THE MONEY BALL – YOUR GUIDE TO CRAFTING BUSINESS IDEAS AND FUNDRAISING By SARTHAK AHUJA

A Chartered Accountant (CA), CS, CMA, BFIA, and ISB MBA Gold Medalist, Sarthak blends academic rigor with street-smart insight. His bite-sized wisdom shakes up boardrooms and newsrooms alike.

Unlike creators who rely on high-tech setups and teams, Ahuja famously built his empire with just his phone and his brain. His raw, real, and relatable breakdowns of finance and startup culture—delivered in snappy, jargon-free reels—have redefined how young Indians engage with business content. From explaining budget implications in under 60 seconds to decoding why startups succeed or fail, Ahuja has become the “finance teacher India never knew it needed.”

What gives The Money Ball its edge is credibility. Drawing on years of advising startups and established businesses, Sarthak Ahuja distills lessons from the trenches of entrepreneurship into actionable insights. As a faculty member at the Indian School of Business, a finance coach for entrepreneurs, and the host of the podcast Founder’s Office, he has earned recognition for simplifying complex business and financial concepts.  Real-world case studies, Uber, Paytm, Amazon, are woven in to show how businesses succeed, stumble, and adapt.

Want a breakdown of the upcoming budget? A hot take on startup funding winters? Or a quick decode of real estate trends?

What’s inside—and why it matters now

• A founder’s roadmap, end‑to‑end. From assessing if you’re truly ready, to co‑founder dynamics, to being a “jack of all trades; master of one,” the book front‑loads the realities of the journey before you spend a rupee.
• Opportunity spotting that’s practical. Ahuja’s “Seven Sins” lens translates consumer psychology into modern business ideas, alongside frameworks for arbitrage, moats, and go‑to‑market choices.
• Business model clarity. Plain‑English walkthroughs of B2B2B vs B2B2C (and where you fit) reduce hand‑waving and improve deck precision.
• Funding, from first email to term sheet. A calibrated investor‑outreach play—with an investor scorecard to rank fit, proven outreach tactics, and data on why warm intros convert ~16x better than cold emails. Real email examples included.
• How investors think. Case‑led explanations of valuation (e.g., how perspective shifts can 4x perceived value) help founders answer “why now” credibly.
• Due diligence and paperwork—demystified. Clear checklists for financial, legal, and technical diligence let teams prepare like pros before the data room opens.
• Regulatory literacy you’ll actually use. Snapshot guidance on schemes such as the Start‑up India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) with up‑to‑date figures, and a cautionary look at emergent instruments like CSOPs.