August 3, 2001
I was working as a Business Executive for 20 years. I was successful, admired by friends and colleagues. I had trotted across the globe and had worked for some of the most respectable names in the IT Industry. My salary had grown 20 times in the previous ten years and people said I had a great future in my job. And then I decided to quit and become an entrepreneur.
Just the other day, I completed one year of entrepreneurship. One year that looked as long as 20 years of my earlier employments! The wave of entrepreneurship was at its peak when I began a year ago, although it lies flattened and mutilated one year hence as the “dot com bubble” burst. I had been admired, ignored and butched by Venture Capitalists, all in one year. I had been adulated and quickly forgotten by the Press. I had been embraced and pooh-poohed by Business Partners, all in one year.
I decided to put down my experience on paper in the memory of all my entrepreneur colleagues who have gone through the same journey but never expressed it in this way.
This book is about the learning of entrepreneurs like me and would perhaps serve as a guide to many who would opt to travel the same road in the future.
It is dedicated equally to all those entrepreneurs who found this pathway paved with gold and to those who could not make it big. I have learnt that entrepreneurship is not about results, it is about the quality of the journey.
There have been enough stories from successful entrepreneurs where every page out of their journey looks worth imitating as the destination has been successfully reached. But this handbook for entrepreneurs is from one whose journey has only begun, not ended yet and is mostly about learnings that were gained largely by failures, not success.
December 31, 2016
As I hold the pen once more in my hands, I realize it has been 15 years and 27 days since
the above lines and many leaves of my book were written upon. Much has changed in my life and the world around. I looked much younger than my age when I began and people say I look much older than my age now. But in my inner realm, I feel more vibrant, alive, pulsating and beautiful. In the last eight months, I have finally begun feeling that I can be a successful entrepreneur as most of the critical lessons have finally been learnt.
October 12, 2017
Another 10 months have passed, largely spent is an accelerated pace of work and results. The journey finally seems to be reaching a point where one says “wow”. The third generation of ILANTUS products that many change rules of the game in Identity Management domain is about to be launched!!
