"Yeh Sab Doglapan Hai" got Ashneer famous, but is it all double faced? T̶i̶m̶e̶ Blog will only tell.
Shark Tank India fame 'Ashneer Grover' surely had us all with his unfiltered talk and his relevant insights, blowing us all away. He is the man behind BharatPe and has had a very diversified work experience that made him a part of the 1%.
With his daily banters at Shark Tank making him a household name in India, there were many things playing out against him in his own company. With newspapers filled with controversies between him and his board, it was unclear what would set his path. During March 2021, he resigned as the MD of BharatPe and has been extremely critical of the company's top-level management. After the BharatPe stint, he turned to writing this book to share his side of the story, which also tends to mention his early days and his journey.
The book consists of various elements that made up for a good read yet it might be biased, as the things he wrote about were his viewpoint and I'm unaware about the arguments from the other end. 'Doglapan' surely has various interesting learnings and is recommended to the ones' aspiring to build their businesses as it touches down the smallest of elements of entrepreneurship and life, truly. Being an autobiography, it has its own limitations, but if you read it with an open mind, it will teach you a lot.
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My Learning Points:
Coming from humble beginnings, he proved how ones' persistence helps them in getting through to the top and it is the key to bringing radical change in the society.
Experiences shape the way a person is and helps them in making well aware decisions. With his stint at various companies, he collected all those experiences and used them to create a valuable company like BharatPe. Life is all about connecting the dots (experiences) and doing what one loves throughout; and with more experiences, one becomes clearer about the meaning for their existence.
HR is not about Rangoli but has a very important role to play in the company. Hiring the right people would help creating a strong foundation to build your organisation on. With Ashneer mentioning his hiring mistakes, it was also the culture that the company had that worked against him. So, Hence, it is very crucial to work on the culture of the company and hiring the right people, who back you through thick and thin.
Working at behemoths like Kotak Mahindra Bank, AMEX, etc. Ashneer did a great job in consultancy and helping his clients through. With the completion of difficult projects time and again, he earned a reputation in the company and let his work do the talking. That also helped him create a great network which turned to prove helpful, further in life.
Being clear and efficient in your communication puts across your point clearly (and it isn't easy). The way he wrote his book had a very straightforward way of narrating his story which is important as with unclear communication, things become tough overtime.
Ashneer observed the various problems a small merchant faces while transacting through PoS machines and understood the issues deeply including loans, interest rates, limitations of banking, commissions, etc. Doing so made him solve these problems in a way, that went on to eat chunks of market share of big players in this space like PAYTM and PhonePe. All that it tells us is, observation, deeper understanding and problem solving are instrumental elements an entrepreneur must have.
While entering into the Payment FinTech space, PAYTM and PhonePe were ruling the market and a new company trying to enter a red ocean would find it difficult to create a space for itself in the market, but having a different perspective on things, helped. Ashneer says that while PAYTM and PhonePe taught people to use QR codes, he sticked the ones (BharatPe) that got scanned. He used the small vulnerabilities in their systems and fought them with a simple, frictionless experience. Therefore, a different perspective on approaching a situation can act as moat.
BeReal - Don't start clicking those snaps already (xD). Being real is gutsy, difficult and uncomfortable for others, but that is what sets one apart from the fake ones. Watching him on Shark Tank speaking his hearts out made us realise, that being who we are would change the world, around us, for us.
fin.