Entrepreneur Journeys Volume 1 (Paperback)

by Sramana Mitra (Author)
Key Phrases: enterprise software, solar lighting, million teachers, Latin America, Wall Street, Washington Post (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Sramana has gifted us with the first hand stories of industry legends who have succeeded with a combination of fierce resolve, self-reliance, and a willingness to buck conventional wisdom. The next generation of entrepreneurs has an invaluable reference guide on how their predecessors have succeeded."
Richard Rommel, Senior Vice President, Emerging Business, Best Buy

Review
"Entrepreneurship is not a career. It is a way of life". And what better way to learn about it than to listen to people who have done it, successfully, and to learn about their lives in that fast lane? In a carefully structured set of interviews, Sramana Mitra gives the readers an opportunity to discover their paths, their successes, their setbacks sometimes, and the joys of meeting the immense challenges that have been theirs in a dizzying world where technical competence and management skills have allowed them to leave a deep and lasting mark.
Professor Elisabeth Paté-Cornell
Chair, Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (September 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439206872
• ISBN-13: 978-1439206874
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #185,159 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wanna change your life? , December 14, 2008

By	Jacqueline Fendt (Paris) - See all my reviews

Entrepreneur Journeys Volume 1

An inspirational book. Makes perfect reading for those Season's days when you calm down a bit, take some distance from everyday stress, and begin to ask yourself curious questions. Am I doing the right thing with my life? Am I fulfilled, am I truly creating value? Sramana Mitra invites us on twelve journeys, twelve marvelously narrated, concrete entrepreneurial experiences.

There's basically two ways one becomes an entrepreneur: "by constraint" (no money, no job, no education, no legitimacy but a need to survive) or "by choice" (good education, good job, but a need for freedom and/or sense-making). This book clearly addresses the latter category. The twelve compelling profiles Sramana shares with us are essentially well-educated individuals, mostly installed in flawless successful career paths (secure and well-paying corporate jobs) and who ditch it all to become entrepreneurs. And Sramana Mitra knows what she's talking about, she could all by herself be one or several of these examples she brings to us: she is a highly educated individual, a serial entrepreneur for over 15 years, and a Forbes columnist. Her stories are diverse and universal, five are US-based, four from India, two European and one Latin American. Business models vary from social communities, to Ebay-type models, to e-advertising, to software services and all types of technologies such as sophisticated search engines, fibre optics, solar energy etc.

So yes, this is not a book for everybody, it is not a textbook, it is not an academic book, it does not address those (equally admirable) future entrepreneurs who set out to sell sandwiches outside the banking district's skyscrapers in order to be able to pay their monthly rent. And it does not pretend to.

But for those students and graduates who want to fully understand what "bootstrapping" really means, how one can find opportunity in unmet markets and by disrupting business models... who want to learn how just a handful of smart, astute and committed entrepreneurs can take on giant corporations; and for those of us specialists, experts, academics and executives in the corporate world or elsewhere, who may be searching for more sense in our lives... well for all of us this collection of journeys will make perfect holiday reading - and perhaps change the odd life trajectory?

Jacqueline Fendt, PhD, Dr. math. MBA, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Paris France.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Serious War Stories from the entrepreneurial front, January 13, 2009

By	Barrett Hazeltine (Providence, Rhode Island United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Enjoyed the book and found it worthwhile. The stories are inspiring and could have a significant influence on a student of entrepreneurship or an aspiring entrepreneur. To paraphrase a trite phrase; "Yes, you can!" The stories are more than inspiration though. The insightful questions and the thoughtful answers give much guidance, and general wisdom. The book occupies a nearly empty niche between lightweight collections of anecdotes and ponderous but often irrelevant academic research. A great opportunity to come close to sitting with masters and learning directly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative and portable, style reflects both guts and graciousness, October 30, 2008

By	R. Kirk (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sramana Mitra has become a different kind of voice in the tech and business world with her insightful interviewing style wherein she quickly establishes a deep sense of rapport with her subjects enabling them to confide the worries, passions, fears and inspirations which have driven their entrepreneurial ventures.

Another strength that shines through is Sraman's ability to let us hear the "voice" of the entrepreneurs she has interviewed and written about. With her own depth of personal expertise, she easily could have overwhelmed or dominated the conversations. Yet she shows great stylistic skill in using her own depth of experience (as an M Eng. (EE) and having been a successful tech entrepreneur and consultant) in drawing out and helping her subjects express the insights others would have missed or failed to recognize in the first place.

And if you have a secret love of history and geopolitics, you will enjoy the way she has spiced some of her interviews by drawing out the backgrounds of her interview subjects. A couple of specific examples for me included the interview with Philippe Courtot, or Marcos Galperin or Harish Hande.

THE REAL VALUE in this book however, is the portability of the experiences captured and documented by this inspiring writer. I personally have little core interest in the world of tech entrepreneurship (beyond being a grateful user) but the way Sramana has unveiled the thinking processes of her subjects has helped me reflect on their experiences and "port" their transcendent insights over into my own spheres of business interest.

I'm anticipating more great interviews and insights from Sramana, including how entrepreneurs will shape the development of Web 3.0, and healthcare and education at 'the bottom of the pyramid' (to borrow a phrase from CK Prahalad).

Highly recommend this book to anyone with a great idea but understanding the need to avoid the many landmines hidden along the entrepreneurial path. Also recommend this for managers in companies who want to maintain an entrepreneurial culture as their company grows, or anyone concerned about solutions for global issues.