Naukri.com is perhaps the most popular product of Info Edge (India) Ltd, the country’s first public listed internet firm, which has a string of consumer internet properties in its stable including a matrimonial site Jeevansathi.com, real estate portal 99acres.com and education portal Shiksha.com. In an interaction with Techcircle.in, at Techcircle Startup 2012 event, Sanjeev Bhikhchandani, founder of Info Edge mused about his journey and what lies ahead.
On difference between the startup ecosystem then and now: Naukri.com was founded in April 1997 and to start an internet company then was a challenge in itself. Recounting the early days, Bhikhchandani said, “There were about 14,000 internet accounts when we launched Naukri. It just looked like a large enough customer base for me to launch a new product. Today, when we look at the market, there is a huge transformation.”
Highlighting the three major changes in market, he said that the markets have been validated now, which one can judge with the sheer number of internet users as well as companies. “Companies now have a better chance of surviving,” he said. The second change he points out is that during that time there was no such thing as risk capital, which has changed now. Lastly, first generation entrepreneurship is now becoming mainstream. “It was not socially acceptable back then,” he recalled.
