Working at Flipkart can drive you to be an entrepreneur; ex-employees who have startups are great examples

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Working at Flipkart can drive you to be an entrepreneur; ex-employees who have startups are great examplesThe adage ‘you are the company you keep’ is true in every sense. When surrounded by a bunch of motivated and talented entrepreneurs, you are bound to get ideas and have an itch to start your own venture.
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Something of this sort happened at Flipkart as most of the people who left Flipkart are now entrepreneurs.

Flipkart became a launchpad for many startups. Ex-Flipsters such as Advaith Mohan, Ankit Nagori, Preeti Jain, etc, have their own startups.
Mohan was heading a four-member search engine marketing team at Flipkart and now owns Wagr, a startup that makes wearable for dogs to make pet pooches easier. Jain founded logistics company InLogg.

"There was a hunger in people (at Flipkart) to learn more, much faster. There wasn't anyone who was just comfortable with the status quo," Mohan told ET.

Likewise, Ankit Nagori, former chief business officer, co-founded fitness startup CureFit, Akshay Lal started Playment, Arpit Dave co-founded food Runnr.
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Working at Flipkart gave these bright minds exposure and around 50 former employees now have startups.

"We are a very, very meritocratic organisation and we give opportunities to people on merit and not based on their age or tenure. This gives a lot of exposure to some people who rise to the challenge they are given and then they want to do more," Sachin Bansal, executive chairman of Flipkart, told ET.

“People saw tough times and good times together and that is what held them together for a very long time, after which they started thinking of other opportunities," Nagori told ET.

Desire for growth and right market opportunities also gave employees to start their own venture and take that sort of risk.

Robert Siegel, lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business, told ET, "When cultures become too constrained or restrictive of innovation, such that individuals are not getting personal growth or challenges, and/or a firm is not taking advantage of potential market opportunities due to existing businesses, this is when individuals seek to start their own companies. It is usually due to a combination of individual desire and seeing a market opportunity."
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Meanwhile, it is bound a company will feel disappointed when a high performing employee at a top level exits.

Bansal said, “It is a bit disappointing but at some level it's a great validation for the company culture if some of these people go out and become successful at their ventures. In some instances, the company has tried retaining employees but hasn't been successful. If it thought an idea could be implemented within Flipkart, it has made offers, but again, largely we have not been very successful with such attempts," said Bansal.

(Image: Thinkstock)