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Vijay Shekhar Sharma — Borrowed ₹10 for a Train Ticket, Now Runs a $5 Billion Payments Bank
StartupsJun 8, 2026

Vijay Shekhar Sharma — Borrowed ₹10 for a Train Ticket, Now Runs a $5 Billion Payments Bank

In 1997, Vijay Shekhar Sharma borrowed ₹10 from a friend to buy a train ticket to Delhi. He had no money, no connections, and no degree (he had dropped out of engineering). He started a content company, then pivoted to mobile payments, and built Paytm, India’s largest digital payments platform, with over 350 million users. This article traces his roller-coaster journey: the IPO disaster (stock crashed 80%), the banking license, the battle with Google over app billing, and his relentless focus on financial inclusion. Vijay’s story is a reminder that entrepreneurship is about surviving humiliation and coming back stronger.

Sahil Barua — One Scooter, One Delivery Boy — Now India's Largest Logistics Network
StartupsJun 8, 2026

Sahil Barua — One Scooter, One Delivery Boy — Now India's Largest Logistics Network

In 2011, Sahil Barua was a management consultant at Bain & Company in Delhi. He noticed that moving goods within a city was a nightmare — no reliable, tech-enabled service. Couriers were slow, expensive, and untrackable. So he quit his job, bought a scooter, and started Delhivery as a courier service between two Delhi neighborhoods. Today, Delhivery is India’s largest integrated logistics provider, serving 18,000+ pin codes, valued at over $3 billion post-IPO. This article traces how Sahil built a network of 60+ fulfillment centers, 11,000+ partner vehicles, and an AI-powered routing engine. We also analyze how Delhivery survived the pandemic, the competition from Amazon and Flipkart’s in-house logistics, and its path to profitability.

Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal — From a Failed Startup to India’s Most Successful Angel Investors
StartupsJun 8, 2026

Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal — From a Failed Startup to India’s Most Successful Angel Investors

In 2007, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal returned from the US with dreams of building an e-commerce business. Their first venture, a social network for buying and selling, failed. Then they noticed that people loved discounts. So they built Snapdeal — India’s third-largest e-commerce platform at its peak, valued at $6.5 billion. But the Amazon-Flipkart war crushed them. Instead of giving up, Kunal and Rohit pivoted the company into a fintech and SaaS platform called Titan Capital. They used their experience to become some of India’s most successful angel investors, backing over 200 startups including Unacademy, Ola, Razorpay, and Mamaearth. This article traces the rise, fall, and reinvention of these Delhi-based entrepreneurs. We analyze what went wrong at Snapdeal (over-hiring, over-spending, losing focus) and how Kunal and Rohit turned their losses into one of the most influential angel networks in the country.

Deepinder Goyal & Pankaj Chaddah — A Bored Office Lunch That Became a $10 Billion Food Delivery Giant
StartupsJun 8, 2026

Deepinder Goyal & Pankaj Chaddah — A Bored Office Lunch That Became a $10 Billion Food Delivery Giant

In 2008, Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah were management consultants at Bain & Company in Delhi. Their office cafeteria served the same boring food every day. So they scanned menus from local restaurants, uploaded them on a simple website, and asked colleagues to order collectively. That side project became Zomato. Today, Zomato is India’s largest food delivery and restaurant discovery platform, recently turned profitable, and has expanded to 20+ countries. This article traces Zomato’s pivot from a menu-aggregator to a delivery giant, its acquisition of Blinkit (quick commerce), its viral IPO, and its journey to profitability. We also analyze how the company navigated the “deep discounting” war with Swiggy and the changing economics of food delivery.

Bhavish Aggarwal — Thrown Out of a Taxi at Midnight, He Built a $7 Billion Mobility Empire
StartupsJun 8, 2026

Bhavish Aggarwal — Thrown Out of a Taxi at Midnight, He Built a $7 Billion Mobility Empire

Excerpt: In 2010, Bhavish Aggarwal was returning from a work trip when his cab driver forced him to get off on a highway because the driver wanted to go home. Stranded at midnight with no other transport, Bhavish realized that India’s taxi system was broken — no reliability, no accountability, no customer power. That night, he decided to build Ola Cabs. Today, Ola is India’s largest ride-hailing platform with over 200 million users, and has expanded into electric vehicles (Ola Electric), which is now a public company valued at over $4 billion. This research article traces Ola’s battle with Uber, its controversial shutdown of hundreds of drivers’ accounts during a surge in competition, its pivot to EVs, and its IPO journey. We also analyze Bhavish’s aggressive, “take no prisoners” leadership style and his vision of making India a global EV hub.

Ritesh Agarwal — The Teenager Who Slept on a Friend’s Bed and Built a $9 Billion Hotel Chain
StartupsJun 8, 2026

Ritesh Agarwal — The Teenager Who Slept on a Friend’s Bed and Built a $9 Billion Hotel Chain

At 17, Ritesh Agarwal landed in Delhi with ₹20,000 in his pocket and no place to stay. He crashed on a friend’s single bed in a cramped hostel dorm. That uncomfortable night sparked an idea: millions of young Indians needed safe, affordable, and predictable accommodation. He dropped out of college, started OYO Rooms, and turned it into India’s largest hospitality chain, valued at over $9 billion at its peak, operating in 80+ countries. This article traces Ritesh’s journey from a small-town Odisha boy to Asia’s youngest self-made billionaire. We analyze OYO’s asset-light franchise model, its aggressive expansion, the near-collapse during COVID, and its painful but necessary pivot to profitability. The story of OYO is a lesson in audacity, crisis management, and the high cost of hyper-growth.

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