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Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story

Mihir Dalal

4.31 · Rating details · 805 ratings · 111 reviews

The definitive account of India’s biggest startup that redefined e-commerce, entrepreneurship and the way we shop and live.

IIT graduates Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded out of a Bangalore apartment what would become India’s biggest e-commerce startup. Established in October 2007, Flipkart began as an online bookstore and soon came to be known for its ‘customer obses ...more

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Hardcover, 320 pages

Published October 6th 2019 by Pan Macmillan India

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Oct 12, 2019 Bharath rated it really liked it

Flipkart is a name we associate with Indian entrepreneurship and ingenuity. I still remember buying books from Flipkart in the early days when it was launched (in fact I was quite disappointed as in the later years books fell off from Flipkart’s priority). This book has very good background and details on the building of Flipkart.

Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal, both from IIT Delhi firm up their plans to start an e-commerce venture when they were at Amazon India. Amazon India at that time was a te Flipkart is a name we associate with Indian entrepreneurship and ingenuity. I still remember buying books from Flipkart in the early days when it was launched (in fact I was quite disappointed as in the later years books fell off from Flipkart’s priority). This book has very good background and details on the building of Flipkart.

Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal, both from IIT Delhi firm up their plans to start an e-commerce venture when they were at Amazon India. Amazon India at that time was a technology back office for special initiatives. The description of the initial days of Flipkart where Sachin & Binny start by selling books online makes for fascinating reading. They would source the books from bookstores initially after an order was received. Customer satisfaction was a strong philosophy which the founders promoted, and Flipkart made a reputation for itself based on that with very little marketing effort.

The next phase of expansion needed funding and Flipkart was fortunate to get funding from Accel India initially and later Tiger Global. Lee Fixel from Tiger Global continued to very closely involved for long since the early times, additionally providing professional support as required. Sales leapfrogged on the back of good customer service, product expansion and new ideas. Flipkart also found ways to get around the government regulations around marketplaces by creating a new entity for logistics. Initiatives like Big Billion days, exclusive product launches (starting with Motorola with Moto G becoming a best seller) lead the way to high growth. There were also the misses such as attempting to go solely mobile app and shut down the website (a silly step I thought myself at that time), music download and entering too many categories too quickly. I get the impression Flipkart’s founders would have benefitted with mature senior counsel in many instances.

The power struggles between Sachin and Kalyan Krishnamurthy (a Lee nominee) becomes a distraction as well. The complications in the working relationships leads to most of the early employees of Flipkart exiting. The success story culminates in abrupt exits for the founders (both billionaires) for different reasons after Walmart takes over a majority stake.

The author, Mihir mentions that he was not able to speak to senior Flipkart executives for the book. While that is a drawback of sorts, the amount of background he provides in the book is surprisingly very extensive.

A very good read to understand the making of Flipkart.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing me a free copy of the book in order to provide a review.
...more

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Jan 23, 2020 Adarsh Rao rated it really liked it

Initially inspiring but later became oddly dejecting.

The book got off to a great start. I enjoyed reading about Sachin Bansal, the fact that he was super into e-sports in college created instant bonhomie. The initial chapters where the author describes what it really means to go study at an IIT and later work in Bangalore were extremely accurate. They instilled trust in me that he knows what he is talking about.

But soon, the book devolved into describing all the corporate politics that went on ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Ritwik Manan rated it liked it

As someone who spent 4 years at Flipkart, I was very excited to read this book and curious about what narrative the author would weave. As such, my review is a little biased. I will however, stay away from commenting on any of the story itself
Overall, I agree with other reviewers that this book is well researched and you can see the effort into this. The book definitely brings back memories of the work and internal stories we lived. Where I think the book falls short is that it devolves into the ...more

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Nov 25, 2019 Vidhya Thakkar rated it it was amazing

This book gives us a complete insight into how flipkart developed from a startup to the big company.
This book is well detailed and informative. The author left no stone unturned and gave his best in making this book interesting.
I liked the writing style of the author. It's crisp and interesting keeping the reader hooked throughout. The narration of the book is up to the point.
It's a slow-paced book and a heavy read. Take your own time to understand the idea and you'll love it.

The author also add ...more

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Apr 17, 2020 Vinayak Hegde rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, business, startups

A detailed well-written and meticulously researched story about the Indian e-commerce startup ecosystem and Flipkart in particular from the humble beginnings in NGV, Koramangala to eventual sale to the giant of Bentonville - Walmart. Some of the stories covered in the book are well known through media coverage of the Flipkart.

The book covers the ups and downs of running the startup, the investor-founder relationships and the Flipkart mafia (Flipkart founders who went on to build other companies) ...more

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Mar 18, 2021 Simran rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookshelf

Story of rivals, story of power, story of Bansals!
Astonishing!

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May 16, 2022 Sourav rated it liked it

Shelves: business

I didn't really enjoy the writing style for this book. As for the story, it's pretty interesting. I enjoyed the part of transitions going at senior management and entry of Mr Krishnamurthy into Flipkart. The initial story of Flipkart reminded me of Google and Facebook where initial players were present with higher variety of items on site and better funding than Flipkart. However, Flipkart was able to vastly improve customer experience and created mini monopoly in sale of books (Amazon had not e ...more

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Apr 11, 2020 Shivam Kimothi rated it really liked it

Mihir Dalal has done a fantastic job. This is an outstanding piece of journalism. The book provides you with a very detailed and highly readable account of Flipkart's- an e-commerce startup based in India-road to success. From it's initial days, when it was just an idea floating around in the minds of two Amazon employees, to the present, when it is competing with the e-commerce giant, Amazon India(even winning in some scenarios).

The book focuses heavily on the business part of the journey. Fli ...more

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Jan 24, 2021 Kiran Jonnalagadda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is a lucid account of Flipkart's journey from inception to sale, told through the perspectives of three protagonists: founder Sachin Bansal, CFO turned CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, and the deity-like investor Lee Fixel. An ensemble cast of other characters flesh out the story.

Each character has their own personality, ambition and narrative arc, and the combination could have made a book as chaotic as the startup. Here, Mihir Dalal employs a unique literary device: Hindi dialogue. Characte ...more

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May 03, 2021 Thasmai Blr rated it really liked it

Shelves: investing

Interesting to read about something happening right under our noses, fascinating story

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May 28, 2021 Pranav Jagdish rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Going into this book, I expected Mihir Dalal to sing songs of praise about how two IITians built India's most valuable start-up. This is a trope that I've become accustomed to which has in turn made me stop reading books on large companies.

I'm glad that The Big Billion Start-up was nothing like this. Dalal's writing is snappy and fast paced, which serves as the perfect style to talk about such a riveting story. I never knew how fascinating the story of Flipkart really is and I blazed through th Going into this book, I expected Mihir Dalal to sing songs of praise about how two IITians built India's most valuable start-up. This is a trope that I've become accustomed to which has in turn made me stop reading books on large companies.

I'm glad that The Big Billion Start-up was nothing like this. Dalal's writing is snappy and fast paced, which serves as the perfect style to talk about such a riveting story. I never knew how fascinating the story of Flipkart really is and I blazed through this really quickly.

There were a lot of things I picked up from this book. One was just how much a start-up is at the mercy of its investors. Be it Flipkart, Snapdeal or any other Indian start-up mentioned in this book their inevitable downfall comes in when investors override the founders and try to maximise growth in revenues while disregarding other metrics.

The easiest example to quote in this book is Lee Fixel.Although Lee Fixel in Flipkart did a lot to ensure it's rapid growth, he was the one who put in Kalyan Krishnamurthy as CFO of Flipkart early on which inevitably led to the Bansal-Bansal fallout.

This book also helped dispel my internal bias that Flipkart is just an Indian "Amazon" copycat. Although the mantra of customer obsession and thinking big are staples of Amazon culture, Flipkart did a lot to pave the way for e-commerce in India. Flexible returns, multiple payment options & COD are genuinely genius moves during a time where the entire market struggled to find the winning formula.

This book also really humanises the founders. Sachin & Binny Bansal are shown as real and flawed characters which really helps the reader to resonate with them.

Inevitably, it's the clash of egos in the upper management that leads to Sachin's ousting. Although I knew building a start-up and achieving a high valuation was near impossible, I never knew that companies could lack direction and genuinely struggle post that. In my opinion , the downfall of the Bansals was primarily due to the clash of their visions with Krishnamurthy as to if Flipkart was an internet company or just an online retailer.

All in all, great book and I'd definitely recommend to anyone interested in reading about Flipkart or if someone is looking to jump back into reading about big businesses. ...more

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Apr 24, 2022 Shubhanshu Dubey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: business-management

This is easily one of the best books on Indian startup culture and history. Big Billion Startup by Mihir Dalal drops you directly into the Jwalamukhi hostel of IIT Delhi where the story of Flipkart starts. The book chronicles the initial days of Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (they're not brothers) working in their independent technology firms in Bangalore and how then a group of friends came together in Koramangala to bring about a revolution in the Indian entrepreneurship story.
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In this bril ...more

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May 16, 2021 Anand Charles rated it really liked it

An amazingly articulated book giving a good run down on milestones , numbers and the events that make Flipkart the brand today we all know off . To my surprise , author has managed to wrote this without any help from the top management . Having spent a decade and half in Kormangala myself and knowing many who have made a career in Flipkart it’s a good read to know the inside story along with the struggles which an entrepreneur has to go to make a successful startup. The sad part as in many cases ...more

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Nov 14, 2020 Kukreja Yash rated it really liked it

A seemingly honest account of the great Indian company whose entrepreneurial journey was imprinted on the collective imagination of millions of Indians.

Sachin and binny Bansal, two guys of same caste, born in the same city(Chandigarh), graduated from the same college( IIT Delhi), both worked in the same company(amazon) eventually founded flipkart. No, it's not a mere coincidence. Gladwell's outliers theory is indeed universal. Whether it's silicon valley or Bengaluru, Agrawal community or rice A seemingly honest account of the great Indian company whose entrepreneurial journey was imprinted on the collective imagination of millions of Indians.

Sachin and binny Bansal, two guys of same caste, born in the same city(Chandigarh), graduated from the same college( IIT Delhi), both worked in the same company(amazon) eventually founded flipkart. No, it's not a mere coincidence. Gladwell's outliers theory is indeed universal. Whether it's silicon valley or Bengaluru, Agrawal community or rice paddy fields, it applies everywhere. Although they may have never acknowledged it, a part of their success is attributed to the Agrawal community, a community known for its tactic business skills and risk taking abilities. As a testament to it, many of the modern day successful entrepreneurs are Agarwals. They all inherited their entrepreneurial prowess from their ancestors.

Amazon came to India in 2004, not to set up its empire, but to set up a sort of a research center which was given the task of creating a financial payment system and building a rival of the newly created search engine, google. But the India office had all the traits of amazon and subsequently, of Jeff Bezos. It preached obsession for customers, working long hours and being always open to new ideas. Little did Jeff knew that he(and of course other companies) was sprouting the seeds for a startup revolution in India.

The bansals came to the IIT delhi in early 2000's, at the time when the Indian economy was booming, with dozens of MNCs making their way into India. Both of them were simple guys learning computer science. Like every other typical engineering aspirant, they prepared for the prestigious IITs entrance for 2 years(3 in case of sachin) and made their way into the IITs. They had exceptional business skills but it never came to force until the founding of flipkart. What made them different was the occurrence of events that led to the founding of flipkart and the time in which they were born. The early IIT batches of the noughties created a dozen of successful companies flipakrt, zomato, ola to name a few.

The bansals joined amazon in 2006. By the time they came , the projects of the india office were beginning to loose grounds. Amazon had preached them the philosophy of customer obsession and work culture. After completing work, they would stay up late and discuss about the prospect of e commerce in India. This is what happens when a bunch of smart guys come together in a competitive environment with a distinct innovative culture and let serendipity do the rest of work. They left the company together to form flipkart. Initially, they faced many hurdles, the skepticism and criticism of their colleagues and friends, rejection by all the VCs in India, the third co founder leaving after few days, criticism by other early e-commerce startup founders and what not. But the bansals kept moving on, fueled with hope, resilience, perseverance and the promising potential of e -commerce in India. They somehow managed to get initial funding after some time from accel partners albeit with much less valuation. It was only after a few years later when they were noticed by lee fixel who was searching for promising companies in India. Finally, Their efforts paid off, with flipkart getting bigger and bigger, reaching one milestone after another in a span few of years.

They discovered their own abilities through trial and error. sachin was exceptional in execution and binny in implementation. The former served as the CEO and the latter as COO. however, as the company got bigger, so did it needs. After a few years the bansals were no longer able to manage it. The revenues kept increasing but the losses poured up rapidly. The company's investor Tiger global bought kalyan krishnamurthy, to serve as the interim CFO to solve it's financial problems. But that guy had his own vested interests. The coming of kalyan started a new era of power struggle at flipkart that would last until it's sale to the walmart. Sachin tried his best to convince the board of his leadership. He implemented new strategies, changed the entire structure of the company, set big revenues targets but failed to excecute any of these tactics, which only made flipart worse off. He was highly regarded by Bezos and masayoshi son, among others as a visonary entreprenuer. On the other hand, Kalyan was a simple finance guy with no grand visions, but he knew how to lead the company towards profitability and also how to manage people, the two most important trait that sachin lacked. Eventually, kalyan prevailed, so much so that sachin was fired from his very own company after refusing to step down as CEO.

The wheel of capitalism has a lot of gears behind it. But the motor is attached to only one gear, wealth. Free market capitalisms spurs innovation, creates revolution, changes the world, transforms lives. But these gears won't rotate, unless the motor is turned on. No matter how visionary you are, how many ideas you have, at the end of the day, if you can't satisfy the basic requirement of capitalism, the wheel will stop rotating. This, to me is the biggest lesson from these book. ...more

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Oct 25, 2020 Supreet Kaur rated it liked it

A quick read written with a focus on sensationalizing internal politics rather than conscious strategic decisions. Will make a good start for a movie adaptation, perhaps?

The initial parts of the book (till the first few rounds of funding) are good - the focus on founders’ resilience and perseverance.

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Jul 19, 2020 Gaurav Pandey rated it it was amazing

Well written not only about the founders but also about all the people who played key role in Flipkart

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Sep 02, 2021 Abhishek Amar rated it really liked it

5 stars for the story, 3.5 stars for the writing.

Suffice to say that there have been many lifetimes compressed into the relatively few years that Flipkart has been around.

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Jun 28, 2020 Sidhant Jain rated it really liked it

Liked the way author has told all sides of story and not from someone's point of view. It showed highs and lows of all the characters. The book told how volatile the life was at flipkart, people were fired just a few months after they had been praised for their performance and had been promoted.

I have read 'Alibaba' by Duncan Clark, it was more about Jack Ma than Alibaba, this book was about all the people running flipkart. The setbacks the company faced have been given equal importance to its a ...more

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Oct 31, 2019 Aryan Sarath rated it it was amazing

Castles aren't built overnight. This is a popular saying which most of us know. What we may not know is how those castles were built. This is the theme of this extra ordinary book which is the first hand account of how the Bansals who hails from the powerful Baniya business community went to built one of the largest eCommerce companies in India, SORRY - World.

The book runs for 272 pages with 24 chapters. Each and every chapter is distinct in itself. Mihir Dalal who is an investigative journalist Castles aren't built overnight. This is a popular saying which most of us know. What we may not know is how those castles were built. This is the theme of this extra ordinary book which is the first hand account of how the Bansals who hails from the powerful Baniya business community went to built one of the largest eCommerce companies in India, SORRY - World.

The book runs for 272 pages with 24 chapters. Each and every chapter is distinct in itself. Mihir Dalal who is an investigative journalist has brought in his expertise which reflects in each and every word that was used in this book which would take each and every reader on the upward journey of Bansals.

Many f us knew by now that Bansals who went to build various brands - be it Sachin, Binny, Mukesh weren't related with each other but their passion to build a brand ran deep into their veins which brought out some of the most successful start-ups in the recent times. Some of these even breached the status of Unicorn. These brands made India proud in the international arena as it turned the focus from the ever famous "Silicon Valley" to the Indian hub, particularly to Bengaluru. This is what has made even the biggies like Amazon and WalMart to set up their shops in India.

WalMart picking up a majority stake in Flipkart did not happen all of a sudden. Lot f sweat had gone into it since building Flipkart by Bansals was as good as Jeff Bezos himself who took had a humble beginning of selling books, initially. Not all the stuffs which gets copied or replicated becomes successful but Flipkart was an exception. Sachin and Binny who came from different background, was destined to meet in their college and their association continued even in Amazon. How and why they came out of such a big brand was a different story altogether.

Though I thought I knew most about the Flipkart story being one of the early patrons of the brand and have made few hundreds of transactions till date, when I read this book, I understood that what I knew about one of the most inspiring brands is not even 1%

I would surely recommend this book. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, this is the book you need to pick because you don't need an inspiration from a foreigner when you have an equivalent source/story that was groomed in our Motherland!! ...more

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Apr 02, 2022 nishanth rated it it was amazing

Could have easily made this book into two parts!
Lot of drama; twists and turns; superbly depicts the Flipkart Saga.

Hope Sachin can fulfil his goal of building a top notch technology company with Navi.

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Nov 13, 2019 Bharadwaaj Rajan rated it really liked it

Context.

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Dec 14, 2020 Brat rated it it was amazing

Shelves: e-books

I picked up this book in late October before my trip to India and could not put it down. I had to consciously delay the reading of the book to ensure I was not distracted during the trip. I completed it once I was back. The book is written in a fast paced manner and reads like a thriller. No wonder, it is soon going to be made into a movie.

The book starts right from Sachin and Binny’s IIT delhi days detailing how sachin actually had to stay back a year due to his addiction to gaming. He was an “ I picked up this book in late October before my trip to India and could not put it down. I had to consciously delay the reading of the book to ensure I was not distracted during the trip. I completed it once I was back. The book is written in a fast paced manner and reads like a thriller. No wonder, it is soon going to be made into a movie.

The book starts right from Sachin and Binny’s IIT delhi days detailing how sachin actually had to stay back a year due to his addiction to gaming. He was an “ek thappa” – slang for those who had passed the entrance exam after one failed attempt.

After a brief stint in Amazon India, under the leadership of Amit Agarwal – the jeff bot like he is referred to in the book, Sachin and Binny ventured out to start their own version of the ecommerce behemoth. Their relentless focus on consumer service and building technology to enable the systems is what differentiated flipkart from the other many also rans. Lee Fixel is another key character in this story as one of the early backers of flipkart via his company Tiger Global and ensuring his lead till the end when he brokered the deal to sell off the company to Walmart.
The decade that is recounted sure has been exciting filled with nervousness for everyone associated with the company. It reflects the journey of any startup that gets to be of this size and grows at the pace that flipkart did. Constant churn, changing priorities, building and breaking things, discovering new stuff, etc.. It seems like a constant adrenaline rush to everyone involved in realizing the dream.

An interesting anecdote is how Amazon missed out on buying flipkart twice – once in 2012, when they thought the valuation of a billion dollars was too much (and Amit apparently even made the comment that what exactly has flipkart built in this much time. They could do all this in less than a month), and later when they had a choice against Walmart.

Another interesting snippet was the struggle between the marketing head and Kalyan, where the marketing head believed in building the brand flipkart while Kalyan insisted on promoting the discounts and the low prices. The struggle seems to be the same all over, and will remain so till marketing figures out a way to effectively measure its impact on the top line!

A prof in IIT delhi recounts that is largely the mediocre, anonymous students who excel at entrepreneurship. Reading this book made me relive those days in Bangalore when I was enchanted with ecommerce and was very close joining this company when no one else knew what was going on. Life would have been very different had I joined flipkart back then instead of Coca-Cola. Would I have been better off? Would I have been able to live through the instability and the volatility of such a startup? Maybe!

The end part of the book actually feels like straight out of a thriller movie, with Sachin in Bentonville along with the rest of the flipkart top brass, negotiating deeply in an attempt to redeem himself and get back the crown that he thought rightfully belonged to him. The out maneuvering by the investors leading to Binny staying back as the group chairman and sachin being ousted makes one imagine – what if? What if he Sacihn had got his way to run flipkart? Where would the company be now. Alas! We would never know!

The author has been tracking flipkart as a reporter for over a decade and it explains the detailing he gets into due to his deep access and actually living the story himself over this time.
Quotes

1. If you did a lot of math you wouldn’t end up doing any investment because almost there’s nothing at the start

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1. Ignore everybody – Macleod
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Nov 10, 2021 Krishna rated it it was amazing

There are very few business books in the Indian context and much fewer on Indian businesses. This book, Big Billion Startup by Mihir Dalal is so fresh and a welcome one in that aspect. True to his title as an investigative journalist, Mihir has gone deep into various aspects that played out in the Flipkart story, right from the genesis to the exit of Bansals.

To a large extent, this book resembles a thriller, and the narrative is gripping. Mihir has done a great job in covering many of the import ...more

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Mar 27, 2021 Mahendra Rathod rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, fun

This is one of the best books on the Indian startup ecosystem, which took India and the world by storm from 2010 till date. The book chronicles the journey of Flipkart from inception till its sale to Walmart. The book provides insider views, politics, turmoil, success, grit, innovation of the founders and various other leaders who contributed immensely to its success. This book also provides a glimpse into the startup ecosystem. Starting from the finance lords (venture capitals), other rivals (l ...more

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Feb 11, 2020 May Ling rated it really liked it

Shelves: business

Summary: Overall great story that people will want to know about. I struggled with the tone of voice in the book. Also, I think there are minor weaknesses related to the way the deals are presented.

Video review to come on Instagram: WhereIsMayLing . Appreciate any follows.

My major issues for removing a star have to do with the tone of voice. If this book really comes to the US, he's got to watch the bro-start-up attitude. It makes any real business person want to roll their eyes and puke. that' ...more

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Nov 20, 2020 Satyajeet Sahu rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: People who want to start any kind of business or startup

The first thing that I felt while reading this book was like it has lots and lots of information, so much details about the events. So much information that I felt a bit tired while reading the book. But, we can't exactly blame the author because Flipkart was actually a really fast growing company, and there was always something new happening there, and the author has tried to cover as much as possible.

Now, what I really liked about was the story of how Flipkart came into existence and how it ro ...more

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Jun 05, 2020 Deepika Bandaru rated it really liked it

Being an ex-flipster (2014-18), I was quite enthusiastic to read this book. It deserves the wide acclaims for in-depth research. The author nails a lot of details about Flipkart's culture such as conflicts of being tech first/ Biz first, customer obsession, employee ownership, significances of Koramangala and speaking Hindi.

The narrative for first few years is inspiring and supported by great context of the market conditions. Circumstances leading to the turmoil of mid 2015-2016 is dealt in det ...more

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Nov 27, 2020 Surbhi Dua rated it it was amazing

A compelling story that gives a detailed account of how Sachin and Binny Bansal built and ultimately sold India’s largest internet company.

The book emphasises on the inner workings of the company taking a closer look at the clash of personalities, egos, and politics.

Sachin Bansal; man with a vision who led Flipkart to its spectacular rise during his first tenure as CEO. However, his subsequent decisions which clearly were a strategic blunder coupled with the desperation to get back to the hot s ...more

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May 26, 2022 Sankalpana rated it it was amazing

I love untold stories and gossip about startups, and there just aren't many good books chronicling Indian startups. So this book was a 4-star for me even before reading simply because it was helping bridge a big supply demand gap :) However even independent of that, this is an excellent book. First, the subject matter - Flipkart is a big success story of the past decade, all of us know about it, and being a first mover in an operationally intensive industry is going to create interesting stories ...more

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Aug 27, 2020 Ravi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Fast paced book with good insights into Flipkart uprise. It's easy to say that Flipkart is a clone of Amazon in the West. But the problems they solved, the infrastructure they setup, the innovative or juggad solutions for problems such as faulty payment options laid the path for all the ecommerce companies that were established later including Amazon.

This book is not just about how Flipkart's journey over years but also about personalities of people who were deeply invested in it - how the foun ...more

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