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The Tipe of the Iceberg: The Unknown Truth Behind India's Start-Ups
A wave of entrepreneurship has been sweeping across India. The success of start-ups like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Ola and others has veered the discourse towards high valuations.
But what we mostly see is very much the tip of the iceberg. Behind every high valuation of today is a story of blood, sweat, toil and tears. For every entrepreneur who has an amazing success story to tell, there are countless others who have fallen by the wayside. The going has often been a far cry from the presumed romance of breaking the mould, disrupting the order and changing the world.
It is a desire to change the world that drives successful entrepreneurs, for they alone have the blind passion that is often the difference between success and failure, and they are the ones who love the journey more than the destination.
Today, when questions are being asked whether the start-up party is nearing its end, whether we will soon see a rerun of the dot com bust of the early noughties, it is time to remember India’s start-up warriors.
This is the story of their remarkable journeys. Some found their destination. Some did not.
But what we mostly see is very much the tip of the iceberg. Behind every high valuation of today is a story of blood, sweat, toil and tears. For every entrepreneur who has an amazing success story to tell, there are countless others who have fallen by the wayside. The going has often been a far cry from the presumed romance of breaking the mould, disrupting the order and changing the world.
It is a desire to change the world that drives successful entrepreneurs, for they alone have the blind passion that is often the difference between success and failure, and they are the ones who love the journey more than the destination.
Today, when questions are being asked whether the start-up party is nearing its end, whether we will soon see a rerun of the dot com bust of the early noughties, it is time to remember India’s start-up warriors.
This is the story of their remarkable journeys. Some found their destination. Some did not.
- GenresBusiness
320 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 21, 2020
The Tip of the Iceberg is a very interesting title to describe the start-ups which Suveen has chosen viz. Baazee, Snapdeal, Paytm, Ola, Mu Sigma, Shop Clues, Lime Road, Redbud, Practo, Stayzilla, Vu Technologies, Housing.com, Smile group, Fashionandu and Yebhi. Suveen adopts a fragmental approach to narrate the stories of these startups. Suddenly there is shift between stories and after a time it becomes tough to track the names and the start-up context. Better placing of the paragraphs would have given continuity. The content is very good, Suveen has done immense first person research and the book is amazing for people interested to grab a bite of the startup space.
April 11, 2019
The book provides great insights into the early life of Indian Startup Founders. But, I got mixed up a little due to the format in which it has been presented.
September 1, 2016
Picked up this book at the airport and finished it in 2 days straight. Really light but informative read about the behind the scene stories of India's start up scene although, I must warn that you should not pick this book up with the motive of finding about the in detail struggles behind setting up a start up. The author has tried to cover lot of personalities/companies and their behind the scene stories- the birth pangs as they may say but I think, in the end, it has resulted in too many stories for one book with none being covered in depth. I think the title is really apt- Tip of the Iceberg is really skimming the top of the stories behind India's start up scene today. Recommended.
September 19, 2016
Covers the stories of Vijay Shekhar Sharma from PayTM, Bhavesh Agarwal from Ola, Rahul Yadav from housing, Pearl Uppal from FashionAndYou, Yogendra of StayZilla, Shopclues, Mu Sigma, and many more. Must read to get acquainted with Indian startup space.
July 12, 2020
Overall, this book was informative, and was fun to read about the history, trials, and tribulations faced by entrepreneurs and startups. However, there is a lot of scope for improvement. Some proofreading could have been done to resolve several grammatical errors. Additionally, a more personal opinion - the writing style more closely resembles the punchline-seeking-style of a Hindustan Times article, rather than an actual exploratory/business biography. Overall, an average read, mainly for the stories of the various startup founders.
March 20, 2019
Author continues to shift from stories without making connections. It’s an average book on good subject. If he was entrepreneur, with this kind of work he should have finished very early. It’s like he had good idea, good opportunity but lacked a skill. Sorry for negative review but I am that much disappointed.
May 26, 2017
it must be a good book
August 31, 2025
Story of grit, determination, success,failure, patience and aggression... it gives a good glimpse into how start up founders build such new companies
March 29, 2017
Very average
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews