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Education: MBA and Bachelor of Technology, Chemical Engineering
College: IIM, Calcutta and IIT, Delhi
Previous Career:
- Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton - 2007
- Associate Partner, PwC - 2004
- Engagement Manager, Mitchell Madison Group - 2000
Despite being born in a small Rajasthani town to a middle-class family, Pranay Chulet was able to get into in one of the most prestigious Indian institutes, IIT-Delhi. After graduating, he worked for a few years in management consulting. Chulet decided to pursue an MBA from IIM-Calcutta, and after earning his degree he managed to get a job in the US as a consultant. After a few years in the business and switching firms, Pranay decided to pursue entrepreneurship. His first venture was Reference Check, a platform that connected service providers with customers. After it merged with incubator Walker Digital, Chulet founded another company, Excellere, which developed web-based educational products in 2007. Unfortunately, it failed to take off and was abandoned within a year.
At the time, Pranay Chulet was into film-making, and decided to make an interactive action film. He used Craigslist to find actors, and it was then that Pranay had the breakthrough idea. Pranay realised that in India, there were barely any solutions for individuals to get a just price for anything they wanted, whether it was a used phone, furniture or a flat. He wanted to solve this problem for the masses. Additionally, this was a business model that had proved its success across the world. Though print classifieds still had a stronger hold in the Indian market, online classifieds had the potential to take over. In July 2008, Pranay Chulet launched the site Kijiji.in, which enabled buyers and sellers to connect online and continue the purchase offline.
Soon they rebranded as Quikr, for the sake of a more relevant name and brand image. Quikr stood out in the market because it offered more listings, more responses to listings, and a cleaner, simpler experience. Their business model too was robust, where the company would make money from three verticals - premium listings, lead generation, and advertising. In the next few years, Quickr expanded to more states across India, focusing heavily on each state's abundantly available products. By 2012, they had grown to a monthly user base of more than 22 million spread across 65 Indian cities, becoming India’s largest horizontal classifieds company.
- Pranay Chulet was the first student from his village to qualify the coveted IIT entrance exam.
- Chulet earned a gold medal for his efforts at IIM-Calcutta.
"Confidence behind an idea, and the drive to make that idea a reality, is what sets true leaders apart. What matters is the ability to keep the end goal in sight, show the way and bring everyone else along too." - Pranay Chulet