From Fresh Faces to Family: Celebrating 15 Years with Our Team

Old is gold. More than gold, in fact.?

Me and Anurag Jain started our entrepreneurial journey out of our hometown in Jaipur in 2007. Back then, the startup term was not as cool as it is today. We were sitting out of the garage of our house for the first year. No experienced guy would want to join us back then. To the extent that many who came to the interview left without even having a conversation after looking at our setup :). Parallelly Umang Kumar , who joined us as a cofounder in 2014, was building Gaadi from a similar timeframe in similar constraints.

So the team that got built up was of freshers/interns who were hungry to learn. Many of them have now become the pillars of our 15-year-old organization. You know, familiar names that live and breathe the same dream as you – and whose contribution will leave an everlasting legacy for us to cherish.?

I speak of people like Ajay Jangir , Manoj Malviya , Charu Kishnani , Vidosh Sahu , Anil Kumar Gautam , Vikas Jangid , Manila Mathur , Manoj Kumar, Sudip, Joseph Khan ji, Shukla Ghosh , Naresh Bairwa , Amar Singh (our office boy), a special mention for Pihu Jain (my wife) who has been supporting this journey since the inception, and many, many others who joined us as freshers and interns, and have completed 15 years with us. Yes, fifteen years at the CarDekho Group Group. In a day and age where the ‘Great Resignation’ wave is said to be in full flow, how incredible is that??

The greatest companies are made by people who stick around with you. Such earnest loyalty amongst people is only possible if they find themselves becoming more than just employees. For Anurag and me, that has been the endeavour at CarDekho since day one.?

Right when we began, we had decided to hire for not only skill but also will. The will to learn, fail, persevere, and finally win. You don’t always have to look at IITs and IIMs to hire the best talent. In our case, we were blessed to find some of the most incredibly talented people right here in Jaipur.?

I say every corner of India is teeming with incredible talent that is ready to stick with you through thick and thin. All you need to do is give them a platform. So, in came raw, gifted folks at CarDekho whom we had the privilege to coach and mentor ourselves. I still remember how Anurag and I would take training sessions back in the day, even teaching Java coding to the freshers.?

Then, as CarDekho grew in scale, so did our roles. And by donning multiple hats at a young age, our first employees gained as much as 5 years of experience every year. That’s what exposure at a young stage in your career does to you. It results in true growth. So, does having perseverance – something that our oldest, most experienced folks have in spades!?

We failed and learned together. Now, we are trying to build a legacy together on shared values. Having built CarDekho brick by brick, our oldest employees have brought values of integrity, customer obsession, humility, innovation, empathy and loyalty to our culture. Keeping your feet on the ground and eyes high is what we have been built up with. These old faces have truly shaped and protected the DNA of our organization. Now, they are the mentors, bringing in younger employees into our fold and helping them embrace our vision.??

And where there are values, there is always a family. Which is why our veterans are now our family members. Like they say, ‘A-one from day one’!?

From hopefuls taking a leap of faith fifteen years ago to our trustworthy partners who always have each other’s back – our most loyal employees continue to write the next chapter in CarDekho’s story. Like gold, they continue to shine brighter and grow more valuable with each passing day.?

Must say, Anurag and I couldn’t have gotten any luckier than that. Their inspiring dedication and loyalty will always have our eternal gratitude.

#teamwork #loyalty #perseverance #success #growth #values #family #gratitude