Rajashri Venkatesh
Internet has gone to become one of the fastest growing industries with more than 1 million people having access to it. And in an industry like this where everyday numerous entrepreneurs try their luck to make something big out of the opportunity, here are 10 most inspiring stories that everyone must read.
Alok Kejriwal CEO & Co-founder Games2win, is an Indian entrepreneur and founder of the Contests2win Group of companies. Games2win is a global top 20 online games business that entertains over 20 million unique users a month. Its top games include Parking Frenzy (also ranked #1 on the US iTunes Appstore.), Supermom, Turbo Cricket, Best Friends Forever, Fab Tattoo Artist, etc.
Dinesh Agarwal is the founder and CEO of IndiaMART.com, India’s largest online B2B marketplace that connects buyers with suppliers. He is credited with successfully leading IndiaMART.com through the dotcom bust, economic turmoils incidents like September '11 among others - feats no other online company in India has been able to emulate.
Snapdeal is one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India today with the largest online market place. In just two years, the company went from scrapping their group coupon business and starting an online marketplace to become a billion dollar company. Its year on year growth is almost 600%.The average age of the workforce at Snapdeal is 25. Their values – Innovation, Change, Openness, Honesty and Ownership drive them to press for greater success. The company’s growth had been phenomenal but it is their continued effort to bring the best to the market and their zeal to succeed as the best B2C (Business to customer) marketplace is what sets them apart. Great ideas might be important for a business, but it is the confident implementation of those ideas and the right effort which are more important. It is action and not mere thought that gives results.
In school, Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder and CEO of rediff.com, wanted to be a football player until one day his father showed him an old, poor man squatting outside a thatched hut. His father said this man was once a football player. From that day on, Balakrishnan stopped playing football and embraced his books. As it turned out, he was ‘insufferably’ good at studies. But he neither wanted to become a doctor nor an engineer, and getting into management studies was sheer accident. But he had an exciting time at IIM Calcutta. “They taught us subjects like sociology and psychology and I was thrilled!”
Deep is the Founder of India's leading online travel company, MakeMyTrip.com. Launched in India in 2005, MakeMyTrip is today the largest e-commerce business in the country. Deep steered MakeMyTrip as CEO since its inception in 2000, to a successful listing on NASDAQ in August 2010. He took on the role of Group CEO in August 2013, to focus on Strategy, M&A and international businesses. He continues to lead the Group’s strategic developments and overall execution excellence.
Farrhad is a 21 year old Indian entrepreneur and TEDx speaker. He started off as one of the world’s youngest entrepreneurs and Rockstah Media was the first company he founded. His clientele includes Padma Shree recipients, National Award winners, corporates, media personalities and Public Sector Units. Farrhad has received several awards and recognition for his work, digital strategies and concepts.
Sriram Subramanya is the Founder, Managing Director & CEO of Integra Software Services, an 1100 employee Company and one of the top Digital, eLearning and Content Service providers to the Publishing Industry, globally. As the chief visionary and architect behind the growth of Integra, Sriram conceptualized and implemented operations to realize Integra’s vision, by building an organizational culture that is recognized worldwide for delivering innovative and high quality services to global Publishing Companies. With a deep commitment towards working for the welfare of the underprivileged, Sriram launched the ‘Sriram Charitable Trust’ which has benefited thousands of poor, sick, needy and underprivileged people in areas of healthcare, women empowerment, funding of education, social rehabilitation and rural upliftment. The Trust also works in helping the Government for better Governance as well as in the area of the environment, carrying out tree planting on an extensive scale.
It was a 10,000-a-month allowance from their parents for almost 18 months that helped Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal launch an e-commerce website retailing books in October 2007. Today, the near-20% stake they hold, along with the top management, in Flipkart is valued at almost Rs 2,000 crore. Sachin Bansal, the chief executive of Bangalore-based Flipkart, says he has a knack for underestimation. That is exactly what happened in March 2011 when he and Binny Bansal, who are not related to each other, announced they would reach the $1-billion (Rs 6,100-crore) sales mark in 2015. Last week, the site, which now sells everything from books to electronics, apparel and jewellery, reached the milestone, a full year ahead of the target.
Every month some 30 million people seeking to satisfy their gastronomic cravings by visiting Zomato, the popular restaurant discovery service, co-founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. In London, people want to know more about the ambience, in Kolkata they want to know more about the food. The nuances are many and Zomato caters to all quirks and palates.
Mani started Justdial with 6 employees and an initial investment of INR 50,000. It started with some rented computers, borrowed furniture and by hiring a few college students in the beginning, to collect data by literally knocking every door in Mumbai. After 17 years, Justdial has more than 7,400 employees, a presence pan-India, and even in the US, and a database of approximately 9.1 million listings. Mani has worked relentlessly, standing tall through thick and thin, building Justdial from scratch to a multi-million dollar company and taking it to IPO in March this year.
