About the book
There's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. The market is flush with capital, and the internet and emerging technologies have lowered costs and nearly levelled the playing field. The Indian digital ecosystem is ready to explode. The romance of the start-up story fills media column inches.
But, for every new venture that made it, there are numerous others that didn't. The untold story of the successes is that every one of them almost didn't make it. Each one had a near-death experience, almost shut down, almost sold itself too short-in short, almost 'blew it'. How I Almost Blew It talks to some of India's biggest entrepreneurs-Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Info Edge and N), Deep Kalra (MakeMyTrip), Deepinder Goyal (Zomato), Ashish Hemrajani (BookMyShow), Sahil Barua (Delhivery) and Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) and others-to tell stories that shock, reveal and inspire. Quick-thinking, astute decision-making and-occasionally-sheer dumb luck is what stood between them and the abyss. These heart-stopping stories of near-fiascos are industry wisdom, yes, but also critical life lessons.
About the Author
Sidharth Rao. Serial Entrepreneur. Business Builder. Angel Investor. Author.
Sidharth's journey as an entrepreneur and founder began at age nineteen. A college dropout, he co-founded Webchutney with his partner Sudesh in 1999. As CEO, he led Webchutney to become India's most successful and award-winning digital creative agency, being ranked India's #1 digital agency for eight years by The Economic Times' Brand Equity. In 2013, Webchutney was acquired by the Dentsu Group, one of the largest agency networks globally. Webchutney was the most-awarded Indian agency at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2019 and 2021. In 2022, Dentsu Webchutney was named Cannes Lions Global Agency of the Year, a first for any Indian agency ever.
Sidharth served as Group CEO of Dentsu McGarryBowen before moving on to start Punt Partners, a marketing technology company with Madhu Sudhan. He was also a proud member of the global digital advisory board at Unilever and served in the jury of some of the most celebrated advertising festivals in India and around the globe. An active angel investor in several Internet companies, he also incubated Networkplay, a brand ad network which was acquired by Bertelsmann AG. On 21 April 2023, Sidharth passed away at his farmhouse in Karjat aged forty-three. He is survived by his wife Shweta and his parents. How I Almost Blew It is his first book.
