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Evan Spiegel – The Founder of Snapchat

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Born to the lawyer parents, Evan Spiegel led a privileged childhood. He received his first computer when he was just in the 6th grade. The lavish life during his childhood never seemed to hold him back from his interests. Evan was a nerd from childhood itself. He grew up in Pacific Palisades, California and completed schooling from Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica. His interest particularly lied in technology and design and he took professional training in the same early from his childhood.

Spiegel’s educational journey was mostly through the Art and Design schools and colleges. During his high school days Spiegel took design classes in the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena. The next internship he landed was in the famous energy drink producing company Red Bull. Although it was an unpaid internship he learnt a great deal about the marketing of products. This further led him to pursue product design program at the Stanford University.

Evan’s idea to connect the world with images and keep yourself updated with rest of the world was initially ridiculed by his classmates. And if it would had not been about the ridicules, the world would have never seen Snapchat. Spiegel proposed this idea positively to conduct his class final project in the Stanford but failed to receive the same response.

Spiegel met Bobby Murphy, the co-founder of Snapchat, during Kappa Sigma fraternity. The two tech enthusiasts united in an unexpected way before becoming partners in what is now a billion dollar company. Murphy was working on his idea of building an online social network platform, which was highly inspired from Google Circles. Looking at Spiegel’s previous work and experience Murphy hired him to design the platform. Unfortunately, the idea failed, but not for Spiegel.

His designing work impressed Scott Cook, co-founder of the financial software giant Intuit, and was hired for txtWeb. The project required him to design a platform to broadcast information by using web over text messages.

The Turning Point
Spiegel developed Future Freshman along with Murphy which aimed to simplify college admissions. The project was well appreciated and received a good response initially. But with time it took the low lane and finally came to a halt. When one door closes it opens another one. Who knew that shutting down of Future Freshman would actually give a kick-start to Snapchat. Evan Spiegel was approached by Reggie Brown, third in their team to build Snapchat, to discuss his technological curiosities.

The third member boosted the team’s confidence and the idea for Snapchat, for the first time, saw the light of the day. Brown suggested that the app should be named Picaboo as its main aim was to connect the world just with images. The idea was dropped as it failed to grab investors into their pockets. The company saw a downfall within just a small span of its incubation when Brown decided to part his ways and asked for 30% share and the credits the company owed to him.

Evan Spiegel and Murphy mutually decided to drop out Brown and rename the company with added features. Thus, was born Snapchat. This fallback actually set the company in motion as it started attracting youngsters and soon made its mark towards the ‘million dollar company’ tag. The company is now in full swing and is expected to introduce much more exciting features for its users.

Doug McMillon: CEO of Walmart

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Success is the result of abundant knowledge. Human mind is capable of absorbing as much as knowledge we feed to it. A person working in a particular field acquires deeper and deeper knowledge of that field. But the essential part is to extend that horizon ‘wide’ along with the ‘deep dive’. Walmart made a smart move to handover the CEO position to a person whose mind is equipped with the knowledge from basic to the advance level. Doug McMillon – a true learner who has successfully extended his knowledge horizons in every possible direction.

Doug, 51, became the fifth CEO of the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, in 2014. Unlike some other big shot CEOs his story begins right from the bottom. Doug joined the company in his summer vacations way back when he was just a teenager. His summer internship may not have given him glamorous paychecks but was the beginning towards his 2014 journey. As a summer student he was handed over the work of unloading the trucks at one of the Walmart distribution centers.

Born on 17th October, 1966, Doug was raised with his parents in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The McMillon family moved to Bentonville, Arkansas when Doug was just 16. In 1984, he took the summer job at Walmart as they were now residing in the retailer giant’s hometown. McMillon holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas and he went further to get a masters in MBA from University of Tulsa.

During his MBA degree, McMillon joined Walmart in 1990 as a buyer trainee in the athletic department of the Walmart store in Tulsa. After successfully completing his MBA in 1991 he decided to move back to the Walmart’s, and his own, hometown, Bentonville where he joined the buyer trainee program. McMillon took numerous job roles including buyer and merchandiser, working for the deals in the food, clothing, and crafts departments, etc. This marked the beginning of a consistent raise in McMillon’s career.

From a general merchandise manager of Walmart’s wholesale store, Sam’s Club, to reaching at the company’s highest position i.e. CEO in 2006 proves McMillon’s worth and efforts. Under his leadership the Sam’s Club focused mainly on the small-business owners and boosted its growth with respect to the strong contenders like Costco. In the year 2009, McMillon took over Mike Duke to lead Walmart’s international division. His efforts again worked like a magic on the company and shot the profits to a whopping 29% with the introduction of ‘everyday low price’ mantra into the international market.

McMillon’s consistent success rate pushed Walmart to replace the CEO of the company. After all they still wanted to be in the business and compete with rapidly growing e-retailers like Amazon. Then came the big decision to move McMillon to the board of directors of Walmart. And, on February 1, 2014 Doug McMillon was promoted to the CEO of Walmart once again replacing Mike Duke.

McMillon, during his role as a CEO till now, has focused on his company employees like no one has ever done before. He has constantly raised the wages of his employees from the moment he took over the CEO seat. He believes in the statement, ‘happier workers and better customer service’. The increased competition with e-retailers like Amazon, McMillon’s long-term goal is to increase investments in e-commerce business and create a ‘seamless shopping experience’. The biggest challenge Doug McMillon is facing is the expansion of Walmart into Asia’s two major countries, India and China.

One thing to learn and to believe in this man’s vision is that he has managed to rise up from the dock and sit on the high-profile chair just in the span of three decades. His abilities, courage to take risks and strategic business methods has and, in future, definitely lead the company to the positions it has never seen before.

Michael Dell, the Founder of Dell Inc.

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Mid 1970s was the time when computers had started entering every house. The world was introduced to a machine which possessed the potential to complete people’s tasks in the matter of minutes. And, providing these services were just a handful of companies who were dominating the market. This, in turn, resulted in higher profits for the companies and only a particular set of class benefiting from the products due to their higher cost.

But the year 1984 would change the entire scenario of tech industry and bring about a revolution in the market. The year when a young and courageous man entered the business world with a unique concept which focused primarily towards the customer needs. Born on 23rd February, 1965 in Houston, Texas, Michael Dell is the founder and CEO of Dell Inc. Born to a stockbroker father and an orthodontist mother inspired Michael to aim higher and achieve bigger in life. While studying at Herod Elementary School in his hometown, Michael appeared for the high school equivalency exam at the tender age of eight to take a leap into business. By this time Michael’s mind was prepared to venture into the business world.

Michael spent his teenage days working for several part time jobs to earn money which he invested in stock market and precious metals. Dell even confessed that he craved for computers and stock market. He earned $2000 operating a mail-order trading business for stamps and baseball cards at the age of 12. And, just two years later, he did something which, we can say, marked the beginning of the revolution. He purchased an Apple II, disassembled it completely to study the hardware build and took his interest in computers to a whole new level.

Dell also worked part time as a marketing executive for Houston Post where he learnt some master selling strategies. During his college studies, in the University of Texas, Dell finally set up his own computer company “PCs Limited” – a baby step towards his lifetime dream – with his pocket money $1000. Dell’s business strategy was to provide his customers with affordable computers than any other companies like IBM. In his interview for the Success magazine Dell said, “I saw that you’d buy a PC for about $3000 and inside the PC was about $600 worth of parts. IBM would buy most of these parts from other companies, assemble them, and sell the computer to a dealer for $2000. Then the dealer, who knew very little about selling or supporting computers, would sell it for $3000 which was even more outrageous.” This inspired Dell to think out of the box. He thought of assembling the computers by himself and decided to inculcate this skill into his business model.

Dell used the direct selling method which would allow the customers to purchase products without any intermediates like the dealer. Thus, the customers could purchase the product at a surprisingly low price and every penny of the profit earned would belong to Dell. The next big decision he took was to drop out of college to focus on his business. The company was later renamed to Dell Computer Corporation. In 1992, at the age of 27, Dell became the youngest CEO and his company was ranked among top 500 companies by the Fortune Magazine.

In 1996, consumers were able to purchase Dell products online. The launch of company’s official online buying platform increased the demand and profits to numerous folds. The coming years added hundreds of thousands of customer base to Dell’s profile. Thus, making Dell the highest PC manufacturer in the world. In 2003 the company changed its name from Dell Computers to Dell, Inc. In 2004 Kevin B. Rollins took over Michael Dell’s CEO position but within 3 years he succeeded to take back the position.

Dell Inc. is among the top computer companies in the world today with a net worth of $24.8 billion as of February, 2017. The man who earned $1000 as his first income has now acquired tremendous wealth due to his ambition and smart business decisions. Forbes magazine has estimated Dell’s net worth to be about $20.8 billion. He, along with his wife Susan, has donated more than a billion dollars for various charities working for various social causes. He is also the author of Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry. Michael Dell, with his success and achievements, has set a riveting example for the youth to start their own business, introduce newer ideas and take risks.

How Deep Kalra Booked His Entrepreneurial Journey Through MakeMyTrip

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An ambitious dream begins with a huge risk, courage and self-confidence. This is the story of a man from India who put everything on risk to become one of the leading business giants. This is the story of Deep Kalra, the founder of MakeMyTrip.com, a leading Indian online travel company that ensures smooth travel and comfortable stay.

Deep is a MBA graduate from India’s pioneer business school Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has completed a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephens College, Delhi. Soon after completing his MBA, Kalra took up the job opportunities with big MNCs like GE Capital, ABN AMRO Bank, etc. But the entrepreneur inside him had already started to sprout.

Deep Kalra
Image Credit: MakeMyTrip

In 1995, Deep left his job with the Bank and joined hands with an American bowling company. With the boss not around, Deep was bit lost initially. But, he took full ownership and led the team. In the coming years Deep Kalra would manage to lay more than 200 bowling lanes across India on his own. This single handed experience boosted Deep’s confidence by multiple folds and he decided to put a foot in his own start-up.

The Start-up Story
Deep soon resigned from AMF to focus on his own venture. It was this time when he realized the magnificent potential that Internet platform held in its store. And this boom in the online community was a perfect place to launch his big business idea.

India was still getting used to the internet platform but the percentage was growing day by day. On one hand, there was a super fast platform which connected the whole world in seconds and on the other hand people were still standing in queues to buy travel tickets. The other problem Deep observed was the messed up online travel booking platform. These observations then altogether gave birth to an organized online travel booking platform ‘India Ahoy’,in 2000, which later was renamed to MakeMyTrip.com. Deep received an initial fundimg of $2 million from eVentures and was in the market to lead the travel industry along with his co-founders Keyur Joshi, Rajesh Magow and Sachin Bhatia.

The Ups and Downs in MakeMyTrip Journey
Launching an online travel booking platform back in 2000, when Indians were still not clear about the basic concept of Internet, was a challenge in itself. So, the founders had to play the game strategically. Therefore, MakeMyTrip’s initial years were dedicated to serve the US-to-India travelling community. This was a baby step towards success but added value to their status in the market.

The Fall
Kalra faced his biggest fallback two years after the launch of MakeMyTrip.com when the dotcom market crashed taking down every last piece of information. This resulted in a drastic crash on all the company’s team. As the head of the company Deep had to take some difficult decisions to save the company. The decision included reducing MMT’s staff to almost half the original number and put a complete halt on his and some of his colleagues’ salary for 18 months.

The Rise
The crash of dotcom market taught Deep Kalra some valuable lessons which he would implement in his company’s future. The coming years proved to be the Golden Period in MakeMyTrip’s career. This was the time when Indian Railways, Indian Aviation and other domestic and international flight companies were stepping into the online platform. Deep Kalra, without wasting any time, grabbed this opportunity and decided to broaden his business spectrum. MakeMyTrip was no longer just an overseas travel booking platform. It was now for the Indian domestic market too.

The company provided added features like holiday packages, hotel bookings, and railway tickets. The company’s customer base and revenue was increasing at an unimaginable pace. In 2008, when rest of the world was facing the demon of recession, MMT was entering the 1000 Crore club. But Deep marks the company’s biggest achievement till date as its listing on NASDAQ, an US stock exchange.

Setting an Example
Launching MakeMyTrip was the biggest risk that Kalra took. But this risk is what made him a pioneer in the travel industry. The success of MakeMyTrip, has in turn, tremendously boosted the confidence of young entrepreneurs in India. So be it from bridging the gap between Indian and foreign investors, revolutionizing the traveling industry in the country to inspiring Indian youth to take risks and succeed, Deep Kalra has proven himself to be the man whose vision and ambition created history.

How Two School Kids Are Successfully Running a $1.5 Million Mobile App Company from India

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Imagine a 12 and a 14 year old brother-pair standing before the crowd, numbering approximately 5,500 – talking about business. Sounds a bit fictional, doesn’t it? Well, it’s a true story of two youngsters from India. The age when majority of kids are busy playing video games, or preparing school projects, these youngsters from Chennai are achieving what thousands of start-ups are still dreaming of. They started their own app development unit back in 2011 and have reached milestones during the span of six years.

The founders of GoDimensions, an app development unit, Shravan Kumaran, now 16, is the President and his younger brother Sanjay Kumaran, now 15, is the CEO of the company. The app development idea sprouted out of their passion in coding and an encouraging attitude of their father, Kumaran Surendran who is the director of Symantec, an American security software company. The Kumaran brothers launched their first app Catch Me Cop after developing a whopping 150 test apps. Their dedication is definitely praise worthy.

Catch Me Cop grabbed attention of multiple internet giants including cnet.com and the result was their app displayed on world’s leading tech company Apple’s App Store, a grand success for the young entrepreneurs. Catch Me Cop is a mobile game in which a convict escapes the prison and runs through various difficult terrains like a desert, maze, forest, etc. and the citizens are in search of this convict. The game became a sensation among the young as well as the adults who enjoyed catching the convict.

GoDimensions has launched 7 applications available for iOS and 3 for Android platform. The company has recently launched an app for the Windows phone platform. Shravan, currently a class 12th student and Sanjay, studying in class 10 in HUS, Chennai work from their bedroom occupied with Apple Macs, Galaxy Notes and every high-end digital platform.

The long list of apps developed under GoDimensions hood include Alphabet Board – with a 5 star rating on app store, Prayer Planet – an app for praying to the God, ETC, CarRacingHD, Emergencybooth, E15, ColourPallete, and goDonate – a platform to share excess food, clothes, etc. to the needy. These apps, in total, have already crossed the 70,000+ download mark in over 60 countries with an average rating of 4.5 stars.

The brothers’ interest is not limited to coding and app development. Sanjay, the youngest of two, loves to play football and is the goalkeeper for his school’s football team whereas Shravan loves to play cricket and keyboard. Their mother and former journalist, Jyothi Lakshmi, recalls that she got suggestions that her children would be more productive from home rather than in school. But they both aim to complete their formal education and grow the company parallelly.

The young brother-duo were spotted during a TEDx talk and at a SAP event in Bangalore where they talked about sketching a business plan. Sanjay Kumaran quotes, “I believe that great UI is key for a great Business.” The company’s recent turnover entered the Crore club and their increasing user base will see a massive growth in income too.

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos- How A Bookish Kid Became World’s Richest Person

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Jeff Bezos is an entrepreneur, computer scientist, an e-commerce pioneer and has a passion for space exploration. He is the founder of Blue Origin, Amazon and is an investor in many other businesses. Jeff Bezos was born to a teenage mother, Jackie and Ted Jorgenson, a circus performer his biological father on January 12th 1964. He however grew up knowing that his father was Mike Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who married his mother when Jeff was still young. He only found out about his real father when he was 10. He cared less and his father has never really looked for him.

Jeff’s mechanical talent was seen from early in his life. When he was a toddle, he dismantled his crib with a screw driver so he could sleep in a regular bed. In his teen years, Jeff made an electric alarm with the aim of keeping his siblings from his room. His parents even had to let him use the garage for his science projects. Growing up, Jeff spent his summer vacations at his grandfather’s ranch. The maternal grandfather has been a role model to Jeff and taught his the farm work and piqued his interest in science even more.

Jeff Bezos schooled at the River Oaks Elementary School, Miami Palmetto Senior High School and finally at the Princeton University. He excelled throughout his school life and crowned it with two degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Princeton.

After school, Bezos joined the startup company named Fitel where he applied his skills in computer science. He later quit Fitel and later joined the D.E Shaw where he rose to the position of Vice President in four years. At this hedge fund he met the love of his life, MacKenzie Tuttle who was a research associate there. She is currently the wife to Jeff and a novelist. It was also while working as VP at the D.E Shaw that the idea of starting Amazon came to him. While he was looking for new ventures for the company he worked for then, he saw a statistic that made him interested in internet. It was shown that the World Wide Web was growing by 2300% a month. He immediately saw the potential prospects of selling online and quit his job.

Jeff Bezos began his first business while in school. It was an educational summer camp called the Dream Institute. He charged $600 per person and was able to enroll 6 people. Not bad for a school going child!

Amazon did not begin as what it is now. When it was born in 1994, Jeff wanted it to be an online book store. He thought of the details of the business and called up friend and family who would invest in the business while his wife was driving them to Seattle. He raised $1 million in capital and set up the business in his new home’s garage. The company was initially called Cadabra then it changed to MakeItSo.com, aard.com, awake.com, Bookmall.com, Relentless.com and Browse.com before finally settling for Amazon.com named after the largest river in the world.

Amazon was set up in July 1995 and within a month there were sales in all the 50 states and in 45 foreign countries. Within three years, the company grew to 3,000 employees making over $610 million in sales. However, the company was not making money yet. In 1997, they actually has a $30 million loss and $1,23 million loss in 1998. According to Jeff the company’s aim was to be customer centric company, not making profit. This strategy helped the company survive the dot com burst that killed many startups. In 1998 Jeff Bezos invested $250,000 in Google.

2001 was the first time the company recorded a profit of $5million on $1 billion revenues. Since then Amazon has grown more and more selling everything and with current revenues of $107 billion as of 2016. Jeff owns 18% of Amazon.  Amazon today owns Amazon cloud and web services. Amazon launched its cloud services years before Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure. Jeff Bezos also founded aerospace company called the Blue Origin in 2014. This has been quite a success with many achievements including the launch of a reusable rocket recently. The company is working towards making space travel possible for the general public.

In 2013, Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million. This has since grown surpassing the New York Times as the leader in daily unique visits. Jeff Bezos is currently the third richest man in the world with a value of $65.3 billion with only Bill Gates and Amanda Ortega worth more than him.