I Think, Therefore I Do

The recent edition of Outlook India has a special on Indian B School rankings. Forget the rankings.. I really enjoyed reading this article that talks about how some B School grads have gone ahead to start something of their own. Do give it a read. You'll like it.

Indian B-schools are not known to produce entrepreneurs. When we asked the alumni to provide us with some examples, most of them laughed. "I can think of a lot of IITians who have made that grade, but not IIMs. Management grads make better CEOs and professionals; they are safe players, not risk-takers," said one of them. Sad, as many global institutes are passionate about producing change-drivers who can become leaders or businessmen.
They don’t wish to churn out robotic managers, who become defensive players trying to climb up the executive hierarchy towards their seven-figure salaries. So, we were pleasantly surprised that the situation is changing now, albeit slowly, in IIMs and other B-schools. One reason: potential entrepreneurs are realising that a B-school stint can fulfil their ambitions. In fact, some B-schools have decided to rear and breed entrepreneurs. We hope the next Dhirubhai emerges out of an IIM or ISB. Here are snapshots of those who defied the traditional B-school logic and became start-up founders, or who further honed their existing business skills at B-schools.

Deep Kalra, 38, IIM-A
makemytrip.com, Gurgaon

Kavita Iyer, 34, IIM-A
minglebox.com, Bangalore

E. Sarathbabu, 28, IIM-A
Foodking Catering Services, Ahmedabad

Nitin Vyakaranam, 29, ISB
Arthayantra, Hyderabad

Sumantra Roy, 28, ISB
Conversion Multiplier, Calcutta

Ravi Venkatesam, 37, IIM-B
OnTrac, Bangalore

Varsha Bhavnani, 27, ISB
Vinegar Exports, Mumbai

Subramani Ramachandrappa, 32, ISB
Richcore Lifesciences, Bangalore

Sreeram Vaidyanathan, 29, IIM-A
BrewHaHa, Bangalore

Sheetal V. Talwar, 37, IMT
WSG Films, Mumbai

Venky Natarajan, 38, ISB
Vidvus Technology Solutions, Coimbatore

Animesh Kumar, 29, ISB
i-runway.com, Bangalore

Abhijeet Virmani, 32, IIM-C
Positron advisory services, Delhi

Suparna Chopra, 23, ISB
The Royal Time Machine, Delhi

Lakshmanan Narayan, 35, IIM-C
Vembu Technologies, Chennai