In many ways, Deep Kalra’s 17-year-long journey in building India’s biggest online travel company, Makemytrip, parallels the country’s internet journey. Over two decades, Kalra hasn’t only helped solve the internet’s early problems in the country, including lack of trust in online transactions, but he has also seen the rise and fall of many online commerce entrepreneurs.

In this episode of Outliers, Kalra talks about lessons in building Makemytrip and his views on letting go, and finding a successor.

While talking to Kalra, I also realised the critical role of “the founder’s mentality” in shaping the future of companies, both small and large. Kalra is also an example of why companies need to be led by founders through their long journeys, and not give up on the traits that define the founder’s mentality.

As Bain & Company said in its July report last year, “Companies that maintain these traits as they grow tend to move and adapt faster, be more open-minded, and anticipate and adapt to the future better than those that lose the Founder’s Mentality as they age.”

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