Bookstrapping: Inner Drive by Arsen Tomsky

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE?

We’ve all heard of Uber. Its lesser known competitor is InDrive, a service popular in South and Central America, built by Siberian technologist and entrepreneur, Arsen Tomsky, our author.

Tomsky was invited by his father (who abandoned him at a young age) to join him in Paris and create a future for himself. Instead, Tomsky searched his soul for his purpose, decided to stay put in Yakutsk, Siberia and built one of the world’s most popular ride hailing services, operational across 700 cities and 45 countries.

If you’re an entrepreneur struggling with an uphill journey, I urge you to read this book and soak in Tomsky’s rollercoaster life!

Here are our five Bookstrapping insights:

1. Early in the book Tomsky introduces you to his childhood stutter, how his mother used to take seriously ill often and how an elderly grandmother was their only support after an absentee father! Tomsky wonders whether childhood trials eventually build a strong character in adulthood? Or is a happy childhood better? Who knows?

2. This is one of those books were every sentence is loaded with evidence! What evidence? That of life in Russia. For instance, Tomsky talks about standing in line for food! Later, juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet, heremarks how they would joke about the ‘President of Russia being so rich that he could buy a Snickers bar every day! Really?

3. The book tales you back to life in the 90s Russia, in a very intimate way. Tomsky’s early stints as a programmer in Russia, during which he wrote a program to increase transparency of financial transactions did not quite work out for him. Because transparency and Russia DID NOT go hand in hand! As he realised that folks would sabotage his ‘audit’company, he had to pivot his entire program to a kind of bookkeeping service!

4. My favourite insight from the book for entrepreneurs who dream big, has to be this! ‘Friends and acquaintances sometimes worry that you will become more successful than they are, which would damage their self esteem. So they try consciously or subconsciously to stop you from a new venture by describing the many threats and risks you will face!’ Citing the work of psychologists Abraham Tesser, Sarah Hill and David Bass, Tomsky insists that the best course is to listen to no one. Instead, analyse each situation based on as many precise facts as are available!

5. As an entrepreneur, one often blows up money on projects that don't take off and is compelled to return right back to survival mode. Tomsky reminds us of the upside that sometimes, solutions that stem from a complete lack of funds, are extremely innovative and useful.

Written with a fair amount of patriotic flair, Tomsky’s deep love for his motherland and mathematics, is a fantastic window of inspiration to an entire generation who feels that excellence in mathematics is a punishment of some kind.

But how did he build Indrive? How many experiments did he undertake before developing it?How did he build teams that believed they were part of something bigger than themselves. Read the book to find out!

Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta is a columnist and bestselling biographer. She is credited with the internationally acclaimed Red Dot Experiment, a decadal six-nation study on how ‘culture impacts communication.’ A reading coach, you can find her on Instagram @OfficialReetaGupta.