Hey I am on Medial • 21d
The Ride That Shook Him It was supposed to be a simple weekend trip. Bhavish Aggarwal just wanted to get from Bangalore to Bandipur for a short break. He booked a cab, hopped in, probably with snacks and a playlist. But somewhere along the highway, the driver stopped. Mid-trip. Demanded more money. Argued. Threatened to drop him off in the middle of nowhere. The vibe turned from “road trip” to “hold on, is this a scam?” And that’s where it hit him... This isn’t just a bad driver. This is a broken system. Back then, booking a cab in India felt like playing roulette. You could get a sweet old uncle with AC and mints... or you could get the villain from a B-grade thriller. No guarantees. No ratings. No refunds. Just vibes and negotiation. Bhavish didn’t complain. He built. At 24, he said screw it and started a site to list cab services. Not even an app—just a basic site. His friends thought he was nuts. His parents thought he needed a job. But Bhavish saw something nobody else did: Pain is market research. If he was frustrated, so were millions. He called it “OlaTrips” at first—cute, right? Just an aggregator. But then he realized people didn’t want options. They wanted assurance. Clean cars. Trained drivers. Transparent pricing. Safety. Dignity. So he pivoted, built an actual fleet model, and turned Ola into what it is today. But it wasn’t a smooth ride. Investors laughed at him. “You’re fighting Uber? Good luck, bro.” He heard it all: “You’re too young.” “India’s not ready for this.” “Get a real job.” “Why would anyone trust an app with a stranger’s car?” Still, he kept going. He taught himself operations, tech, logistics, funding, and fire-fighting. He once said, “Every week in a startup feels like a lifetime.” And if you look at Ola’s timeline—it shows. From bootstrapping bookings through Excel sheets to raising millions, launching in cities, dealing with driver strikes, regulatory nightmares, even battling Uber in a full-on price war… Ola didn’t grow. It hustled its way up. Today? Ola is worth billions. Bhavish is building electric scooters, self-driving tech, and literally talking about making Indian-made Teslas. All because one shady cab ride pissed him off. Well....Remember... Sometimes the thing that breaks you builds you. That moment of rage or frustration might just be your moment of clarity. Most people rant. Bhavish built. And the world rode along. Follow for more to come or hit me if you got something brewing
Trivias Around start... • 1y
How did OLA get their first few drivers? How did it Begin? You have to imagine it like this, a 24 y/o, just passed out of IIT Bombay, worked for Microsoft for two years, in a cubical, then? he started thinking about a cab aggregator service.
See MoreHey I am on Medial • 4d
Bhavish Aggarwal’s story is sold as bold and scrappy, but the truth is he didn’t fight the odds—he was the odds. IIT Bombay grad, ex-Microsoft, born into a financially stable Punjabi family—he didn’t risk it all, he risked comfortably. Starting Ola
See MoreLet's build together... • 5m
Ideas have no boundaries - convo with an Uber driver ! So I took an Uber to home from my coaching. While driving, he got a phone call about buying a 2nd hand car. When the call ended, I asked him if he wanted to change his car as the Uber was quite
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