Mumbai: Just about three months after his shocking exit from Flipkart, an assertive Binny Bansal is now looking forward to the next chapter of his life. Bansal founded the e-commerce giant over a decade ago.
The entrepreneur, who is credited towards jumpstarting India’s internet retail industry, is now dedicating himself to helping other founders get their startups off the ground. Bansal left Flipkart over Walmart Inc.’s investigation over alleged personal misconduct.
However, he is now focused on xto10x Technologies, a startup he co-founded with former colleague Saikiran Krishnamurthy. It is aimed at helping entrepreneurs navigate the often-tricky Indian startup scene. He has already put together an early team, set up an office at a co-working and even snagged several “leading” startup customers.
“I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my life,” the 37-year-old said in an interview to Bloomberg, his first since the episode. “Person to person, I can help 10 startups but the ambition is to help 10,000 early and mid-stage entrepreneurs, not 10,” he said.
Binny and Sachin Bansal’s deal with Walmart shook the Tech industry which reflected great success. However, soon enough, Wallmart initiated an investigation into an allegation of “serious personal misconduct.” Walmart was said to have begun an inquiry into a consensual relationship Bansal had with a woman. The probe looked into claims that the woman had been paid off, possibly in return for her silence, leading financial daily had reported at that time.
Bansal continues to holds 4 percent of Flipkart and a board seat, had since kept a low profile. Bansal attempts to close all such discussion about the Flipkart incident and also alleged claims about Sachin and Binny’s non-talking terms and said: “Now, it’s all in the past. I have moved on.”
Bansal however is looking positively to his new start. His new company will build technology tools to help startups grow, offering on-tap consulting and services from legal and finance to communications, HR and management mentoring.
“Today, software is built for large enterprises and not small startups,” he further said in the interview. He opined that when startups raise funds, they must know where to park the money. “Think of it as solving for startups what Amazon Web Services has done for computing, helping enterprises go from zero to a thousand servers overnight with no hassle,” Bansal cited an example.
Bansal says ‘xto10x’ was born in part because he recalls Flipkart itself made mistakes at every turn. “Instead of making a thousand mistakes, if we can help other startups make a hundred or even few hundred, that would be worth it,” he said. It will retain a global focus as “problems for entrepreneurs are the same everywhere.”
Bansal will be chairman of the company but is not expected to take on an operating role in the new organisation.
