Pune<\/a>, which was set up by the National Chemical Laboratory in 2006. A separate non-profit at present, the centre has supported more than 1,000 science-based startups since its inception. The courtyard is buzzing with innovators as they think, innovate and plan the next big disruption. The library, which contains 3,500 books, as well as magazines and journals, offers a glimpse into what such entrepreneurs read as they navigate challenges in the life cycle of a product.<\/p>\nWords that matter<\/p>\n
The cosy, warmly lit space overlooks the greenery and activity outside its glass windows and houses 21 sections\u2014ranging from Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startups to Motivation, Personality Development, Skill Development, Marketing, Management, Biographies, Popular Science, and Science and Technology. One rack is stocked with market research reports and studies that may be difficult to find. There are shelves with magazines that business leaders swear by\u2014Harvard Business Review,\u00a0Forbes\u00a0and\u00a0Entrepreneur, among other international and Indian titles.<\/p>\n
![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Venture-Centre-Library-1.png\")
As the clock on the wall reminds visitors, there is always some knowledge to be gained every hour.
(Express photo)<\/p>\n
Among the regulars is Kishor Harale, an accomplished scientist who is moving into entrepreneurship. \u201cWe get the latest magazines and a very good collection of books here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Yet, while the library is popular with startup founders and budding business minds, it has escaped the attention of almost everyone else in Pune. This, despite the annual membership being an affordable Rs 1,000.<\/p>\n
Dr V Premnath, Director, Venture\u00a0Center, emphasises that the library is open to the public. \u201cWe are eager for more people, including children, to use the library. We do a lot of gaming-based learning for children and have a collection of games, such as Battleship and Othello,\u201d he says. Premnath adds that a Marathi collection and a selection of books from the library are also available online.<\/p>\n
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Rohit Joshi, head, People and Community Development, at Venture\u00a0Center, says, \u201cWhile we have books on Intellectual Property, such as for software patents, which are generally not easily available, you also have many books on Mahatma Gandhi.\u201d<\/p>\n
He points to one of the sought-after books,\u00a0Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs. \u201cThis is for any entrepreneur who is looking to raise angel investment,\u201d he says. Leading the way to the reference section, he points out titles that are a little more expensive than the others.<\/p>\n
Ideas and some fun<\/p>\n
Yogesh Shelke, a med-tech entrepreneur, comes here every fortnight. \u201cWhen you look at the mainstream library or resources present online, you find that these are not curated for, let\u2019s say, entrepreneurship in the Indian context. If you were to look for books on \u2018technology and Indian market\u2019, you would find very limited literature out there. This is where the Venture\u00a0Center\u00a0Library becomes an important resource,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Events organised by the library have been rewarding experiences, he adds. These have included sessions on Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property and a Toastmaster series which trains people for better communication. \u201cWe organise a lot of knowledge transfer events, where people from different startups come together and discuss issues, from research papers to idea formations. There are book clubs, author talks and technical and non-technical events. Recently, we started a journal club,\u201d says Manisha Kharat, the librarian.<\/p>\n
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Botanist S Natesh, author of\u00a0Iconic Trees of India, held a session on his books, and those who attended are still talking about the \u201cwalking mango tree in Gujarat\u201d that he spoke about. The events calendar brings in all age groups. \u201cA lot of children want to know a little more than what they are taught in school. We did these STEM workshops, where they learnt to use a 3D printer to build small models,\u201d says Joshi.<\/p>\n
As the clock on the wall reminds visitors, there is always some knowledge to be gained every hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The strange clock seems to think that it is always the right time to read. It occupies an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3094],"tags":[197910,51,197906,3134,197912,197908,197905,197902,197907,197901,197909,197899,197904,197903,197900,16,15,197898,197911],"class_list":{"0":"post-644568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-books-for-startups-and-innovation","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-and-startup-reading-space","11":"tag-entrepreneurship","12":"tag-entrepreneurship-resources-india","13":"tag-incubation-centres-in-india","14":"tag-innovation-library-india","15":"tag-library-for-entrepreneurs-india","16":"tag-med-tech-entrepreneurs-pune","17":"tag-national-chemical-laboratory-venture-centre","18":"tag-public-libraries-pune-unique","19":"tag-pune-startup-library","20":"tag-science-and-entrepreneurship-books","21":"tag-startup-ecosystem-pune","22":"tag-technology-incubator-pune","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom","25":"tag-venture-centre-library-pune","26":"tag-venture-centre-pune-library"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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