Flight of the Unicorns: Lessons from India’s Start-up Bubble

The first section explains how India's startup ecosystem developed from the early Y2K period through the startup boom of 2015–16.

It discusses examples such as redBus and other early Indian startups, the emergence of aggregators, international expansion and the huge flow of venture capital into startups.

The author then examines the problems that emerged when the funding boom became excessive and some companies were built around business models that were difficult to sustain.

Soum Paul is an entrepreneur, writer and filmmaker who has worked with several high-growth startups.

He is an IIT Kanpur alumnus and has been associated with startups including MixerCast, State and Knowlarity. He also founded FarInto, a travel and tour discovery and booking service.

Interestingly, his own experience with entrepreneurship influenced this book. While researching startup scalability, Paul became interested in understanding the patterns behind startup successes and failures.

The book begins by describing the development of India's startup ecosystem. The early years after Y2K created new opportunities in technology, outsourcing and internet businesses.

Companies such as redBus demonstrated that Indian startups could solve large-scale problems using technology. Gradually, more entrepreneurs and investors entered the ecosystem.