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THE EARLIER, THE BETTER

Perhaps the two most important assets and weapons that life endows us with are time and health. While there is an increasing awareness of the importance of health (and hence, the craze for fitness that we see around us now), I think most people have still not realised the true importance – the true POWER – of time. We tend to take things casually and postpone them (‘baad mein kar lenge yaar, abhi toh bahut time hai’) :). 

But some folks are exceptions. They do realise that every minute, every day can make a difference to their lives and to those of others. And so, they make an early start in life.

They have the clarity of mind, the enterprise and the vision to understand – early on – what they want in life and to then pursue it doggedly. They take a different path and even with their limited exposure to life, travel along uncharted trails. They take the ups and the downs, the pleasure and the pain, acceptance and rejection, gains and losses,….all that in their stride and stick it out.  

But net net, each one of them is proud and happy to have chosen this path and not any other. They are all having the time of their lives. The only way they’d live life is like this – as entrepreneurs. They have become role models to their whole generation and will be hero figures to the ones that come later. 

I thought their stories must be taken to the world at large for two reasons:

1. to recognise the efforts and work of these youngsters and to bring out the grind behind the glory.  

2. to inspire and guide thousands of others across India, who harbour dreams of being independent, of making a difference to others and of making their own destiny – but who aren’t sure how to do this.  

Which is why I have written this book. I am happy to announce on this wonderful forum, the launch of my book ‘THE UNDERAGE CEOs‘. 

In the book, I have chronicled the journeys of 11 young men and women who became entrepreneurs right after college – most of them didn’t have any work experience at all at that time.

If Sourav is a sought-after ethical hacker, Akshat and Prasad are using artificial intelligence to automate homes. If Sarah and Amit are delving deep into microbiology, Annu has made it cool to gift plants to people. Arpit and Abhishek built Gharpay as a COD company and then sold the business to Delhivery. And so on…..

I have picked stories from small towns too, because I believe location is absolutely no bar to doing what you WANT to do. But perhaps the most fascinating part about these people (at least, to me) is that none of them is from an IIT or an IIM. They have all studied in a ‘regular’ college. 🙂    

You can pre-order the book right away on amazon using this link:

I’ll be grateful if you can order a copy and also spread the word. This book will be valuable to everybody who wants to take the leap of faith. And to those who don’t realise that this is what they want to do.    

I know this book will open up new paths for its readers and push them off their starting blocks. 🙂

Thanks for reading this post patiently.

Cheers

Ganesh

www.ganeshv.com 

Twitter: @theholehog, @harpercollinsin

 

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33 Comments

  1. hi ganesh,

    many congrats on the book!! love the concept!

    two links i’d like you to go through – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/ashwin-sanghi-on-authorpreneurship-at-trh-mumbai-open-house

    https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/cracking-mainstream-media-for-a-book

    some IDEAS to promote the book: (the easiest part is to write it as ashwin sanghi told us :))))

    – get reviews – as many as poss – pls let me know if you want one on trhs – i can organise that for you.

    – speak to rudrajeet – his book is already number 1 bestseller on amazon kindle store – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/breaking-out-and-making-big

    he’s got an ASK page – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/ask-rudrajeet-anything-about-starting-up

    – do a contest! even if it’s a small one (ashwin did a big one for trhs!)

    https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/share-your-bloody-good-luck-story-with-ashwin-sanghi-contest

    – ship the book to young CEOs!

    – ship this book to influencers in the startup community – BUT people who read a lot and share a lot!

    – give away a few books at startup events as prizes – try to get a speaking session about the book. i did a small session with rudrajeet at our last OH in b’lore

    https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/therodinhoods-bangalore-open-house-sept-27-live-reporting

    – pls add relevant twitter handles at the end so i can mention u/the book/publisher while tweeting 🙂

    good luck!!!

  2. Thanks for those ideas, Asha. Most of your ideas match mine and that’s good news. A couple are extra – had not thought of them. Thanks for loving the idea too. I remember cracking the title at about 4 one morning. The previous evening, my editor had asked me to think up some more titles within half a day, hahaha. 🙂

    Bringing out the book has been a rewarding journey for me. Now, the book will have a life of its own. 

    Hope to hear from more Rodinhooders about this soon. 🙂

    Ganesh

  3. Thanks for sharing Ganesh, this is really inspiring and we need more people like you who have the ability to recognise talent and motivate rather than mock and dismiss basis one’s age. 

  4. Thank you Arpit. Your words are encouraging too 🙂 

    I think it is very important to spot good work very early, do one’s best to nurture it and at least, spread the word about it. 

    Cheers

  5. And oh, I forgot to add one thing yesterday, Asha. I will send you a copy soon – eagerly awaiting my copies from the publisher. A review on trh will be lovely. Thanks.

  6. Ganesh – would be honored to review the book. I have covered books written by Rudrajeet and Raj before. Would you be able to send across a copy?

  7. ganesh – pls ship your book to sushrut – he will do the review for trhs

    ps: he’s totally awesome!!

    connecting u both over email!

  8. Thanks a ton, Sushrut. Of course, I will. In just a couple of days.

    Just mail me your address and rub the genie and the book will be with you. :))

    Ashaaaaaaaaaaaa, got your mail. That’s one more ‘thanks’ under your belt. At this rate, I will have to start saying ‘thanks’ in different languages. Phew. 

  9. save all your thanks for your readers who write awesome reviews 🙂

  10. Ganesh – we should sent a couple of trucks with ‘thanks’ to Asha. Looking forward. Thanks 😀

  11. just come in the truck to goa! we’ll drink copious amounts of coffee. and talk even more! i’ll even take the day off :() imagine me not rodinhooding :)))))))

  12. Arrey baba, why would we come to goa and have coffee? bring on the feni… 😀

  13. Absolutely agree. The first copies arrived just now. You guys will get yours this week itself. 🙂

  14. I assume these are college students and not those school kids their parents parade all over the world in startup events like showpieces?

  15. Yes Alok, these are folks who finished college and set up their ventures more or less immediately thereafter. Interesting domains, strong vision, doing their best, etc. Not showpieces at all. 

  16. Congratulations on the book Ganesh.. 🙂  

    Hope it becomes a best seller.

    And great tips by Asha ma’am. I am also about to finish writing a book and these will be helpful.

  17. Ganesh,

    Sounds really interesting. I am reminded of the book 100 $ startup when I read the introduction of your book .(Disclaimer: I have not yet read 100 $ startup. It is sitting on my Kindle!) 

    One way to promote books is by getting people to review your book on Goodreads even before it hits the stands. And once it is released, prompt the users to just copy paste the same on the Amazon page. Lot of authors are doing it these days, especially on the Goodreads Giveaway section.

    In India, Sharath Kommarju and Karan Bajaj did the same. I was glad to be part of the readers who got to review the books before it hit the stands. They sent me a pdf version and in return I posted an honest review of it on Goodreads and Amazon along with the disclaimer that I was provided a free copy for review. This sounds like giving away free samples to get customer interest. Also the insistence from the authors to add the disclaimer, lends extra credibility both to the reviewer and the author. You can read my reviews for the books I mentioned below:

    If you would like me to review the book, please do send me copy as well!

  18. hey thanks sridhar – i was gonna suggest your name to ganesh!

    ganesh sridhar is great at reviews per se – you should check out what he wrote for the chillr app event he attended!

    if sridhar can post a review for you on goodreads – nothing like it!

  19. Thanks Asha. I guess you mentioned Ganesh instead of Sridhar in the last line 🙂

  20. thanks – corrected! blame it on old age and multi-tasking :()

  21. It is just a typo. You definitely have more energy than the 27 year old me 😀

  22. Mubaid, thank you very much! 

    What’s your book about? If you need help in getting the book out, let me know. I will be happy to share my experience with you. 

    Ganesh

  23. Sridhar, a copy is coming your way. Thanks for the offer. 🙂 

    G

  24. Its also about Entrepreneurship but somewhat on a lighter note. Expectations vs reality of startups. Would love to learn from you. I will surely contact you if I get stuck somewhere.. 🙂

  25. Yeah, cool. Anytime. 

  26. Congratulations on launching the book Ganesh!

    I used to work at Crowdfire, a marketing tool startup. There I learned many growth tips which helped me get downloads for my app, more customers for inkmat.com, etc.

    The best thing for you to do will be to go to, for example, Rashmi Bansal’s twitter profile. The people who follow her are the ones who read books on entrepreneurship. That is why they followed her!

    You should start following her followers. They’ll get a notification, email stating you followed them. They’ll be curious to know who you are and will check out your bio/website. Now what you need to do is sell them your book at that moment of time!

    Many of those will follow you back to thus creating a a good audience for you as well. Hope this helps! 🙂

  27. awesome piece of advice shobhit!

    in fact i told ganesh to start by following our followers on trhs – but your idea is better!!!

  28. Asha, I promptly did that – the same day we spoke about it. 🙂

    Shobhit bhai, thanks for coming out of hiding and delivering that gem. :))) Makes a lot of sense and I shall do as you say. But please give me your number. I have to talk to you to understand this thing in detail. 

    Ganesh

  29. Sure. Send me a message, I’ll share my number there

  30. Asha, any news on the vivilio angle? I checked out their site and even wrote to them, but haven’t heard from them yet. What else should I do? Or, do you know someone specific there? 

    G

  31. Hi Sridhar, I forgot to take your address from you. Send it to me asap. And your copy will wing its way to you. 🙂

    Thanks again.

    Ganesh

  32. hey ganesh,

    do you have a dedicated fb page for underage CEOs?

    if not, you should!!

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