Purple Ascent

HOW ALATE-NIGHT IDEA TURNED INTO A BEAUTY POWERHOUSE, TAKING THE PERSONAL CARE PLATFORM FROM A SIX-MEMBER LOFT OFFICE TO A DATA-DRIVEN GIANT

- S SHANTHI

MANISH TANEJA NEVER SET out to be an entrepreneur.

What he did have, even as a schoolboy at Modern Vidya Niketan School in Faridabad, was an instinctive curiosity about how things worked and why people built what they did. He chased academic performance with the same focus he would later bring to business.“I had some of the most remarkable days, surrounded by the power of knowledge and teachers I still remember fondly,’ he says. Among them was his chemistry teacher, Manoj Tan-wat, who recognised his potential early. “When I secured a very good rank at IIT JEE, he said he wasn't surprised. He himself was a chemistry gold medallist and seeing him so happy about my performance was a wonderful thing. It inspired me to truly believe in myself”

IIT Delhi, where Taneja did his B. Tech. from 2002 to 2007, sharpened that belief. The classroom mattered, but the bigger shift came from learning to question assumptions. While researching microwave technologies at CARE lab, he wondered why India didn’t offer real opportunities for students to work in this field. “I remember approaching my professor with an idea that we could set up a microwave fabrica-

tion and manufacturing company in India, so that students from IITs could access meaningful, hands-on internships in this area.” The thought didn’t convert into a company, but it made entrepreneurship feel like a real path.

After graduating, he moved to Mumbai for his first job. His flatmate happened to be Rahul Dash, now COO of Purplle. Taneja was at Fidelity Private Equity, Dash at Tata. “Somewhere between late-night conversations and endless cups of