The Dream Merchant

There are some people who take the easier, tried and tested path. And there
are others who pursue their dreams fighting against all odds. Whether or not
their dreams will help them make it big is not important to them. What is of
more significance is the constant perseverance of sticking to what they believe
in. Some give up in the struggle, but there is a rare breed who persevere and
makes it big. Anybody who has met and known Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the owner and
founder of the job portal Naukri.com can vouch for the fact that he falls in the
latter category. No wonder, it is this very characteristic in his personality
which clearly clinches the DQ Pathbreaker Award, 2008, in his favor.

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Bikhchandani is full of ideas and energy.
Even today, after 10 years of launching Naukri.com, Bikhchandani talks about it
with a child-like enthusiasm, which compels one to think that he is as
passionate about it as he probably was 10 years back, also that it is a
project closest to his heart.

His success story is simple, and yet it hasnt struck many people that
Bikhchandani easily qualifies as Indias very few young Internet entrepreneurs,
at the age of 45, who has not only withstood the test of time by establishing a
very successful online business model, but by also creating an unmatched
mindshare among Web users looking for jobs. There is no way you can skip
Naukri.com when you are job hunting. It is almost a synonym for jobs, and more
jobs.

And all this hasnt come easy. Ups and downs, he has seen it all, and
survived as well. He quit his job, went without salary for close to three years,
working out from a servants quarter, and was virtually living on his wife
Surabhi Bikhchandanis salary support, survived the dotcom bust, and so on.

His friend and batch mate from IIM Ahemdabad, Rahul Bhasin, recalls, Today
we see Sanjeev as a successful man, but not many know that there is almost a
decade of slogging which has gone into it. He has created the company (Info
Edge) brick by brick, piece by piece. Its a labor of love.

It all started when he was struck with the idea of creating a job database in
1990. The battle wasnt won still, it took seven years for the idea to evolve.
I was clear that I wanted to run my own business, and didnt want to do a
nine-to-five job, Bikhchandani points out.

It was at HMM, where he worked for one and a half years, that he noticed
people reading Business India from the back page front. Simply because that was
the appointments section! Thats when he realized that jobs are of a high
interest category and people are always thinking about their careers, and
scanning job ads even if they are not looking for them. Add to that the calls
his colleagues at HMM would get almost every other day for jobs that werent
advertised. He figured out that there is something he could do about it, but
wasnt clear how he would go about it.

Bikhchandani quit his se job at HMM, and started his own company Info Edge.
Those seven years, from 1990 till I launched Naukri werent easy. Some were
good years, some were bad, recalls Bikhchandani.

The company primarily did salary surveys and reports, database management
work and consultancy. It was in 1992, when the Department of Telecom came out
with an advertisement which invited private information providers for Videotex,
a service where people would pay for accessing information stored on a central
server. Naukri was short-listed but unfortunately the project was shelved, and
so was the idea.

After that it took Bikhchandani four years, before he came into contact with
the Internet. He saw it for the first time at an exhibition at IT Asia in
1996. And the rest, as they say, is history. The site was launched in April
1997. The first year we just made some two and a half lakh rupees. Soon, things
were caught up with the dotcom frenzy.

We made losses for almost two yearsup to Rs 25 lakh every month, and the
worst part was that we did not know when it would end, Recalls Bikhchandani.
Thats what pushed the company to go for the venture capital in 1999. Increasing
competition from other job sites was another reason. In April 2006 Bikhchandani
went ahead with an IPO too, which made Info Edge and Naukri the first Indian
website to list on Indian stock exchange.

At the time of the dotcom bust, there was no question of closing it down.
That he was clear. Today it is one of the very few websites which survived the
bust. He points out that the reason for the success of Naukri was largely
because of a lot of other people who worked for us. Some of them have
contributed more than I have.

Interestingly, the jury for the DQ Pathbreaker Award 2008 too recognized that
Bikhchandani has not just created a global brand, but has also been able to
create, retain and maintain a great team. If you look at Info Edge today, it
has come up very well. As professionals we understand it is not very easy to do
that, points out Ajay Dhir, CIO Jindal Stainless.

Isnt that what entrepreneurship ultimately boils down to: Simple idea, zeal
to implement it, vision to complete it and commitment to stay with it, says
Dhir.

Another interesting point which clearly went in Bikhchandanis favor was the
fact that he has not only created wealth, but he has also shared it.

When there are other nominations for the pathbreaker category that include
well-heeled IT stalwarts it surely isnt an easy decision.

Padma Ravichandra, another jury member, points out that it is not just the
brand he has created but also the fact that he had a clear vision very early and
was successfully able to carry it forward and contribute to society in a big
way. India, today, has forged ahead as a huge talent and human resource hub.

A Peep into the Man

Safi Rizvi, a close friend and batch mate from IIMA, fondly recalls his
association with Bikhchandani. Rizvi has known Sanjeev since the time they went
to school together. In school I remember him as a regular boy, the only
difference being that he had a big female fan following, he laughs.

We somewhere lost touch and it is only at IIMA that I actually got to know
the real him, says Rizvi. One thing that really impressed me about Sanjeev was
his guts, recollects Rizvi. He quit HMM and decided to do his own stuff, which
not many dare to do. As far as I remember, he was the first entrepreneur from
our batch. He has seen very tough times, but he never gave up.

It sure needs a lot of guts to do that. Rahul Bhasin too corroborates, He
was one of those people who are very clear about creating something of their own
and doing things differently. Though he didnt have much capital to start with,
he still took the plunge. And we all know it is very difficult to start a
company of your own and maintain it. What probably also worked for him is the
fact that he had realistic expectations.

Whether it was at the time of launching Naukri, or the competition or the
dotcom bust, which saw a lot of popular websites packing up, Sanjeev was sure
about what he was doing. There were people who said he just copies and pastes
the job advertisements, but look where the great idea has taken him today,
points Ajay Dhir. It was simple technology and great idea, which have helped
make Naukri what it is today.

Bikhchandani proudly recalls the first press coverage of Naukri.com, which
predicted that it would fail. He smiles and points to that press coverage which
he has framed and kept at his workstation.

The passion with which he talks about his flagship brand Naukri.com, almost
matches the passion with which he talks about his family. He married in 1990.
His wife Surabhi Bikhchandani is also from IIIM-A. When we married, I had told
her that I had planned for a long term and that we would be living off her
salary, and that I will quit my job. Whether it was my wife Surabhi or my
parents, I always had support from family.

In fact, when I told my parents that I was quitting the HMM job, it really
didnt come as a rude shock to them. And if it had, they didnt tell me. I am
told I was a difficult child, and very stubborn. Maybe thats why, he laughs.
He clearly is a man who not only values the support he had from his family but
also tries to return the support and favor in his own little ways. He takes out
time for his family. We make sure that we take summer breaks and other 2-3 day
weekends off to balance work and life.

Isnt that what they call a complete man?

Urvashi Kaul

urvashik@cybermedia.co.in