Kunal Bahl is the co-founder of Snapdeal, one of India's largest online platforms that offers a wide range of products and services at affordable prices. Snapdeal was founded in 2007 as a daily deals site, but soon pivoted to become a full-fledged e-commerce marketplace in 2011. Since then, Snapdeal has grown to serve over 300 million customers across 15,000 cities and towns in India, with over 500,000 registered sellers offering more than 220 million products.
Kunal Bahl's journey as an entrepreneur started when he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania, where he launched a detergent company called EZ Laundry. He later joined Microsoft as a business development manager, but quit after seven months to pursue his passion for building his own venture. He teamed up with his childhood friend Rohit Bansal, who was also an engineer and a serial entrepreneur, and together they launched Snapdeal with the vision of creating a platform that would empower millions of small and medium businesses in India to sell online.
Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal faced many challenges and setbacks along the way, such as raising funds, competing with rivals, dealing with regulatory hurdles, and surviving the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they also achieved many milestones and successes, such as acquiring Freecharge, partnering with Alibaba and Softbank, launching Snapdeal 2.0, and becoming profitable in 2020. Kunal Bahl has also been recognized as one of the most influential business leaders in India and globally, winning awards such as the EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Fortune 40 Under 40, and Forbes India Leadership Award.
Kunal Bahl's story is an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to create impact and value in the digital economy. He believes that entrepreneurship is not about chasing money or fame, but about solving real problems for real people. He also believes that perseverance, innovation, and customer focus are the key ingredients for building a successful and sustainable business. As he says, "The only thing that matters is how much you care about your customers and how much you are willing to do for them."
