Don't miss the bus to your entrepreneurial dreams

It took a rude reality check for Phanindra Sama, founder of redBus, to venture out into launching his startup

- Nitin Babel & Prateek Roy Chowdhury

‘The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. Fear of the unknown is our greatest fear.’ —Joseph Campbell

For a satellite to leave Earth, it needs the initial escape velocity. For many entrepreneurs, that ‘escape velocity’ is a ‘life event’ that wakes them from their slumber. One such story is that of Phanindra Sama.

‘I was an accidental entrepreneur,’ says Phanindra, founder of redBus, a travel startup that was destined to reach epic milestones. Born in Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh, Phani (as he is normally referred to) was always a bright star in academics. He was a state ranker in school and distinction holder from BITS Pilani. He was well-respected in his family circles, and everyone knew he would achieve something great one day.

His schoolteacher challenged him to get a district rank and his principal a state rank. He set for himself a dream of making a microchip in one year that he could carry in his wallet, which landed him the highest campus package among his friends when he joined the prestigious BITS Pilani.

He kept moving from one orbit to the next. As he kept achieving more things, it kept adding to his self-confidence.