What do Microsoft, Apple, HP and Amazon have in common? All four of them
began in the garages of their founders. Silicon Valley is full of
stories of technology giants with such humble beginnings. In fact, this
picture of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sitting together and building
the first Macintosh computer is almost an icon of innovation and
enterprise in Silicon Valley.
I bring you some of the more prominent companies that began in an apartment.
Flipkart
Flipkart, now a billion dollar e-commerce company, started as a mere online book ordering website way back in 2007. The founding duo, Sachin and Binny Bansal (not related to each other) were working in the same team at Amazon where they decided to start this online website. Both pooled in close to Rs 2 lakhs each and with Rs 10,000 monthly allowance from their parents for nearly 18 months gave them the muscle to sustain and build Flipkart. They used to work from a rented 2 bedroom apartment in Koramangala, a Bengaluru suburb, which has now grown to three buildings. The first order to be placed on Flipkart was from Andra Pradesh when someone ordered the book ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World’ by John Wood.
TaxiForSure
As starting up stories go, TaxiForSure has probably the most interesting story. Founders Aprameya R and Raghunandan G, friends for 15 years, used to get frustrated while returning home from late night drinks at bars in Bangalore. They started working out of a 100sq. feet terrace-room on top of an apartment in JP Nagar with their first employee, Ashok Ravi. Later they hired 3 more employees to help them manage operations. Aprameya candidly shares memories of those early days when they used to have investor meetings out on the terrace as they couldn’t disturb the employees working in that 100sq. feet room. The team has expanded rapidly and today has a larger office with operations having scaled across more than 10 Indian cities. But the team still rents out that room and usually organises their team parties over there (HO terrace parties as employees call it internally).
Urban Ladder
The leading one-stop furniture destination, Urban Ladder has grown very swiftly compared to its competitors in this space. Recently, they raised funding from Ratan Tata, which speaks volumes about their potential in the coming few years. From McKinsey to ACK Media, to starting up at Urban Ladder; Ashish Goel’s professional progression bears no sign of being conventional. After moving to Bangalore, Ashish’s and Rajeev’s houses were devoid of furniture because of the lack of a trusted furniture brand. This made them start and build the leading Indian furniture e-commerce in couple of years time. They have a unique office setting in Bangalore that is practically an office in a house.
Redbus
One of the biggest exits for Indian startups in the recent times,
Redbus was once ideated and started in a flat where Phanindra Sama lived
with the other two co-founders in Bangalore. It was during Diwali 2005
when Phanindra faced the problem of getting bus tickets that he realised
the gravity of this unorganised mess. He pitched this idea to his
flatmates who also happen to be his classmates from BITS Pilani, both of
them believed in this idea and started Redbus. Last year, Nasper’s
ibibo acquired Redbus in a Rs. 800 crore deal.
So, keep an eye out. Who knows, your next door neighbor might be a start up company that may make headlines just like these ones.
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