Do Epic Shit by Ankur Warikoo

“This book is not going to be a revelation. It is meant to be a reminder. A reminder of how life happens to all of us, in a similar yet unequal fashion.”

With these words, serial entrepreneur and content creator, Ankur Warikoo introduces his first book, Do Epic Shit. His tone is a relief given how out-of-touch and full of themselves social media celebrities and/or start-up founders can often be. So, the introduction is a win, in my book!

Do Epic Shit is split up into 6 parts, each focussing on a different aspect of life. They are Success (and Failure), Habits, Awareness, Entrepreneurship, Money, and Relationships. It’s a compilation of stuff Warikoo has shared on social media over the years. It reads as such too—short, conversational, personal observations.

This is all great but I would have liked to read more about the experiences that led to the distillation of his ideas. The few times Warikoo does give the reader a peek into his own life, it helps create a sense of connection. For instance, he mentions a time when his wife had to sell her gold bangles to scrape together the money to buy their son a bicycle for his birthday. This tied in so well with his tendency to invest in illiquid assets, thereby lacking cash when he needed it.

Unfortunately, Warikoo doesn’t weave in anecdotes from his life nearly often enough. Consequently, parts of Do Epic Shit read like a presentation designed by a management trainee with zero life or work experience, who is under the perilous delusion of being a life coach!  

It's not like Warikoo’s ideas are wild or unrealistic. Quite the opposite. Many of them had me nodding along, but I doubt I’ll be quoting them to anyone next week. Mainly, because I won’t remember them.

Quite a few of his statements are an excellent starting point. Sadly, they end before they can make a substantive point. Sample this.

“Congratulating an entrepreneur on raising funds is like congratulating a chef on buying vegetables.”

This is a great insight but Warikoo, as a founder and CEO who managed to pique investor interest and secure funding for his e-commerce start-up, Nearbuy before the venture folded up a few years later, surely has more to add on the subject. And yet, this is all we get.

Even when it comes to books that read like the author sifted through their tweets, social media comments and short blogs and compiled them into a book, there are books that offer something a bit meatier.

Rolf Dobelli does it well in his books, The Art of the Good Life and The Art of Thinking Clearly. Although, most topics are limited to 2-3 pages, Dobelli packs in references to research papers or anecdotes that help tether the idea in the real world.

For instance, in a chapter about the benefits of radical inflexibility, he illustrated his point with a story of the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés who burnt his ships upon reaching Mexico and declaring it a Spanish colony, and himself, its governor. He did so to take away the option of retreat.

There’s another anecdote about a CEO who refused dessert as a rule, without ever checking what was on offer. It saved him the rigours of decision fatigue and his iron-clad inflexibility has likely saved him many hours on the treadmill.

Stories make ideas relatable and memorable. Stories that paint an evocative image are hard to forget. I bet if there’s one thing you take away from this review, it’ll be the gumption of Hernán Cortés. And it wasn’t even part of this book!

On the other hand, Warikoo gives us,

“The hiring principle I have always followed. Skills can be taught. Attitude is really hard to teach.”

It would be one thing if Warikoo identified solely as an entrepreneur. Then, one could ignore the lack of storytelling. But Warikoo is a content creator, by his own admission. I can only hope that he went with these bite-sized nuggets to appeal to an audience that cut their teeth on social media and consider a one-minute video, extensive and detailed.

Or maybe, Warikoo’s intention was always to write the kind of book one picks up in a café while waiting for a friend. It’s perfect for that. For browsing through in a café or playing book cricket with a friend, occasionally stopping to discuss the ideas on the page. In fact, Warikoo writes as much in his introduction. If that was his solitary intention, he’s smashed it out of the stadium!

Lastly, perhaps Warikoo should have chosen a less ambitious title than Do Epic Shit because this book contains absolutely no roadmaps, pointers or even hints about how to go about achieving anything epic. Well-intentioned this book may be, epic it certainly isn’t.