop up in between. At the end of each story there is “advice to young entrepreneurs” which is the most worth part of the book. This book has got a lot to teach you especially to folks like me who don’t know much of business. Let me tell you I didn’t get some of the terms or business insight given in it though it is written very lucidly and user friendly. I know I’ll read this stuff again and again and soon I’ll get everything written in it.
The price of this book is 125 bucks which is far too less than what it should be. The book is obviously much more worthy. I had no second thought on whether to buy this book or not. Every entrepreneur covered in this book ventured in different fields and has got success. Both product and service driven companies are covered here. This book answers many questions arising inside a wannabe entrepreneur such as how to form a career out of entrepreneurship. It provides a lot of insight into when and how to take the plunge, what should be size of your team, what skills you need to have and several others. This book is a chance to meet many successful individuals and institutions which is a total delight and knowledgeable experience.

Very excellent book about young India. Truly motivational. This book has excellent design,language.. simply a higly recommanded for every young professional.

And especially for 125 bucks, this book is a steal !!!

Stay Hungry! Stay Foolish!
A must read book which every wannabe achievers, risk takers should have..
"advice to young entrepreneurs" - let this part be pasted in your cube walls as well as minds....

this book has certainly moved me and changed my vision with respect to the trading globe,n most importantly has brought sum ray of hope in my medioker attitude towards studies,that yes even i can atleast think of being able to put forth the effort of being an IIM grad...
but just one aspect i din't like is that,it has shown that cracking the CAt for all these enterpreneurs was a CAKEWALK???
most of them cleared their IIT and then landed up in the IIMs..

The book was more of a compilation of interviews with top entrepreneurs. It sort of became monotonous beyond a point.

Its a set of interview compiled in the form of short stories...

Stop reading it after 4 interviews as all consist of same stories highlighting struggle, strong will, dedication towards entrepreneurship, support of others.

One can attract to this book only by the language as some hindi words is being used

I loved the book from begin to end. It is so inspiring and insightful. I got many insight from this book. Rashmi, had really done a fantastic job on writing these stories. I am really "Thankful" to Rashmi and those 25 IIMAs who shared there Experience, Ups and Down, Pitfalls, and how they reached at the top. They inspire us to dream big and stick to that untill you achieve that. I hope, she would bring the same again shortly.


Once again.......................Great Job........Rashmi.

Stay hungry.... die a hungry person

I am currently pursuing my MBA from one of India's top-30 institutes.
I also harbour dreams of being an entrepreneur myself. So whenever the going gets tough or whenever I am feeling a bit low, this book is like my Bible which I go to again and again whenever I need that small extra bit of motivation. And it works EVERY SINGLE TIME !!!!

This could well be the book that will change my life !!
A big thank you to the author and all the people mentioned inside for bringing out this book and sharing their stories respectively.

Best book i ever read. Thanks for the book..

Best book i ever read. Thanks for the book..

Really it helped me to connect my dots effectively!

Its an inspiring tale of stories.....this book highlights the kind of issues faced by enterprenuers for start ups.......

nicely written. could have added more spice to it
keep it up

You can see videos of the launch of the Hindi version of this book here:
http://www.harmonyatwork.in/blog/2009/09/stay-hungry-stay-foolish-launches-in-hindi/
Also, here is an interview with Rashmi about the book:
http://www.harmonyatwork.in/blog/2009/10/the-story-of-stay-hungry-stay-foolish/

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