Down But Not Out is a book about endurance.
It tells the stories of founders who were knocked down, written off, even broken - and still found a way to stand again. Not tales of unicorns or easy wins, but of struggle, scar tissue, and the act of showing up one more day. Across three decades of India's startup journey, it shows how companies are really built: by families who stayed steady, by co-founders and first employees who had the courage to leap without a net, and by founders who kept going when reason said stop. Companies rise and fall. Markets turn. Luck runs out. What matters is staying in the game. Not perfect. Not done. Not out.
Pankaj Mishra, journalist and co-founder of FactorDaily, has spent over two decades telling stories that create deep, personal connections. His Outliers podcast began in sound and traveled into words, shaping his book Against the Grain.