by Mihir Dalal
IITs ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; Educated engineers ref1
Image Search ref1, ref2
Indian retail market ref1, ref2
Indian-American tech executives ref1
Indiaplaza ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Indiatimes ref1
Infibeam ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; episode ref1, ref2; launch of ref1
Infoedge ref1
Infosys ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
innovations ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12
innovative ref1
Intel ref1
international publishers ref1
internet: businesses ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8; ecosystem of China ref1; entrepreneurs ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; entrepreneurship ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; startups ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13
investors ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13; Flipkart ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15;
iPhones ref1, ref2, ref3
Issacsson, Walter ref1
IT boom ref1, see also internet
IT companies ref1, ref2
Iyyappa, Ambur ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; as human ERP ref1
Jabong ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; to buy ref1; collapse of ref1; investors ref1
Jack Ma ref1, ref2, ref3
Jahagirdar, Rohan ref1
Jambool ref1
JD.com ref1, ref2; valuation of ref1
Jha, Amitesh ref1, ref2, ref3
Jobs, Steve ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Junglee ref1, ref2, ref3
junior managers ref1, ref2, ref3
Kalra, Deep ref1
Karwa, Sandeep ref1, ref2
Khurrana, Ayushmann ref1
Kids Campaign ref1, ref2
Kishore-ji ref1
Kochalka, Jim ref1, ref2
Kochhar, Nitin ref1
Kola, Vani ref1
Krishnamurthy, Kalyan ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; appointment of ref1, ref2, ref3; approach of ref1; back at Tiger Global. ref1; as CEO ref1, ref2; charge of finance and sales ref1; as Head of Categories - Retail ref1; not for books ref1; HR for ref1; influence of ref1; as interim CFO ref1; moved to Flipkart ref1; reappointment of ref1; rejoining Flipkart ref1; removing sales executives ref1; as Sr. Vice President ref1; for as CEO ref1
Krishnamurthy, Saikiran (Saiki) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Kritical Solutions ref1
Kumar, Akshay ref1
Kumar, Anil ref1, ref2, ref3
Kumar, Gagan ref1
Kumar, Sujeet ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15
Kushwaha, Gaurav Singh ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Lafley, A. G. ref1
Lakkapragada, Raghu ref1
Lal, Aditya ref1
Landmark ref1, ref2, ref3
laptops ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
Lawania, Ashutosh ref1
Le Corbusier ref1
leadership coaching ref1, ref2
Lee Fixel ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; and Bansals ref1; to Binny ref1; goals for Nitin ref1; investor in e-commerce ref1; investing Russian firms ref1; with Kalyan ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; to Nitin ref1; with Sachin ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
legal structures ref1, ref2
Lehman Brothers ref1, ref2
Lei Jun ref1, ref2
Lenovo ref1
Lenskart ref1
Letsbuy ref1, ref2; acquisition of ref1
Lewis, Michael ref1, ref2
liberalization ref1, ref2, ref3
logistics ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; of Letsbuy ref1
losses ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10; of Motorola and Xiaomi ref1
Luddite ref1
MacLeod, Hugh ref1, ref2, ref3
Mail.ru ref1
MakeMyTrip ref1, ref2
Makhija, Kapil ref1
Malviya, Amod ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10; ‘two-pizza’ payments team of ref1
management team ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Manber, Udi ref1, ref2
market-changing innovations ref1
marketplace conversion ref1
marquee funds ref1
Matrix Partners ref1
McKinsey ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
McMillon, Doug ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
media coverage ref1
Mehra, Nipun ref1, ref2
Mehta, Vishal ref1, ref2, ref3; for sell Flipkart to infibeam ref1
Micromax ref1, ref2
Microsoft ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
milestones ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Mime360 ref1, ref2
Mitra, Subrata ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Mittal, Alok ref1
Mittal, Maneesh ref1, ref2
Mittal, Sunil Bharti ref1, ref2
mobile phones ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Modi, Narendra ref1, ref2, ref3
‘moonshots’ ref1
Morgan Stanley Investment Management ref1
Moto G phone ref1, ref2, ref3, see also flash sale
Motorola ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Motukuri, Krishna ref1, ref2, ref3
Mu Sigma ref1
Murthy, Mahesh ref1
Murthy, Narayana ref1, ref2, ref3
Myntra ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; become app-only platform ref1; buyout of ref1; as lab rat for Flipkart ref1; shutdown of ref1
Naaptol ref1
Nadella, Satya ref1
Nagori, Ankit ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15
Narayanan, Ananth ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Naspers ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; engagement with ref1; investing in Flipart ref1
National Games Village ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
NEA-Indo US ref1
negative publicity ref1
Nehru ref1, ref2, ref3
Netscape ref1
Nexus Venture Partners ref1, ref2
Nigam, Sameer ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Nijhawan, Uma ref1
Nilekani, Nandan ref1, ref2
no-cost EMI scheme ref1
Novotel ref1
Open Coffee Club ref1
Open Taps ref1
Ordering books online ref1
Orkut ref1
‘Out of Stock’ ref1
outsourced ref1
packaging workers ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Page, Larry ref1
Pandey, Vaibhav ref1, ref2, ref3
Pantaloons ref1
partnership, commercial ref1; with Xiaomi ref1, ref2, see also Motorola
payment gateways ref1, ref2
Paypal ref1, ref2, ref3
Paytm ref1
Penner, Clifford ref1
Penner, Greg ref1, ref2, ref3
Penner, Joyce ref1
‘performance improvement plan’ ref1
performance marketing ref1
phone exchange programme ref1
PhonePe ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; founders of ref1
Pichai, Sundar ref1
pigeonhole method ref1
Ping ref1, ref2
Playing to Win ref1
Poovalingam, Vinoth ref1
Prakash, Prashanth ref1, ref2, ref3
Premji, Azim ref1, ref2
Priyedarshi, Satyarth
ref1
problems ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, see also crisis
Project Shaw ref1
promotions ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
public sector companies ref1
‘purposeful Darwinism’ ref1
Quake ref1, ref2
Rao, Anand ref1, ref2, ref3
Rathi, Anuj ref1, ref2, ref3
Ravichandran, Smrithi ref1
Redbus ref1
RedSeer ref1, ref2
regulatory inquiry ref1
restructuring exercise ref1
retail market ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
returns policy ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; fraud and ref1
Rippel, Oliver ref1
rivals ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; Snapdeal as ref1, see also Amazon
Robertson, Julian ref1
Rocket Internet ref1, ref2
RSS meets Jio ideological world ref1, ref2
Rudapatna, as Flipkart’s ‘Sex Appeal Bringer’ ref1
Rudrapatna, Tapas ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
salaries ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
sales: and customer service ref1; department ref1, ref2; executive ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; Flipkart ref1, ref2, ref3; growth ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13; missing ref1; and operations ref1, ref2, ref3; stagnation ref1; targets ref1, ref2, see also Big Billion Day sale; flash sale
Samsung ref1, ref2, ref3
Sapna bookstore ref1
Sarnoff Corporation ref1
Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie ref1
Sathya bar ref1, ref2
sceptics ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
search engine optimization (SEO) ref1
search engines ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, see also Google
self-sustaining business ref1
seller count ref1
senior engineers ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
senior executives ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Sequoia Capital ref1, ref2
service. See customer service
Seth, Nitin ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; as Chief Operating Officer ref1; removal of ref1
Sethi, Sudhir ref1
Shah, Niren ref1
Shaktipeeth, Headquarter at Bangalore as ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Shanghvi, Dilip ref1
Sharma, Varun ref1
Shockley, William ref1
Shopclues ref1, ref2
shoppers ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
shopping festival ref1, see also Big Billion Day sale; festival season sales
shopping on mobile ref1; see also app-only platform
shortages ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Silicon Valley ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8; entrepreneurs ref1
Singh, Amarinder ref1
Singh, Karandeep ref1, ref2, ref3
Singh, Manmohan ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Singh, Shailendra ref1
Singla, Ram ref1, ref2
Singles Day ref1, ref2
Six Sigma ref1
slowdown ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
smartphone business ref1, ref2; new strategy for ref1; price war ref1
smartphone-makers ref1, see also Motorola; Xiaomi phones
smartphones ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, see also Moto G phone; Xiaomi phones
Snapdeal ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; apps ref1; business loss of ref1; cash reserves ref1; as The Cat With Nine Lives ref1; sale offer of ref1; sales ref1; shareholders ref1; smartphone sales ref1
social media promotions ref1
social networks ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Sofina ref1
SoftBank funding ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
SoftBank Group ref1
Son, Masayoshi ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Soni, Punit ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Soota, Ashok ref1
Souq.com ref1
special incentives ref1
Srinivasan, Karthik ref1
startups: ecosystem ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; Indian ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10; Indian e-commerce ref1, ref2
S-team ref1
stellar founding team ref1
Stone, Brad ref1, ref2, ref3
Subandh, Samardeep (Samar) ref1, ref2
Subramanian, Vijay ref1, ref2, ref3
Sujan, Suvir ref1
supply chain system ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
survival ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Swaroop, Prayank ref1
Tata, Jamsetji ref1
Tavant Technologies ref1, ref2, ref3
tech systems, crashing of ref1
tech utopias ref1
technology ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; companies ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11; entrepreneurship ref1; infrastructure ref1; team ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Techspan ref1, ref2, ref3
television advertising campaign, first ref1
Tencent ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Terry, Marcus ref1, ref2
Texas Instruments ref1
360-degree feedback ref1
3i ref1
Thiel, Peter ref1
third-party sellers ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, see also distributors under book; vendors
Tiger Global ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15
‘The Wizard of Wall Street’ ref1
Tradus ref1
Trilogy Software ref1, ref2
Tsai, Joseph ref1
Uber ref1, ref2
Udaan ref1
uGenie (comparison-shopping website) ref1, ref2
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ref1
uniform corporate culture ref1, ref2
UnPluggd ref1
valuation ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; of Flipkart ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Van den Berghe, Dirk ref1, ref2
Varadarajan, Mohan ref1
vendors ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, see also book distributors
venture: capital ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; capitalists ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13; funds ref1, ref2; lords ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
video games ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Vijay, Bharat ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Visvesvaraya, M. ref1
volatility ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Voonik ref1
Vora, Ravi ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Vulcan Capital Management ref1
Wadiyar IV, Krishna Raja ref1
Walmart ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8; increasing investments in US ref1
Walton, Carrie ref1
Walton, Sam ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
war with Amazon ref1, ref2, ref3, see also rivals
warehouses ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8; renting ref1
warehousing systems ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5; of Letsbuy ref1
website of Flipkart ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Welch, Jack ref1
WeRead ref1
Wipro ref1, ref2
Wood, John ref1
work culture ref1, ref2, ref3
working capital ref1, ref2, see also capital
World Is Flat, The ref1, ref2
Wozniak, Steve ref1
WS Retail Services ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Xiaomi partne
rship ref1, ref2
Xiaomi phones ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Yadav, Ajay Veer ref1
Yahoo India ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Yang, Jerry ref1
Zero to One ref1
Zuckerberg, Mark ref1, ref2
About the Author
Mihir Dalal is a journalist with Mint, from where he has covered Flipkart and other internet businesses for more than five years.
He previously worked at Reuters and CNBC TV18. Mihir was born and brought up in Bombay and currently lives in Bangalore, where he has spent most of his professional life. Big Billion Startup is his first book.
First published 2019 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2019 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan Publishing India Private Limited
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www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-4155-2
Copyright © Mihir Dalal 2019
Cover Design © Haitenlo Semy
The views expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts reported by him have been verified by the publisher to the extent possible. The publisher hereby disclaims any liability to any party for loss, damages or disruptions caused by the same.
The right of Mihir Dalal to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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