TheUnicorn Quest

The Economic Survey 2021 estimated that as many as 4,70,000 jobs were created from more than 39,000 startups registered with the government as of December 2020. This book will seek to illustrate how this wave of change, which differs from earlier ones in the history of Indian business, has come to pass.It carries us through the journey of some of the most daredevil entrepreneurs who tried to think big and brought about a revolutionary change in how new India thinks.The book depicts the startup ecosystem in detail from the people who have scaled their startups successfully and are telling their stories and myths surrounding it.In a career spanning three decades (and counting) as a business journalist, Archana Rai has extensively reported on India's startup and technology sector. From tracking investments made by India's earliest venture fund, the Technology Development & Investment Corporation of India (TDICI), to the big-ticket deals of Internet-era heavyweights, she has enjoyed a ringside view of the twists and turns, the highs and lows of technology entrepreneurship during its most consequential years. And as for Starting Up in India-the best, she's certain, is yet to come!Starting up is not just about business. In the life of a young nation like India, it is also a marker of changing mores, aspirations and perhaps even the evolving cultural fabric of a society that is finally coming into its own. This book will seek to illustrate how this wave of change, which differs from earlier ones in the history of Indian business, has come to pass. It will examine what these changes mean in an era that looks set to be dominated as much by the uncertainties of climate change and a transition away from a fossil-fuel economy as also by the rise and disquieting threat of artificial intelligence. This is a story of innovation, of ambition and yes, the grand vision of a select few that is transforming the way India learns, works and plays.Entrepreneurship is not new to Indians; half of the country's working population is self-employed, even if with varying degrees of success. But what we are witnessing today is unprecedented. Technology has radically changed the outlook of vast swathes of the educated middle classes towards business, who now look on it at a far more ambitious scale.