8 Lessons "Life of Pi" Teaches “Life of Pi”, the booker prize winning book by Yann Martel is now showing as a movie in theatres. Not only it has scored high on the box office meter but has given the viewers something to take back home about life’s ups and downs and how to handle them bravely. The captivating story of the Pi’s magical journey on a lifeboat with a Royal Bengal Tiger teaches about faith in oneself and in god. The journey is very similar to the journey of an entrepreneur. There is a lifeboat and a raft (the start-up), a tiger (the unwanted venture capitalists angel investors), the sea (the market), ships (commercial success)... There is also time (the factors that we cannot control and therefore should stop worrying about; there's enough worry on matters that we can sort out). Let us look at some of the lessons the movie teaches the entrepreneurs:

1. Be Grateful Despite those feelings we all have at some point in our lives that nothing is good and that nothing will ever be good again there is always something to be grateful for.

2. Don’t Give Up Life of Pi is a story of perseverance and a story of not giving up, even in the hardest of conditions. Pi didn’t give up hope and he kept moving. Similarly, for an entrepreneur, it’s important to remember, that the darkest days are not going to last. It’s important, not to give up on your dreams and give up on life.

3. Keep Moving When Pi reached the mysterious floating island, it seemed like he has reached an oasis of life with abundant food, water and shelter. But he didn’t settle for something average as he believed there could be something much better available. In business, it’s important to keep moving and not get satisfied with temporary success. It’s important to keep an eye on the final destination.

4. Learn to Co-Exist After the whale incident, he decided to start staying with the tiger on the boat and also set out marking their territories and setting some rules. He started developing a bond with him. Mr. Parker is both a co-founder and a competitor for Pi in his entrepreneurial journey. An entrepreneur needs to co-exist with both co-founders and with competition in the market.

5. Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket When Pi found Richard Parker on the life boat, he got scared and threw all the supplies in the lifeboat to a raft and tied it to the life boat and decided to shift to the raft. But a whale appeared one night and upturned Pi’s raft throwing all his supplies to the water and then he realized living with Mr. Parker on the boat may be a better option. While starting up, resources are few and it’s important to save them. It’s good to have one secure base and address the market.

6. Planning is Important When Pi was thrown into the Sea on the lifeboat with limited stock of resources, he found a handbook to help him plan for the time on the lifeboat. If you are an entrepreneur, think of the handbook as your business plan. It’s important to keep it handy and work according to the plan and of course, keep referring to it, when you’re in doubt and monitor progress as you go along.

7. Branding is the First Step Towards Success Pi Patel was born with the name Piscina Molitor Patel, of which everyone started making fun. He worked hard on a rebranding exercise. He decided to remember the value of Pi expressed in several hundred decimal places to tell that his name is derived from the Greek letter. So, if you have to work on creating a new brand name of changing your existing brand name for that matter, work on telling a good story which captures the imagination of the audience. The story makes the brand name stick.

8. Stay Focused Pi’s father Santosh Patel says this to Pi at the dining table, when he was getting curious about different religions and wanted to follow all of them at the same time. It’s difficult to follow different paths at the same time, as many of them are conflicting in nature and often create confusion and make it difficult to stay focused and at times, lead to wastage of crucial resources.

Thanks RB