THE SOMEHOW FOUNDER

Peyush Bansal did not know it was impossible to build a multinational, product-focussed startup based in India. So he went ahead and did it

- By NAINI THAKER

Peyush Bansal, 42

CO-FOUNDER & CEO, LENSKART

WHY HE WON THE AWARD: For transforming India's eyewear industry, scaling Lenskart into a global brand across 15 countries

"We wanted to make a company without which the world would not be the same; and it had to be through technology."

In 2007, while working as a programme manager with Microsoft on its Office team, Peyush Bansal found himself invited to dinner at Bill Gates' home, not far from the company's headquarters in Redmond.

“I don’t know what the criterion was, but somehow I got selected,” Bansal tells Forbes India on a Sunday morning at his home office in New Delhi’s tony Greater Kailash. It may have been because he had done well in his reviews and an Office feature he worked on became widely used.

That ‘somehow’ dinner changed everything. Gates, the legendary founder and philanthropist, spoke about Microsoft’s mission to put a personal computer in every home, that the goal had been achieved, and the next challenge was to eradicate malaria.

“That got me thinking,” says Bansal. “Am I just adding another toolbar to Microsoft?” The next day he told his manager he was resigning.

The decision surprised many, especially since he was doing well. But Bansal’s mind was made up.

“There is a big gap between what exists in India and what should exist in India—and I needed to do something transformative,” he says. He wanted to create an impact.

Bansal’s life so far had been a series of unexpected, often contrarian decisions, which he somehow pulled off.

DEALING WITH HEARTBREAK