BENGALURU: When a book is written by a successful entrepreneur like Mukesh Bansal, it’s perhaps natural to assume that it would include his journey. But the city-based co-founder of Myntra and now the CEO of Cure.Fit which he co-founded too, was clear right from the word go that his debut book, No Limits, would not be anywhere close to a personal story. “In fact, this was the suggestion made by the publishers too,” he says, adding, “But I still feel that I am very early in my career as an entrepreneur. I’m looking at a long-term stint, and if a day comes when I feel like I am ready to share my story, I will.”
The 350-page book, which is a guide to maximising one’s potential with well-defined strategies, carried a foreword by cricketer Rahul Dravid and preface by actor Hrithik Roshan. “I had never thought I would write a self-help book. But part of being a leader is helping others grow. I felt I had enough context and content to put that into a book,” says Bansal, emphasising that he has taken the “pain” to ensure that all the content is backed by research, and not someone’s opinion.
Like many other successful entrepreneurs, Bansal too belongs to the 5 am club, and that’s when he would pen about 1,000 words a day. “It’s that hour when you can spend time by yourself and when the mind is fresh,” he says.
Although there were weeks that went by when he didn’t key in anything, most other times, words would just flow when he sat in front of his laptop. “And it’s wasn’t a work of fiction that requires too much imagination,” says Bansal, who set targets for his first draft, and getting it published.
His thoughts on talent were very different until he came across Daniel Coyle’s book, The Talent Code, which changed his perspective and he realised that one can train to develop a new skill. “When I was trying to improve my own productivity and performance at work, I realised that others can also benefit from it,” he says.
Bansal has always looked at writing as a powerful tool, and feels that communication is a big part of management. But he often wondered if he was saying something original, considering he was penning a self-help book.
But then he reckoned that while there were books on willpower, habit and mindset, there wasn’t a single book that beings all these aspects together. “That’s my unique take,” says the 44-year-old IIT-Kanpur alumnus, who grew up reading books and looks up to the works of Jim Collins and Michael Pollan.
Bansal may be a tech entrepreneur, but he admits that he’s not comfortable with using social media. “I only had to create a Twitter account to counter the many fake profiles. Otherwise, I don’t use social media,” he says, adding, “Books have always been my go-to thing.”
Now, having quite enjoyed the process of writing, Bansal has already started on his second book, which is on health hacks. “There’s too much information. I’m trying to condense it and put it into a structured narrative, which might take a year or so,” he says.