REDBUSs Story

The take-off point

During Diwali 2005, all my friends and colleagues went home for the holidays, but I stayed back alone in
my apartment, watching soaps, because I could not get a bus ticket. Many agents tried to get me one, but
failed. Thats when it struck me: there should be a centralised system for buying and selling bus tickets. I
had an idea!

The Road to Progress

I wrote to seven of my friends from BITS, asking them to help me create a system. Initially, they all joined
in the project. But the number fell to three by the time we finished working on the model.

So in 2006, Charan Padmaraju, Sudhakar Pasupunuri and I started redBusan online ticketing facility for
buses across India.

With the help of mentors, we found through TiE, we were soon able to commercialise our project. Though
the earlier plan was to go pro bono, we eventually saw the potential and decided to jump in fulltime.

We invested Rs 5 lakh from our personal savings and thought it was a huge step, until our investors said
they would put in Rs3 crore in our project. We couldnt believe it. We were going to be big!

redBus is Indias largest ticketing company today. Our current turnover is Rs150 crores. We are present in
all the major cities in India and plan to expand to several smaller cities soon.

The company today manages over 10,000 bus schedules of over 700 bus operators in 15 states.
Theres still a long way to go, of course. I wont rest till I make the last operator a part of the organised
sector.

How does redBus work?

The idea is simple. redBus gets inventory details from the bus operators and feeds the information on
their website, which can be accessed by users/ customers looking for bus tickets.

We get direct access to inventory details of

bus operators using our product Boss, an ERP
for operators. And agents get access to the redBus on a Roll
same information through our product Ranked as Indias most promising entrepreneur no# 3
SeatSeller. by Business World
How was redBus promoted? Listed amongst the Forbes top 5 startups to watch
Word of mouth was our primary tool of out for in 2010
marketing. A few happy users/ customers led Ranked no# 1 amongst the fastest growing companies
to a widened circle of customers for us. Use of in India by All World Network. The growth rate was about
SEO/ SEM helped us too. 4823% between 2007-09.
Awarded 'Startup of the Year' award by IMAI in 2010
And once we started selling to customers, the Awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year award under IT /
operators flocked in. More customers meant ITES category by ET NOW in 2011
more operators and vice versa. redBus technology ranked amongst the top 5 winners
of the prestigious CIO Asia Award in Singapore in 2011
What was the biggest challenge in
establishing redBus?
While everyone else seemed appreciative of our idea of a computerised and centralised system of
booking tickets, bus operators refused to see the benefits. Initially, operators were unwilling to give-up
their outdated way of working, but the growing sale of bus-tickets on our website convinced them.

What kind of financial
arrangement/agreement was made
between partners?
We are equal partnersirrespective of the
work each of us contribute. We have vesting
schedule of our (own) stocks. At any point in
time, if any of us gets disinterested in the
idea/company, he can walk away by giving
away his unvested stocks to the other
partners. This is the equation set for all of us.
Sama Sutra (tips for success)
Mailing groups such as Headstart, Barcamp, Open
coffee club etc. could prove very resourceful for
entrepreneurs. One can ask any question that he/ she
may have regarding entrepreneurship.
Follow blogs like Pluggd.in, Media namma, VC Circle,
Tech crunch etc., to learn whats happening in
entrepreneurial eco-system.
Networking events like TiE, CII are very useful
networking events. Its worth taking membership of
these organisations.

What, if any, competition did redBus face?

Summing Up Samas Graph
We were the first ones to launch this model in
Began life under a thatched-roof in a remote village of
India. We had no competition. However, within
Andhra Pradesh, Thadpakal, where the air was pure and
a few months after we started, some similar
the fields were green.
websites sprang up across the country. Infact,
Studied electronics at Birla Institute of Technology &
at one point, there were 30 companies selling
Science, Pilani.
bus tickets on the Internet.
Worked with ST Micro electronics, a European
Initially, as each of us were small, the entry
semiconductor company, as Assistant Design Engineer (I
barrier was very low. But now, redBus
loved the laid-back, European style of working.)
widened network of customers and bus
Felt restless. My classmates were designing,
operators has created a big entry barrier for
innovating, creating products, while I was sitting pretty in
others to enter this business.
my lavishly designed office.
Moved to Texas Instruments, an American company
Did redBus follow any international
known for its strict work culture (life became hectic but I
model(s)?
was happy creating chips and circuits.)
When we launched redBus, it was launched
Still felt restless.
completely indigenously thinking of a
Then Diwali 2005 rolled around, and life led me to my
possible solution to a personal problem. We
true destination.
didnt look around to see if there was an
I was meant to create something of greater value.
existing solution in any country.

Today, to our surprise, we learn that an integrated bus ticketing booking platform doesnt exist anywhere
in the world!

In fact, we get quite a few enquiries every month from other countries asking us if we could extend our
services to them.