Author of the Book: Varun Agarwal

Title of the Book: How I braved Anu Aunty and Co-founded a million dollar company
Name of the Publisher: Rupa & Co.
Place of Publication: India

Year of Publication: 2012

There are a lot of success stories and a lot of failure stories when it comes to entrepreneurship.
For those who are bold enough to look beyond the constraints and boundaries of the society it
has worked big time for them meanwhile those who have restricted themselves have managed
to fizzle out with time.
The book How I braved Anu Aunty & Co-founded a Million Dollar Company has been written
by Varun Aggarwal who is an entrepreneur himself and in this book, he has shared his
transforming journey from being a discontented engineer to a successful entrepreneur.
Varun, perhaps, is the ideal salesman of our generation. He sold his book in the first 15 seconds
of his pitch just by saying Im not a writer, I am a story teller thus lowering your outlook, and
brilliantly setting the tone for this book.
The book is not particular a Stephen Hawking or an Arundhati Roy. But what it is in fact, is a
rare piece of fresh, light humor that reflects the life and problems of the contemporary youth and
its struggle to pursue a career other than engineering or MBBS.
Coming to the plot of the book, the book begins with the daily woes of this jobless engineer
Varun. One night, he gets this unusual and stupid business idea and discusses it with his friend
Rohn Malhotra or simply, Mal by summarizing it in two words School Merchandising. Both get
started with this thing in the hope being the next Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak and try to realize
this dream to turn their garage company into a million dollar company. But standing between
him and his goal in life are two very interesting ladies the first one being his mom and the
second being his moms best friend Anu Aunty.
His mom is portrayed as the typical Indian mother who is perpetually worried about his sons
future and always tries to force her decisions on him by using the dark and evil powers of
emotional blackmailing. On the other hand is Anu Aunty, all sparkling eyed about her son and
constantly reminding everybody in her friends circle about how qualified, successful and well
settled her son is. Even though she is a living person, but to Varun, she has been no less than a
ghost who would keep coming up to wreck almost every moment in his life. Her son Arjun
proves to be another disaster in the life of our hero who, just like his mother, always tries to
demean Varuns achievements. He feels that being successful in life is all about grades.
Armed with an unwanted engineering degree, he usually spends most of his time with his
friends, roaming around in a pub called Shiva which became his next home and stalking a girl
he likes on Facebook. The girl, Devika, has been a long time crush of Varun who knows almost
each and every detail about her, from her school to her tattoo but is very afraid to even send a
simple Facebook friend request to her. Along with all of this, come Varuns friends Sid, Rohit,
Mehta and Mal. Every one of them has a definite career goal in their life except for the hero of
the story.
Through this journey of starting up their own company in an era where entrepreneurship is not
encouraged, both the friends face a lot of challenges such as constant criticism from the society,

stamp of being just t-shirt sellers, parental pressure of doing a stable job, rift between the two
friends, financial problems and doubts on their own ability. But the perseverance and never
giving up attitude of the two youngsters made them millionaires.

Varuns story is similar to the thousands of unemployed youngsters in the country, yet different
because unlike others, he didnt wait for opportunity to knock on his door. He, instead, went on
to create opportunities. Thats what makes the book so different from other clichd ridden
entrepreneurship books.
We have all from time to time faced the people who have dismayed us by saying that were the
cause of our parents anxiety. Varun, is no different. In his life was the gang leader of his
mothers kitty partiesAnu Auntywho is keener in knowing what happens in the lives of her
friends children. We all have an Anu Aunty in our lives. Anu Aunty is a metaphor for the
demeanour of most Indians. She could be a neighbour, a relative or anyone adept at nipping all
mushrooming ideas in the bud, gracing households with their ominous ever-taunting presence,
forever ready to lay roadblocks to stop you from chasing your dreams.
But this Anu Aunty proved a blessing in disguise for our hero. He was comfortable leading a
mediocre life that is until Anu Aunty and her kitty party minions entered into his life, taking it
upon themselves to set him right. And how do they plan to do that? By intimidating him to land a
techie job. But, instead of simply bowing down to their pressure, he decides to tread the
unconventional path. This is what made his story so inspiring and intriguing. Hidden in Varuns
story is the reflection of a life many of us are leading, or are being forced to lead.

While reading the book, one can find many lessons from the book. The first being that whenever
you want to do something, just do it. Do not spend a majority of time in thinking about the
consequences and rather focus on doing things. This has been the moto of many
entrepreneurs, the most famous being Richard Bransons Screw it, lets do it.
The second is to not share your idea with anyone who will try to criticise you for it. These could
be your family, neighbours or friends. If you have an idea then you should go ahead with it and
start pursing your dream, without focussing on the outcome.
Third, never miss an opportunity to promote yourself. It is very critical when starting your own
business. Never ever be scared or shy to sell yourself. If you want to sell your product, just
promote it shamelessly because it is your product no one knows what is good and what is bad
in it.
Fourth, make use of every opportunity and always be observant. It is one the most important
skill to develop if you want to run a business successfully. As in the case of Varun, he learned
the art of negotiation solely from his mom.

Fifth, never forget one major thing - networking. Building more connection will help you know
things that you would not have normally thought of. You can get more ideas about what others
are doing and how they do it. When Varun and Mal could not find a good manufacturer for their
alumni hoodies, Mals father advised them to visit Tripura to get one.
Last but not the least, dont ever lose hope. Life is a journey of both happiness and sorrow,
sometimes you may feel down and sometimes you may will feel very excited. Just go with your
dreams and achieve it and dont listen what others say about you.

This book is also very useful when it comes to idea generation for a business plan or simply a
B-Plan. There are a lot of lessons from the book which can be applied while developing such a
plan. The most important thing to learn from this book is to always observe your surroundings.
No matter wherever you go, you should always try to make best use of an opportunity presented
in front of you. There are always little things which you learn on a daily basis that could prove to
be vital in your business.
Another important point is to make best use of social media marketing while promoting your
business. When you are tight on marketing budget, social media can prove to be very important
in spreading the word about your business. You should always try to update your content
regularly and shamelessly promote your page. Along with this, you should also get your own
ecommerce website developed.
You should never be afraid to ask for help. Building connections is integral when it comes to
start-ups. Lack of experience in the subject can be negated if you have trusted and useful
connections. After all it doesnt cost you a penny to build your contacts. Always try to make best
use of the resources available with you, even if it is something as simple as a Just Dial
database.
An important factor in deciding the success of your business is how well you know your
customers and hence you should always interact with them. Always try to find you what all they
expect from your brand and how you can deliver it.
Knowing what will be next step in your business is also very crucial in deciding the success of
your startup. Having a clear vision of the future enables you to set a blueprint which would guide
you towards your objective. You should also know the right value of your business. This is very
important in deciding how much money you require to expand your business and at what time.
While How I Braved Anu Aunty & Co Founded A Million Dollar Company relates the Indian
author's personal journey of creating a million dollar company, it is infused with side-splitting
observations of the Indian lifestyle and culture, and some rather useful tips on making it big as
an entrepreneur. Its hard to believe that a 256 page book can entertain you at so many levels.
Rather than bore the reader with unnecessary details or awkwardly long monologues, Varun
manages to keep reader interest at an almost constant book with his Boyish and Bollywood
writing style. Although, this is a book that is aimed at a more chilled out and young audience, it
is surely one that will bring a wide smile on the faces of most people who pick it up. So the

lesson from this book can be summarised in two words; Carpe Diem seize the day.