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Down But Not Out is a book about endurance.
It tells the stories of founders who were knocked down, written off, even broken - and still found a way to stand again. Not tales of unicorns or easy wins, but of struggle, scar tissue, and the act of showing up one more day. Across three decades of India's startup journey, it shows how companies are really built: by families who stayed steady, by co-founders and first employees who had the courage to leap without a net, and by founders who kept going when reason said stop. Companies rise and fall. Markets turn. Luck runs out. What matters is staying in the game. Not perfect. Not done. Not out.
Pankaj Mishra
Pankaj Mishra is an Indian writer whose work focuses on literature and politics. He is the author of a novel, The Romantics, and several non-fiction books, including, most recently, The World After Gaza. His essays have appeared in many publications, and he is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and the Guardian.
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