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My Journey with Vadapav
My Journey with Vadapav� by Venkatesh S, answers all these questions and more. The book tells the story of a daring and unusual entrepreneurial venture. Inspired by his love for Vadapav, one man made it his mission to build, promote, transform and establish a humble street snack into a national brand. The book encapsulates a journey in which you walk with the author through various pathways from the glimmer of a concept to its creation, development and foundation, while sharing his moments of apprehension, enthusiasm, despair, elation, occasional confusion and humour. In due course, admire his determination to succeed, no matter what. This bold and inspiring real - life narration, questions the set norms of the Indian food industry and takes its myriad challenges head - on. It is a tale of teamwork, a whole load of determination and entrepreneurship at its best, with a little bit of luck to complete the mix. �My Journey with Vadapav� is exciting, compelling and a great read for enthusiasts who have an idea, a dream or a vision and aspire to make it not just a reality, but a success. It is an inspiration for others too
186 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 24, 2018
For perfect art & science of business!.. for all Mumbai lovers.. for good dosage of entrepreneurial inspiration...
Lemme get straight into my favorite part of the book, as it starts in the "introduction" itself! Whatta way to simply make reader understand, especially those who never heard/seen/tasted a vada pav - Indian's challenge to Western Big M's burger & Mumbaiyaa's way to say "finger licking good".. Loved every line describing Vada pav and the environment where it gets sold in Mumbai streets.
There are way too many lines which attracted the graphite of my pencil on to them (ofcourse, to underline).. lemme just mention few of them here..
I know the list is pretty lengthy, but worth reading and absorbing almost every thought of em.
Mr. Venky has an interesting hypothesis :
shareholders of the company earn their dividend or interest;
employees earn their salaries;
franchisees and distributors get their commission;
vendors get their payments.
All these people are only taking something from the company. So in contrast, it is only the consumers who are paying into the company. though it seems very simple & common sense to understand this thought, it is very challenging for a startup environment to have this thought communicated and followed in every level of the company.
More than anything I liked when Mr. Venky says "The best thing I like about Shiva (his business partner) is that he doesn't think like me at all. He is completely different!.. I think if Venky is Vada, then Mr. Shiva is Paav that made real "Vada Pav" - branded "Goli" at that!! :)
Must read for real inspiration & idea on succeeding as an entrepreneur in India!
Added the below lines post the initial post.. can't just leave the below experience of Mr. Venky unmentioned..:)
... Somewhere during the session, Mr. Ratan Tata had turned to me for a moment and asked what I did.. I said, 'I run a vadapav company'!
Lemme get straight into my favorite part of the book, as it starts in the "introduction" itself! Whatta way to simply make reader understand, especially those who never heard/seen/tasted a vada pav - Indian's challenge to Western Big M's burger & Mumbaiyaa's way to say "finger licking good".. Loved every line describing Vada pav and the environment where it gets sold in Mumbai streets.
There are way too many lines which attracted the graphite of my pencil on to them (ofcourse, to underline).. lemme just mention few of them here..
...like any other middle-class household, we had many comforts, yet no luxuries..
...money was an asset to build something more valuable..
Find the purpose and the means shall follow.. - MK Gandhi
"The planet is evolving and changing. We are here to positively contribute to this change"
"The world will only connect with love, because we are all born from love"
"We collect a lot of information through education system but it's the inspiration that ignites us"
"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe in; one can achieve"
"Our energy for entrepreneurship comes from our emotions"
The best part about entrepreneurship is that as soon as one problem is resolved, another come alive.
"Businesses are built on a mix of analysis and imagination. But for a start-up, imagination is more important than analysis..."
"It is the design of the business that makes it or breaks it. .Most businesses fail because the design is poor".
"There are some kinds of work that only entrepreneurs can do"
"Micro and macro is the same; that's why the solar system looks like the replica of a tiny atom. Scale means replicating a perfect unit again and again."
"Exploration first; operations follow - that's the journey from entrepreneur to entreprise. Alexander the Great and Vasco da Gama were explorers; the Romans and thte British followed, building empires."
"Evolution always happens on the verge of extinction. Larva becomes caterpillar; caterpillar becomes butterfly"
"Assets of true utility are mostly developed in small parts and in different places. Rubber originated from South America; major oil reserves are held in the Middle East and the combustion engine was invented in Europe. When brought together, they make a car."
"A breakthrough may take its own time to happen, yet when it does, things change forever. After Columbus, the world changed forever. And after Google, the World changed forever."
"Simple conversations and meaningful coincidences can bring rapid progress to a business."
"Technology always wins. Aa handful if Spanish sailors captured South America with one superior tool - the Toledo steel sword"
"An entrepreneur has to balance between passion, knowledge and action; following the concept of Bhakti, Gyana and Karma in traditional mythology."
"Creative visualization can change a business. We imagined supply chain, contract manufacturing, technology, logistics, franchising & branding around a handicart. Then we decorated it by adding a few things"
Enthusiasm means invoking the God inside. Entrepreneurs have to be eternal enthusiasts.
"Entrepreneurship is all about passion. Passion gives you the energy to get up and bounce back.."
"In raising funds, validation always comes before valuation"
"Modern education encourages us to pass with flying colors and avoid failures. Entrepreneurship encourages us to try new things and embrace failures".
"Entrepreneurs are like jugglers. If material is available, there is scarcity of manpower, when manpower is available, there is scarcity of money, when the money comes, the market vanishes."
"Columbus made a huge mistake. That mistake is America. Sometimes mistakes can be wonderful."
Entrepreneurship is the journey of not stopping and always staying focussed.
Managing pressure is a big part of building a startup
The company of pioneers and achievers instills one with renewed energy
Luck is the meeting point of opportunities passing by and your alertness to grab it.
The peacefulness of an entrepreneur is in rising footprints.
"When there's little money, one can learn to do things with a zero-budget. And if there is no money, it helps being creative."
VADAPAV + CUTTING CHAI + AMCHI MUMBAI = AWESOMENESS!
Business development is speed and operations is control
"sales and operations is the heart of the business, the heart can't stop"
"America is moving into the imagination age with companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Tesla and Spacex, among others. It is now outsourcingg its industrial age and information age."
Entrepreneurship and Quantum Physics : Entrepreneurs focus their energies on certain thoughts, and those thought energies manifest as matter in the realm of space and time!
I know the list is pretty lengthy, but worth reading and absorbing almost every thought of em.
Mr. Venky has an interesting hypothesis :
shareholders of the company earn their dividend or interest;
employees earn their salaries;
franchisees and distributors get their commission;
vendors get their payments.
All these people are only taking something from the company. So in contrast, it is only the consumers who are paying into the company. though it seems very simple & common sense to understand this thought, it is very challenging for a startup environment to have this thought communicated and followed in every level of the company.
More than anything I liked when Mr. Venky says "The best thing I like about Shiva (his business partner) is that he doesn't think like me at all. He is completely different!.. I think if Venky is Vada, then Mr. Shiva is Paav that made real "Vada Pav" - branded "Goli" at that!! :)
Must read for real inspiration & idea on succeeding as an entrepreneur in India!
Added the below lines post the initial post.. can't just leave the below experience of Mr. Venky unmentioned..:)
... Somewhere during the session, Mr. Ratan Tata had turned to me for a moment and asked what I did.. I said, 'I run a vadapav company'!
December 19, 2019
After reading this, now I understood the significance of the word PERSISTENCE. This book is the true example for the quote -
"Energy and persistence conquer all things" - Benjamin Franklin.
Venkatesh Iyer has explained the whole journey right from the scratch : How did the most loved street snack of Mumbai turned into a successful venture and bought a popular brand from India. A very inspiring narrative yet very honest and humorous !
The thing that most of the people fail to look at is the positives of the situation because failure is always an opportunity in disguise. I feel the most required criteria to grow and improve is the courage. We need courage to get up and start to rework on the mistakes when we fail at a point of time. One would understand how the belief in ourselves will actually turn the things which we thought were impossible to possible. That is the main lesson which we learn from ' My Journey with Vadapav '
The best points from the book were the snippets inscribed at the corners of few pages, and when coming to the story, the team work. Here the dream is shared by everybody in the team and how a team should show an equal intense towards the dream though having to sort many other personals. There are also other interesting anecdotes like how a person's determination led an enterprise/ the start-up stepping to the next levels. How the brand was developed, building network and logistics. This gives an idea to people who have an aspiration to make their dream into reality like where to be careful and avoid obstacles in their way. This book is like a science of business. No wonder this tale has been made a case study in Harvard, ISB Hyderabad and IMD Switzerland. Usually we learn only for one stream in an MBA course where as this book actually gives idea on everything about Finance, Marketing, Operations, HR ,Administration, Technology etc. just like everything is under one roof. Another important aspect which we can learn is how important networking is and political risk can destroy a business and many more interesting stuff to know once you dive in. This is like a trend setter for India's fast food chain management.
Any individual can understand the depth of the business and get an inspiration to achieve something. If one has enough enthusiasm and dedication towards his/her ideas/ dreams (like how Venkatesh Iyer had that love towards Vadapav), that will impel them to provide such an endeavour to India in the future.
Ab Goli Kha!
"Energy and persistence conquer all things" - Benjamin Franklin.
Venkatesh Iyer has explained the whole journey right from the scratch : How did the most loved street snack of Mumbai turned into a successful venture and bought a popular brand from India. A very inspiring narrative yet very honest and humorous !
The thing that most of the people fail to look at is the positives of the situation because failure is always an opportunity in disguise. I feel the most required criteria to grow and improve is the courage. We need courage to get up and start to rework on the mistakes when we fail at a point of time. One would understand how the belief in ourselves will actually turn the things which we thought were impossible to possible. That is the main lesson which we learn from ' My Journey with Vadapav '
The best points from the book were the snippets inscribed at the corners of few pages, and when coming to the story, the team work. Here the dream is shared by everybody in the team and how a team should show an equal intense towards the dream though having to sort many other personals. There are also other interesting anecdotes like how a person's determination led an enterprise/ the start-up stepping to the next levels. How the brand was developed, building network and logistics. This gives an idea to people who have an aspiration to make their dream into reality like where to be careful and avoid obstacles in their way. This book is like a science of business. No wonder this tale has been made a case study in Harvard, ISB Hyderabad and IMD Switzerland. Usually we learn only for one stream in an MBA course where as this book actually gives idea on everything about Finance, Marketing, Operations, HR ,Administration, Technology etc. just like everything is under one roof. Another important aspect which we can learn is how important networking is and political risk can destroy a business and many more interesting stuff to know once you dive in. This is like a trend setter for India's fast food chain management.
Any individual can understand the depth of the business and get an inspiration to achieve something. If one has enough enthusiasm and dedication towards his/her ideas/ dreams (like how Venkatesh Iyer had that love towards Vadapav), that will impel them to provide such an endeavour to India in the future.
Ab Goli Kha!
August 7, 2017
A great self journey about starting a company from scratch and surviving through all the odds and the lows and facing the challenges.
Read
February 20, 2021They did not launch a new product, what's new was the process.
January 24, 2017
There’s a frank openness in Venkatesh's voice. He confides in the reader all about his private life — every emotion, success, frustration, and humiliation associated with his ventures — very honestly and authentically. His earnestness in sharing what he thinks might be of use to the others comes across in every page. He admits to failures and shortcomings, evincing a passionate, come-what-may attitude toward life that precludes deep introspection and only concentrates on pursuing of one’s dreams. For full review: http://bit.ly/2jLHevF
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews