Building India’s Amazon: Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal (Part 2)

Sramana: Why did you decide to write a comparative shopping engine?

Sachin Bansal: They were a big thing in the U.S. but there were not any in India. We started doing some market research. We found that there were almost no other sites to compare against. Rearden Commerce was the only company that had any real offerings in India, but it was not really doing a good job. We concluded that comparative shopping in India would probably be a bad thing because there was no user market. >>>

Next 1M/1M Strategy Roundtable For Entrepreneurs With TiE Austin On October 7

TiE Austin is co-hosting the next FREE online 1M/1M strategy roundtable for entrepreneurs, so TiE members from Texas will be given the first priority to pitch. The roundtable will begin at: 11 a.m. EDT/10 a.m. CDT/8 a.m. PDT/8:30 p.m. IST on Thursday, October 7, 2010.  Please join us and let other entrepreneurs know. You can find more details and register here. All are welcome!

Building India’s Amazon: Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

[Also check out my Entrepreneur Journeys book, Seed India – How To Navigate The Seed Capital Gap in India]

I first learned about Flipkart when I discovered that Flipkart is the only e-commerce company in India that is selling my books online. Subsequently, they became the only company in India to sell all five of my books, since I have chosen not to sell the publishing rights to Vision India 2020, Entrepreneur Journeys Volume Three: How To Test, Validate and Bring Your Idea to Market, and Entrepreneur Journeys Volume Four: Innovation, Need Of The Hour to my original publisher, Hachette India, because they offered me horrible terms.

Today, it is my pleasure to bring you our next Entrepreneur Journeys story, a conversation with Sachin Bansal, one of the pioneers in e-commerce. Sachin and his partner Binny are working on building India’s Amazon.

Sramana: Sachin, let’s begin by exploring the genesis of your story. What is your background?

Sachin Bansal: I am originally from Chandigarh, which is the capital of Punjab. My business partner, Binny, is also from Chandigarh. We are not related in any way, it just happens to be a coincidence that we are now working on Flipkart together. We both grew up in Chandigarh and went to the same schools yet did not know each other well. >>>

Catching Up On Readings: Entrepreneurship On The Airwaves

This week, I talked with about Entrepreneur Journeys on BlogTalkRadio, and Devon Glenn wrote an article about the free weekly roundtables for Mediabistro’s mbStartups, Before You Pitch An Investor Pitch Here. Click on the full article to read the rest of this week’s posts. >>>

9.4M Dollars In Concept Financing To 100M In Bookings: Palo Alto Networks Founder Nir Zuk (Part 7)

Sramana: Today, does Palo Alto Networks still sell just one product?

Nir Zuk: Yes, although we have added a lot of features to it. We have mid-range and low-end platforms. >>>

Partner Events

Tech Coast Angels – October 4, 2010
Vancouver BC Startup Weekend – October 8–10, 2010
NASSCOM Product Conclave 2010, Bangalore – November 10–11, 2010

Tech Coast Angels – October 4, 2010
Tech Coast Angels is hosting an online program, “Meet The Angels: Empowering Startup Women And Advice From Two CEOs Who Have Done It!” on Monday, October 4, 2010, starting at 5 p.m. Pacific time.  Find more details and REGISTER HERE.

Vancouver BC Startup Weekend – October 8–10, 2010
The first ever Vancouver BC Startup Weekend. Taking place at Bootup Labs in downtown Vancouver, this 54-hour event will end with new ventures created from ideas of the weekend. Find more details and REGISTER HERE.

NASSCOM Product Conclave 2010, Bangalore – November 10–11, 2010
The NASSCOM Product Conclave brings the cream of the software product industry in India together under one roof to look ahead at the evolving cloudscape and the next set of challenges. Find more details and REGISTER HERE.

Before You Pitch An Investor, Pitch Here

Devon Glenn with Mediabistro’s mbStartups recently discussed 1M/1M and the roundtables with Sramana Mitra for her article, Before You Pitch An Investor, Pitch Here. You can read the entire article here.

Bootstrapping Discussed On BlogTalkRadio

Kenneth Darryl Brown recently discussed Sramana Mitra’s book Bootstrapping: Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction with her on BlogTalkRadio’s The Passionate Entrepreneur!  You can listen to the entire interview here.