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Let's Build a Company: A Start-up Story Minus the Bullshit
Harpreet Grover and Vibhore Goyal met in college and then spent the next decade of their lives building a company before exiting successfully.
One way to tell their story is this: they had a dream, they followed it and, then, through perseverance, they made it come true.
But that's not really the truth. Like everything in life-at least everything worth having-it wasn't that simple. There was blood, sweat and tears, there was loss of capital, loss of friendship and even a loss of faith along the way.
It started with a phone call from Harpreet's mother introducing him to an uncle who wanted some help. Or maybe it started when Vibhore and Harpreet met as roommates in Room 143 at IIT Bombay. What remains true is that soon both had quit their jobs and launched CoCubes. From no money in their bank accounts for eight years after graduating to becoming dollar millionaires two years later in 2016, this is a tale of grit-of a company built in India by two Indian-middle-class-twenty-somethings-turned-entrepreneurs-written in the hope that you can avoid the mistakes they made and learn from what they did right.
This is that story-the story that you don't always hear. But if you want to be an entrepreneur, and you prefer straight talk to sugar-coating, it's one you should read.
One way to tell their story is this: they had a dream, they followed it and, then, through perseverance, they made it come true.
But that's not really the truth. Like everything in life-at least everything worth having-it wasn't that simple. There was blood, sweat and tears, there was loss of capital, loss of friendship and even a loss of faith along the way.
It started with a phone call from Harpreet's mother introducing him to an uncle who wanted some help. Or maybe it started when Vibhore and Harpreet met as roommates in Room 143 at IIT Bombay. What remains true is that soon both had quit their jobs and launched CoCubes. From no money in their bank accounts for eight years after graduating to becoming dollar millionaires two years later in 2016, this is a tale of grit-of a company built in India by two Indian-middle-class-twenty-somethings-turned-entrepreneurs-written in the hope that you can avoid the mistakes they made and learn from what they did right.
This is that story-the story that you don't always hear. But if you want to be an entrepreneur, and you prefer straight talk to sugar-coating, it's one you should read.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2020
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614 people want to read
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February 11, 2022
Let’s build a company: The story of a startup minus the bullshit
“Hard things about hard things but for Indian startups”
Objective assessment of the book:
• Value for money: 10/10
• Cost: 150 t0 200 INR (PB), available on Kindle (79 INR)
• Length: 256 pages (PB)
• Time investment: Low ( can read in a single day/weekend easily 4 to 6 hours)
• Focus area in startup context: End-to end, practical, based on real life
• Readability: High (10/10)
• Talks of real life experiences? : Yes (10/10)
• Teaches concept (s) in detailed with focus? : Introduces many relevant topics, not in detail
• Writing/ narration style: Very easy to read and understand,
• Would you want to read again and again?- Absolutely
• Practical in Indian context: Very relevant for Indian startups
• Concept heavy vs based on practical experiences/advises: Practical advises with introduction to concepts
• USP: chapters on company culture and people management
• Prior startup specific knowledge required?- No (anyone can read, everyone should read)
• Recommended for: Anyone who is interested in Indian start-ups
Synopsis:
Lets build a company is a very raw, real, readable account of CoCubes, a company co-founded by two IIT grads detailing their journey from concept to selling it to India’s biggest HR company. Highly personal yet very practical and actionable. I was able to finish this book in one sitting! The book contains two parts, the first half tells of the journey of CoCube whereas the second half discusses author’s suggestions for entrepreneurs based on their experience of running a company. For me personally, very important writing skill is one where the author is able to define seemingly abstract concepts and readers get understanding of the problems with concrete actionable solutions, the book exactly did that for me. While I got many takeaways from the book, the single most important was concept of how in startup, people get paid for both finding the problems AND their end-to end solutions. In a way, this book did just that for me (defined issues very well and gave concrete answers to these very real yet hard to define problems). There were learnings as well as validations in the book (the book suggests explaining the actual monitory value of work someone is doing which I found relatable: as a fresher I never understood why they needed a dedicated person to read each and every line of drug safety reports I wrote, I was irritated (nibba/nibbi stage of career), but once I came to know actual value of the report we were working on, I was totally fine with extensive reviews and it massively improved my engagement!). I absolutely loved this book and it’s 5 stars from me!
Top takeaways:
• Curing the smartness syndrome (hiring smart people and solving exotic complex problems as opposed to simple problems generating sustained revenue)
• How co-founder dynamics is analogous to marriage ( clear division of labor, ask/take opinion/ hear the other person but final decision to one spouse/co-founder, uphold dignity in front of a third person, never disagree in front of others, how families compound marriage/startups, unable to speak mind leads to divorce/startup-failure)
• The difference between startup and corporate work and work cultures
• The review system and growth plan they discuss in the book
• The seven values with rationale behind all of them
• The nine points of leadership code
• Role of families in startups (spouse and parents, how they can make or break startups)
• The USP of this book were chapters related to hiring/ managing and firing people and The WHY and the HOW of company/work culture ( Common values Consistent behavior Company culture) and employee engagement which are best explained in the book in a very actionable way and implementable both in startups and corporate teams
• The hard times and day to day difficulties of running startup operations
• Dealing with VC and other investors
• The exit- selling of the company and intricacies thereof
What readers are saying about this book? (Amazon and GR reviews analysis)
• Hard things about hard things but for Indian startups
• I felt like I am talking to the founder himself.
• Beautifully written, honestly accounted.
• The soul of the book lies in the approachable tone and and irrefutably good take aways.
• The candor is surprising! There is a lot of insider information that people rarely get to know.
• A great story book and manual at the same time
• Authentic to its journey
• The chapter around the relationship with his wife really stuck with me.
• Information about US startups is so overpowering that it gives Indian entrepreneurs "valley-sightedness“ but this book is on Indian startup specifics
• Lucid language and perfect story
Quotes from the book that capture its soul
• Both of us had graduated from college eight years ago. Most of our batchmates were doing well and going on foreign vacations. And there we were, taking money from our parents to run our houses, because CoCubes was failing. I remember going to the ATM to withdraw 2000 bucks and getting a shock when the receipt read: insufficient balance.
• I remember going to the ATM in 2013 to withdraw 2000 bucks and realizing I couldn’t. And now all the wealth managers in India were writing and calling. Money management was a new skill that we would need to learn.
• But I think at the earliest stage, the only people who can invest in you are the three Fs: friends, family and fools. All angel investors are fools in that sense. Because the return on capital invested is rare for most angels
• Early-stage entrepreneurship is about waiting at the reception of your client’s office, going to conferences and trying to make contacts, then following up with them to get meetings, hoping they remember you, trying to convince people to join your start-up and then figuring out, each month, how to pay salaries. This is what will mostly happen when you start a company.
• Three months passed. I was alternating between not missing her and really missing her. Everything started getting to me. It was good to have all the time in the world, and there were weeks when I wouldn’t miss her at all. But then, not having someone to smile at you when you are finally home after a long day was a let-down. We were speaking to each other but we had not talked in a long time.
• We were profitable because we had no other choice. Being profitable is a different feeling. It has the power to make you feel free.
• I think the fact that we could afford not to sell the company was the reason we were able to sell it. We had the power to say no at all points in time. We were growing and profitable. Our plan B was to continue running the company. This gave us the confidence to push back on the clauses we didn’t want to accept.
• We do many things in life just because we can. Is this the best use of my time as an entrepreneur? Doing all these small things gives one the illusion of being productive without really making a material change to the fate of the company.
• In good organizations, people can focus on their work and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen for both the company and them personally. In a poor organization, on the other hand, people spend much of their time fighting organizational boundaries, infighting and broken processes.
• There are two sure-shot ways of mismanaging your best people:
1- Giving them more than what they can handle and leaving them on their own.
2- Putting them in roles where their skill sets don’t match.
• Like most other start-ups, we had no credibility when we started, and everyone we met asked us the same question: ‘Do you work with someone right now? Is someone using your services?’ Saying ‘no’ would not get us anywhere.
• Companies run on the money that customers choose to pay.
• When we were close to selling the company, I had met an acquaintance who had sold his company to LinkedIn for a few hundred crores. I asked him what really changed after selling the company. He replied that he didn’t need to worry about spending small bits of money. That he wouldn’t care about the food bill in the restaurant, or be okay with paying for a seat with more leg space on a flight. Everything else remained the same. This is something that really changes—the knowledge that you won’t run out of money by spending it as change. So that cognitive load of keeping a tab on small expenses goes away.
• We should never have assumed that the deal was done until the money was in the bank. Make your plans, but don’t end up committing to future investments based on a verbal agreement. Wait for the money to hit the bank.
How to get the best out of this book:
It’s a very readable and highly actionable book. You can finish even in one go (4 to 6 hours) or over a weekend. The second part of the book gives the how and why of life at startups. Taking notes from the book and implementing them in your professional life is very doable.
Definitely 5 stars!
“Hard things about hard things but for Indian startups”
Objective assessment of the book:
• Value for money: 10/10
• Cost: 150 t0 200 INR (PB), available on Kindle (79 INR)
• Length: 256 pages (PB)
• Time investment: Low ( can read in a single day/weekend easily 4 to 6 hours)
• Focus area in startup context: End-to end, practical, based on real life
• Readability: High (10/10)
• Talks of real life experiences? : Yes (10/10)
• Teaches concept (s) in detailed with focus? : Introduces many relevant topics, not in detail
• Writing/ narration style: Very easy to read and understand,
• Would you want to read again and again?- Absolutely
• Practical in Indian context: Very relevant for Indian startups
• Concept heavy vs based on practical experiences/advises: Practical advises with introduction to concepts
• USP: chapters on company culture and people management
• Prior startup specific knowledge required?- No (anyone can read, everyone should read)
• Recommended for: Anyone who is interested in Indian start-ups
Synopsis:
Lets build a company is a very raw, real, readable account of CoCubes, a company co-founded by two IIT grads detailing their journey from concept to selling it to India’s biggest HR company. Highly personal yet very practical and actionable. I was able to finish this book in one sitting! The book contains two parts, the first half tells of the journey of CoCube whereas the second half discusses author’s suggestions for entrepreneurs based on their experience of running a company. For me personally, very important writing skill is one where the author is able to define seemingly abstract concepts and readers get understanding of the problems with concrete actionable solutions, the book exactly did that for me. While I got many takeaways from the book, the single most important was concept of how in startup, people get paid for both finding the problems AND their end-to end solutions. In a way, this book did just that for me (defined issues very well and gave concrete answers to these very real yet hard to define problems). There were learnings as well as validations in the book (the book suggests explaining the actual monitory value of work someone is doing which I found relatable: as a fresher I never understood why they needed a dedicated person to read each and every line of drug safety reports I wrote, I was irritated (nibba/nibbi stage of career), but once I came to know actual value of the report we were working on, I was totally fine with extensive reviews and it massively improved my engagement!). I absolutely loved this book and it’s 5 stars from me!
Top takeaways:
• Curing the smartness syndrome (hiring smart people and solving exotic complex problems as opposed to simple problems generating sustained revenue)
• How co-founder dynamics is analogous to marriage ( clear division of labor, ask/take opinion/ hear the other person but final decision to one spouse/co-founder, uphold dignity in front of a third person, never disagree in front of others, how families compound marriage/startups, unable to speak mind leads to divorce/startup-failure)
• The difference between startup and corporate work and work cultures
• The review system and growth plan they discuss in the book
• The seven values with rationale behind all of them
• The nine points of leadership code
• Role of families in startups (spouse and parents, how they can make or break startups)
• The USP of this book were chapters related to hiring/ managing and firing people and The WHY and the HOW of company/work culture ( Common values Consistent behavior Company culture) and employee engagement which are best explained in the book in a very actionable way and implementable both in startups and corporate teams
• The hard times and day to day difficulties of running startup operations
• Dealing with VC and other investors
• The exit- selling of the company and intricacies thereof
What readers are saying about this book? (Amazon and GR reviews analysis)
• Hard things about hard things but for Indian startups
• I felt like I am talking to the founder himself.
• Beautifully written, honestly accounted.
• The soul of the book lies in the approachable tone and and irrefutably good take aways.
• The candor is surprising! There is a lot of insider information that people rarely get to know.
• A great story book and manual at the same time
• Authentic to its journey
• The chapter around the relationship with his wife really stuck with me.
• Information about US startups is so overpowering that it gives Indian entrepreneurs "valley-sightedness“ but this book is on Indian startup specifics
• Lucid language and perfect story
Quotes from the book that capture its soul
• Both of us had graduated from college eight years ago. Most of our batchmates were doing well and going on foreign vacations. And there we were, taking money from our parents to run our houses, because CoCubes was failing. I remember going to the ATM to withdraw 2000 bucks and getting a shock when the receipt read: insufficient balance.
• I remember going to the ATM in 2013 to withdraw 2000 bucks and realizing I couldn’t. And now all the wealth managers in India were writing and calling. Money management was a new skill that we would need to learn.
• But I think at the earliest stage, the only people who can invest in you are the three Fs: friends, family and fools. All angel investors are fools in that sense. Because the return on capital invested is rare for most angels
• Early-stage entrepreneurship is about waiting at the reception of your client’s office, going to conferences and trying to make contacts, then following up with them to get meetings, hoping they remember you, trying to convince people to join your start-up and then figuring out, each month, how to pay salaries. This is what will mostly happen when you start a company.
• Three months passed. I was alternating between not missing her and really missing her. Everything started getting to me. It was good to have all the time in the world, and there were weeks when I wouldn’t miss her at all. But then, not having someone to smile at you when you are finally home after a long day was a let-down. We were speaking to each other but we had not talked in a long time.
• We were profitable because we had no other choice. Being profitable is a different feeling. It has the power to make you feel free.
• I think the fact that we could afford not to sell the company was the reason we were able to sell it. We had the power to say no at all points in time. We were growing and profitable. Our plan B was to continue running the company. This gave us the confidence to push back on the clauses we didn’t want to accept.
• We do many things in life just because we can. Is this the best use of my time as an entrepreneur? Doing all these small things gives one the illusion of being productive without really making a material change to the fate of the company.
• In good organizations, people can focus on their work and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen for both the company and them personally. In a poor organization, on the other hand, people spend much of their time fighting organizational boundaries, infighting and broken processes.
• There are two sure-shot ways of mismanaging your best people:
1- Giving them more than what they can handle and leaving them on their own.
2- Putting them in roles where their skill sets don’t match.
• Like most other start-ups, we had no credibility when we started, and everyone we met asked us the same question: ‘Do you work with someone right now? Is someone using your services?’ Saying ‘no’ would not get us anywhere.
• Companies run on the money that customers choose to pay.
• When we were close to selling the company, I had met an acquaintance who had sold his company to LinkedIn for a few hundred crores. I asked him what really changed after selling the company. He replied that he didn’t need to worry about spending small bits of money. That he wouldn’t care about the food bill in the restaurant, or be okay with paying for a seat with more leg space on a flight. Everything else remained the same. This is something that really changes—the knowledge that you won’t run out of money by spending it as change. So that cognitive load of keeping a tab on small expenses goes away.
• We should never have assumed that the deal was done until the money was in the bank. Make your plans, but don’t end up committing to future investments based on a verbal agreement. Wait for the money to hit the bank.
How to get the best out of this book:
It’s a very readable and highly actionable book. You can finish even in one go (4 to 6 hours) or over a weekend. The second part of the book gives the how and why of life at startups. Taking notes from the book and implementing them in your professional life is very doable.
Definitely 5 stars!
November 27, 2020
Let's Build A Company by by Harpreet S Grover, Vibhore Goyal is a non fiction book about their journey on how they started 'CoCubes' and the second part also talks about how their personal life is as an entrepreneur. It starts with the introduction of how their life is after they sold CoCubes to Aon.
The book starts with how they both met in college and they hired few other people on their journey to starting CoCubes. The name came from three words together, which can be called as their vision and mission behind the dream company they had - connecting, colleges, companies. With zero amounts of sleep and quite a few ups and downs, they finally made it to their dream.
This book surely is not like any other non fiction story, it's authentic to its journey and has definitely less of drama and more of actually what went down with these two founders. How they found investors and actually came to hiring people for their company in the first year itself. I enjoyed reading the book.
The book starts with how they both met in college and they hired few other people on their journey to starting CoCubes. The name came from three words together, which can be called as their vision and mission behind the dream company they had - connecting, colleges, companies. With zero amounts of sleep and quite a few ups and downs, they finally made it to their dream.
This book surely is not like any other non fiction story, it's authentic to its journey and has definitely less of drama and more of actually what went down with these two founders. How they found investors and actually came to hiring people for their company in the first year itself. I enjoyed reading the book.
February 3, 2021
A detailed journey of CoCubes written by the co-founders Harpreet and Vibhore. Having been involved in the growth of a similar startup from the beginning, I could relate to quite a few things written down in the book. Learnt a few important things and have already started looking at ways to implement them. They have also described the very important yet less talked about side of a person's journey in the startup world - personal life.
I had a great time reading this book and would recommend everyone with a dream of starting up to give this a read. Also recommended for people who already have started up.
I had a great time reading this book and would recommend everyone with a dream of starting up to give this a read. Also recommended for people who already have started up.
November 19, 2024
A very accessible story of two friends deciding to start a business to solve for a market need. The beauty of the book is in its simple and honest telling. It has many fundamental yet vital lessons that not just founders but any adult, manager or a self motivated person could learn so much from. The focus on running a business sustainably building on what's really valuable is also something today's entrepreneurs could do well to follow
June 20, 2021
Probably read it at the right time. It's a nice book for those thinking of working with or starting a start-up.
It gives a founder's perspective rather than a VC's. (Such as A16Z and YC led initiatives.)
There were parts that were useful and applicable to me, it helped me think of career related things. Something I now, apparently, have to worry about.
It's an interesting book and I'll probably come back to it again in some time.
It gives a founder's perspective rather than a VC's. (Such as A16Z and YC led initiatives.)
There were parts that were useful and applicable to me, it helped me think of career related things. Something I now, apparently, have to worry about.
It's an interesting book and I'll probably come back to it again in some time.
December 13, 2020
An inspiring story of 2 students who went on to build a successful company and selling it to Aon. Read it in a single sitting. You can see their growth as naive college student hustlers to polished entrepreneurs who understand the in and out of the business world.
While this book left me inspired and in awe of the founders, it did not create a sense of envy. The journey of running a startup is incredibly difficult. The sacrifices they made, their families made, the stress they underwent is just unfathomable to me.
What motivated them to start this and keep persisting is beyond me. The chapter around the relationship with his wife really stuck with me. Why put yourself through so much? The financial upside isn't massive (and the odds really low), the problem statement not that close to their hearts (atleast not what they started with) and the social validation not something they were gunning for anyway.
The author also mentions that he is passionate about mountaineering. How can someone dedicate a decade to just one task and put aside everything life has to offer is very commendable. While I won't understand what pushed them, I respect their dedication and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
While this book left me inspired and in awe of the founders, it did not create a sense of envy. The journey of running a startup is incredibly difficult. The sacrifices they made, their families made, the stress they underwent is just unfathomable to me.
What motivated them to start this and keep persisting is beyond me. The chapter around the relationship with his wife really stuck with me. Why put yourself through so much? The financial upside isn't massive (and the odds really low), the problem statement not that close to their hearts (atleast not what they started with) and the social validation not something they were gunning for anyway.
The author also mentions that he is passionate about mountaineering. How can someone dedicate a decade to just one task and put aside everything life has to offer is very commendable. While I won't understand what pushed them, I respect their dedication and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
January 11, 2021
Very few Indian tech founders have penned down the journey of building their company. Such books are important as they offer a ring-side view of this journey to those who are fascinated by the startup world but have restricted access.
The author has done a commendable job in making us visualise the CoCube safari right from the scratch. The book is filled with personal anecdotes and maintains a light tone throughout. However, the writing and editing are not as strong as some of the other books I have read in this genre. Harpreet has also taken efforts to summarise his key principles and learnings. The learnings, though useful, will not come across as a timeless piece of wisdom for startups to operate in Indian markets.
Overall would recommend reading it if you are interested in knowing what it looks like to build a fairly successful startup in the Indian context - its a quick read anyway
The author has done a commendable job in making us visualise the CoCube safari right from the scratch. The book is filled with personal anecdotes and maintains a light tone throughout. However, the writing and editing are not as strong as some of the other books I have read in this genre. Harpreet has also taken efforts to summarise his key principles and learnings. The learnings, though useful, will not come across as a timeless piece of wisdom for startups to operate in Indian markets.
Overall would recommend reading it if you are interested in knowing what it looks like to build a fairly successful startup in the Indian context - its a quick read anyway
November 22, 2020
An excellent, straight from the heart book for anyone looking to start-up or just learn about what 'behind the scenes' journey of founders looks like.
I really liked Part II of the book, which talks in detail about setting a culture. It gives rare, detailed insights on what it takes to onboard, inspire and nurture the most important part of any venture - the people.
I really liked Part II of the book, which talks in detail about setting a culture. It gives rare, detailed insights on what it takes to onboard, inspire and nurture the most important part of any venture - the people.
December 5, 2020
Brilliant read for all aspiring entrepreneurs in India, written by IIT alumnus and my batchmates
November 22, 2020
Fantastic Book
The two chapters that stayed with me were about relationships - a childhood friend turned employee turned disgruntled ex employee turned friend again, and Grover's wife - Bhakti - taking a job in HongKong. The insecurities came out.
I also loved the chapter on office space. Refreshing and new.
The book also covers the story of CoCubes and has practical, accessible, non- intellectualised gyan. Recommend this totally.
What could be better?
- The part 2C kinda dragged a bit and narrative changed gears.
- The book has some dry humor but that's it. Would have loved a few chuckles esp when jokes/ hang outs are mentioned.
- Stories of early stage employees could have incorporated their views (Sachin gets a letter).
Pick it up. A fantastic book on an Indian startup. Gold mine 🙏
The two chapters that stayed with me were about relationships - a childhood friend turned employee turned disgruntled ex employee turned friend again, and Grover's wife - Bhakti - taking a job in HongKong. The insecurities came out.
I also loved the chapter on office space. Refreshing and new.
The book also covers the story of CoCubes and has practical, accessible, non- intellectualised gyan. Recommend this totally.
What could be better?
- The part 2C kinda dragged a bit and narrative changed gears.
- The book has some dry humor but that's it. Would have loved a few chuckles esp when jokes/ hang outs are mentioned.
- Stories of early stage employees could have incorporated their views (Sachin gets a letter).
Pick it up. A fantastic book on an Indian startup. Gold mine 🙏
April 6, 2021
Information about US startups is so overpowering that it gives Indian entrepreneurs "valley-sightedness".
Businesses are unique to each country because the people and culture are different. Harpreet's book puts an Indian lens on things.
The book is straightforward and honest. Several things that founders have a gut feel for, were articulated beautifully by the authors. It is a startup story that sounds like it was narrated to a college junior, without any bullshit.
Businesses are unique to each country because the people and culture are different. Harpreet's book puts an Indian lens on things.
The book is straightforward and honest. Several things that founders have a gut feel for, were articulated beautifully by the authors. It is a startup story that sounds like it was narrated to a college junior, without any bullshit.
February 19, 2021
A short and a very practical guide to building a company. The first half covers the story of the two co-founders from starting the company to selling it. This part reads like a crisp interesting docuseries! As an entrepreneur, I just recommended my father to read this too, to understand what building a company is like.
May 28, 2021
This book is "How Google works" + "Hard things about hard things" in an Indian paradigm.
Extremely candid. A must read for all aspiring entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneur.
Breaks the myth of vanity associated with entrepreneurship and outlines great learnings which I hope will further strengthen the ecosystem.
Extremely candid. A must read for all aspiring entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneur.
Breaks the myth of vanity associated with entrepreneurship and outlines great learnings which I hope will further strengthen the ecosystem.
January 12, 2021
GIST FOR BUILDING A STARTUP
I have started a accounting firm and I experienced almost all the things that this book has explained. After reading this book, it gave me gut to move this forward and do not look back till it settles.
I have started a accounting firm and I experienced almost all the things that this book has explained. After reading this book, it gave me gut to move this forward and do not look back till it settles.
January 28, 2021
Loved the authenticity with which Harpreet wrote. As an entrepreneur, you feel all these emotions through out the day. Glad he also mentioned about the personal life - friends, family - that so often gets left out
February 28, 2021
The author is very crisp on the content, the last 20 pages of the book stole the show for me. Extremely valuable for founders in the early stages to navigate the tough problems with people and processes.
May 30, 2021
A very nice account of the journey of CoCubes. Even if you are not looking to start your own venture recently, this book can be a good guide for you choosing a good company to work for.
Do give a read to all the footnote articles, they are also pretty great too.
Do give a read to all the footnote articles, they are also pretty great too.
November 22, 2020
Quick and interesting read. More like a story of your own startup. Straight and not muddled with business jargons.
March 2, 2021
Brutally honest :)
March 25, 2024
Loved it! One of the very few books in this "genre" that could not have been a blog post.
Read
March 16, 2024that cognitive load of keeping a tab on small expenses goes away.
‘Seek wealth, not money.’ What the person meant was that one should seek an asset which continues to grow and give you money, rather than money itself. I remember reading it and thinking that that asset was CoCubes, but we had traded it for hard cash!
Most folks who are not entrepreneurs equate it with seeing one’s name in the newspaper, giving a media interview, raising large rounds of funding and having a nice office and people to do the work. It is the exact opposite of this picture. Early-stage entrepreneurship is about waiting at the reception of your client’s office, going to conferences and trying to make contacts, then following up with them to get meetings, hoping they remember you, trying to convince people to join your start-up and then figuring out, each month, how to pay salaries.
Smart people are difficult to hire and even more difficult to retain. There are only a few companies solving complex problems, so complex projects are fewer in number. And solving complex problems doesn’t generate repeat business.
many companies which build a big and profitable business generally solve the simplest of problems.
I felt that the world was conspiring against us to slow us down.
The word ‘jugaad’ is often used to signify creativity—to make existing things work or to create new things with meagre resources.
We seriously started thinking about moving to an office space. But we didn’t have money to pay rent. So, in order to find a solution, we met with the directors of all the colleges who were close to our residence. We could help them with some of the internal products that they wanted to develop, organize guest lectures from people in the industry and, eventually, obviously, offer the services of CoCubes. We also offered them equity in CoCubes in exchange for space.
He said that in the US, Facebook became popular, because, for teenagers, dating is a major priority. Now, in India, the thought spinning in most teenagers’ heads is leaving college and getting a job. Hence, CoCubes would be required and would become popular. It was a good hypothesis. I used it several times after that, both with investors and clients.
‘A start-up is like a seed. When an angel investor or a VC is looking at investing in the start-up, the belief is that this seed will lead to a big forest that will bear fruits, which they will pluck. But when it is clear that a particular seed will only lead to a single tree, no one would be interested in investing.’ This analogy about ‘seed money’ has stayed with me ever since.
How do I decide if the investor is pricing fairly or not? There is no logic to it. It is a matter of supply and demand. If lots of people want your start-up, your valuation will be high. If no one wants it, your valuation will be low. If your initial product is built, it grows a bit. If you have a few people using it, it grows. If you have paid customers, it grows further. The same principle applies to the entrepreneur. If you are an entrepreneur who has built and sold a company earlier, the starting valuation can be much higher.
at the earliest stage, the only people who can invest in you are the three Fs: friends, family and fools.
Trilegal, one of the best law firms in the country.
Most importantly, we should never have assumed that the deal was done until the money was in the bank. Make your plans, but don’t end up committing to future investments based on a verbal agreement. Wait for the money to hit the bank.
Another lesson we learnt was to really start thinking from the investor’s point of view. When we were pushed against the wall, our argument to the investor was that he should make the investment because he had committed to it; because if he didn’t, we would be screwed. This is not a rational argument. The only argument that needs to be made should focus on why investing would make the investor a lot of money.
Harpreet: We have already spoken about Raghu. I hope you two will connect directly and benefit from this connection.
Best,
Kashyap
six early-stage venture capital firms in the country—Accel, Ojas, Helion, Footprint, Indavest and Seedfund. Sequoia and Matrix were there as well but were mostly into growth-stage investing.
when you start pitching your start-up, a good strategy is to approach the venture capital funds that are the lowest priority for you. By the time you get to the ones you really want on your shareholder table, your pitch will have improved.
We set up Google alerts to find news related to what we were building at CoCubes
Nobody tells a first-time entrepreneur how hiring is such a big part of running a company. Attracting the right people to work in your company is a full-time job. We made a lot of mistakes in hiring, but, over time, came up with these golden rules for hiring people for different levels: At the entry level, we hired people who had demonstrated doing any one thing well and had a positive attitude to learn. So someone could be a state player in cricket, a black belt in karate or an artist from the National School of Drama. This proved to us that the person, at some point in his or her life, had shown persistence to do one thing properly. The hope was that if the person has been able to do one thing well out of their own interest, then, if sufficiently excited, they would be able to do this job well too. For mid-level hiring, we realized that with a few years of experience, people learn the art of giving the right answers. They say what you want to hear, hence interviewing them is less useful. In such cases, the thing that we hinged our decisions on was a detailed reference check from their previous employers. In our leadership hires, we made a lot of mistakes, but we did eventually get it right. Apart from other learnings, we realized that it was important for the families to be on board. Because one ends up spending so much time on the start-up, if the person’s family isn’t fully supportive and invested as well, it will become difficult for the role to work out. So we would meet their families and they would meet ours, or we would do a double date.
We figured out that the right kind of people for an early-stage start-up with less funding are people with at least one drawback. Generally, the drawback is either ‘weak spoken English’ or graduation from a ‘noname college’. These are the people ignored by the big companies because they are biased towards certain colleges and types of hires.
Our only effort was hiring two young fellows named Deepak Chawla and Anand Subramanian who had an interest in marketing. They made a list of all the awards out there and ensured that we put in our entries for all of them. This turned out to be one of the best investments of time and energy
I realized that day that the advice of experts should be taken with a pinch of salt. Several times they just refer to an old reality while the world has moved on.
‘You might be smart, Harpreet, but it is better to be wise.’
We were no longer trying to build a billiondollar company—we were just trying to survive. We didn’t ask anyone to leave the premises. People were welcome to stay, they could use the company laptop to search for their next job. We gave everyone a small severance package using some of the money left—this was the least we could do. The one important thing that we told everyone was that there would be no more job cuts. That whosoever was on the rolls now, their job was secure. I am sure it sounded hollow, but it was important to tell them that we were not thinking of letting go of any more folks.
Debt money is not supposed to be risked.
If you are an entrepreneur, pause and check what you are giving away. Stop looking at your phone when you are with your partner, don’t take that call when you are out on a dinner date, take an annual vacation together, stop multitasking while chatting with your mom, dad, brother, sister and the love of your life. I can guarantee, your work will not suffer. And maybe your wife won’t run away.
He is the guy who codes. I am the one who sells the code.
I realized over time that it was a boon to have someone who could ask me tough questions and whom I was answerable to.
The ability to be liked by the journalist doing the story is a skill, and the founder who can build such a rapport should take on this interaction. Having the same person featured again creates continuity and subsequent retention in the minds of readers and other entrepreneurs
We often find ourselves starting at opposite ends of an argument and realizing that we have convinced each other to switch positions. It’s quite a funny situation!
He told me to focus on my strengths and amplify them; meanwhile, he suggested I find team members whose strengths could complement my weaknesses. This was really helpful advice.
The lesson here is that customers tend to generally offer solutions rather than share problems with the provider.
We now believe that it is important to raise the bar when hiring
Adding each new person to the team dilutes culture. It doesn’t make the company stronger but weaker. A bloated team is a slow team. Every hire slows down your team further.
Don’t get a new office with your investor money.
Why Is Capital Raised from the Investors?
- Building the product.
- Marketing to acquire customers.
- Hiring people.
‘Seek wealth, not money.’ What the person meant was that one should seek an asset which continues to grow and give you money, rather than money itself. I remember reading it and thinking that that asset was CoCubes, but we had traded it for hard cash!
Most folks who are not entrepreneurs equate it with seeing one’s name in the newspaper, giving a media interview, raising large rounds of funding and having a nice office and people to do the work. It is the exact opposite of this picture. Early-stage entrepreneurship is about waiting at the reception of your client’s office, going to conferences and trying to make contacts, then following up with them to get meetings, hoping they remember you, trying to convince people to join your start-up and then figuring out, each month, how to pay salaries.
Smart people are difficult to hire and even more difficult to retain. There are only a few companies solving complex problems, so complex projects are fewer in number. And solving complex problems doesn’t generate repeat business.
many companies which build a big and profitable business generally solve the simplest of problems.
I felt that the world was conspiring against us to slow us down.
The word ‘jugaad’ is often used to signify creativity—to make existing things work or to create new things with meagre resources.
We seriously started thinking about moving to an office space. But we didn’t have money to pay rent. So, in order to find a solution, we met with the directors of all the colleges who were close to our residence. We could help them with some of the internal products that they wanted to develop, organize guest lectures from people in the industry and, eventually, obviously, offer the services of CoCubes. We also offered them equity in CoCubes in exchange for space.
He said that in the US, Facebook became popular, because, for teenagers, dating is a major priority. Now, in India, the thought spinning in most teenagers’ heads is leaving college and getting a job. Hence, CoCubes would be required and would become popular. It was a good hypothesis. I used it several times after that, both with investors and clients.
‘A start-up is like a seed. When an angel investor or a VC is looking at investing in the start-up, the belief is that this seed will lead to a big forest that will bear fruits, which they will pluck. But when it is clear that a particular seed will only lead to a single tree, no one would be interested in investing.’ This analogy about ‘seed money’ has stayed with me ever since.
How do I decide if the investor is pricing fairly or not? There is no logic to it. It is a matter of supply and demand. If lots of people want your start-up, your valuation will be high. If no one wants it, your valuation will be low. If your initial product is built, it grows a bit. If you have a few people using it, it grows. If you have paid customers, it grows further. The same principle applies to the entrepreneur. If you are an entrepreneur who has built and sold a company earlier, the starting valuation can be much higher.
at the earliest stage, the only people who can invest in you are the three Fs: friends, family and fools.
Trilegal, one of the best law firms in the country.
Most importantly, we should never have assumed that the deal was done until the money was in the bank. Make your plans, but don’t end up committing to future investments based on a verbal agreement. Wait for the money to hit the bank.
Another lesson we learnt was to really start thinking from the investor’s point of view. When we were pushed against the wall, our argument to the investor was that he should make the investment because he had committed to it; because if he didn’t, we would be screwed. This is not a rational argument. The only argument that needs to be made should focus on why investing would make the investor a lot of money.
Harpreet: We have already spoken about Raghu. I hope you two will connect directly and benefit from this connection.
Best,
Kashyap
six early-stage venture capital firms in the country—Accel, Ojas, Helion, Footprint, Indavest and Seedfund. Sequoia and Matrix were there as well but were mostly into growth-stage investing.
when you start pitching your start-up, a good strategy is to approach the venture capital funds that are the lowest priority for you. By the time you get to the ones you really want on your shareholder table, your pitch will have improved.
We set up Google alerts to find news related to what we were building at CoCubes
Nobody tells a first-time entrepreneur how hiring is such a big part of running a company. Attracting the right people to work in your company is a full-time job. We made a lot of mistakes in hiring, but, over time, came up with these golden rules for hiring people for different levels: At the entry level, we hired people who had demonstrated doing any one thing well and had a positive attitude to learn. So someone could be a state player in cricket, a black belt in karate or an artist from the National School of Drama. This proved to us that the person, at some point in his or her life, had shown persistence to do one thing properly. The hope was that if the person has been able to do one thing well out of their own interest, then, if sufficiently excited, they would be able to do this job well too. For mid-level hiring, we realized that with a few years of experience, people learn the art of giving the right answers. They say what you want to hear, hence interviewing them is less useful. In such cases, the thing that we hinged our decisions on was a detailed reference check from their previous employers. In our leadership hires, we made a lot of mistakes, but we did eventually get it right. Apart from other learnings, we realized that it was important for the families to be on board. Because one ends up spending so much time on the start-up, if the person’s family isn’t fully supportive and invested as well, it will become difficult for the role to work out. So we would meet their families and they would meet ours, or we would do a double date.
We figured out that the right kind of people for an early-stage start-up with less funding are people with at least one drawback. Generally, the drawback is either ‘weak spoken English’ or graduation from a ‘noname college’. These are the people ignored by the big companies because they are biased towards certain colleges and types of hires.
Our only effort was hiring two young fellows named Deepak Chawla and Anand Subramanian who had an interest in marketing. They made a list of all the awards out there and ensured that we put in our entries for all of them. This turned out to be one of the best investments of time and energy
I realized that day that the advice of experts should be taken with a pinch of salt. Several times they just refer to an old reality while the world has moved on.
‘You might be smart, Harpreet, but it is better to be wise.’
We were no longer trying to build a billiondollar company—we were just trying to survive. We didn’t ask anyone to leave the premises. People were welcome to stay, they could use the company laptop to search for their next job. We gave everyone a small severance package using some of the money left—this was the least we could do. The one important thing that we told everyone was that there would be no more job cuts. That whosoever was on the rolls now, their job was secure. I am sure it sounded hollow, but it was important to tell them that we were not thinking of letting go of any more folks.
Debt money is not supposed to be risked.
If you are an entrepreneur, pause and check what you are giving away. Stop looking at your phone when you are with your partner, don’t take that call when you are out on a dinner date, take an annual vacation together, stop multitasking while chatting with your mom, dad, brother, sister and the love of your life. I can guarantee, your work will not suffer. And maybe your wife won’t run away.
He is the guy who codes. I am the one who sells the code.
I realized over time that it was a boon to have someone who could ask me tough questions and whom I was answerable to.
The ability to be liked by the journalist doing the story is a skill, and the founder who can build such a rapport should take on this interaction. Having the same person featured again creates continuity and subsequent retention in the minds of readers and other entrepreneurs
We often find ourselves starting at opposite ends of an argument and realizing that we have convinced each other to switch positions. It’s quite a funny situation!
He told me to focus on my strengths and amplify them; meanwhile, he suggested I find team members whose strengths could complement my weaknesses. This was really helpful advice.
The lesson here is that customers tend to generally offer solutions rather than share problems with the provider.
We now believe that it is important to raise the bar when hiring
Adding each new person to the team dilutes culture. It doesn’t make the company stronger but weaker. A bloated team is a slow team. Every hire slows down your team further.
Don’t get a new office with your investor money.
Why Is Capital Raised from the Investors?
- Building the product.
- Marketing to acquire customers.
- Hiring people.
February 7, 2021
Sort of like indian version of hard thing about hard things
December 25, 2021
It’s a great book!! It resonated with me the most because I have witnessed few things mentioned here very closely. Whether you know CoCubes or not , this book gives a very true insight into the good and bad of startup life. It will tell you mistakes which people have made and learnt over the years. Just 200 pages and you get insight like none other. Highly recommended for people who love startup stories or want to be its part!
December 14, 2020
Let's Build A Company is about Harpreet S Grover and Vibhore Goyal and their journey as an entrepreneur. In this book they talk about the struggle they went through to establish their company CoCubes.
Their connection started from college where both were ambitious to start a company. Like every business they went through a lot of ups and downs before they got established. And later sold their company to eon.
The Book is written as raw as possible as they have mentioned almost everything that they have gone through .It also gives you an idea about what it takes to build a company .This book will give a hope to every aspiring entrepreneurs, that if they too have an idea and is ready to put effort to it ,they too can build a company.
The book gets interesting with every page and you can easily complete it in one sitting .This book is highly recommended to all the budding entrepreneurs.
Their connection started from college where both were ambitious to start a company. Like every business they went through a lot of ups and downs before they got established. And later sold their company to eon.
The Book is written as raw as possible as they have mentioned almost everything that they have gone through .It also gives you an idea about what it takes to build a company .This book will give a hope to every aspiring entrepreneurs, that if they too have an idea and is ready to put effort to it ,they too can build a company.
The book gets interesting with every page and you can easily complete it in one sitting .This book is highly recommended to all the budding entrepreneurs.
December 1, 2020
This one is definitely a must read - engaging, authentic and not preachy at all. Truly a start-up story minus the bullshit. Finished off this book in 1 week... it's hard to put down once you start with it, you're almost able to visualise the entire story of how CoCubes was started.
While the first part is about how the company was built (and more story-like), the second part has the real stuff for anyone looking for insights/fundamental values when building a company. I found some of the key learnings by the authors to be quite thought provoking - definitely something one can refer to again in the future.
While the first part is about how the company was built (and more story-like), the second part has the real stuff for anyone looking for insights/fundamental values when building a company. I found some of the key learnings by the authors to be quite thought provoking - definitely something one can refer to again in the future.
March 12, 2021
Hats-off to Harpreet & Vibhore for making CoCubes happen & then actually write about their journey.
It's just not another startup story. The authors have done a great job to explain the important stuff that happens in a startup's journey in as simple words as possible.
I really liked Part 2 where they talk about personal life & other learnings which can be implemented by anyone in their startup career.
I will be referring to this book along with 'The Hard Things About Hard Things' during my future endeavors because the authors have covered practical aspects applicable to the Indian ecosystem.
It's just not another startup story. The authors have done a great job to explain the important stuff that happens in a startup's journey in as simple words as possible.
I really liked Part 2 where they talk about personal life & other learnings which can be implemented by anyone in their startup career.
I will be referring to this book along with 'The Hard Things About Hard Things' during my future endeavors because the authors have covered practical aspects applicable to the Indian ecosystem.
April 17, 2024
First half of the book goes all about how these childhood friend started a company of their own right after the college. Different kinds of shattering struggles, they faced and how they survived all of it. In the end, they sold for a hefty deal, which again was one hell of a process.
Second half of the book is mostly like lessons learnt, parting wisdom, right and wrong, etc. I mostly skimmed through last quarter of the book. Would surely love to read all of it once I’m starting my own business.
So many things were relatable because the writers story line was mostly of my current age. My aspiration is also aligned a lot. Overall, good book, I’m glad I read it.
Second half of the book is mostly like lessons learnt, parting wisdom, right and wrong, etc. I mostly skimmed through last quarter of the book. Would surely love to read all of it once I’m starting my own business.
So many things were relatable because the writers story line was mostly of my current age. My aspiration is also aligned a lot. Overall, good book, I’m glad I read it.
December 30, 2020
Incredible first hand startup experience
Harpreet has done a good job documenting the various experiences of his startup. The attention to minor details as part of the overall experience is insightful.
Its a great start to the conversation about what constitutes good culture in a startup. One doesn’t have to agree with everything about Harpreet’s approach. But there are unique perspectives that are offered as part of the experiential narrative.
Recommended for anyone who is currently or aspiring to be a leader.
Harpreet has done a good job documenting the various experiences of his startup. The attention to minor details as part of the overall experience is insightful.
Its a great start to the conversation about what constitutes good culture in a startup. One doesn’t have to agree with everything about Harpreet’s approach. But there are unique perspectives that are offered as part of the experiential narrative.
Recommended for anyone who is currently or aspiring to be a leader.
April 23, 2022
An awesome book. Keeps you engaged till the end. An interesting account on how Co- Cubes was build, what it takes to run a business, the tough decisions and challenges it entails. It gives the reader an insight into the life of an entrepreneur. Also, how important it is to have right friends, good support system and most importantly an undying faith in yourself.
A must read for anyone who wants to build a company!
A must read for anyone who wants to build a company!
December 5, 2021
A very practical experiences of entrepreneurs who went through various ups and down in their startup journey. This books bares it all when it comes to understanding of what it takes to build and run a company. It introduces to readers various dimensions of challenges startup involves which are not restricted to your professional life but also involves your personal life. A must read for those who want to jump into the proces of building company.
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