Binny Bansal - The Silent Face behind the Flipkart Revolution

Enough has been spoken about Flipkart, and enough has been said about its founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. Most people still think of them as of the same family and related to each other, which is not the case. But it is also true in a sense that you are married to your venture and spend more time with your co-founder than with your spouse.

Here are some lesser known things about Flipkart co-founder, Binny Bansal

• Binny Bansal, co founder and chief operating officer of Flipkart, is generally a shy and a reserved person.
• Binny was born and raised in Chandigarh and was in the same school as Sachin but they weren't close friends or knew each other well, which is generally the case with many co-founders.
• Binny was rejected twice by Google before he joined Amazon.
• Binny and Sachin crossed paths thrice before starting Flipkart. At school where they didn't know each other well; later, at IIT Delhi, they came close and became good friends, as they were in the same course; and, finally, at Amazon, where Binny joined in Jan 2007, a year after Sachin (who joined in Jan 2006), and quit in a few months (Sep 2007) to start Flipkart. Who says three is an unlucky number (Teen tigaada, Kaam bigada)!!
• As a founder of Flipkart it is quite known that Binny is a book buff, but the unknown fact is that he is a huge fan of Salman Rushdie.
• Far from the bookworm image, Binny has captained the Basketball team of his school and college, he used to be a great fan of Chicago Bulls.
• Binny is also an adventure sports enthusiast and has a great passion towards white water rafting.
• Before joining Amazon, Binny worked with Sarnoff Corporation, where he developed a lane sensor device for cars which would warn you and beep automatically if you change lanes without giving a signal.
• The first book ordered from Flipkart was "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood", and Binny borrowed money from a friend to buy the book as he forgot his wallet when he went to pick up the book.

Binny will be with us on a fireside chat at TechSparks 2013, he will be talking about various aspects of starting up and how these lessons helped him in building Flipkart as it stands today.

Join the Fireside Chat with Binny Bansal at TechSaprks Grand Finale, Register here.