Stay Hungry Stay Foolish Book Review

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal is a best selling inspirational book for entrepreneurs. It is ranked #6 among Business, Strategy & Management books in India.

Bio of Rashmi Bansal (Goodreads)

Rashmi Bansal is a writer, entrepreneur and youth expert.She is the author of two bestselling books on entrepreneurship. ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’ features the stories of 25 MBAs who left lucrative jobs to follow the rough road of entrepreneurship. The book created a new record in Indian publishing by selling over 300,000 copies and has been translated into 8 languages.

Book description:

“The inspiring stories of 25 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”. (Book website)

The book has inspiring stories of 25 IIM Ahmedabad Graduates who chose to become entrepreneurs. It is a beautiful documentation of these entrepreneurs who believed in their ability, their ideas and despite all odds became very successful. Each story conatins the childhood of the person, his education, his career and his life in general.

The list of the 25 entrepreneurs is gven below:

1. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, naukri.com
2. Shantanu Prakash, Educomp
3. Vinayak Chatterjee, Feedback Ventures
4. Ashank Desai, Mastek
5. R Subramanian, Subhiksha
6. Narendra Murkumbi, Shree Renuka Sugars
7. Chender Baljee, Royal Orchid Hotels
8. Madan Mohanka, Tega Industries
9. Sunil Handa, Eklavya Education Foundation
10. Vardan Kabra, Fountainhead School
11. Deep Kalra, makemytrip.com
12. Rashesh Shah, Edelweiss Capital
13. Nirmal Jain, India Infoline
14. Vikram Talwar, EXL Service
15. K Raghavendra Rao, Orchid Pharma
16. Jerry Rao, Mphasis
17. Shivraman Dugal, Institute for Clinical Research in India
18. Shankar Maruwada, Marketics
19. Ruby Ashraf, Precious Formals
20. Deepta Rangarajan, IRIS
21. Cyrus Driver, Calorie Care
22. Venkat Krishnan, GiveIndia
23. Anand Halve, chlorophyll
24. S B Dangayach, Sintex
25. Vijay Mahajan, Basix

The Believers, The Opportunists and the Alternate Vision

1. The Believers – Sanjeev Bikhchandani of Naukri.com, the biggest job portals in India and Shantanu Prakash, the founder of Educomp are part of the “Believers” camp because of their visionary perseverance.
2. The Opportunists – In this camp, entrepreneurs start out thir venture as a hobby but afer seeing a bysiness case transform their hobby into a business. Ruby Ashraf turned her hobby into a major business, Precious Formals.
3. The Alternate Vision – For entrepreneurs who want to bring about social change and impact.

This book has been described as “a motivating read that encompasses an array of individuals who come from different backgrounds and have different interests but have one thing in common – determination and commitment to their beliefs”[1]. This is the common theme across all the stories: “…the only thing I found common to everyone was their passion. Some started their venture with partners, some alone. Some started with millions or rupees in capitals whereas some started with a few thousands or even lesser.”[2]

Some of the key features of the book Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is given below:

• The book is written in common conversational Indian style with no complex English words or long sentences.
• It is based on extensive research.
• The book has small success stories that let’s one understand the hardships that entrepreneurs have faced in the journey to make their dream come true.
• The narration is very lucid and without going in to too many unnecessary details covers long periods.
• SHSF helps one to visualize the journey from a entrepreneur’s perspective.
• Going through these stories makes one realize how these entrepreneurs made it big in their respective fields through unfailing courage and massive hard-work. They were resilient enough to wait and persevere till their startups saw the light of the day.
• Very positive and motivating book.
• Story of each entrepreneur will inspire you to believe that even you can make money someday.
• Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is very useful for those people who aspire to become an entrepreneur and want to do something different in life rather than a typical corporate job.
• Some people consider this book the Gita of all dreamers and budding entrepreneurs.
• This book is for those who detest the rat-race and who want to be in charge of their lives.
• This is a book for individuals who want to sit on the driver’s seat and lead.
• SHSF contains “practical wisdom and concise pointers for aspiring entrepreneurs.”[1]

Key Takeaway from Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

• There is no consistent formula for success.
• One must learn from one’s mistakes and move ahead.
• You should have firm believe in your ideas.
• One must be ready to look into every possible opportunity and leave no stone unturned.
• The story of childhood of entrepreneurs indicate that “an entrepreneur can come from anywhere.”[2]

Final Words

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish has been described as “a well-structured book with easy language and compact format but after a certain point the read tends to get monotonous. However, it is one of those tell-all reads that can be termed as the “book of facts” on Entrepreneurship.”[1]

A must read if you are looking to become an entrepreneur.

Reference

[1] http://thetalespensieve.com/2014/03/book-review-stay-hungry-stay-foolish/
[2] http://blog.husainad.com/stay-hungry-stay-foolish/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4765642-stay-hungry-stay-foolish

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I hope you found this book review of Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal useful. If you have something to add please leave a comment in the post. Please feel free to contact me.