Mahesh Murthy about Comfortability & Entrepreurship

Mahesh Murthy sites the Example of Google for Would Be Entrepreneurs in Business World India. The original Google IPO Document can be locate here:

Wall Street is sweating. Google has forsaken the traditional way of raising money - of going to investment bankers who would underprice the shares and sell it to favoured customers who would make a huge amount of money when trading opened. Google chose the Net and the Dutch auction process that gives the smallest investor the same right as the biggest ones. When one firm, Goldman Sachs, tried to schmooze its way to get the Google IPO mandate, it was summarily fired. This is a company that clearly says I'm not part of your system. And a company with the size and track record to actually change that system.


Thousands of entrepreneurs should watch this IPO closely. If it takes off - I truly hope it will - it can drive a stake through the heart of the 'old, big bank' way of doing things. It could not just make capital markets freer, more transparent, but also shine a light for other company founders to stand up, say what they believe in, and reject the path of PR gobbledygook.


I see entrepreneurs coming to me, in suits and ties they're not comfortable in, showing slides full of nonsense jargon. I asked one why he was dressed so. "Sir, all magazines show businessmen dressed this way." Here's hoping that the pretence and sham of 'formality' won't stop you in what you want to do.


If you're starting a business, you need to win the trust of people around you. If you dress and speak like someone you're not, they can see through you. If you prefer being in kurtas and speaking in Bhojpuri, do so. If you're a clown at heart, it's far better to be one, than become another statistic in this world full of clones.