How MakeMyTrip overcame turbulence: Deep Kalra on his start-up journey

According to founder

Deep Kalra

, the philosophy that drives

MakeMyTrip

is simple: To take the hassle out of travel through technology and put choice in the hands of consumers. “Self-belief and an unrelenting focus on

innovation

have been the building blocks of MakeMyTrip and continue to inspire us to this day,” says Kalra, who launched the company in 2000 with an India website, and a US one meant for NRIs traveling to India to visit family and friends.

‘One of our toughest periods’

The MakeMyTrip story began with a backing of $2 million from eVentures. However, between 2001 and 2003, both the euphoria and funding proved short-lived as we soon found ourselves in the middle of the dotcom bust. The second promised tranche did not come through as our fund shut shop. Post the dotcom crash and 9/11, there was virtually no appetite for a B2C (business-to-consumer) internet play, that too in travel. To make matters worse, the outbreak of SARS had a direct impact on the travel business. Funding was anyway hard to come by, and at one point we were advised to shut down.

Dealing with turbulence

The choice, then, was either to wind down and go back to the corporate world or somehow muster further investment. So, I invested all my personal savings, took money from angel investors, right-sized the business and focused on turning it profitable. This helped us run a tight ship. I think what this period showed us was how unpredictable things could get despite the most thorough planning and robust forecasts. Success was determined by the ability to think on our feet, and not give in to panic. And for the next 18 months, we worked on a boot-strapped model, and turned profitable in 2003.

All clear for takeoff

Online travel was one of the first segments to take off in e-commerce but it took us five long years from conceptualisation till the market was ready to book online (contrast that with the sheer number

of new online categories and brands that customers engage with today!). After consolidating our position in the market, as a brand recognised for its reliability and transparency, MakeMyTrip followed its success in the US by relaun-ching its India operations in 2005.

Cruising at altitude

Over the years, the company has heralded a revolution in the way travel is purchased in India, empowering customers by offering them choice and convenience. I am proud to say that we enjoy great top-of-the-mind recall and are synonymous with online travel in India. We enjoyed our blockbuster years between 2006 and 2010 when MakeMyTrip went through an exciting high-growth phase. Today, MakeMyTrip is much more than a travel company and one of the first few Indian tech companies to have been listed on NASDAQ — a big milestone for us.

‘Best yet to come’

I have always believed that you might regret the things you don’t do in life, not the things you do. I am glad that I persevered through the rough patches and I can say that it has been an incredible journey so far, but the best is yet to come.