BUSINESS WITH BAE COUPLE PRENEURS

ON THE BALANCING ACT OF BUSINESS & RELATIONSHIPS

- Punita Sabharwal

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

SUMEET MEHTA AND SMITA DEORAH, CO-FOUNDERS, LEAD

Started in 2012 by Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah, LEAD was born in Areri, 35 km from Ahmedabad, with just 14 students on day one. Sumeet completed his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and went on to work with Procter & Gamble in Singapore. But the small-town boy in him always thought about how the gap in education in metros as compared to a non-metro city affected children and their future. When he and his wife, Smita, left their cushy, corporate jobs in Singapore in 2012, they knew they had to build something meaningful in India. It led them to start LEAD and they are addressing the challenges associated with low fee schools with School Edtech solutions. Entering the Unicorn club after its recent Series E funding of $100 million, LEAD became the first School EdTech company to get the Unicorn status. Today, LEAD serves 3,000+ schools across 400+ cities and reaches more than 1.2 million students and 25,000+ teachers. Talking about the support the couple provides each other, the couple states, “Both of us are quite driven so the best support we give each other is to tell the other person when to take their foot off the accelerator. And be there as a sounding board to discuss ideas.” When asked about sharing key roles played by their partner, Sumeet says, “If Smita had not chosen to persist with the company when we were at our lowest point, we would not be where we are today.” While Smita states, “If Sumeet had not pushed to accelerate growth from 150 to 2000 schools, we would not be here today.” Sharing tips for others, the couple states in unison, “During tense moments it is best to disengage because then we are able to respond and not react.”