This is a guide book if you want to become an entrepreneur, or, if you are in the start-up phase. It tells you in easy, simple, 20 steps, what are the things you need to do from the time you think of the business idea to becoming market-ready. It is a go-to book, like a dictionary. If you have just started a company, or thinking of starting a company, it answers some basic questions : Why should I be an entrepreneur? Where will I get my business ideas from? Why do I need a mentor and where will I find one? How will I hire good teams when I don’t have the money to pay them market rates?

What is a business plan, why should I write it, how should I write it? What are the different ways in which I can raise money for my business? This book acts as a mentor, pointing the way each step of your exciting journey to becoming an entrepreneur.

Professor Nandini Vaidyanathan been a traveling teacher who, for the last five years, has been teaching entrepreneurship in several ivy-league business schools around the world. July this year she has mentored more than 500 startup entrepreneurs across domains and geographies, pro bono. She writes a monthly column for the Entrepreneur magazine.