Book Review of The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia by The Indian Dream


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Summary: The Minimalist Entrepreneur is not a revolutionary book. However, it works for a proto-entrepreneur who wants to build a "Minimalist Business" in the modern world. A creator can use the book as a starting point for their own entrepreneurial dreams.


Overall, I'd recommend 'The Minimalist Entrepreneur' to budding entrepreneurs who are okay with taking it slow & steady. The proverbial tortoise in a media landscape dominated by the hares.


The Minimalist Entrepreneur is a well meaning book. Sahil Lavingia has looked at the state of modern entrepreneurship and how the media portrays it as being all about raising the most venture capital and he's decided to rally against it. The Indian Dream was founded on exactly the same values - building profitable businesses has been forgotten and we need to show the world that it can be done.


In this regard, the book succeeds. Sahil gives dozens of examples throughout the book of bootstrapped entrepreneurs that have built profitable businesses. But he goes a step beyond and even gives readers the framework to build their own profitable businesses. Again, this is literally why we started The Indian Dream - we wanted to find the frameworks behind profitable businesses that were built in India.


However, this isn't a revolutionary book with paradigm shifting ideas. You've probably seen different forms of these ideas floating around on Twitter for the past few years. "Build Community before building a business", "build a personal brand", etc. aren't radical ideas in any way. As an exercise, I decided to list out some his chapters along with the famous blogs or books that they reminded me of:

  1. Chapter 1 - the minimalist entrepreneur - The Customer-Funded Business by John Mullins and 'Complexity Investing' White Paper by NZS Capital
  2. Chapter 2 - start with community - “1,000 True Fans” by Kevin Kelly and "100 True Fans" by Li Jin
  3. Chapter 3 - build as little as possible - The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, Personal Leverage: How to Truly 10x Your Productivity" by Nat Eliason
  4. Chapter 4 - sell to your first 100 customers - Confessions of the Pricing Man by Hermann Simon


I'm not trying to disparage Sahil on his lack of originality. Everything we build now is built on the shoulders of those who came before us - all art is derivative.


Sahil is able to take these older ideas, extend them and tie them together beautifully as a playbook for the modern entrepreneur. The book works as a coherent whole for someone who wants to build a "Minimalist Business" in the modern world. Starting with Community, building products slowly and a framework for building a team of "Minimalist Entrepreneurs" - a creator can use the book as a starting point for their own entrepreneurial dreams.


Overall, I'd recommend 'The Minimalist Entrepreneur' to budding entrepreneurs who are okay with taking it slow & steady. The proverbial tortoise in a media landscape dominated by the hares.