HYDERABAD: When it’s a first-time author dealing with a non-fictional book on entrepreneurship, you are a little curious on how they will bring in that little element of chirpiness to avoid being mundane. Rajive Dhavan, the author of Start The F Up , a guide for startups in terms of the Dos and Don’ts , has never been a fan of fiction.
“I always like to read and connect to something that’s real and there are a couple of such stories in this book. However, I’ve taken sufficient care to not dramatise it,” the writer-cum-entrepreneur has his say.
“Even when I started my own firm at 22, I didn’t touch many business-specific books, I thought they were really boring. Since then, I had this in my mind that, if I were to write anything in future, it’ll be easily readable, young and interesting in the treatment,” Rajive elaborates, adding he’s targeting “Those in the mid-20’s who are destined to become the next big CEOs. ”
For the seriousness Rajive wants to attain in the content, isn’t the title flippant and quite distracting? He has a rhyming one-liner to answer it. “I feel it’s more attracting; it’ll stick with you. When we study advertising, there’s a subject, brand recall and that’s the specific reason for which I had an unusual title in mind. Some brands stay with us amidst the bulk of advertisements we see everyday. That’s why we hold Amul in a special space, because they have cartoons based on real events, movies, controversies.”
However, he’s 28, an age where a young business honcho would rather dip into the learning process than dish out gyaan as an author. Couldn’t he have taken more time, say 10 or 20 years hence, so he’d have assimilated more experience and knowledge by then? He carefully plays it down. “The more you grow, the more you develop the tendency to get complex too. My whole goal of making entrepreneurship interesting and fun would be lost then. A 10th standard student shouldn’t be afraid of the terminologies I discuss and begin referring them in the dictionary.”
On the other front, he says, be it business or even otherwise, starting young helps one to live ahead by at least 10 years. “By the time you reach 35, you burn your hands so much that you feel 45 at heart.” There are disadvantages too, of clients not taking you seriously.
The reality is that, he reveals, only 3-5 percent of the startups in the country actually succeed. “People need to understand that life is going to be lonely when you start something of your own. The social life goes for a toss and there will be moments where you feel you’re genuinely missing out on some fun. In the time I wrote this book, I missed a lot of vents, movies. But look at the larger picture,” is his piece of advise.
So, what’s Rajive’s identity finally? An entrepreneur, who’s a writer too or vice versa? “More or less, the former. I’ve a thing for writing for years now. Heading and managing a team is also what I truly cherish. In the book, I’ve managed to be both in different chapters. Calling myself a writer comes with a danger of me going too dramatic,” he’s cautions. Rajive wishes his fellow founders too would document their experiences.
