Success Story of Piyush Bansal
Peyush Bansal is the co-founder of Lenskart, one of India’s leading online retailers for eyewear. He is a self-made man who, against all odds, managed to build a successful company from the ground up. Starting a business is never easy, but Peyush and his team persevered, and today Lenskart is a multi-million-dollar business. In this article, we’ll look at the success story of Peyush Bansal and how he went from a program manager at Microsoft to a successful entrepreneur.
Early Life & Education
On April 26, 1985, Peyush Bansal was born in New Delhi, India. Bansal has an Electrical Engineering degree from McGill University in Canada. He began working for Microsoft after receiving his degree. Bansal had long looked up to Bill Gates as an example. His dream job was to work for his business.
Peyush Bansal worked on MS Office at Microsoft and developed concepts that may enhance the user’s experience. Bansal decided to leave Microsoft in 2007 and return to his native place, India. He worked with a few highly successful firms between 2007 and 2009. The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, also awarded him a management degree upon graduation.
Lenskart – How Does it Begin?
Because of his entrepreneurial itch, Peyush left his high-paying job at Microsoft. Peyush spoke with many people seeking a new company to cater to a variety of needs. Peyush Bansal launched the first project website, “searchmycampus.com,” in January 2008 with an initial investment of 25 lakhs after speaking with a few students of Delhi University.
He started SearchMyCampus while working on his post-graduate degree. The website answers many of the issues students confront, including housing, internships, part-time employment, and many others. He observed that major eCommerce companies were ignoring the eyeglasses sector during this time, which inspired him to take further action and address more significant issues.
With this in mind, he started Flyrr.com in the US, and after seeing success there, he chose to expand the platform to India. That’s how Lenskart was launched in India in 2010. Peyush founded Lenskart along with Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi. They initially only sold contact lenses on prescription. The online store for Lenskart began selling sunglasses and eyeglasses in March 2011.
Bansal claimed in an interview that the goal of founding Lenskart was to provide vision correction assistance to people throughout India. Second, the business conducts about 15,000 eye exams daily to increase awareness of the importance of eye health. Finally, it offers its clients eyewear that is reasonably priced, fashionable, and of high quality. Bansal added that they work hard to comprehend their clients’ needs and delight them with novel experiences. This is what contributed to Lenskart’s success.
At present, around 4000 employees are working at Lenskart. Additionally, the business has more than 500 locations around the nation. With a $1.5 billion valuation, Lenskart joined the unicorn club in 2019. The company doubled its sales in March 2020, going from ₹486 crores to ₹1,000 crores. Additionally, the business outperformed Titan Eyewear, its major rival.
Lenskart achieved new heights because of Peyush’s perseverance and hard work. His business consistently prioritizes the consumer’s needs and strives to offer the greatest service.
Piyush said, “It’s about breaking your standards every time and bringing an element of joy to the lives of your customers and employees.”
Peyush Bansal in Shark Tank
Being one of the most successful entrepreneurs in India at just 36, Peyush became one of the judges of the business reality show Shark Tank India – Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3. He became quite popular among the audiences, and budding entrepreneurs and people loved his thoughtfulness, empathy, and knowledge of business & technology.
“Talent is not only what we see shuffling in the so-called unicorns of India, but it is sitting multi levels below, but we never reach them because our recruitment processes are largely designed to look for people working with brand names we all see on TV, and not necessarily searching for potential.”
These words from the CEO of Lenskart sum up all that is wrong, particularly with our nation. Due to his easygoing and supportive attitude, Peyush Bansal has become a hero to many Indians amidst the enormous popularity of Shark Tank India.
Lessons to Learn from Piyush Bansal
Peyush Bansal left his job in America and made a trip back to India. He started Lenskart from zero and grew it into a billion-dollar business through hard work and a burning desire to succeed. Many business people throughout the world are motivated by his accomplishments. One must put in a lot of effort and never give up if they wish to succeed. So, make an effort to always learn from your mistakes.