ixigo's Success Story: A 17-Year Journey to IPO | Aloke Bajpai & Rajnish Kumar | Podcast

“How many near-death experiences have you had?”
“We stopped counting."
Talk about resilience! Ravi Adusumalli (Co-Managing Partner, Elevation Capital) sat down with ixigo co-founders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar to unpack their 17-year journey to a blockbuster IPO.
The story of how Aloke and Rajnish built ixigo from a small apartment in Gurgaon in 2007 to India’s second-largest OTA by revenue is one of overcoming challenges, bouncing back, and transforming.
This is encapsulated in the title of this special episode - “Resilience, Resurgence, Rebirth”. Each word represents a crucial chapter in ixigo’s journey.
The founders were at their candid best and spoke at length about:
1. Founding ixigo when they were broke
2. Landing on the highest-frequency use case for train travellers
3. The decision-making process behind their biggest pivot - from metasearch to OTA
4. That time when they mortgaged their homes to make payroll
5. Surviving and thriving amidst hyper-funded competitors
6. Closing two acquisitions in the thick of the pandemic
For founders navigating their own startup journeys, we hope this conversation serves as a reminder that behind every success story lies countless sleepless nights, moments of doubt, and the courage to keep pushing forward.
Chapters
- 00:00:00 Coming Up
- 00:01:20 Opening Remarks
- 00:01:34 Introduction
- 00:02:36 ixigo Origin Story
- 00:03:24 Starting the Company
- 00:04:35 Why Metasearch?
- 00:06:41 Initial Fundraising
- 00:11:35 Surviving 2008 Financial Crisis
- 00:13:45 Team Resilience
- 00:16:37 Mobile Focus
- 00:17:45 Focus on Trains
- 00:20:35 Train Tracking Feature
- 00:21:36 Content Marketing Playbook
- 00:27:38 Measuring Customer Feedback
- 00:29:16 Maintaining Capital Efficiency
- 00:31:34 Full-Stack OTA Pivot
- 00:33:39 Navigating COVID-19
- 00:36:41 Leadership Pay Cuts
- 00:39:49 Supporting Customers
- 00:41:11 Acquisition of ConfirmTkt
- 00:44:36 Acquisition of AbhiBus
- 00:47:05 Building Ixigo Assured
- 00:49:30 How to Target Mass Market
- 00:51:35 Impact of AI on Travel
- 00:55:34 Personalization of Product
- 00:58:17 Ending Thoughts

[@AlokeBajpai]

Loved the candid discussion 😊