The Neon Show Bootstrap to IPO in 10 years ft. Prashant Pitti, founder EaseMyTrip
"The world is going through one of the worst recessions, and you plan on starting a Travel venture. You must be out of your mind!"
This was precisely the reaction of everyone around Prashant Pitti, the guest of today's episode, and his co-founders when they decided to launch EaseMyTrip during the 2008 Recession.
In fact, when they approached a few VCs during their early days to pitch for an investment, they received multiple preset filters and nuances -
# A B2B travel venture won't grow big enough
# You're late; there are so many travel startups already
However, proving everyone wrong, they've grown leaps and bounds since inception, so much so that they were one of the first internet companies to go public during Covid.
During the episode, Prashant talks about how they are thankful for not being VC-funded, some of the tough calls they took during their journey, which propelled their growth, and much more.
Notes -
01:02 - Starting a travel venture during recession
02:52 - Problem statement solved by EaseMyTrip for Travel Agents
05:49 - Impact on growth because of not charging “Convenience Fees”
07:44 - Being extremely efficient and disciplined as a company
13:41 - Decision behind going public
16:59 - How did EaseMyTrip remain profitable even during Covid?
25:31 - Why does EaseMyTrip prefer hiring Non-IITians?