Title: Build It 

Author: Albinder Singh Dhindsa

Publisher: Harper Business 

I am always intrigued by self made entrepreneurs and this is the reason why I picked up this book.

This is an autobiography of Albinder Singh Dhindsa, the founder of Blinkit (earlier Grofers). He narrates his journey from this college days to how he built his company from scratch. I didn't know that Deepinder Goyal is his friend (founder of Zomato) and that he worked with him, before he built Grofers (now Blinkit). And then fast forward, both Zomato and Blinkit got merged.

The chapters are divided according to years, from 2014 till present. Each chapter/ year summarizes all that happened in the particular year. The struggles, wins , developments and everything. 

This era defines the birth of very new concepts, like that of the gig economy, which is now so very common. As a millennial and a consumer, I came to know the working of such startups, that's extremely intriguing. How the behaviour of delivery partners is the backbone of this kind of business.

The book is written in an easy language in an anecdotal manner. Delhi NCR readers will particularly relate to many issues that was challenging during the course. Like the pigeon poop problem. Now a layman like me will never anticipate the presence of pigeons to be such a big hindrance in the course of business. But this is what you learn, when you read about the journey of a young entrepreneur. Warehouses with high ceilings become a home to countless pigeons, which create a lot of poop, and those poop stick to the inventory stored on the higher shelves. Cleaning the dried up poop is definitely not an easy job, and asking the delivery people to do so wasn't even fair. But the way Albinder describes the solution, is even more commendable. They didn't do anything to the pigeons. As the business grew, so did the movement of the inventory. As a result, there was no more poop on the stuff. So basically the solution to every problem is more work/ rapid turnover.

Then there was this pig problem. He learnt that the location of the office mattered to new recruits, who came with their parents especially, because the parents wanted a polished work environment for their kid, over whom they had invested so much of time, money and energy.

This book also traces some regular life incidents, which occur along with his entrepreneurial journey. Like how pigs are reared for slaughter. Again, there was so much stress when one of their employees got murdered. That was a red flag to the investors but turned out the victim was caught in drugs/gambling. .

Being an entrepreneur is everything but easy. Albinder has revealed countless secrets, which includes all the humungous hardships that he faced. He was very quick to learn and open to changes and above all, forever optimistic, and that's why Blinkit became such a roaring success.

Zomato's share price dropped after it acquired Blinkit, because the investors were unsure of the Blinkit model. Blinkit finally became a profitable venture in 2024. 

Creating a startup is definitely not for the faint hearted but reading success stories like this is a glimmer of hope for young professionals like Albinder, who are beaming with bright ideas. 

Albinder's journey is really fascinating, with a mountain of challenges and of course tonnes of learnings. I am sure everyone reading this will be able to pick up tens of life lessons.

It's a beautiful hard bound book, and it will keep you hooked, if working hard and smart is your thing.

All the proceeds of this book will go to the ACAD Foundation, run by Albinder and his wife Akriti. The foundation supports initiatives in working class neighbourhoods that are focused on primary education, healthcare and the enhancement of local infrastructure by working with municipal governments. So when you are picking this book up, it is actually intentional.

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