Episode description

“How many near-death experiences have you had?”

“We stopped counting."

Talk about resilience! Ravi Adusumalli (Co-Managing Partner, Elevation) sat down with ixigo co-founders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar to unpack their 17-year journey to a blockbuster IPO.

The story of how Aloke and Rajnish built ixigo from a small apartment in Gurgaon in 2007 to India’s second-largest OTA by revenue is one of overcoming challenges, bouncing back, and transforming.

This is encapsulated in the title of this special episode — “Resilience, Resurgence, Rebirth”. Each word represents a crucial chapter in ixigo’s journey.

The founders were at their candid best and spoke at length about:

1. Founding ixigo when they were broke

1. Landing on the highest-frequency use case for train travellers
2. The decision-making process behind their biggest pivot - from metasearch to OTA
3. That time when they mortgaged their homes to make payroll
4. Surviving and thriving amidst hyper-funded competitors
5. Closing two acquisitions in the thick of the pandemic

We hope this conversation serves as an inspiration for all founders and aspiring builders out there, and as a reminder that while the entrepreneurial journey may be long and fraught with challenges, it is also immensely rewarding for those who persevere with grit and humility, and never lose sight of their vision.