☆~ஓய்வில்லா தேனீ~☆ ™: CEO

Neeru Sharma Co-founder Infibeam.com

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<img alt="Neeru Sharma" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Neeru-Sharma.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
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There is no denying the fact that education and 
entrepreneurship are the keys to women empowerment. This is why many 
perceive Neeru Sharma as an empowered woman. She is one of the few who 
are at the helm of big businesses in a male dominated industry. However,
 according to her, there is no difference between men and women when it 
comes to entrepreneurship. It is all about perseverance and 
determination, which makes a person, excel in their particular field.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Neeru
 Sharma is the Co-founder of Infibeam.  Infibeam focuses on developing 
an integrated and synergistic e-commerce ecosystem offering cloud based,
 modular and customizable digital solution under the brand name 
BuildaBazaar.</div>
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<br /></div>
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After working for Amazon and Alcatel, she had clear 
ideas about her intentions: she wanted to start up on her own with the 
support of innovative and energetic young people. Infibeam is a very 
successful e-commerce platform in India for automobiles, books and 
electronics. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, it counts 1300 employees, and 
has offices in other three cities. It acquired few other companies like 
Picsquare in 2008 and ODigMa.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For Sharma, Indra Nooyi is a 
visionary. “Nooyi has taken PepsiCo to the next level. She is 
representing India at the international arena and so strongly and 
consistently at that. She stands apart from all business professionals.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Early Days and Education</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Neeru
 come from a middle class service based family. Her father tried his 
hands in business, but he suffered a major loss. That's when her mom 
stepped in from being a housewife to becoming a businesswoman, by need, 
so dad could step out and cover the losses through a stable job. She has
 seen financial crisis situations but her parents ensured our education 
never suffered. She is a quick thinker, very thorough, supportive, and 
very open to new ideas. This is why she is a perfect example when it 
comes to empowered women in tech industry.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She holds an MBA from 
Carnegie Mellon University and an Engineering degree in Computer 
Science. Pre-MBA, she spent 5 years working in the technology sector, 
most recently working as Product Manager, Alcatel India where she led 
R&D related projects in the Intelligent Network services domain for 
major telecom partners in India, Australia and France. She holds 
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Maharshi 
Dayanand University, Rohtak and a Master's degree in Business 
Administration from Carnegie Mellon University, USA.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Early Spark</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Neeru
 completed Bachelors in Computer Science from MDU and worked for 6 years
 in the tech sector with biggies like TCS, Alcatel and worked around the
 globe. Post this, got married and her husband convinced to go for an 
MBA from Carnegie Mellon along with him. Since then, she has tech 
profile and entered the business world with Amazon, her first business 
job. She returned to India after a few years of experience and entered 
the world of entrepreneurship.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With an MBA and an Engineering 
degree in Computer Science under her belt, she has been associated with 
Amazon in media retail and Alcatel India as product manager. After 
gaining ample experience in top positions across various organizations, 
she went on to start her own venture Infibeam. Most people associated 
with her think her approach and maturity is beyond her young age.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ms.
 Neeru Sharma is Co-founder of Infibeam Incorporation Limited and has 
been its Head of the Platform Department at since 2015. Ms. Sharma 
joined Infibeam Incorporation on April 1, 2015. Prior to Infibeam 
Incorporation, she worked at Alcatel Development India Private Limited 
for two years, at Tata Consultancy Services for approximately three 
years, and at Amazon Global Resources, Inc. for two years. She also 
worked briefly with EDS-Electronic Data Systems (India) Private Limited.
 She worked with NIGPL for over six years.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>At Infibeam</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Neeru
 heads Corporate and Business Development at Infibeam.com, one of the 
leading ecommerce portals carrying over 100 lakh Stock keeping Units 
(SKUs). Before this venture, she worked with Amazon, US in Corporate 
Development and Media retail. Sharma chose ecommerce as a venture since 
the space was new, growing and previous experience had given her a lot 
of exposure and insights into ecommerce. According to her, the 
challenges are the same for every entrepreneur irrespective of gender - 
forming the right team, sticking to the core vision, making the right 
investments and generate value for the shareholders.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Infibeam is 
an e-commerce website that started in 2007, around the same time when 
India’s digital story began. Sharma credits her previous work experience
 at Amazon for inspiring her to come up with her own e-commerce idea. 
Started as retail portal, but the Big Idea was to develop an integrated 
distribution framework which can enable inclusive growth of the commerce
 eco-system in India by empowering merchants to create online identities
 fueled by an e-commerce engine. Thus, democratizing the online retail 
industry and opening the opportunity to millions of individuals, SME’s 
and large retailers & brands, to reach and serve audiences beyond 
geographical boundaries. Today they have both B2C and B2B business live 
and growing.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“The reason why women entrepreneurs are much more 
successful is that being women, we understand the market in a much 
better way, as even today, in the traditional setup, the household 
income comes to the woman. We understand relationships better, we are 
more trust-worthy and our perspective adds a unique richness as by 
nature we are bound to see more dimensions because it is our role. If we
 add up these three four things, then it makes it the most successful 
business formula,” Sharma says about women entrepreneurship.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong>Growth</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Neeru
 has started a parallel platform business model which began with 
formulating a product equipped with industry best processes, tools and 
online learnings from our experience at Infibeam. As industry, customer 
behavior and technology evolved, the product became richer by the day, 
hence providing a comprehensive online solution to retailers across the 
web. New ecommerce solutions were devised for ticketing, digital 
content, digital marketing to enable multiple platforms of ecommerce 
serving diverse needs. This is the service and depth of ecommerce that 
they are offering through their ecosystem.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Infibeam is an 
ecommerce solutions company with Infibeam.com as our B2C customer facing
 arm. Buildabazaar is a technology platform offering multiple business 
solutions to serve diverse business needs of merchants, retailers, 
brands.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Infibeam is not just an online retail portal but an 
ecosystem of portals where ecommerce transactions are performed in any 
way, shape or form. Ecommerce is a mode of purchase but there are 
multiple business needs where such solutions are required. Their 
integrated business model enables us to provide comprehensive, 
multi-channel and multi-screen value added service to partners.   
Infibeam is all set to make investment in payment gateway company 
Avenues (India) (CC Avenue). And after becoming India’s first listed 
e-commerce company, it is now also venturing into Dubai to become the 
country’s first e-commerce player to take on international expansion.</div>
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<strong>Other  Affiliations</strong></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Carnegie Mellon University</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">M D University India</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
Quotes</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'“Family is the strongest pillar in life and they deserve  their space always.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Work hard, be resourceful, network and maintain  the passion.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Work smart not just hard. Delegation to the  right team helps you work on the business rather than work in it all the time.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“If we have a strong family support system, then  nothing is a challenge.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">"Don't get too busy making a living that you  forget to make a life!”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Nothing will work unless you do.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Positions
 and profiles of people you meet are  important but more important is 
that it is a human talking to another at the  end.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Hard work never fails!”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“The
 percentage of women founders might be lower  than men, but the 
percentage of successful entrepreneurs, in my view, will  definitely be 
higher than men.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“If
 you have a vision and you convert that into  action and just keep going
 on with the hard work and not getting distracted by  how the market is 
changing or how the client is reacting, then we can achieve  whatever we
 want to achieve.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“It
 is not just necessary for women to dream  big, it is equally necessary 
for men as well. But women perhaps face more  challenges not because a 
woman is an entrepreneur and corporates see her  differently. But by 
design, our society does not accept women to work on  revolutionary 
ideas.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Neeru Sharma Co-founder Infibeam.com

There is no denying the fact that education and entrepreneurship are the keys to women empowerment. ...

மேலும் படிக்க »

Radhika Ghai Aggarwal Co-Founder, Chief Business Officer Shopclues.com

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<img alt="Radhika Ghai Aggarwal" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Radhika-Ghai%20Aggarwal.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her Dean from the B-School in Washington University 
believed in her more than she herself did and that imbibed in her so 
much confidence and courage to take on newer and greater challenges in 
her life much later as an entrepreneur (something she is as passionate 
about woman-entrepreneurship as she is about making Shopclues as the 
go-to place as far as a manage market-place is concerned).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Radhika
 Ghai Aggarwal, who co-founded ‘ShopClues.com’- India's first and the 
largest managed marketplace, along with her husband, Sandeep 
Aggarwal,and Sanjay Sethi in 2011 in Silicon Valley, has had to squeeze 
every bit of determination that she inherited from her 
army-man-turned-entrepreneur-father and her grandfather (who had served 
in the British Army) when faced with adversities - be it in personal 
life or in her quintessential role as the Chief Business Officer of the 
company.No wonder then that she is first Indian woman founder to enter 
the prestigious echelons of the Unicorn Club. Yes – Shopclues is valued 
at $1 Billion (it is the ninth Unicorn to come out of India)and will 
also, probably, the first profitable e-commerce company of the country 
as it is going strong by playing a different kind of niche altogether – 
the e-commerce for all those looking for a wider selection and lower 
price points.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Education, Ad agency,America and the super jobs </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Radhika
 Aggarwal did her Post-Graduation in Advertising and Public Relations 
from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya after graduating out from Maharaja 
Sayajirao University. She had always wanted to be her own boss. So, 
right after her PG, she started an Ad agency which she ran for two years
 (1997 - 99). One of the other reasons was perhaps the fact that unlike 
now, it had very little problem solving to do back then.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 1999 
she left for the US to pursue business management and got into an MBA 
(strategic management) course from Washington University at St. Louis. 
This was one of the most enriching phase of her life as after having 
studied so much back in India and having run a company, she still felt 
she needed to equip herself with greater purpose and aptitude.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her
 career got a real fillip when she joined Goldman Sachs in its Wealth 
Management group in New York and Menlo Park, USA. She was the chosen one
 for the job. It so happened that of the 80 candidates called from the 
best institutes of USA, around 78 had worn a white shirt and she was the
 only one with a blue colored shirt – and incidentally the one that they
 chose after thorough screening. It would have been intimidating for 
someone seeking his/her first job in the land of dreams and finding 
herself in an apparently odd situation at the interview site. But not 
Radhika – who was as confident as it get. She had the moral support of 
the dean of her B-School – who had immense faith in her capabilities.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then
 came the finest of jobs that really made her into the finished product 
she would turn out to be after she was done with them. She joined the 
Nordstrom – the chain of department stores in the US- in its centenary 
year i.e. 2001. She worked there as the internal consulting resource for
 the product development group. And this is where she had the best 
learning required for an entrepreneur. It inverted-pyramid on which 
customer rules whereas the CEO at the bottom obliges the needs of the 
business – kept inspiring Radhika and she made full use of every day of 
the 3 years and 4 months she was there.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then she took a pregnancy 
break in 2006 and when she was ready to resume, she helped a company 
called Abhivyakti Infotech with its marketing strategy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The spark…</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then
 she foundedFashionClues, a social portal for NRI women.It is quite by 
accident that the co-founders met in the US and then joined hands to 
float ShopClues.com. It so happened that Radhika and Co-Founder (& 
CEO) Sanjay Sethi’s children studied in the same school in the US (in 
Fremont, CA). So their kids were what got them acquainted with each 
other and subsequent interactions they decided to do something big as 
Sanjay had studied the Chinese e-Commerce market while being employed 
with eBay and sounded out the Aggarwal couple about doing something 
similar in India – where there were indeed ecommerce players but all of 
them were following an inventory-based model.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sandeep who worked 
as an analyst and Sanjay, who was with eBay, quit their jobs to start 
the company in Silicon Valley. They did a lot of R&D and came up 
with a business plan for starting the online managed market-place where 
they intended to sell products and goods from the unstructured 
categories.  Despite the initial shock and a set-back (one of the 
investor who had promised to pitch in with $5 million backed out at the 
last minute), they mobilized enough funds through friends and family in 
just 3 days after that major hiccup and started off with about $2 
million at their disposal.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>ShopClues.com journey so far</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There
 was also another brief set-back for the company when Sandeep, Radhika’s
 husband and the CEO of the company prior to Sanjay Sethi, was forced to
 step down owing to an insider-trading allegation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The following 
year, Nexus Ventures Partners lead a round of funding to ShopClues with a
 $4 million Series A funding. This helped the company expand and cater 
to the length and breadth of the country, by bringing in many vendors to
 sell their fares on their market-place. It also got two more rounds of 
$10 million funding – from Nexus and Helion Venture Partners in 2013, 
followed by $100 million in early 2015 (tiger Global Management, Helion 
and Nexus) and another ~$150 round of funding lead by Singapore’s 
sovereign wealth fund GIC – thus clocking the magic valuation of $1 
billion in 2016 – 5 years is all it took for this different type of 
ecommerce player to break into the Unicorn Club.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Style of functioning</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Radhika
 Aggarwal knows that in an absolutely cut-throat world, especially in 
the ecommerce industry, the work-force is really the strength of any 
company. Therefore, she and the CEO follow an open-door policy – that is
 they don’t sit in closed cabins where they risk being misunderstood as 
perhaps being inaccessible to the biggest asset of the company. In fact,
 they sit along with all the other employees of the company and function
 like a true team – each one’s role and responsibilities clearly defined
 and measured.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That is how she invests in the employees, trying to
 know who is doing what, and how it can be improved and appreciated when
 someone has done it or when someone needs a bit of a gentle push to go 
that much farther ahead in performing their job responsibilities.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Being
 the CBO – perhaps a new phrase coined by the trio – she is the one 
entrusted with answering the board when it meets, deals with challenges 
within the company, sets the tone for leadership and does everything in 
her power to be a role model for one and all – her employees as well as 
outsiders as well. She embraces all of it with due honesty, focus and 
passion – because if she can’t then she wouldn’t not be in a position to
 demand the same from others.  Her passion and inspiring leadership so 
inspired a woman (who herself was a rebel in that she was the first 
person to have ever broken the cliché in the family – she wore jeans and
 took up a job) that joined the company because it had a woman 
co-founder. She herself cherishes one of the ShopClues-led success 
stories – a housewife who had started selling through ShopClues 
succeeded in doing well – which also encouraged her husband decided to 
quit his job and join her.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Her views of woman entrepreneurs</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She
 doesn’t believe in differentiating woman entrepreneurs from their male 
counterparts on the basis of their orientation. She would rather have 
all – men or woman – be equipped with the skill, capacity, vision, and 
willingness of a leader and, hence, be respected as thus. Not because 
one is a woman and hence they have to be treated like that – just for 
the sake of it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That is also why she and Sanjay Sethi (the CEO) 
get along so well – there’s mutual respect and also clarity of thought 
and vision and also their roles are so clearly well-defined – they stick
 to those and go about their work without having to ever think of the 
sex of the other official.They started out with 100 in 2011 and are now a
 propelled forward by a 1000+ strong work-force.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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Quotes</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle" width="2%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle" width="98%">'“The  customer experience is important, especially when things go wrong.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Things
  go wrong all the time. How you react is the key test of character, and
 we have  built a company with a strong culture and character.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">"I
  did not expect to enjoy the entrepreneurship stint as much as I have. 
My  aspiration is to make Shopclues the number one ecommerce marketplace
 in India  and South Asia." – March 2015.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Amazon
  showed us customer centricity as a culture, Flipkart showed us that 
Indian  companies have what it takes to scale very rapidly, Snapdeal 
demonstrated  organizational agility, that is, adapting to change 
rapidly. These are very  important learnings for me personally and for 
our organization.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“We  fight the fight but do not lose perspective of the core strengths they bring to  the table and have huge respect for them.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“We  empower employees to make decisions and try. You don’t get punished for  failure, but for not trying.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“I
  have had to miss a couple of the kids’ performances because I had 
important  meetings. I tried to explain to them why it was not possible 
for me to be  there. My kids and family have been supportive, but there 
is no utopia; it  can't and doesn't exist.” – On work-life balance.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“I  cherish the small stories where ShopClues has touched the lives of merchants,  merchant families and other stakeholders.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Radhika Ghai Aggarwal Co-Founder, Chief Business Officer Shopclues.com

Her Dean from the B-School in Washington University believed in her more than she herself did and th...

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Shradha Sharma Founder Yourstory.com

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              <div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Shradha Sharma" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Shradha-Sharma.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Women today matching their male counterparts in every 
sphere of life – be it politics, the corporate sector, social education,
 business, women are leaving their mark and making the world, especially
 the male-dominated business world take note and respect them. Perhaps 
women’s empowerment has also had a role to play in it.  This article 
chronicles the life and rise of one such successful woman - Shradha 
Sharma.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Shradha Sharma is the founder and CEO of YourStory which 
itself documents (in a way) and chronicles the life of successful Indian
 entrepreneurs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It began in 2008 with Sharma initiating her own 
brand of story-telling – albeit the stories of lives of young and 
emerging entrepreneurs and their travail.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obviously no story is a 
straight-road – it is often a long and winding road to becoming a 
success entrepreneur.It is a journey of continuous learning, often 
treaded alone, encountering many hurdles along the way, stumbling and 
picking up the pieces and putting them together and then making it a 
worthwhile pursuit in the end. It is only after such travesties that 
people take notice of you and then starting respecting you for what you 
are capable of rather than whether you are make or a female.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But, 
as we can guess, having been a newsperson for quite some time, she knew 
the fact that the entrepreneurial journey often traverses through a very
 treacherous path.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She was among the top executives at CNBC – 
served out as an AVP – something that stands out even today as her 
distinction of being the youngest person to be assigned to such a high 
profile role in the company’s history.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The spark…</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her
 job at CNBC primarily involved connecting and interacting with a lot of
 entrepreneurs, which allowed her to study as to what makes them 
successful. She also noticed that the common thread connecting all of 
them – queerly, they all had a story to tell but none was too inclined 
to tell that to the world themselves. This observation 
ofShradhatriggered a thought in her that these stories deserved to be 
told and told well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Early days</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Shradha 
Sharma family hails from Patna, in the state of Bihar, India where she 
spent most of her childhood. She has three sisters and a bother. It was 
her mother who seemed to always support her in her endeavoursto achieve 
her dreams by imbibing in the traits of independent thinking and 
self-reliance. Admittedly, this was a strong upbringing with an 
undercurrent of high values – especially because of the times she was 
raised in the state of Bihar – which was possibly at its lowest point on
 many fronts (Socially, politically, as well as economically).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Understandably,
 (in her own words)the mere thought of a girl child even going to school
 back then in Bihar was a big deal. However, with her mother as the 
pillar of strength and the all the encouragement she received, she did 
her graduation fromrenowned St. Stephens College in Delhi where she 
would also do things to equip herself with the best that the world can 
offer – through things such as volunteering to do as many things as she 
could.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Thereafter, she went on to pursue MBA from MICA, Ahmedabad. Her high erudition lent an air of ambition in her demeanor.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> First job stint</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her
 first job was with the Times of India. After a brief stint there, she 
joined CNBCwhere spent a good few years and rising to the post of AVP 
along the way. It was through this period that she was introduced to the
 world of entrepreneurship.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The spark</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Shradha
 Sharma started her career as a brand advisor for Times of India and 
then worked as an AVP (Assistant Vice president) in CNBC TV18. It was in
 2008 while working in CNBC that the idea of Yourstory came into frame. 
During that time she met many entrepreneurs who wanted a medium to 
highlight their stories to the world. The entrepreneurs and the startups
 wanted the mass audience to know about their struggles, vision and 
their accomplishments.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was after one such rendezvous with a 
successful businessperson that she felt inclined to check whether there 
was a place -digital or print media- that documented these inspiring 
stories. But she found there was none.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Being the entrepreneur at 
heart that she sensed there was a window of opportunity that would both 
help her express the enterprising nature in her besides, of course, 
providing a platform for letting the world know of the success stories 
of these entrepreneurs and startups.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And what better than internet
 as a medium? And that’s how Yourstory.com was born. It is an online 
portal which helps entrepreneurs and startups discuss about their 
business and companies which helps them to take their venture to new 
heights.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But it was easier said than done. There were naysayers. 
Not many believed in her idea which they felt wouldn’t work. But Sharma 
went by her knowledge, experience, and above all – her gut feel.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
 website www.yourstory.inwas launched mid-September, 2008. Before, 
during, and even after it was started, Sharma was clear that not all 
entrepreneurs are not superstars, but they did have some amazing untold 
stories in their life, which can be brought forth through this medium.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Through
 YourStory, Sharma now had the opportunity to tell the stories of scores
 of successful businessmen. Asan astute storyteller, she who would delve
 deep in to the lives of famous and successful people, right from their 
dark days of entrepreneurship, to the first ray of hope and their 
journey thereon to success. It was all about an entrepreneur’s story 
and, hence, it was aptly named, YourStory.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Success& fame</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today,
 YourStory.in has almost a household name in the entrepreneur community.
 In fact, it is said that its goodwill and reputation is such that 
start-ups seem to consider it as the go-to portal for everything that 
they would ever need. This might sound like an overstatement but the 
fact remains that it certainly helps these companies. Year after year, 
it continues to deliver good value for those associated with it and the 
attendees through the various events and engagements it facilitates.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But
 behind all the glitter and achievement, lies the tenacity and hard work
 of a small town girl who went on to become one of the best-known names 
among the country’s entrepreneur community.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her never say die 
attitude is perhaps best expressed in her words, “When you know you have
 to fend yourself every inch of the way, it gives you a different kind 
of grit and tenacity.” That besides, she always had her parents’ support
 throughout – which is one of the biggest reasons for her being a 
successful woman today.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The approach</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Having
 started from basically nothing, YourStory.in is still a completely 
bootstrapped company whose revenues, not surprisingly, doubling every 
year – which is nothing short of great achievement. But the most 
remarkable part about her journey so far is enthusiasm and unnerving 
focus towards telling the story of scores of entrepreneurs around the 
world.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her enthusiasm is infectious and it has somehow found its 
way into everyone who’s been associated with YourStory.in. Her energy 
and drive defines YourStory.in – young, good and unquenchable.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
No 
wonder the site has been described as “India’s biggest and definitive 
platform for start-ups and entrepreneurs-related stories, news, 
resources and research reports.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
<strong>Interesting facts about Shradha Sharma</strong></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">One of the up and coming  and successful female entrepreneurs in India.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Awarded with the L’Oreal  Paris Femina Award.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Selected in the list of 500  LinkedIn influencers across the world.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
Quotes</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“I
 think it meant a lot to  the guys whom we’re writing about. They felt 
empowered that they weren’t alone  and all of them said that nobody else
 wrote about them in the same way.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Everyone
 who starts up  will face challenges, especially if you’re building 
something disruptive. I  think the biggest challenge that I faced was 
how the same people treated me  differently after I left CNBC. The name 
matters a lot. Also, a lot of the big  names in the industry didn’t 
really acknowledge what I was trying to do. But  that just motivated me 
even more as I knew I had a point to prove; it drove me  to be 
successful with this effort.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle"> “In the world where men are the ones trying to make it big, a woman  trying to do the same helped me stand out from the crowd.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“At
 the time I really  couldn’t look at the site and keep the stories 
rolling. It was really  emotionally draining for me. There have been a 
lot of personal challenges along  the way and as an entrepreneur, you’ve
 got to live with that. You will be  tested and a lot of people give up 
in this period. The most successful  entrepreneurs are the ones who 
don’t give up. You’ve got to believe in what  you’re doing.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“At
 CNBC, I was a  workaholic, but only because I enjoyed what I was doing.
 A lot of my job  involved traveling to various parts of India and 
speaking with entrepreneurs  from all walks of life. I was surprised to 
know that not many people actually  listen to the entrepreneur’s story 
of what it took them to startup and the  struggles they overcame.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“A
 lot of people close to  me have had such a lasting impact on me. But 
honestly, those who’ve done bad to  me have also impacted me in a very 
big way as well. I thank them for that as  they’ve only made me a 
stronger person.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“If
 you’ve got an idea that  you believe in, then just go ahead and do it. 
It is the most simple and the  most powerful mantra for every 
entrepreneur starting today. Life will be full  of challenges and how 
they affect you lies in how you look at them. You need to  be positive, 
it’s all in your head.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Shradha Sharma Founder Yourstory.com

Women today matching their male counterparts in every sphere of life – be it politics, the corporate...

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Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani Co-Founders Swiggy

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              <div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Nandan-Reddy-Sriharsha-Majety-Rahul-Jaimani.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
No matter what, deliver food from the best restaurants 
nearby, deliver food with no minimum guarantee required, and fast 
delivery: these are the guiding principles of one of the country’s 
leading food-tech companies – Swiggy. Add one more to that you’re your 
order pipe-line is clogged i.e. there are too many orders, then don’t 
take them. This has, so far, ensured that each order is delivered within
 30 minutes – thus adhering to the main three at all times. And it has 
worked wonderfully well in this high-margin market.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The fact that 
in just two years since inception, it has had three rounds VC funding 
speaks a lot of the confidence of the investors in Swiggy’s business 
model and the vision of its co-founders, Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety,
 Rahul Jaimani – who all have had their education from some of the 
premier institutions of the country (Sriharsha Majety – BITS Pilani 
& IIM Calcutta; Rahul Jaimani – IIT Kharagpur; Nandan Reddy – Bits 
Pilani).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The terrific trio</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A bit about the 
co-founders: Sriharsha, after schooling from Vijayawada, went on to 
complete his engineering (Master’s) from the prestigious Birla Institute
 of Technology & Sciences (BITS –Pilani) and them followed it up 
with a master in business management from the world renowned Indian 
Institute of Management (IIM –Calcutta or Kolkata as it is now known 
as). This son of businessman and a practicing doctor, he joined a 
company called Nomura Securities (working in its London office) after 
his MBA from IIM, with the thought that he would return to India after 
an year or so and set-up his own business. It ran in his blood, you see.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However
 before he could do, he had always been wishing to travel places and 
explore the world at a slow pace – on a bicycle. He did it alone – 
travelled many countries spanning three continents, partly on foot, 
partly, hitch-hiking, partly using local public transportation where 
conditions were trying.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After having travelled around many 
countries on his bicycle, made friends, understanding their cultures, 
and returning enriched with life’s experiences across the globe, it was 
time to go about his plans for setting up a business. It was time to 
give the entrepreneur in him the time to express himself fully.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He
 brought along his mate from BITS Pilani Nandan Reddy and the duo 
together started a service called – Bundl Technologies,basically a 
logistics aggregator for e-commerce companies. Probably they had 
miscalculated or the situation wasn’t right for that kind of a service, 
it didn’t take off like the founders wanted it to and it was shut down 
in June, 2014.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The two of them were down but not out. They knew 
that is initial set-back was only a stepping stone for harnessing their 
potential and making something new and different. After much 
deliberation they hit upon the idea of a hyperlocal delivery business. 
This was one area where they realized there were no players offering a 
complete food ordering and delivery service – that too location-based 
and quick.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This switch wasn’t anything new for Sriharsha who had 
switched between jobs as indeed his travel expedition where there was no
 specific route planned – as he himself reportedly said,“There was no 
route per se and in between, I took many de tours while visiting 
Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, ultimately pedaling through a
 distance of 3400 kms.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
They also realized that they need 
additional hands – driven as well as who shared the same vision as 
theirs and who were willing to go the distance with them, come what may.
 Thus they roped in Rahul Jaimini – an IIT-Kharagpur graduate who had 
already worked at a few tech start-ups by then and had done well. He had
 worked for NetApp with their Data Protection Group where he was 
responsible for developing, testing and maintaining storage products 
ensuring maximum data recovery in case of a disaster through intricate 
real-time replications. This was followed by a stint at Myntra (now part
 of Flipkart) where he was entrusted with leading development efforts 
for the strategy team in revenue/conversion boosting efforts. (He was 
opined that deliverables were always end-to-end in order to ensure that 
product roadmaps don't get affected on account of strategic 
enhancements).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This experience was to prove very handy when the 
BITS Pilani duo of Sriharsha and Nandan Reddy roped him in and started 
work on the platform. The company, Bundl Technologies was retained as 
the umbrella under which their hyperlocal delivery business would 
operate. They started building the platform which they called as Swiggy 
in August 2014.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Initial days and Funding</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
 company was initially boot-strapped and it had to really work to make 
sure its business model and the customer takeaways were clearly 
understood by the target customers. So, the trio wanted to make sure 
their employees also shared their values and guiding principles so they 
themselves personally handpicked the initial staff (Sriharsha alone 
selected 50 of them).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This continued until April 2015 when they 
got their first investment from SAIF Partners and Accel Partners of #2 
million. This was enough to help expand and improve the service. Then, 
in June of the same year, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) pitched in with
 Series B funding of $16.5 million which proved to be the huge fillip 
required by Swiggy for scaling its operations or rather services beyond 
Bengaluru. With subsequent rounds of funding amounting to $75.5 M 
(that’s already clocking a valuation of about $300 M), the company was 
able to spread to various other cities – it is now providing services in
 eight Indian cities – Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, 
Pune, Kolkata and Chennai with over 5,000 restaurants listed on its 
platform.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Technology Transformation</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Based 
on the ground experience, Swiggy was continuously refined and even 
modified greatly to meet the myriad idiosyncrasies of the delivery 
personnel. In due course, it transformed into something that was very 
easily understood by the delivery team which now understands ever so 
easily as to where to pick the food from and where exactly to deliver 
the order.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sriharsha, who is also the company’s CEO, and his team 
are reasonably confident that the time is not far when a restaurant’s 
online orders will outnumber its offline sales, especially in 
metropolitan cities like Bengaluru. That bodes well for them as 
currently only about 3% of the global food business is done online – 
while they are yet to penetrate in most regions of the country, the 
founders know they, more than any other contemporaries in the Indian 
market, are likely to get a greater share of the pie. It is vindicated 
by numbers and the fact that what Swiggy achieved in a mere 2 years is 
much more than some already established players such as FoodPanda and 
Zomato – although their business model is different from that of Swiggy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another
 aspect that differentiates Swiggy is that its business is very 
dinner-heavy. While this differentiation is good to talk about – like a 
good chunk of Indians who order food online during evening are more 
likely to go for Swiggy than other providers – the fact remains that a 
good amount if business remains untapped by not being active or popular 
during the day time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hence, looking to diversify the supply, the 
trio then came up with a novel program called Swiggy Express where food 
is curated by experts (gourmet) and also it is working on decreasing the
 delivery time to 20 minutes – that’s why Swiggy Express. To top it all,
 they are looking at the pricing as well so that combination of 
gourmet-food, really quick delivery at lowered prices can bring in the 
much-desired day-time sales which could act like a multiplier effect for
 the company.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Growth</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Inspite of the fact 
that without any burn, Swiggy has been able to achieve 5x to 6x growth 
rate since its inception, the founders know that without much order 
activity during day-time, they are still a long way to skim the market, 
so to say. That is why Swiggy Express makes for sound business expansion
 as dinner orders, are by nature, very discretionary; whereas day-time 
orders (which are the business-hours orders making it imperative for the
 food to arrive in real quick time) – if the Swiggy Express model is 
successful – can be commoditized. Swiggy wants to be the go-to platform 
for customer wanting to order food – 365 days of the year and regardless
 of the working hours. That is when the idea of commoditizing Swiggy 
will become a reality for the awesome three-some from Bengaluru.</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><span style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">Quotes</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“I
  was switching between careers. In 2008, I embarked on my first 
bag-packing and  went on a two month-long vacation in South East Asia 
and met a friend in  Germany who had just completed his travel by 
bicycle in Eastern Europe. The  idea seemed as crazy as exhilarating and
 I was already planning my own cycling  tour.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“I
  would have slept in 60 different homes in these six months.” Talking 
about his  cycling expedition that he took up in 2008 spanning Africa, 
Asia & Europe.<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“When
  already we decided to shut Bundl, we knew we have to dive into 
hyperlocal  delivery and give it a shot. We also understood that 
ordering platforms for  restaurants were very broken. Ordering food has 
always been a big hassle, and  hence, we decided to take the plunge and 
fix it with Swiggy.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“The
  size of the Indian restaurant sector is pegged at $50 billion and is 
growing at  a fast clip. The percentage of delivery in this market is 
witnessing a steep  increase and should see tremendous growth. The 
familiarisation of the masses  with home delivered food is contributing 
largely to the growth rate.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety, Rahul Jaimani Co-Founders Swiggy

No matter what, deliver food from the best restaurants nearby, deliver food with no minimum guarante...

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Adhil Shetty Co-Founder & CEO BankBazaar.com

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<img alt="Adhil Shetty" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Adhil-Shetty.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
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There are many instances in the history of mankind wherein
 adversities have forced us humans to express our ingenuity in 
overcoming the adverse situations and predicaments. Don’t they say that 
need is the mother of invention and all the folklore that goes to 
substantiate it is proof that we humans have in always found ways to not
 only overcome difficult situations but even make good of them. There 
are many such instances even in the recent history of Indian 
entrepreneurship – from the Deepinder Goyal-led Zomato, Ritesh 
Agarwal-led OYO Rooms (Quality guest rooms in hotels at affordable 
prices), Shashank ND-Led Practo technologies (Online health-care 
search), to Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola cabs (taxi hailing) - to name a few 
all of whom hit upon the idea or were forced to find a way that 
eventually became successful businesses.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In pretty much the same 
scenario lie the roots of India’s first and the most successful online 
marketplace, www.bankbazaar.com , where you can access customized rate 
quotes on loans, credit cards or personal finance products such as 
insurance policies, bank loans and credit card offers and do much more –
 without the neither the traditional formality hassles nor the 
procedural delays coming in the way of easy access to loans and other 
financial products and services of a myriad of providers in the country.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While
 it would be naïve to credit just one person behind this grand success 
story of the Indian fintech market, we can safely assume that the CEO 
and one of the co-founders, Adhil Shetty, has had a fair amount of 
contribution in bringing the idea (which was floated to him by somebody 
else) to reality.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Roots of the enterprise called BankBazaar</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
BankBazaar
 is seemingly a family affair but by no means a family business. It just
 so happens that it was co-founded by 3 members of a family. Brothers 
Adhil Shetty and Arjun Shetty and Rati Rajkumar (Arjun’s wife and 
Adhil’s sister-in-law, so to say) decided to build this platform quite 
by default. If they were to go by design, then the trio had envisaged 
that they would, after completing their time in the USA, embark on a 
journey home and settle down into doing something – that something was 
still unknown to them by the time they were forced to find a way 
(positively) vent out their frustration with the Indian system of 
banking and its procedural cumbersomeness, as well as make sure no 
others had to go through the pain they had to while seeking a home loan.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adhil’s
 brother Arjun and Rati returned to Indian in end-2007 after having been
 in the land of dreams and done their bit to add to its value and the 
enterprise it promises to the world, and settle down in their 
motherland. In doing so, they wanted to avail a home loan and sought the
 same from the banks providing them the option. To their dismay and 
vexation, they found that it isn’t easy to get a home-loan without going
 through the unwarranted yet very mandatory procedures (which they 
considered as undue) that left them high-and-dry. They struggled to get 
through many of the requirements and delays in order to get their 
application approved.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Everything was physically stored, they would
 not accept soft copies, and documentation for due-diligence itself took
 many days before the application could proceed further in the 
formalities. Hassled by all this and disappointed that in this age and 
at this stage of development, the country-folk were still forced to put 
up with the non-sense of only delays for no-reason even when everything 
about the application was seemingly clear and verified.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That is 
when the couple decided they’ve got to do something to address this. 
Especially Arjun, who had had experience of the co-branded credit card 
program of Amazon, was keen on bringing in something helpful to all. 
After some deliberation, with their technology back-grounds, the couple 
came up with the idea to offer an online service that could help people 
themselves and all those wanting to secure a loan ever-so-easily from 
banks.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Enter Adhil into the picture</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adhil, 
who is only a year older than Arjun, was sounded out by Arjun and Rati 
about this enterprise that they wanted to get going with. Adhil joined 
in after mulling over it for just about a week or so and packed his bags
 to return to India for good.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While the plan was there to come 
back home, he hadn’t per say decided about when or why. But, a call from
 his brother talking about the pains he faced and also the possibility 
of doing something useful for the common people – it all made sense to 
Adhil who was then working at Deloitte as a team member. In fact, it 
even made business sense – there was virtually no-one in the country 
offering such a service (there were already E-Loans in the US).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, there was need, opportunity and above all the satisfaction that they were about to do something unique in the country.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The beginnings</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
 Shetty brothers and Rati now set about getting the platform up and 
running as soon as possible. They put in personal money to the tune of 
Rs.45 Lakhs and set-shop in Chennai. The choice of the location was 
simple, they had been educated there and had their friends’ circle there
 who were more than willing to support the start-up.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From the 
beginning itself the roles were clear – with all three having worked for
 big companies and with the backgrounds they had, the trio organized 
itself as if it were a big company.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adhil was entrusted with CEO 
responsibilities where he handles Sales, Business Development, Finance, 
HR and Investors while Arjun as COO handles the operations, technology 
and customer service, while Rati is the Chief Product Officer – so there
 was clear demarcation of responsibilities. They approached many banks 
after building the product and finally convinced ING Vaisya and shortly 
after HDFC bought into the idea and agreed to align. Soon after many 
others joined in.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Education and jobs before BankBazaar</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Before
 going to the US to pursue his Master’s degree in International 
Relations (with a specialization in International Finance and Business 
from Columbia University in the City of New York), Adhil (as indeed 
Arjun) did a Bachelors in Engineering from the College of Engineering 
Guindy, Anna University while he had his schooling from the Don Bosco 
School.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
His first job was as an engineer at Cisco Systems which 
was followed by his experience as a team member at the leading global 
consulting and professional services firm, Deloitte Consulting (US East 
Alliance) – an experience that would stand in good stead for him as well
 as the company growth.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Acceptance and Growth of BankBazaar</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
 concept almost a decade ago was unheard of in the country. Thus, it was
 that much more difficult for the Adhil and Co. to convince people to 
use especially when it came to financing their loan needs. Adhil knew 
that even before the customers, it was the banks who need to buy and 
embrace the idea of an online application and processing. The banks 
after looking at the team Adhil had put together – he himself hired the 
first few employees and made sure that quality and user experience was 
given the utmost priority while building the platform.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Once that 
was done, it was upto Adhil to go convince bankers to align- which he 
did successfully. Then came the challenge of acceptance from the people 
who mattered the most – customers.For this, they marketed extensively by
 advertising aggressively on the internet which got the company its 
initial customers through Google Ads.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adhil made sure that timely 
investments came in and the company without ever compromising on the 
premise on which it was built.After an expected slow start, the company 
grew dramatically from December 2013 to July 2015 during which period it
 grew 5x in transaction volume (largely home loans 90%).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Headquartered
 in Chennai, today it has offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurgaon and 
also set up its international headquarters in Singapore in February 2016
 where it is investing SGD 1 million to scale up technology and build an
 international team.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adhil and team today have a 10% market share 
of the country’s loan market of Rs 300,000 crore (Rs 3 trillion) a year.
 Partnering with leading banks,financial institutions, and insurance 
companies such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, PNB HFL, CITI, Standard 
Chartered,LIC HFL, DHFL, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Aegon Religare, 
Bharti Axa, Bajaj Alliance, L&T, Iffco Tokio, Apollo Munich(and 
others) and backed fully by VC funds including Walden International and 
Sequoia Capital,it offers instant rate quotes on loans, credit cards, 
savings and insurance products and helped disburse loans in the range of
 Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) in retail loans.</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><span style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">Quotes</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"The
  idea was to change the huge paper work in India. Our idea was to start
 an  online website that will be integrated with banks. Because of the 
electronic  processing, we could give a comparison of say, five best 
deals in the  market."<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"The
  first thing we want to do in the next few years is, make people think 
of us when  they think of a loan. Then, we want to introduce other 
financial products like  insurance."<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"I'm  out to be the “Make-My-Trip of the Financial Services World”!<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"The
  most important thing is to find a good team. They must remember that 
starting  maybe easy but execution takes a long time. It takes 5-10 
years to build a  world class company. So, be patient"<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"Today,  when a problem comes up, we look at the process to deal with the problem; it's  not about individuals any more.<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Earlier,  the confidence came from the idea and passion but today, the confidence comes  from people and the process."<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“We  are investing heavily to deliver paperless financial transactions.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Once
  you raise external funds, you are accountable for it. You need to 
scale up  operations and give your investors an exit, for the belief 
they have shown.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Whatever
  you do, be sure to give it 100%. Any time you look back, you should be
 able to  answer to yourself honestly that you gave your best shot to 
whatever you did.  There shouldn't be a compromise.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Adhil Shetty Co-Founder & CEO BankBazaar.com

There are many instances in the history of mankind wherein adversities have forced us humans to expr...

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Adhil Shetty Co-Founder & CEO BankBazaar.com

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