The Awesome redBus Employees That Helped Sell a Crore Tickets
As a part of our ‘Awesome Startup Employee Series‘, we bring to you the strongest points of redBus. A company which has grown from a 3 member team to 460+ and recently crossed the landmark of selling 1 crore bus tickets [Watch the video interview with Founder Phanindra Sama], redBus has been nothing short of a phenomenon. Here we present the best from 8 employees that have been at the crux of these developments at redBus:
- Suresh K., Business Development Support
- Venkat Naidu, Assistant Manager
- Mahendar Reddy, Team Leader of Engineering
- Dharani D., Team Leader of Operations
- Nanda Kishore, Assistant Product Manager (Tech)
- Rajesh Maripalli, Senior Software Engineer (Tech)
- Dhanalakshmi K., Senior Executive- Finance
- Bhaskar Raju Konduru, Lead Engineer- Technology
A very humble workforce, redBus is a matter of pride for the startups in India. Ever so reticent, the employees choose to keep to themselves and rather let their work speak for them.
How did you come to know about redBus and join it?
"A friend told that some guys from BITS-Pilani are trying to do something innovative in the travel sector would you like to join? After the referral, I gave it a serious thought. I looked at the company and immediately said yes!" - Suresh K.
Memorable moments
“During the initial days we had to put in a lot of hardwork to market our business well. My boss asked me to write 13000 mails in a day. I achieved this number for that day and set a new target myself for the next day and wrote 15000 mails!”- Nanda Kishore.
“My boss had gone out owing to some emergency, during which I took care of the Accounts of the entire organization! That kind of responsibility at such an early stage is very encouraging”- Dhanalakshmi.
"One day, the scheduled bus got cancelled due to some reason. So, we took a tempo-traveler and made sure the customers reached their destination on time. I traveled with them till their destination in the tempo-traveler and made sure of the safety of the passengers. The passengers had a paid the full amount of a Volvo bus, and were angry, but somehow we handled the situation smartly."- Nanda Kishore
Challenges and Joys of working for a startup
"A major challenge is to work with limited resources and with a team where everyone has a different opinion. It is very much necessary to stay focused on a particular task and complete it with full determination.”- Dharani
“When our company started there was no competitor; it was a nascent market and explaining the idea was tough! This is usually the case with all startups. Getting the users to adopt is the key to success”- Venkat Naidu
“The travel sector is a much unorganized sector, lot of efforts were put into explaining people. In a startup one has to do all kind of work, including the odd jobs that might not match your degree. But all these factors make you a better human being.”- Rajesh Marripalli
“The way in which we have bonded with the operators is friendly and sustainable. These are not people with whom we'd have thought of doing business with but their sense of business is amazing. We are on very good terms with them and look forward to working with them over a really long period of time.”- Bhaskar Raju Konduru.
Advice to people who are starting up or thinking of joining a startup?
“Every startup should follow the motto set by redBus, HMH- Honesty, Maturity and Hard work. Be loyal to the company and have patience. Think what you did for the company, instead of building expectations from the company. Also, inculcate self-discipline. Set examples for others to follow, Think differently. Example: A person was sent to an island. He came back and told that we can’t sell slippers here as no one is wearing them. Another person was sent to the same island. This person came back and told, we should sell slippers here as no one is wearing them. Such multiple perspectives help the organization grow.”- Suresh K
“One should be more responsible and accountable. Also, one should discover opportunities inside the company and excel faster.”- Mahendar Reddy.
We congratulate Phanindra Sama, Charan Padmaraju and Sudhakar Pasupunuri for building a 460+ membered team in a few years [stay tuned to know how they hired]. And, our best wishes to all the employees at redBus.
If you want to create large scale impact on millions of lives, join a startup today!