Jab Tak Hai Grover It’s not over DOGLAPAN : The Hard Truth About Life And Start – Ups.

This is the unfettered story of Ashneer Grover-the favourite and misunderstood poster boy of Start-up India.Raw, gut-wrenching in its honesty and completely from the heart; this is storytelling at its finest. A young boy with a 'refugee' tag growing up in Delhi's Malviya Nagar outpaces his circumstances by becoming a rank-holder at the pinnacle of academic excellence in India-IIT Delhi. He goes on to do an MBA from the hallowed halls of IIM Ahmedabad, builds a career as an investment banker at Kotak Investment Banking and AmEx, and is pivotal in the making of two unicorns-Grofers, as CFO, and BharatPe, as co-founder. As a judge on the popular TV show Shark Tank India, Ashneer becomes a household name even as his life turns upside down. Controversy, media spotlight, garrulous social media chatter descend, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

on the reality TV show Shark Tank India.

After his outster from BharatPe, Ashneer Grover is in the news again. He posted this message from his LinkedIn account: Let's get some work done in 2023! We at Third Unicorn have been quietly and peacefully building a market shaking business. Boot strapped! Without limelight! And we are doing things differently. Very differently! So if you want to be part of the next TODU - FODU thing, here's a sneak peek on HOW we are building ! WHAT we are building remains the billion dollar question!

In his recruitment ad he has promised to aspiring candidates a Mercedes, if they complete five years in his new venture.

5 Saal Poore Hone Pe Mercedes – Shercedes Gratuity to Bezzati Ke liye hoti hai…..

Ashneer is a strong personal brand.And a strong brand always polarizes people. Ashneer has many followers from his Shark Tank days where he reportedly used to charge Rs.10 lakh per episode.

Doglapan is a well written and engaging memoir of a middle class guy from Malaviya Nagar. It traces the trials and tribulations, rise and fall of a technocrat entrepreneur.

What is interesting is the fact that during his halcyon daya at Kotak, Ashneer honed his skills as a fund raiser for clients like Anchor Electricals, Rustomjee and HDIL. He was also involved as a team member during Reliance Power and DLF IPOs. He later moved on to American Express. He describes his stint there as, “American sarkar ki Naukri” and says that MNC culture is far more relaxed than our LALAculture. He decided to move on as there was no fire anywhwere, including in most people’s bellies, Kahin Koi Aag nahi lagi thi

Before the start of his successful entrepreneurial journey at BharatPe, Ashneer briefly worked for Balram Garg at P C Jewellers.

He was wary of working with a LALAbut he was offered a fixed salary of Rs.85 lakhs plus Rs. 3 crores in stocks. Ashneer saw intrinsic value in the gold loan business and he wanted to learn from a Baniya Lala how to create a profitable business using customers. He helped to digitize PC Jewellers’ core retail business. After trading at an all time high of Rs.400, PC Jewellers’ stock started coming down due to the Nirav Modi scam. Ashneer has high regards for Balram Garg as he stood by him when the chips were down. Ashneer says, “Dukandar wali Kahani PCJ se shuru hui thi – it was at PCJ that I understood the problem statement of a shopkeeper and the mentality of a Baniya businessman”. This insight was most helpful during the launch of BharatPe.

The last 50 pages of the book deal with Ashneer’s downfall. He plays the victim card here and admits that the worst mistakes that he made were in recruiting 4 people at BharatPe who betrayed him.

I found it rather surprising that the former SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar’s name appears in the list. Rajnish Kumar has had an illustrious career and is highly regarded in the baking circles. How can he be Ahneer’s bête noir? Well there are two sides to every story !