Born in 1963 – Sanjeev Bikhchandani is the Founder and now the Executive Chairman of Info Edge, one of the most dependable Internet Ventures in India and the proprietor of Naukri.Com India’s largest job portal. It is likewise recognised to be the primary Internet Company to list on the Indian stock exchanges.
Other than that; Info Edge additionally owns internet websites like Jeevansathi.Com, 99acres.Com, Brijj.Com, Naukrigulf.Com, Shiksha.Com, Quadrangle and Firstnaukri.Com as well.
Additionally, Info Edge additionally holds a prime stake in various companies consisting of – Zomato Media Private Limited (www.Zomato.Com), Applect Learning Systems Private Limited (www.Meritnation.Com), Etechaces Marketing and Consulting Private Limited (www.Policybazaar.Com), Kinobeo Software Private Limited (www.Mydala.Com), Happily Unmarried Marketing Private Limited (www.Happilyunmarried.Com), Canvera Digital Technologies Private Limited (www.Canvera.Com) and Mint Bird technologies Private Limited (www.Vacationlabs.Com).
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A frequent speaker at conferences and enterprise schools, Board Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) in Delhi and a member of the Global Board of Trustees of The Indus Entrepreneurs; for my part, Sanjeev holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management and Entrepreneurship from the celebrated Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
The Unfulfilling Day-Job Life!
Sanjeev belonged to a everyday middle-magnificence family, wherein his father was a doctor at a government hospital and not using a “below-the-table” income, and his mother changed into a housewife.
Even after being a Sindhi, he had truely no relation to commercial enterprise or businessmen. Being brought up in authorities colonies, he become always advised that if he desired to acquire some thing in existence, he's going to need to take a look at as tough as he may want to. And that’s what he did.
But one element turned into very clean to him and so become his dream as well, to bypass out of university, work for a few years, and then begin something of his personal. What? How? Where? He wasn’t positive! But one issue was certain, that he desired to get onto the Business wagon.
So following the plan, after finishing his Bachelors of Arts with specialization in Economics, he joined Lintas as an Accounts Executive in 1984.
He worked there for 3 years, after which he moved to Ahmedabad to pursue his PGDM from Indian Institute of Management in 1987. Later, he become hired by Hindustan MilkFood Manufacturers (HMM) that is now referred to as GlaxoSmithKline as their Product Executive in 1989. He changed into given to address the advertising of Horlicks.
Now despite the fact that he had a secured and first rate paying task, however this virtually did no longer justify his expertise or fulfilled the reason of analyzing so difficult. Clearly, he desired independence from this monotonous lifestyles, and desired to do something that became greater significant, extra pleasing, and it clearly needed to be a business.
So after operating for a 12 months, he give up and in 1990 commenced agencies Indmark and Info Edge (India).
The Chronicles Of Entrepreneurship!
It all commenced in 1990! Sanjeev had cease his lucrative control job at Glaxo Smithkline which used to pay him a salary of Rs.8,000 / month (which became outstanding back then). According to him, the first 10 years due to the fact that he left the process changed into the most hard phase.
He became very lucky to have a wife like Surbhi, who took care of the family through operating for Nestle, while he wasn’t working. He had met her in the course of his IIM days, she became a co-pupil.
As a count number of truth he had very explicitly told her that, he could quickly be quitting his job to attempt his hands on entrepreneurship and that she might have to attend to the charges. And she became great with it.
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Heck. More importantly, he turned into cool with it too! You see, it isn't always clean for a man to position apart his ego and stay on his wife’s revenue. But he knew what it'd take to emerge as an entrepreneur. He didn’t care about what the neighbours, relatives, the society could reflect onconsideration on him. He simply had one clean agenda in thoughts.
The Early Days
In 1990, Sanjeev in conjunction with a Co-founder started out corporations; Indmark and Info Edge. Indmark became approximately database of emblems on which they did searches, while Info Edge was about earnings surveys.
In their initial days, they used to operate from the servant’s quarters at home and used to pay his father Rs.800 as monthly hire.
While at Info Edge, they in general used to deal in access stage salary surveys consisting of what agencies have been presenting MBAs and Engineers at the entry level. They used to put together a popular document and promote it to round one hundred-200 groups for Rs.5,000.
And at Indmark, they used to carry out change mark searches. The authorities used to take 5 years to approve or reject a hallmark utility returned then. It method, in case you follow for an software for a Brand call you had thought of and had all started the use of today, the authorities could probably reject it (if a person else turned into the use of the name) five years later while you had emerge as established.
Now his accomplice had noticed that the exchange mark registry in Bombay had a library that changed into open to public inspection, wherein you may see pending trade mark programs. So they used to ship in 20 university students to get out all information filed below prescription drugs in all 134 classes.
Later, they positioned all this data on a laptop, wrote a software to look the data after which used to name pharmaceutical groups (5,000 of them), and provide a printed seek record for just Rs. 350.
Additionally, Sanjeev used to train control at various places just like the Times School of Marketing, IMT, IMS education instructions, and so on over the weekends to earn around Rs. 2,000 a month to fulfill his non-public fees!
In 1991, The Department of Telecom had introduced that it was looking for non-public information vendors to launch a video textual content provider. They wanted someone who might very own and hold the databases, and would no longer rate them whatever. But whilst the consumer could pay, the revenue might be split.
Their software changed into shortlisted from round 30 to forty humans and stated that they would get again to them when they had been equipped for implementation, however to their tough good fortune, the task changed into cancelled. But they already had the database prepared, and didn’t realize what to do with it.
They tried a whole lot of ideas, however for a few cause or the other, they did now not paintings, and the database changed into filed and put aside.
Later in 1993, Sanjeev and his companion determine to component ways, and each associate kept one employer, half of the employees and property. Sanjeev were given Info Edge along side the database.
The Entry Of Naukri.Com!
Due to the partition, the whole lot went back to scratch. Sanjeev moved again to the servant’s quarters and over the next three years, saved his expenses low and made a few cash.
He also took up a task as a Consulting Editor of The Pioneer’s profession supplement called Avenues, and ran their careers dietary supplements for the next 4 years.
Internet had now begun to come back to India. In October 1996, he took place to attend the annual event of IT Asia exhibition in Delhi, and came throughout one stall with ‘WWW’ written on it.
Upon asking, he was explained that, it became the World Wide Web and that it become internet.
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He become a store, reselling VSNL e mail money owed. So he also gave a demo of what exactly e mail money owed have been, and their potential. He further browsed the net, confirmed and also defined its functioning; a whole lot of records.
The truth that, 14,000 (simply) people had been using internet that time, gave him a extraordinary idea. During his days at HMM, Sanjeev had noticed that his colleagues (and corporations too) used to frequently flip via Business India, a main commercial enterprise magazine of that point, to test out the 35 to forty pages of appointment commercials that the magazine displayed. Not because they were unhappy about their jobs, but just to preserve their weapons loaded. They actually used to read the mag lower back to front.
That is when he realised that human beings had no one source for process advertisements.
Hence, he requested the store, if he ought to setup a website for him or a way to pass about it. But because all the servers have been US-based totally and web sites should most effective be developed there returned then, he couldn’t.
He quick referred to as his brother, who become a professor on the UCLA enterprise college, and defined that he desired to begin a website and wanted his help to rent a server, however didn’t have the capital for it and might pay him later.
He agreed. And in return, as a goodwill gesture, Sanjeev gave his brother a 5% stake in Naukri.Com for paying $25 / month lease for the server.
In addition to that; he also referred to as-in Anil Lall and shelled out eight-9% for studying net-programming and doing it and V N Saroja nine% for going for walks the enterprise.
And subsequently began Naukri.Com!
The Rise Of Naukri.Com!
Now that Naukri turned into started, he concept of bringing the forgotten database idea that he had concept of, to use.
This changed into the time when the recession of the mid-Nineties turned into going on, and was an appropriate time to attain out to the humans. Together, the group started out combing 29 newspapers to construct it up the database.
In 1997, they released Naukri.Com with 1,000 advertisements taken out of diverse magazines. It was a database of resume, jobs and recruitment consultants. It was estimated to be a platform in which jobseekers and hiring managers searched met.
Unlike rediff.Com, Khoj and Samachar who had been targeting Indians in the US; they were the first web page that changed into concentrated on Indians in India. The web page was very fundamental. Internet had simply reached India, because of which for the first six months they barely had any Internet connection.
Luckily, at some stage in the equal time, journalists in India had additionally begun to jot down about Internet and were seeking out Indian examples to talk approximately. And guess who will be the satisfactory instance?
So in addition they started receiving large coverage, due to which they didn’t have to spend whatever on advertising themselves, and started receiving exceptional site visitors.
The revenue surveys which they have been nevertheless doing helped them naked the charges. In the primary 12 months, Naukri Rs.2.35 lakhs of enterprise, even when eighty% of the roles have been free. The 2nd year, the discern jumped straight to Rs.18 lakhs. This is when the VCs commenced calling Sanjeev, but Bikhchandani turned all of them down.
But soon Sanjeev observed that fully loaded and funded competition turned into on its way, and he could also want to be an similarly robust competitor or else, he could be crushed right away.
That is when he decided to get within the challenge capitalists and Naukri obtained Rs.7.3 crores from ICICI Ventures in go back for 15% stake within the enterprise in 2000.
Since then there was no looking again for them!
In 2004; the organization earned Rs.45 crores, all from clean commercials and booked profits worth Rs. Eight.Four crores.
In 2006, it have become India’s first Dotcom Company to get indexed at the Bombay & National Stock Exchanges in 2006.
In 2012, Naukri entered into the Mobile global and released their first Mobile App for Smartphone customers designed for Blackberry, Android and iPhone devices. Due to this modification, extra than 1/2 of visitors inflow now came about through Apps and Mobile sites.
And nowadays, Naukri.Com with a database of approximately 37 Million+ registered activity seekers, controls almost 70% of the online process market traffic proportion.
Additionally, Info Edge – the parent corporation of Naukri.Com, also owns web websites like Jeevansathi.Com, 99acres.Com, Brijj.Com, Naukrigulf.Com, Shiksha.Com, Quadrangle and Firstnaukri.Com as properly.
Additionally, Info Edge also holds a chief stake in various agencies which include – Zomato Media Private Limited (www.Zomato.Com), Applect Learning Systems Private Limited (www.Meritnation.Com), Etechaces Marketing and Consulting Private Limited (www.Policybazaar.Com), Kinobeo Software Private Limited (www.Mydala.Com), Happily Unmarried Marketing Private Limited (www.Happilyunmarried.Com), Canvera Digital Technologies Private Limited (www.Canvera.Com) and Mint Bird technology Private Limited (www.Vacationlabs.Com).
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Achievements
- Received the Best Website of the Year award by Metrixlab (2014)
- Naukri.Com became recognized because the best labeled website at the 2nd edition of the India Digital Awards organized by the IAMAI (2012)
- Sanjeev won the “Ernst and Young – Entrepreneur of the Year” award (2008)
- Received the “Red Herring Asia a hundred″ award (2006)
