Sanjeev Bikhchandani: The Growth Playbook from India's Startup Pioneer

There are very few people who have genuinely shaped how India works, loves, and learns, all from one desk and one stubborn belief that the internet would matter before most people knew what a server was.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani is the Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Info Edge, the company behind Naukri.com, 99acres, Jeevansathi, and Shiksha. Beyond building Info Edge into one of India's most valuable internet companies, he made two of the most consequential early bets in Indian startup history, backing Zomato and PolicyBazaar long before either was obvious. He is also a co-founder of Ashoka University and one of the most active mentors in the Indian startup ecosystem, which is why he is often described as a father figure of the country's startup movement.

Background – education and career

Sanjeev studied Economics at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He worked briefly at Glaxo before leaving a stable corporate job to start out on his own in 1990, running early ventures from a servant's quarter with borrowed resources. Naukri.com launched in 1997, well before India had meaningful internet penetration, and Info Edge went public in 2006 in what became a landmark listing for Indian internet businesses. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020.

3 key takeaways from the episode

Being early is a strategy, not an accident. Sanjeev launched a jobs portal in a country that barely had internet access, and the patience that required is the actual lesson.
Founders back founders. His investment thesis has consistently been about people and conviction rather than spreadsheets.
Building institutions outlasts building companies. His work with Ashoka University reflects a longer view of what an entrepreneur can leave behind.

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