Being an entrepreneur is all about doing the impossible: Travis Kalanick

Kalanick also played on the word jugaad as an important part of entrepreneurship

Travis Kalanick, founder and CEO of US-based cab aggregator Uber, believes India is as important as the US and China as an investment destination for his company. “Three Bs are important — Beijing, Bay Area and Bengaluru,” he said at the Startup India event.  

The 39-year-old, whose company is valued at over $50 billion, gave a nine-point road map for becoming an entrepreneur from being a geek. He also played on the word jugaad as an important part of entrepreneurship.

While it is essential to be a geek to turn a tech entrepreneur, Travis wanted to establish that he was truly a geek. He jokingly claimed he was a coder while he was a child, and showed pictures for support. In the sixth grade, he built a transformer to convert AC-to-DC power, he said. Once a geek, the first step towards becoming an entrepreneur is to find something broken, and in his case it was of course a weak taxi link while he was in New York or in Paris where he was holidaying with his friend.

The man who was encouraged to become an entrepreneur after he heard a hundred numbers for four years, listed out the other steps for getting started. “How hard is your problem is a critical step”, he said, pointing out that he’s known as problem solver in chief at Uber. Be analytical and creative, understand the difference between perception and reality, making magic, selling and storytelling, adventure and having a champion’s mindset are among Travis’ recommendation to would-be start-ups.

He harped on Indian concept of jugaad or innovation while explaining that fear is a disease and hustle is the antidote. ‘’Hustle in India is jugaad,’’ he said. It’s because Uber could take risk, shedding fear, could it enter China. ‘’I’m nuts, people say….But being an entrepreneur is all about doing the impossible,’’ Travis elaborated. In that context, he said three important Bs are Beijing, Bay Area and Bengaluru. When asked about competition, as moderator Deep Kalra, founder of MakeMyTrip pointed at rival Ola, Travis said ‘’competition is always good.’’   

Uber had last year announced it would invest $1 billion in India in 2015-16, as the online taxi-hailing company looks to expand its services in its biggest market outside the United States.

Travis will now engage with students at IIT-Mumbai on January 19.

Uber operates in 68 countries, but it has had issues with transport authorities across the world. In India, an Uber driver was accused of raping a passenger in December 2014.