Business Book, A Billion Dreams by Vardharaju Janardhanan and M.H. Bala Subrahmanya Decodes Flipkart's Growth Story

A Billion Dreams is a book about a brand that made a billion-dollar business in the e-commerce industry with its trial-and-error method. Vardharaju Janardhanan, Vice President - Human Resources at Flipkart and M.H.Bala Subrahmanya, Professor, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore try to decode the growth story of this e-commerce giant by narrating its journey. 

The book sets an interesting premise on India’s entrepreneurial spirit from the time of the Harappan civilisation when people used to trade in barter and brings us right into the present age where the internet is the epicentre of every business. In this epicentre, Flipkart acted as an atom for the e-commerce revolution by taking many first steps. This book encapsulates those steps, some failures that the company faced and some genius marketing strategies it adopted.

These anecdotes can prove to be a good case study for aspiring entrepreneurs and innovative leaders who want to learn from others’ mistakes and grab lessons from their success mantra. Therefore the simple narration and the “Add to Kart” section of the book give a projection of points that can be taken into consideration if someone is venturing into the business world. 

Along with these learning lessons, the book also talks about the catalyst tools that one can employ in their young business. This gives a wide range of parameters that one can adopt to scale their business knowledge. Although the book shares the lessons and tools in an elaborative manner, it becomes an elongated case study that could have been concise. Its length may prompt a regular reader to lose their attention mid-way but a good read for someone who genuinely wants to take away some notes from it. 

Overall, this book is a tale of a business with some key takeaways for interested stakeholders, providing an informative read with easy-to-understand language and helpful anecdotes. If you are pursuing a degree, this might act as a case study for you, if you are stepping into the world of business, this can be a guidebook for you and if you already have a venture, it can be a fact-check playbook for you.