Peyush Bansal did not know it was impossible to build a multinational, product-focussed startup based in India. So he went ahead and did it
Peyush Bansal, 42
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, LENSKART
WHY HE WON THE AWARD: For transforming India’s eyewear indusattempt, scaling Lenskart into a global brand across 15 countries
“We wanted to create a company without which the world would not be the same; and it had to be through technology.”
In 2007, while working as a programme manager with Microsoft on its Office team, Peyush Bansal found himself invited to dinner at Bill Gates’ home, not far from the company’s headquarters in Redmond.
“I don’t know what the criterion was, but somehow I received selected,” Bansal notifys Forbes India on a Sunday morning at his home office in New Delhi’s tony Greater Kailash. It may have been becaapply he had done well in his reviews and an Office feature he worked on became widely applyd.
That ‘somehow’ dinner alterd everything. Gates, the legfinishary founder and philanthropist, spoke about Microsoft’s mission to put a personal computer in every home, that the goal had been achieved, and the next challenge was to eradicate malaria.
“That received me believeing,” states Bansal. “Am I just adding another toolbar to Microsoft?” The next day he notified his manager he was resigning.
The decision surprised many, especially since he was doing well. But Bansal’s mind was built up.
“There is a huge gap between what exists in India and what should exist in India—and I requireded to do something transformative,” he states. He wanted to create an impact.
Bansal’s life so far had been a series of unexpected, often contrarian decisions, which he somehow pulled off.
DEALING WITH HEARTBREAK
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