Initially Varun made short videos for himself and started uploading them on YouTube after he failed engineering. As he started gaining viewers and followers on his YouTube Channel, he established his first company 'Last Minute Films' as an analogy of how everything was done at the last minute during his engineering days. His career took a hop when a production company in Mumbai noticed his YouTube videos and called him in to work. A few months in the company, he was presented with an opportunity to work with big personalities like A.R. Rahman and Priety Zinta.
After a year in production, Varun went back to Bangalore, with a want to do something of his own. The idea for Alma Matter was conceived in drunken reminiscence of their college days between him and his friends. It started with someone saying they should have a sweatshirt with 'Cottonians' written on them, and ended with them making a grand plan of making merchandise for every school and college in the country on a tissue paper.
At that point, Varun and his partner only had an idea with no knowledge of running a business. However instead of thinking and worrying about running the business, they got in touch with a friend in manufacturing and had some samples prepared to be sold in a small stall in 'Old Boys Days' fest of their college. By word of mouth alone, they were able to sell 2000+ hoodies on the very first day. This provides them with the validation they needed that they had something good going on.
As their business gained traction, they realized they needed some stability in their plans and launched the online store 'Alma Mater' in 2009.
Simultaneously, Varun kept his YouTube channel running and had gained more than 100,000 viewers, which earned him money, and therefore helped him control the insistent talks of his family members. His writing career began when someone suggested him to turn his excerpts on his social media about his nagging nosey Anu Aunty into a book. So working on the advice of this English teacher, wrote the book, 'How I braved Anu Aunty and cofounded a million dollar company". He had made his greatest adversary into his brand ambassador. The book was very well received by his audience and paved way to funding for 'Alma Mater'.
Varun Agarwal doesn't believe in spending too much time on seeking out the secrets to success. He says that thinking leads to worrying which eventually leads to bad decisions. He believes that success is the result of taking timely decisions, hard work, learning from failure and shifting focus from thinking to doing. 

 

Question: Explain your understanding of Effectual and Causal Logic/Reasoning by mapping the entrepreneurial journey of Varun Agarwal. Do you agree on the reliance of entrepreneurs on Effectual Logic than Causal Logic and that it is exactly what makes entrepreneurs "Entrepreneurial"? Elaborate and justify your position.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Effectual logic and causal logic are two distinct approaches to decisionmaking in entrepreneurship as outlined by Saras Sarasvathy in her research on entrepreneurial expertise Varun Agarwals entrepren... View the full answer