Read first by people who have lived it.

Heartiest congratulations to you for deciding to write about this bold but critical subject. Lately we are seeing young founders are fed with the glamorous side of the startup world — the unicorns, the billion-dollar exits, the successful fundings and many more. I am happy to see that you decided to write something so grounded, honest and real. Our startup ecosystem needs more of this — less hype, more substance.

As the book defines, funding is a tool to meet the need business would have depending on the growth curve and surely not a short cut plan to lead a wealthy life as quite a few flashy founders believe. It is so refreshing to see a Gen-Z questioning startup hype and writing about core fundamentals that actually build a business.

My best wishes to you not only for this book but to become a leading example in the start-up world!

Medhansh cuts through the noise of startup glamour and tells the truth about funding, pressure, dilution and the emotional cost of building a company. Through raw founder conversations and sharp insights, he shows young builders how to make deliberate decisions instead of chasing borrowed dreams.

I’m glad to see your energy and initiative at this age. Your work with AceCubing and the effort behind your book are commendable. Your core message is right — entrepreneurship is built on values, discipline and execution. Everything else follows. Stay curious, stay grounded, and keep building.

I’ve invested in 120+ startups. Most of them will fail. That’s not pessimism, that’s math. And yet every founder I meet believes they’re the exception. The one who’ll crack the code. The next unicorn story. And you know what? That optimism is necessary. You can’t build anything without it. But optimism without honesty is just delusion. That’s why this book matters.

This book tells you what actually happens after the funding announcement, after the LinkedIn post, after everyone stops congratulating you. He talked to founders still in the thick of it and captured what they don’t say in public: that funding changes everything, that growth at any cost is a trap, that most startups die not from lack of money but from lack of clarity.

I remember building Innov8, at one point thinking I had it figured out. Five centers, one per year. Seemed ambitious enough. Then Y Combinator looked at me like I was insane. “Think bigger or go home”. That moment changed everything. Not because they gave me permission to dream, but because they forced me to understand the trade-offs. Scale fast and you need capital. Capital means pressure. Pressure means less control. It’s physics, not philosophy.

Medhansh isn’t trying to sell you a dream with this book. He’s not positioning himself as some guru who’s figured it all out. He went out, talked to actual founders—the ones still in the mud—and wrote down what they told him. That’s it. No fluff. No hero worship.

Here’s the thing nobody tells you when you’re starting out: funding changes you. Not just your company — you. The day the money hits your account, you’re playing a different game. Faster timelines. Higher stakes. Board members who suddenly have opinions about everything. Medhansh calls it the “funding effect,” and man, that’s real.

What I love about this book is that it doesn’t tell you funding is bad. It tells you funding is a tool. Use it right and you build something massive. Use it wrong and you’re just burning cash with a fancy title. The difference? Understanding what you’re signing up for before you sign the term sheet.

So read this. Argue with parts of it if you want. But actually read it. Medhansh did the work of talking to people who lived it. Learn from their scars.

Congratulations on giving voice to the unvarnished reality behind entrepreneurship. Your writing captures both the chaos and the clarity of building something real — not for the spotlight, but for the satisfaction of creating lasting impact. It’s a rare thing to find honesty this sharp and storytelling this grounded. May your work continue to nudge dreamers toward resilience, integrity, and the joy of building with purpose.

As someone who has navigated the Indian startup ecosystem for over a decade, I’ve witnessed both the exhilarating highs and the challenging lows. This book brilliantly captures the essence of what it truly means to build and sustain a startup in India. It goes beyond the glossy headlines and dives into the real, unfiltered stories of people who have faced the brutal truths of funding, valuation, and growth.

Reading the synopsis of your book, congratulations on your courageous effort to strip away the glamour and expose the grit behind start-ups. Your book is a timely reminder that real entrepreneurship is built not on hype, but on resilience, clarity, and relentless execution. May it inspire founders to embrace the grind, sidestep the traps, and build enduring ventures—one brick, one lesson, one breakthrough at a time.