E04: Mihir Dalal: The Writer of India's Best Business Book of 2020

"So when I would start writing every day at 10:30-11 am, the first two hours would just be spent on rewriting, and editing the previous day's work.... So it was not just once, I think I would have edited my own work at least 12-13 times"

12-13 times. Gosh, that can be tiring.

But when you toil to this extent, the results are bound to be good. And they were.

Mihir Dalal, a business journalist who's been with Mint, Reuters and CNBC - wrote his first book ‘Big Billion Startup - The Untold Flipkart Story’

It's a book that has won several awards - including the Best Business Book 2020 by Gaja Capital.

The Flipkart story must not have been an easy one to tell… getting information about events that happened almost a decade ago can be challenging. This difficulty is compounded when you factor in the multiple perspectives and the need to weave the disparate threads into a coherent narrative.

Mihir took on this challenge and has absolutely nailed it. The book surges forward with the pace of a thriller - one that is laced with several jaw-dropping moments.

If you’ve not already read it, I would suggest you do so - a lot of the points we discuss would then make sense.

In this conversation, Mihir talks about his early influences, his strong grounding in business journalism and how he made his key decisions on writing form and tone.

Book-writing is like the Test Cricket of the writing profession - a tough, brutal and thorough examination of your skills. You might be thinking - but I don’t plan to write a book anytime soon!

That’s ok! Even if you play only Gully Cricket or T-20 as a writer (i.e. write long emails and make presentations), you can learn a ton from Mihir’s suggestions.

Enjoy the conversation.

For more information on Story Rules, you can check out the website or you can connect with me on LinkedIn.

Show notes:
Mihir Dalal's LinkedIn profile

The Big Billion Startup Book on Flipkart and Amazon.

Mihir's articles on Mint.