IIM Ahmedabad alumni launch ‘Startup Compass’ book supported by institute’s incubator

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad’s alumni Ujwal Kalra and Shobhit Shubhankar launched a book titled ‘Startup Compass’ supported by the institute’s incubator CIIE CO. The book talks about advice and stories of grit and ambition of the homegrown heroes and how they have transformed their vision into tangible reality. The book has also been forwarded by N R Narayana Murthy, Co-Founder, Infosys and has been praised by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog along with Errol D’Souza, Director, IIM Ahmedabad.

Startup Compass by IIM Ahmedabad alumni

Startup Compass is based on the ‘How to Start a Startup’ series at IIM Ahmedabad and contains extensive interviews by fifteen Indian entrepreneurs, where they speak of their success and failure across key stages of the startup lifecycle.

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The lecture series at IIM Ahmedabad include leading entrepreneurs such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Naukri), Deep Kalra (MakeMyTrip), Sachin Bansal (Flipkart), Falguni Nayar (Nykaa), Kunal Shah (CRED), Sahil Barua (Delhivery), Raghunandan G (TaxiForSure), among others.

Topics in Startup Compass

The topics covered in the book are planning a startup, developing an idea, forming a team, building a product, raising funding and, importantly, moving from an entrepreneurial mindset to a managerial mindset as you scale up your company. The advice they give is invaluable, and covers all the stages in the life of a start-up, from idea, team and product, to eventual exit.

Commenting on the book launch, Ujwal Kalra said, “Today, India is at the cusp of a startup revolution which will transform the country into an economic powerhouse. Startup Compass is a book to ignite the startup explosion in India. It is for anyone who is interested in or intrigued by the startup space. The book provides tangible learnings from fifteen icons of the startup space across each stage in the journey of a startup, from the inception of an idea,to team and product building, fundraising, to exit.”

Ujwal Kirti

Shobhit Shubankar

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“The founders and investors interviewed for the book share their learnings in company building through motivational stories, which have immensely influenced me and inspired me in my own entrepreneurial journey,” he said.

Kunal Upadhaya, Co-Founder at CIIE.CO said “Startup Compass is complete with stories of grit and ambition from fearless founders. Much like the vision of entrepreneurs being transformed into tangible reality, the book brings alive the essence of the ‘How To Start A Startup,’ the lecture series at IIM Ahmedabad created in partnership between founders and CIIE.CO.”