MakeMyTrip is a Rs 60,000 crore company that, by all logic, shouldn't exist. It launched in 2000 when India's internet barely worked. Connections dropped, credit cards failed online, and most people used the internet to browse, not buy. The company faced a triple whammy of the dotcom bust, 9/11, and SARS in the early days, each hitting global travel harder than the last. Two decades later, COVID brought travel to a grinding halt—again. In between, deep-pocketed competitors launched brutal price wars that burned cash faster than revenues could grow. Desktop UX was losing ground to nimbler competitors. Hotels remained stubbornly offline—despite celebrity campaigns, the fragmented market wouldn't budge. Yet, against every odd, they didn't just survive—they rewrote India's internet story.

In this weekday episode of the *Blume Podcast*, Karthik Reddy sits down with co-founders Deep Kalra and Rajesh Magow to chat about building a generational company through two decades of chaos. Here's what makes their story remarkable: They grew 25× between 2005 and 2010—from near-bankruptcy in 2001, working without salaries in a ₹12/sqft mezzanine office where their knees touched when they swiveled around.

They rang the Nasdaq bell in 2010—when Indian internet companies going public on a foreign exchange was virtually unheard of. 75-80% of employees held ESOPs that turned into real wealth practically overnight. They bet the company on mobile-first when it mattered—abandoning desktop entirely to win on app UX, never looking back. They survived a quarter with 96% revenue drop during COVID—and emerged with ruthless cost discipline and a stronger product, while keeping their best talent motivated when competitors were hiring aggressively. As Rajesh says, "Every crisis gives you the license to fix what you couldn't before."Today, MakeMyTrip is worth over ₹60,000 crore—but for its founders, it's still Day 1. With India's macro tailwinds and AI reshaping travel, the next chapter might just be their biggest yet.

Season Partners: IDFC FIRST Bank and Ultrahuman (Blume portco)

00:00:00 — Episode intro & the audacious idea (Karthik asks why MakeMyTrip even existed)

00:00:14 — Early internet reality & the browsing-not-booking problem (Deep on why people used the web to look, not buy)

00:13:25 — Existential crisis: 2001 triple-whammy, buybacks & layoffs (the toughest moment)

00:15:52 — Breakout growth: 2005–2010 (25x growth and key fundraises)

00:24:22 — COVID shock: revenue down 96% & the culture/cost reset that followed

00:26:47 — The future: AI, mobile, staying paranoid — what comes next for MakeMyTrip

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