Here’s a book by an entrepreneur who knows the secret to not only breaking into a market, but creating one. Here’s one whose driving force includes both failures and the ability to think big

the first thing you notice about this book, even before you go on to read the title and the author’s name, is the top-angle picture of a man on the cover. He’s lying down, but not sleeping, and seems to be at ease with himself. His eyes are dreamy, but not closed. The picture sets the mood for a journey, a relentless pursuit of entrepreneurial glory, which the reader experiences in the next 185 pages of the book.

While the book is about a simple Grant Road boy, Ronnie Screwvala, who goes on to pioneer the cable TV world with his UTV — a media and entertainment conglomerate he founded in the early 1980s — it’s the underlying message that the book manages to pass on to the reader.

Have an impactful, disruptive product or business idea or been curious about owning your own business? This is the book for you. Running your own company for the past seven-odd years, and scale, brand and value-creation are some of the crossroads for you now? Keep reading. If you think your parents or family would freak out if you dared to suggest ditching your safe haven to pursue your dreams of owning your own business, relax. Read this book or share it with your friends or family.

The book is all about thinking big. It hopes to demystify failure, inspire success, and raise ambitions. With anecdotes presented in a simple narrative, the book helps you gain better insights into entrepreneurship and give you a fighting chance when it comes to realising your dreams in a David-versus- Goliath world.

“I’m routinely asked questions about my various entrepreneurial experiences, and most want to hear about the successes. Why don’t they ask about the failure? It would give me more time to talk about,” writes Screwvala, who is also known as the “Jack Warner of India”.

The book is replete with real-life incidents and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from his career, which include building one the largest toothbrush manufacturing operations in India, pioneering cable TV and bringing home shopping to the country, and creating one of India’s most innovative and diversified media entertainment companies — one that gave the country its first daily soap, Shanti, and breakout channels such as Hungama and Bindass, as well as a movie studio that boasts of a filmography that includes Rang De Basanti, Dev D, Jodha Akbar and Barfi.

The first few chapters take the reader through the initial days of the entertainment mogul, when he was organising play-cum-concerts for residents of his building or when he was selling “balcony seats” of a vantage point to see film stars attending premieres at Novelty cinema opposite his family house on Grant Road. It’s a different story altogether now, when people would pay to see him address a crowd or give a lecture on making it big.

In the chapters that follow, Screwvala writes about innovation and scale; staying the course after setbacks (what most think of as a “failure”, as per Screwvala); what it feels like to be the outsider and yet succeed; the importance of spotting trends, building brands and creating value; and planned (or unplanned) exits, among many other topics.

Throughout the book, the author consistently underpins the value of the building blocks of a successful business. But if he was to put it in one line, he’d say: “Dream huge. And when you do, dream with your eyes open.”