On building a mass movement

Venture Capital and Silicon Valley would have us believe that the best, fastest way to build unicorn startups was to "disrupt" everything and "seek forgiveness, not permission".

I found an example of a decidedly less disruptive and lot more forgiveness seeking example of a startup that set the stage for a startup that has, today, grown to be a multi trillion dollar unicorn.

As entrepreneurs cast about for business models and strategies, I invite them to read through Ramachandran Guha's "Gandhi Before India" - a deeply researched, educational book on Gandhi's years as a community organizer and leader in racialist and exclusionary South Africa of the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Gandhi cut his teeth leading a Satyagraha against South Africa's racist, anti-Asiatic laws prohibiting the free migration of British subjects of Asian origin across the different British colonies that existed at the turn of 20th century, I feel there are lessons to draw from Gandhi's methods for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Gandhi was the ultimate incrementalist wishing to work within the system first before a showing his hand by launching yet another passive resistance.

One instance is when, after yet another failure to get it rescinded, his lieutenant wants to immediately to launch a mass satyagraha courting arrest in boycott of an onerous residency tax imposed on all indentured Indians who want to remain in South Africa at the end of their indenture. In modern terms, he wanted to disrupt civic society.

Gandhi advises against this in a series of steps which any thinking entrepreneur can co-opt to suit their needs. The lieutenant should, in Gandhi's words, build up the will of his followers in such a way that ultimately, courting arrest and filling jails will be an obvious and necessary next step.

Step 1: send a petition signed by a huge number of Indians, say 15000, to the office of the Prime Minister asking for the tax to be rescinded

Step 2: Ask for support from neighboring provinces whose residents are suffering under the same tax

Step 3: Wait for a response from the Prime Minister's office

Step 4: If the local government refuses to grant remedy, the leaders should petition the parliament

Step 5: If the parliament refuses to grant remedy, petition the government body overseeing the tax

Step 6: If this too fails, ask for help from any umbrella organization which deals with human rights and justice

Step 7: If none of these work, launch a mass Satyagraha

In other words, he sought permission first.

Personally, my takeaway was that doing the small, less glamorous things like painstakingly collecting signatures and sending petitions up the chain of command built up consensus and will power to do the fun stuff of courting arrest, getting photographed, and having your name published in the papers.

His approach, based on conscience and on basic human rights, wrenched the Koh-i-noor of the British Raj from the British and in 1947, launched a bold experiment in nation building which today has a DAU of than a billion people and a balance sheet (GDP) of more than two trillion dollars.