Thanks to Shark Tank India, everyone is now familiar with the person behind the Indian eyewear brand Lenskart, Peyush Bansal. The IIM-Bengaluru alumnus founded the company in 2010 and after five years he shut down all his other ventures to focus on Lenskart. 

India Retailing

Indian Institutes of Management or IIM is the prime destination for aspirants who dream of becoming leading entrepreneurs in future. 

The Indian Express

Although each year countless number of students make an attempt to crack the rather tough exam, there are only a handful of them who get to enter the gates of the top ranked management institutes in India. And among those, only a few go on to make their dream come true of launching their own businesses. 

Here are the notable IIM-Bengaluru alumni who founded some of the well-known brands in India:

1. Karan Bajaj

With a vision of making children creators of technology, Karan Bajaj founded the online learning platform WhiteHat Jr. The Mumbai-based edu-tech startup teaches students coding through one-on-one video classes with instructors. 

2. Vipul Parekh

Vipul Parekh is one of the founders of Big Basket, an online grocery shopping portal, initially launched in Bangalore in 2011. Prior to this venture, he was an investment director at Peepul Capital, a leading private equity fund.  

Inventiva

3. Sahil Barua

The co-founder and CEO of Delhivery, Sahil Barua, quit his well paying job at Bain & Co. to foray his way into business. He started the e-commerce logistics services company back in 2011. 

Twitter

4. Amarendra Sahu

Amarendra Sahu founded Nestaway alongside Deepak Dhar, Jitendra Jagadev, and Smruti Parida. The Bengaluru-based startup, launched in 2015, came as a solution to the rigid segment that is home rental. 

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6. Anjan Mukherjee

Anjan Mukherjee is the founder of an innovative fluid technology-based startup, Taraltec Solutions Pvt Ltd. Before starting this company he worked with companies like HyCa Technologies and Proact Research & Consultancy.  

YouTube

7. Saumil Majmudar

With an aim of improving the health and fitness of children, Sportz Village was established back in 2003. Saumil Majmudar also co-founded India’s first and largest school sports enterprise, EduSports.  

8. Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivasta

Both alumnus of IIM-B, Ashish and Rajiv Srivasta, co-founded Urban Ladder in 2012. The start-up based out in Bengaluru is an omnichannel brand which offers furniture and home decor.

Forbes

9. Souvik Sengupta

Souvik Sengupta co-founded Infra.Market, a real estate and construction materials marketplace company. The venture was started to work towards changing the way construction and real estate companies procure material.  

TOI

But IITs and IIMs aren’t the only landing place to find a way ahead to success (as your relatives suggest). Although these big names in the corporate world have achieved their goals, there are many others who got into IIMs, yet took a totally different path to have a prospering career