We must have come across a lot of success stories of Indian entrepreneur and the inspirational story of Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani is one that will drive you a lot.
Sanjeev is the founder of Naukri.com – which is now an India’s Biggest Online Job Portal. Let’s find out how Sanjeev quit a secure MNC job and founded Naukri.com.
We are also going to talk about a company that has revolutionized the lives of millions of young people in India. He has also been awarded the Padma Shri in 2020.
How this Indian Entrepreneur got the idea of India’s Biggest Online Job Portal?
Who is Sanjeev Bikhchandani
He grew in a middle-class family. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a doctor at a government hospital.
When Sanjeev Bikhchandani was studying, he felt that he should do something big. He wanted to work for a while after finishing college and then do some big work. But what to do?
He had no idea about it. Sanjeev did a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with a specialization in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. Sanjeev took a job as an Accounts Executive at Lintas in 1984 and worked for three years.
He left his job in 1987 and went to Ahmedabad to pursue his PGDM. In 1989, he completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad).
Sanjeev got a job at GlaxoSmithKline as a product executive at a campus placement event in 1989. The company was then known as Hindustan Milkfood Manufacturers (HMM).
His job was going well. Even as he had a well-paying job, Sanjeev did not satisfy with his secure job. He wanted to do business.
One day after a year of work, Sanjeev Bikchandani quit his well-paying and secure job.
Expenses run from the wife’s salary
During the job he was getting 8,000 rupees a month. 8000 rupees a month was not less at all in 1990. He spoke to his wife Surabhi before leaving the job that “Now your salary will cover the cost of the house, because I am leaving my job and going to work.
At one time the house was run on his wife’s salary and then Sanjeev started his business from a small room. Surabhi was also studying in Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad).
Entrepreneurial Journey
Sanjeev Bikchandani started work from his small room, for which he also paid rent to his father. In 1990, he set up two companies with a friend named Info Edge (India) and Indmark.
The main function of Infos was to conduct salary related surveys. Infos initially surveyed which companies pay MBAs and engineers how much at the entry level. They made such detailed reports and sold them to different companies.
The two separated in 1993 after working together for three years. Since earning in the early days was not enough to save, Sanjeev went to many institutions and gave coaching classes.
Out of these classes, he was able to earn around Rs.2000 per month so that he could meet his expenses.
Had to return to the room
After the two partners separated, Sanjeev Bikchandani had to return to the same room where he started his work. He reduced his expenses. To cover his expenses, he got a job as a consulting editor in a company. Here he spent about 4 years.
Came the idea of naukari.com
It was October 1996. The IT Asia exhibition was underway in Delhi. Sanjeev got there. His eye fell on a stall where WWW was written. Sanjeev reached the stall and inquired that VSNL’s e-mail account was being sold.
When asked by Sanjeev, the seller said what is e-mail and how is it used. After this, he also did some browsing on the internet and showed how much information can be found on the internet from around the world.
Sanjeev Bikchandani had this opportunity to click this idea in his mind. Sanjeev asked the e-mail seller to create a website for him. The retailer said that since all the servers were in the US, it could not create a website for them.
It is said that when you desire something from your heart, the whole universe is busy bringing it to you.
Something similar happened with Sanjeev Bikhchandani. His older brother was a professor at a business school in the United States.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani immediately called him and said that he wanted to start a website that needed a server. The server rent was $ 25 a month at the time, which his brothers were now going to pay.
Launch of Naukari.com
In the mid-90s, the recession began. People were losing their jobs. Sanjeev Bikhchandani felt that this was the right time to launch. He created databases from several magazines and various newspapers.
In 1997, Sanjeev Bikhchandani launched Naukri.com with 1,000 ads which were picked from various classified ads and magazines. In fact, it was a database of recruitment consultants, resume, and jobs.
Earlier, all online platforms were targeting Indians living in the US. Naukri.com was the first portal of its kind, targeting only Indians in India. Sanjeev Bikhchandani did not spend anything for promotion.
Business funding
In the first year, Naukri.com did business for only Rs 2.5 lakh, while 80 per cent of the jobs were available for free.
It jumped straight to Rs.18 lakhs in the following year. Therefore, people started calling Sanjeev Bikchandani for funds. But not willing to take funding, he felt the company was doing well even without funding.
But soon Sanjeev Bikhchandani felt that without funding it would not work. In 2000, he borrowed Rs 7.3 crore from ICICI Ventures and in return gave a 15% stake.
In 2004, the company lift as booked profits worth Rs. 8.4 crores and it earned Rs.45 crores from fresh ads.
He was nominated as a finalist for “Ernst and Young – Entrepreneur of the Year” award in 2005.
Became India’s first Dotcom Company
In 2006, Naukri.com became India’s first Dotcom Company to get marked on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) & National Stock Exchange (NSE). Today, Infos is valued at over Rs 85,760 crore.
Info Edge also owns some of the popular websites like Brijj.com, Jeevansathi.com, Naukrigulf.com, 99acres.com, Shiksha.com, Quadrangle and Firstnaukri.com as well.
Not only that, the company has also invested in many other big companies like Vacation Labs, Zomato, Upliftment and PolicyBazaar etc.
Launched first Mobile App
In 2012, Naukri.com launched their first Mobile App for Smartphone users- iPhone, Blackberry, and Android devices. Due to this, more than half of visitor’s inflow now happened through Mobile Apps and Mobile websites.
And today, Naukri.com controls almost 70% of the online job market traffic share. The company has a massive database of more than 37 Million registered job seekers.