This statement will force us to think how much struggle and hard work Deep Kalra (Chairman and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip) would have put to stand MakeMyTrip, one of the largest travel booking portal of India. The success journey of MakeMyTrip is a great insight into how Deep Kalra made his trip and took it to the next level. It is a journey of an aspiring entrepreneur reaching the new heights to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs. MakeMyTrip is a dream which takes more than a decade to become that much successful, as it is today.





“It took me 8 years to figure out what I really wanted to do” - Deep Kalra at TechSparks 2013 in Delhi.





Early Life and Background





Deep studied in St.Stephens College, Delhi in 1987 to pursue Bachelors in Economics. After that, he went to IIM-A for an MBA Degree. After completing his MBA at the age of 23, he had an obvious choice of choosing a well-settled job as everyone was doing. He joined the Banking sector at ABN Amro Bank as his first job. There existed a feeling of excitement after getting the first job for a few days but after three years, he realized that banking is not his cup of tea. He then resigned from ABN Amro and took a break for about a year to think about the future plans.





Making of MakeMyTrip





Deep Kalra, an alumnus of IIM-A, founded the MakeMyTrip in 2000. It was first used to launch in the US market in 2000 to cater to the overseas Indian community for their US-to-India travel needs. Before that, during his break after leaving the ABN Amro Bank, he started setting up the bowling alley in the 90s. However, even going from one place to another, measuring places and setting up the bowling alleys. However, the business was unable to stand against giant chains like McDonalds’ and had to shut down after 4 years of operation. It was a great entrepreneurial experience but a financial disaster for Deep.





"There is an entrepreneur in everyone. Most people would like to work for themselves given a situation where you earn the same amount of money" - Deep Kalra

With a view to start something his own, he thought that he still needs some more time and knowledge so he decided to join GE Capital to head Business Development. He helped GE grow a lot via the internet and get to know almost all the top players of Indian Internet space. It was the time when he started feeling the power of the Internet in the coming days and a gap between the services provided and customers. After just more than a year, he left the GE to start his own venture ‘MakeMyTrip’ with a proper business model. Deep has put his maximum efforts to make MakeMyTrip so much successful such that it has been awarded the Best Travel Portal India from Prestigious World Travel India in 2013 and 2014.









Conclusion





"However big or small, make it a good business, make it a clean business, make it a business you are very proud of" - Deep Kalra

The Real businessmen are not made in a few minutes, months or in a few years. The success story of Deep Kalra is a journey of complete devotion for more than a decade which is still going on so that MakeMyTrip can reach to the next level of success. Deep Kalra's journey can be one of the best examples of how hard work, dedication and a will to succeed can bring a change in the world. We believe his success story will motivate and guide other aspiring entrepreneurs to make the world a better place to live as done by Deep's MakeMyTrip.