Harsh but real: Marico boss recalls life hacks learnt from the failure of 'Whistle' which he had launched in the '80s

The late former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, had once said that "Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." And great business leaders time and again have given enough examples to prove this statement right. After all, failure is never the end of an idea, just an end of one of the possibilities and also an opportunity to right the wrong.

Businessman Harsh Mariwala on Thursday shared similar wisdom with his over 910K followers on Twitter when he revealed a business plan of his that had failed in the '80s. The chairman of Marico shared what failure has taught him as he spoke about 'Whistle', a tooth powder that he had started in the 1980s in order to avail certain government benefits. However, the product wasn't a hit and proved to be a dud.

But the failure of 'Whistle' did not break Mariwala's spirit, who made the most of the situation by looking at the good side and the lessons it taught him. The 71-year-old business tycoon shared the tips with his followers in a tweet.


The Takeaway:
The failure of 'Whistle' taught Mariwala to always gather good consumer insights and conduct a thorough market research before launching any new product in the market.

It also taught him that short-term gains do not necessarily mean that the results will be similar in the long run, and last but not the least, it taught him that each and every product must have an USP to work in the market. Some really key lessons of business, wouldn't you agree?


Soon after the tweet went live, many people agreed and also applauded Mariwala for keeping it 'harsh' and 'real'. "Glad you are honest.. done to avail government benefits.. isn't that how some of the big industrial houses became bigger!," one user replied to the tweet.


While another person agreed and added his two bits: "Experience is the best teacher!"


Just a few days ago, the Marico chairman was making headlines for his grand Instagram debut. The business tycoon made his entry to the networking platform with a bang as he shared 'The Story of Marico'. In a detailed post, Mariwala revealed how he was once rejected from the business schools he had applied to in India after he graduated from Mumbai's Sydenham College.

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A post shared by Harsh Mariwala (@hcmariwala)

The 71-year-old businessman has authored a book titled 'Harsh Realities' which talks of all the lessons he has learnt in his life so far that can help aspiring entrepreneurs.

Mariwala had also shared a video by Penguin India where he revealed how once he got a threatening call from Hindustan Lever Ltd (HUL) trying to get him to sell his company.

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Published by Penguin India, the book is co-authored by Ram Charan. It was released on Amazon & Flipkart on July 30.