7/30/2019 Aggressive Decisions That Helped Indian Entrepreneurs Succeed
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Aggressive Decisions that Helped Indian Entrepreneurs Succeed
Making a decision is one of the most powerful acts for inspiring confidence
in entrepreneurs. Yet many businessmen take it lightly. Some decide not
to decide, while others simply keep procrastinating. The business world
has proved always that a great decision at a great time defines the
success for the company. Though, many of the decisions dont prove to be
helpful, but there are many examples which show that a small yet
powerful decision changed the fortune of the company. Let us take a look
at some of them:
1. Narayana Murthy: Had a Dream, But No Money
The idea of Infosys was born on a morning in January 1981 when Narayana Murthy and six
software engineers sat in his apartment debating how they could create a company to write
software codes. Six months later, Infosys was registered as a private limited company which
is today among the most innovative companies according to Forbes.
Most Decisive Moment: Murthy was employed by Patni Computer Systems before he
started Infosys. After coming storming up on the idea, he took a decision which changed the
Indian IT space. Since, he was broke, he asked his wife Sudha to sell off her jewelry. Murthy
had a dream, and no money, so Sudha agreed and he got 10,000 from which was the initial
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capital for Infosys. The front room of Murthy's home became Infosys' first office, while co-
founder Raghavan's home was the registered office. It was then known as Infosys Consultants
Pvt Ltd.
2. Suhas Gopinath: "Why should I sell my baby?"
Gopinath started a software company at an age when most of the peopleare stuck on deciding which subjects to study in the next class. At atender age of 14, he got listed in the Limca Book of Records as theWorlds Youngest Chief Executive.Today Gopinath is 26 and is the CEO of Globals Inc. - A world-classbusiness with over 500 employees.
Most Decisive Moment: In 2005, Gopinath took a big decision whichdefined his entrepreneurial journey. An investment firm from Houston,
Texas offered him $100 million for a majority stake in Globals. Aftermonths of discussion, he refused saying, Why should I sell my baby?
The same year he was the youngest among the 175 recipients ofKarnataka's Rajyotsava Award.
Later in November 2008, he was invited to represent the World Bank's ICTLeadership Roundtable for adopting ICT in Africa to increase employabilityand fostering ICT skills in students from these countries.
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3. Lakshmi Mittal: Whatever He Touches Becomes Steel
Mittal is a perfect example of rags-to-riches story. His father used to work
for several mills and later was hired by a Calcutta-based firm to manage
their business. Meanwhile, Lakshmi started doing his college and also
helped his father in business. After graduating he joined his fathers
company full-time.
Most Decisive Moment: Both enjoyed the success they got, but became
discouraged with the way Indian Government controlled the private
investments in large steel projects. So, the father and son duo decided to
leave India and begin a steel company outside India. In 1976, with $15
million investment money they gambled and bought an obsolete steel
company in Indonesia. Surprisingly this trade paid them off and they
never looked back from that point, buying up steel mills that were
operating at a loss, and turning them into profitable enterprises. This
earned Lakshmi Mittal the title Turnaround Specialist.
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4. Sanjeev Bikhchandani: I wanted independence and it had tobe in a business.
Bikhchandani is the founder of Naukri.com which is Indias number one job
portal at a time when there is a serious scarcity of employable people in
almost every sector of business and industry. He is the best story of
grabbing an opportunity with lots of determination and hard work.
Most Decisive Moment: Bikhchandanis father was in government
service and he was brought up in government colonies. As it is standard
aspirations of parents in government, that one would do engineering or
become a doctor, Bikhchandanis elder brother went to IIT and then to IIM
for higher studies.
Bikhchandani took a decision not to go the conventional way and not to
join government service, after seeing his fathers weak financial position.
He told his father that since he wanted independence, he had to do a
business. It was his dream and he followed it.
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5. Azim Premji: Power to Effect Change
Wipro (Western India Products) was run by Premjis father while he was
studying electrical engineering at Stanford University. He took over the
business which manufactured oil, at the age of 21. He expanded Wipro to
include bulbs, shampoo, baby care products and hydraulic cylinders.
Most Decisive Moment:Wipro was advancing at a great pace when IBMwas thrown out of India. Since, it was the only IT Company in India at that
time; a vacuum was created in technology space. Sensing a great
opportunity and integrating his engineering interest, Premji took a leap
from household products to computer hardware. Later Wipro also started
software development. Wipro grew from an oil company to a diversified
conglomerate. Today, Wipro is the largest outsourcing company in India
and its research and development unit is the world largest independent
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group. Wipro became the first Indian company to implement the Six
Sigma program.
6. C K Ranganathan: "I do not want any stake in the property or business"
The MD of CavinKare has shown the world that it is possible to beat the MNCs even in the
most difficult market of fast moving consumer goods. He started his business with only
15,000 which is now worth Rs 500 crore. He learnt his first entrepreneurial lessons from his
father, Chinni Krishnan, who started a small-scale pharmaceutical packaging unit.
Most Decisive Moment: After his fathers death, his brothers took charge of the family
business. He joined them after studies but left in nine months because his ideas clashed with
theirs. Confident of establishing a great business alone, he left his brothers saying, I do not
want any stake in the property or business. At that point he only had 15,000 savings and
knew only two things making shampoo and nurturing pets. It was difficult for him to ride
bicycle after getting used to cars but he was determined. He rented a home for 250 a month
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which also served as his office. He also took another place for factory at 300 per month and
bought a shampoo packing machine for 3000. This marked the birth of CavinKare.
7. Sachin and Binny Bansal: Writing Indian e-commerce Story
The Bansal friends started Flipkart in 2007 which is hailed today as Indias Amazon. Initially
the idea was to make comparison website but there were too less sites to compare, and so
they started Flipkart. Focusing initially on online sales of books, it later expanded to
electronic goods and a variety of other products. Flipkart offers multiple payment methods
like credit card, debit card, net banking, e-gift voucher, and Cash on Delivery.
Most Decisive Moment: Both the founders studied in IIT-Delhi before joining Amazon.
They were drawing big salary, but seeing shortcomings in Indian e-commerce market, they
took a major decision to quit their jobs and start their own company. They built a website and
started tying up with book distributors for the inventory. It took almost 4 months and a
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million flyers to get their first book sold. And today is the situation that more than 6 books
are sold on their website every minute.
8. Deep Kalra: Focusing on the NRIs Exclusively
MakeMyTrip, a portal that Kalra founded in 2000, brought a behavioural change among
Indian travellers. An MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Kalra started MakeMyTrip
in a small office in Okhla, Delhi with the aim to empower Indian traveller with instant
booking and a lot of choices. Today it offers its customers many travel services and products
with international and domestic airline tickets, Indian railways tickets, domestic bus tickets,
international and domestic hotel reservations, car rentals, international and domestic holiday
packages, and much more.
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Most Decisive Moment: For five years, Kalra took a decision which paid the company well.
He decided to not market itself in India but only target the NRIs and the US-India travel
sector. He said, By focusing solely on the NRI market, we managed to conserve precious
marketing dollars while our competitors burned their fingers in a premature online market.
9. Patanjali Keswani:Looking a Year Out in Advance
Keswani, who studied in IIT-Delhi and IIM-Kolkata, realized the huge difference between 5-
star deluxe and guest house accommodation choices in India, while he was working with The
Taj Group of Hotels. He felt that there is a huge shortage of hotel rooms in India.
He purchased a land in Gurgaon with his savings believing that he could run a unique high-
class yet reasonably priced hotel. And in 2002, he launched the first Lemon Tree Hotel with
avision to run a small single hotel which was nationally familiar and a trusted Indian brand
in the hospitality space.
Most Decisive Moment: The major decision he took which wrote the success story ofLemon Tree Hotels was that he opted to design, build and operate all its hotels on its own.
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Whereas, the common approach in Hotel industry is to give management contracts to others
and run franchisees. This resulted in an efficient project construction and cost-effective
operating costs, a reliable customer experience, and better returns for the shareholders.