Don't Startup: What No One Tells You about Starting Your Own Business
I picked up Karthik Kumar’s ‘Don’t startup’ after seeing several promos on Linkedin. One day, I saw his Instagram post, which advertised his book with his autograph. I reached out to him to get the coupon code for the book. It arrived soon enough, and I delved into it.
I loved his definition of business vs. busy-ness. I loved the idea of ‘Takeouts’ at the end of every chapter. I especially liked the ‘Takeouts’ in the human resources chapter. I found them "oh so true," and I could totally relate to it. I liked the couple of exercises he outlined. And the fact that the book is peppered with insights. I loved the words ‘Enough’ is a middle-class malady. And what he said about Research: “Research is that thing you do when no one knows what you are doing, but only you know why. Research is a startup going undercover to solve its own mysteries.
I loved the chapter on ‘Conscience.’ The line “And whenever we rationalise something as normal, we tend to normalise it as rational’. Page 85 had some interesting simple experiments.
He mentions in one section of the book, “Vulnerability makes you defensive while invincibility makes you drop your defenses.” I’m not sure what exactly he meant and in what context, but I have found that vulnerability works very well for me in my life. I practice it in my personal life.
If there's one thing I have to call out, it is the incorrect use of words in certain places. On page 151, the word "lesser" is incorrectly used. The sentence reads "All this will make your authority much lesser." That made me cringe since the incorrect use of lesser is a pet peeve of mine. There are a couple of other places where I found errors, but I don't want to dwell on it.
Back to what I liked: "The arts are more sensorial, fun, random and thrives on imagination and even unpredictability. " Except for the disagreement of the verb with the subject in the sentence, I loved the line.
I loved the bit about the inner entrepreneur. It really resonated with me. I'd like to congratulate Karthik Kumar and Evam for their marvellous journey, which led to this book!
______