think of and it was in large part
someone was just before the stop asking
me about brands and I referred to call
you because I think in large part
marketing is about figuring out how the
human mind works and one of the most
fascinating concepts I came across in
marketing and then started thinking
about its application all across is how
it process the world in terms of
archetypes how many of you are familiar
with the word archetypes not too many so
so the interesting thing about
archetypes is that it is as a concept
it’s what we I mean most of us will be
familiar with the word but in terms of
how it is understood I have put up some
examples there you know like so you say
the freedom of the Explorer and all of
us have a visual of someone trying to
try the mountain or someone riding a
bike if you know it and stuff like that
so for example if I just asked someone I
mean if I ask any of you that if such a
thing will turn were to be a character
in the Mahabharata who would he be good
can I get a voice answer oh yeah I hear
it
hand it means someone else this
presentation one fi’ty or i so thank you
but yeah so so the thing is all of us a
little and it’s fascinating it’s this
world boy where fact and fiction and
everything gets processed together and
gets reduced and you say yes this is
that archetype and it’s so interesting
as a concept it’s what most of those
brands are based on when people say they
love bigger wood and how authentic it is
the underlying concept is it has an
archetype it is very authentic so so
again similarly here what I’m trying to
say is that we process the world in
terms of these archetypes and sometimes
what happens is that people start so I
just put renamed some archetypes to get
this conversation
going so think of the level and the
level as soon as you think of the Revit
is someone who’s saying this word system
you know has these problems and I’m
going to change it and then there is the
hero who’s saying yeah come with me and
we will fix this they’re probably
addressing the same problems weren’t
very different with and then then the
sage the same name is say someone who’s
sitting somewhere in writing some code
is that nerd is probably knows
everything there is to know about
Backman and can talk to you about the
difference between Batman and Iron Man
but for ours is a sage or she’s a sage
now the point is all that unless we
process the world in terms of these
archetypes and I’ve been fascinated by
the emergence in our in our country of
the archetype of the entrepreneur and
then I start thinking about it when and
when when we can think of me in the
entrepreneur they expect to see someone
who’s an outsider who said yeah I’ve had
enough of the corporate world I’m going
to do my own thing they see someone
who’s like a sailor like someone was
making great stuff and changing the
world they also see someone who will be
exploded like I said up on the mountain
and then there’s the creator s la so I
just quickly decided I had the picture
of Che Guevara on the level and then I
thought there are no women on my ex like
that’s unfair because you know and then
I start thinking you see right how many
of you know what you have Thank You
someone know yours yeah so so basically
for me the entrepreneur what it is fast
becoming is this super archetype it’s
it’s almost like Nietzsche’s ubermensch
this person is bigger than all others
and there is this wood mycology which
has evolved around the entrepreneur and
and that troubles me sometimes because
nobody is a super archetype I was trying
to think of how to how to establish that
point in
interesting way because this is this
might be getting too tense how many of
you have seen in glorious bastards it’s
funny how I can say that the world when
it’s the name of a film so let me just
move on to the next thing you know
people have seen it
I just recite this I love it right at
the end so so basically under nein
right wait the film we captured and
Christopher Christopher woods has made
this great offer to him and his response
is written it’s in big small text so I
read it Brad Pitt did a terrible
southern accent in the film I try not to
do it because mine will be worse so you
know where I’m from and then this
reaction where Colonel Hans Landa says
oh when is that exactly because suddenly
he realizes that his nemesis of so many
years he doesn’t know when he grew up
and this guy says yeah this place in
Tennessee and then under rain that will
in that lousy southern accent I like
that better than actors and no offense
but anyway he says that back where I
come from when something is too good to
be true it is it and that for me is you
know that’s a convoluted way I’m just
saying that which we often say and if
something’s too good to be true it is it
but that for me is this super archetype
of the entrepreneur no one’s that good
can you just go back was fine no one can
simultaneously we create a we savior be
the explorer be the level but that’s the
cell ability that is thrust on
entrepreneurship increasingly an
entrepreneurship has the only is people
like us and this annoys me this annoys
me because what it’s funny when those
could be all of those things at the same
time but to also it’s too good to be
true
now if it was just a mere unwise like I
was irritated should I dedicate my
maiden there is talk to something that
annoys me forever of two things one why
not because you know
there’s no clear brief so I could simply
because I’m annoyed I could say it but
then there are ramifications and and
that’s what I would like to focus on
so could you skip to and one more I
didn’t know the how this is there’s way
too much text but I just give you some
Ruiz of the three so the text out there
in yellow talks of an election it’s
inspired by real events inspired by a
very important election so so there’s
this story right I mean a lot of you
would have followed it quite closely
where one of the candidates
now the reason I’m not leaving the
candidate is not because of Schreiber I
didn’t know what the tech policy mother
is like should I name people anyway and
not we know who we are talking of so
this candidate got into trouble because
they because he questioned their family
of a soldier who was martyred in Iraq
and and that’s this is supposed to be an
absolute no-go right politician taking
on the army but you never do that’s the
opposite of what you do as a politician
and this was this interview except which
I quit there which was that that the the
moderate soldiers father has asked that
what have you sacrificed you have
sacrificed nothing and you have lost no
one the candidate quite successfully
because subsequently he won that
election could say yeah I’ve sacrificed
a lot I’ve sacrificed a lot because I’ve
built great companies and I’ve hired
lots and lots of people
it blew my mind how can that be a
defense are you hire people as a
businessman because just sacrificing
you’re hiring people because you want to
make money you want to be famous stuff
like that but the entrepreneur gets away
with a lot their second story I’m here
and this is try and read I was going at
a reasonable pace are you with me
sorry in this slightly weirded out by
you not see what’s there and I haven’t
written these
Epic’s here my bad
[Applause]
what I want to end up doing in my
retired face is a lot of people I guess
people like you and others come up to me
and said I’m thinking of starting a
company can you give me some general
yeah and that’s what you do that’s what
we used to do when we were here you
haven’t studied for a stats exam you
find someone then give some gun pressure
so you know people turn up and say yeah
I can I talk about it to you and I say
yeah mostly fine coming because like I
said I’m retired and not doing much as I
like entrepreneurs on the world even
though I might be communicating that I
don’t I do I think I mean I just didn’t
entrepreneurship so so on the left in
the next section I am this story where
this person comes in I’ve changed the
name of the product because you know no
point skewing something which is someone
who is not there to defend but this
person said open this conversation by
saying do you know that the sale of
chocolates with macadamia nuts in the US
is 1.5 percent of all chocolate sales in
the US how many of you know macadamia
nut yeah some do we are it’s fine but
the point is it’s not really the kind of
starting point for I think a great
business idea this chocolates yeah big
concern chocolates and then chocolates
with macadamia nuts so then this
hypothesis this hypothesis goes as
follows say though this is the US is
this much population of us is 300
million around 3 million in given the
modern world like people in the US there
for the sale of this category in India
as an opportunity is 3 divided by 300
on this I’ve contrasted it with this
other business plan which has this was
there these women who were journalists
and they wanted my advice and these
underprivileged women in Berlin and when
they can really you know sort of the
most patriarchal place in India which is
one of the most big childhood countries
in the world so really really
patriarchal and these women running
around as journalists underprivileged
and they are trying to put together this
company which will distribute rural news
digitally in their markets and then
their hypothesis is that media is
basically compromised
there is no fair reporting very few
women who are recording around 90
percent of reporters are men in rural
areas more so it’s just really bad and
so they want to solve the problem of
rural journalism what is the news we get
from a villages so I just read two
planets chocolate the macadamia nuts
women who want to distribute who want to
do journalism and report news in the
rural areas I want a quick straw poll on
which building will raise money faster
from a VC option a macadamia nuts
hands up option B rooted digital news
run by women yeah I like I like that the
stock world is the exact opposite of how
the VC community sees this and that’s
fascinating the first kind of man the
chocolate with macadamia nuts plan is
what I call idea arbitrage and an order
of entrepreneurship is beauty of it the
more perceptive among you will say his
masculine energy drink so like I said
there is democracy in this presentation
and guilty as charged
but chocolate with macadamia nut raised
his money from
we see every time compared to women who
want to change how our rural digital
news is reported I think that very very
strict the third one is this amazing
thing that happened last year how many
of you have tweeted with hashtag start
of India but okay yeah
hashtag start of India is was to kick
off this great event where lots of
entrepreneurs changemakers went in and
met the government and said this is what
needs to happen so what I have done
there I have not added any name these
are actual quotes from a newspaper but I
just read you some of those things what
of it says oh now photos can be started
talk about this because is that really
the problem that you have a business
idea and you or it takes seven days only
took one never would have started this
company rate is that the problem to be
fixed same person and all of these are
like well mean we will know what
reproduce I know some of them being the
relaxation of labor and financial norms
when you hear that sentence you should
have a big fulfills of alert because in
India you get away with so much in terms
of financial reporting how you raise
money so on and so forth you can tell me
with so much in terms of how labor is
treated in companies I am NOT socialist
like I have made money but the point is
then eyes really turn it on and say here
relax well norm so that I can get these
people to work for nine days instead of
seven a week what would what am i
talking off and these were comments
actually made in in this startup
conference with everyone which says the
probably needs to pay
but you really spoiled these statements
this one is that catchy acronym or the
three P’s what are the three P’s tricky
the promotion policy and I’m struggling
promisee Pantheon that’s not three P’s I
mean at least stick to my language to
get your acronym right so but my point
is what I mentioned about this super
archetype is that we are getting away
with a lot in the name of celebrating
entrepreneurship it just so I added
three of my sort of label saying yes mr.
president-elect
yes you sacrifice because you made out
of honey I get that yes there is risk
aversion so and invest in chocolate with
macadamia nut instead of figuring out of
business in rural hills
yes you have taken this and then this
whole narrative of what we want in the
government because god forbid the tiny
little chocolate from a cadenas not has
to pay sales tax that would be terrible
that makes no sense to me so this is
sort of the ninth part of my
presentation as we would have noticed
I’ll try to be more instructed in the
balance this is what I thought about it
subsequently so another one inflation
has happened I classified it into two
parts this is not based on real data
this is based on my sense of data but on
the left is what I called a part of the
right is what I call now now the debt we
don’t know when when the then became the
now i roughly think of it as this
speeded when liberalisation happened and
suddenly there was capital and you know
that was the I in the nineties
becoming an entrepreneur became cool and
in a few years
it became cool for parents to say yeah
my kid is an entrepreneur because back
in my day that was a problem but it was
cool within our peer groups so a lot of
relation is happening can you see this
graph am i doing too much case I’ll try
and be picky and how do I do in one time
[Applause]
so yeah is what I see has
entrepreneurship of the poor people of
big reason to become an entrepreneur is
because you’re desperate that
entrepreneurship in terms of how many
such people become entrepreneurs was big
this big will continue the pivot there’s
one blue chunk is the Entrepreneurship
of the niche which was not as big in
terms of numerical representation
because by definition there are fewer
rich people but it created a lot of
value for rich people as it shown in the
Python and the third is entrepreneurship
of people like us I don’t mean the great
module I think everyone sitting here is
upper class so it will be unfair to say
because how we use middle class in India
is a bit unfair anyway point I’m making
is there was this entrepreneurship is
what deep realization there’s this
entrepreneurship now it has become
cooler some of us are creating value
some of us are solving problems but most
of the most of the people who are
entrepreneurs back in the day it’s not
like they are making good money now so
in the first you know setting enough I
charge one sliver is the
Entrepreneurship of the world which is
like across the road mocchi sells me and
burrata is she still there I’m Kal
people so so anyway the smaller
depression shape happening all around us
it’s not as if they are making more
money
the other interesting thing is
the people who get together for start-up
India does not include it does not
include Hernando DeSoto it does not
include about the same people who should
be talking of policy and
entrepreneurship and stuff like that
because they are the ones who are
researching entrepreneurship of the many
entrepreneurship of the desperate but
what all the share of voice which is the
third pie chart is for people like us
everyone one should interview as I’ve
met people who are to start a company
but have featured in business today and
and entrepreneur magazine and it’s
amazing by then used to happen earlier
but it is a bit odd that we get so much
share of voice everyone’s ready to
interview us we always get these pages
we always have these platforms we have
no one shaping entrepreneurial policy in
India but what most of the girls in
India go through no one is ready so it’s
a bit like the rich getting richer
narrative which comes through in thomas
piketty’s book and i would really
recommend that you read it because it
talks of capital in the 21st century but
it’s also something which we’ve always
known because they will not go ahead
whom I cited wrote quite long ago that
everyone knows that the fight was fixed
and the first state were the rich get
rich for it was everybody knows and his
entrepreneurship fixing it it’s not
fixing that problem we have not super
people it’s it’s entrepreneurs doing
their thing the other point here is that
this share of voice has to become a
national the celebration of
entrepreneurship
I find it frankly quite over the top as
you would have guessed already just so
why does this bother me
I’m sorry think why does this bother me
I mean we live in so many delusions if
you have great you re recipients any of
you read that book should read it
great you will usually anthropology book
he talks of how nationalism
religion and you know all of our beliefs
are all great religions so why does this
delusion get to me so because you know
what Mark said this joke didn’t work
well because the newest tricks with
markzware they lead to in the footnotes
you can’t leave it says Groucho not God
why did this box basically said Groucho
not saying that I said the club avaya
this is one of his most famous jokes and
you familiar with Groucho Marx oh is
that like I’m doing an anachronistic
thing throwing up I’m getting to be that
age so basically this I sent this wire
to the club saying I resigned from
admission because any club that will
accept me as member I don’t want to be
part of which you find quite funny in a
way this whole rant is about my being an
entrepreneur people think of the
successful I think I’m one I’ve made the
money on two brothers cosplay but the
white still is that I find it very
difficult to be part of club the other
complication is is not that I’m out of
it it’s not that I’m doing something
else now I am all set to become an
entrepreneur again after a squad
retirement so I am saying this again
with some hypocrisy but because more
serious problem is that this work
celebration of entrepreneurship is also
simultaneously a celebration of the
state
refusing to do what it was supposed to
do the state had a contract with the
public where the state had to provide
health care with a state had to provide
education and where the state had to do
these things more and more as we
celebrate entrepreneurship think of two
words think of the public and think of
the customer and think of these two as a
Venn diagram with some intersection and
think of how they are moving ever closer
and the intersection is becoming
compete if everything becomes the
entrepreneur if every problem the
government solves by talking to
entrepreneurs if every problem is solved
through public-private partnership
tomorrow there is no public because
everyone is a customer very dangerous
scenario and therefore intelligent
people like the ones in this room when
you think about what to do if you think
about entrepreneurship you have to be
aware that in some part what you do
leads to the state being absorbed it of
its responsibilities and like I said
everyone is a customer and in this
framework so you think of these two Venn
diagram these two circles they’re
intersecting there is the customer and
the public and now what you have is
basically this natural resource it’s
almost like you are treating your public
as mineral to be auctioned to someone
says yes I will teach people in you pee
in return for this so entrepreneurship
is not a solution for everything very
often in such forum in such places which
is a big reason I want you to say it and
I am Calcutta is that here is where we
celebrate entrepreneurship unabashedly
and I think we can just turn that down
and mean what you know reflective about
what is this future that we are heading
to that’s the state no longer be the
public is everything going to be
business it’s a tricky question like I
said I’m starting a rural healthcare
company but I’m starting it with this
knowledge and I would book that more and
more people when they were getting into
entrepreneurship which is still very
cool without being a super archetype
like I mentioned they do it with that
knowledge then what are the implications
of their action and how complicit are
they changing social contract
we are the point is from the American
Nations then if you’ve read Borneo and
if you haven’t you should so Buddha is
this French social thinker and he talked
about three forms of capital
economic social and political and
increasingly what I I see it as that
help of the celebrity a businessman
placed on such a pedestal because of
this entrepreneurship amplification that
we basically didn’t even ask ourselves
the question that what are his plans for
our country I don’t speak it as an
American I speak it as a very scared
Indian about what’s happening but my
point still is we cannot start
conflating entrepreneurship with being
socially great with being socially
responsible entrepreneurship
entrepreneurship it’s the pursuit of
money when I start my next from here
because you money it’s that’s what it is
and when you get together in forum and
you dress up your company as if it is in
some other pursuit but not money that’s
when I think we are being very
disingenuous and I hope intellectually
curious smart people as I assume are
sitting in this room will take calls
which are different from those who do
not think about it the a great example
of this and I know in the earlier
session there was some talk of how what
the public wants and I’m not sure I
agree with all of it but but I thought I
had a pop quiz because I still have been
yeah that was a trick question that
never happened in our time I just asked
it you know as if we went through it
with in our professors were much too
nice we didn’t have a ten minutes and we
would just but but I added a pop quiz
which may see me answers to questions
each for five marks I hope your RG
instincts will begin to answer but the
first question is which political
personality
you simply featured in an ad by India’s
leading FinTech stardom
oh yeah right do any of you know that
okay similarly once they were start-up
telecom startup and I say start up with
this big muscle
Astrix because it isn’t just be
behemoths latest most talked about
technical started startup recently had a
brand ambassador who was that exactly
and now we have this situation where we
have politics we have the stakes the
state is now on behind ambassador and I
do not get this I do not get the
celebration of entrepreneurship I do not
get how the entrepreneur is supposed to
be nobler and purer and these are
questions which worry me
it does not mean that I would be an
entrepreneur again it also does not mean
that I won’t be successful again I am
very clear about that I will be an
entrepreneur I know it will be
successful again
but the problem is do we think about all
of this is there is there a burden upon
us to think about it but like I said
Hariri has established then all of this
is delusion what we think about our
country is a delusion not religion is
attribution all of these are delivers we
buy into because we have to live
together and cooperate so the point is
this daily will I find particularly
dangerous I would I wanted to talk about
all of this was so that you can think
more about entrepreneurship because I’m
sure given how big it is now that in
this room there are many who will
tomorrow be entrepreneurs that is sort
of my last line there are lots of
footnotes not polling you with it which
the last one so one often wonders and
this age really is you’re thinking yeah
whatever I stopped what was life for
you’re like really weighty questions
that come up when you have had probably
five pegs of scotch
what is he covered because this you get
contemplative and and and then often
Socrates comes up and and so I think
it’s basically that it’s that how
Socrates said that the unexamined life
is not worth living and so I just goes
with the with the suggestion and it is
an assertion like I say it’s not I can’t
argue that it is coming from first
principles my only suggestion to smart
people is that unexamined
entrepreneurship is not what question
that’s it [Applause]