The book & the project
PhD
Almanack
The only business book you will never need, if you are
- Poorwith purpose
- Hungry& ready to hustle
- Drivenby discipline
Ten founders who started with nothing and turned it into something. Not the laundered version. How they made rent, who said no, and what the first hundred dollars actually came from.
Every startup story you read has been through the wash. The pitch got cleaner, the timeline got shorter, and the near-death moment became a 'pivot'. That version is useless to anyone who is actually at zero.
PhD Almanack is the other version. Ten chapters, ten entrepreneurs, each walking through the part of the story they normally skip. The people in it were Poor with purpose, Hungry and ready to hustle, and Driven by discipline, which is the only PhD that has ever mattered to me.
It exists because I needed it at 19 and it didn't exist. If you are broke, obsessed and slightly out of your depth, this was written for you.
The project started as a question I kept asking on stage: what did it actually cost you?
Poor
No capital, no cushion, no rich uncle. Every dollar in the business came out of somewhere painful.
Hungry
Wanted it more than they wanted to look sensible. Took the meeting, took the risk, took the loss.
Driven
Kept going after the point where quitting would have been completely reasonable.
The book
A field manual for people at zero.
Short chapters, real numbers, no mythology. Written so you can open it at any page at 2am and find something you can use before morning.
- AmazonGlobal · Paperback & KindleSoon
- Direct / Signed copyShips from Hong KongSoon
- Chapters
- 10 founders
- Format
- Paperback · Kindle
- Published in
- Hong Kong
- ISBN
- 978-988-72423-0-7
“Bulk copies for your community, accelerator or cohort, email me and we'll sort it out.”
naman@breerhk.comLines from the book
“Optimizing for the businesses of today is just about 4Bs: “Build, Buy, Borrow, or Bot.””
Lamia Rehman · Chapter 7 “Sales and business is like an elastic band. Don't lie, but stretch the truth.”
Sean Lee · Chapter 5 “Fail stands for First Attempt In Learning.”
Naman Tekriwal · Chapter 10
The podcast
Ten conversations. No polish.
Every chapter has a filmed version, the founder telling it themselves, uncut. Full episodes on YouTube.
Ten chapters · episodes releasing soon
- 01Ep 01Filming
Carla Martinesi
The Third Culture Entrepreneur
Chapter 01 · episode soon - 02Ep 02Filming
Musheer Ahmed · FinStep Asia
Building Legacy Through Grit and Practicality
Chapter 02 · episode soon - 03Ep 03Filming
Jenny Au · FundFluent
The Fearless Path Less Taken
Chapter 03 · episode soon - 04Ep 04Filming
Kieran Gibb
The Yes Man
Chapter 04 · episode soon - 05Ep 05Filming
Sean Lee
The Prepared Opportunist
Chapter 05 · episode soon - 06Ep 06Filming
Utkarsh Goel · Clearbot
The Craftman's Code
Chapter 06 · episode soon - 07Ep 07Filming
Lamia Rehman
From Law to Life
Chapter 07 · episode soon - 08Ep 08Filming
Ankit Suri
The Art of Adaptation
Chapter 08 · episode soon - 09Ep 09Filming
Henson Tsai
The Strategic Builder
Chapter 09 · episode soon - 10Ep 10Filming
Naman Tekriwal · Breer
The Crazy One Who Started Early
Chapter 10 · episode soon
Poor, hungry, driven, and want to be on it?
I'm always looking for the next ten. If you built something out of nothing and you'll tell the unflattering version, pitch me.