Yashish Dahiya, Co-founder and CEO of Policybazaar.com talks about the company and its evolution, the insurance distribution market, competition from insurtech businesses, and much else in a free-wheeling chat with BW. Excerpts from the interview:
You started off as an entrepreneur with certain personal philosophies. What have these personal philosophies been, and how have they affected your journey so far?
My core personal philosophy, ever since I was a child, has been this —you cannot truly benefit until you have benefitted somebody else. That’s my number one belief. This philosophy is reflected in hundreds of decisions that I make every day. My second belief is that one has to work hard for everything. If something comes to you without hard work, then you’ll lose it just as easily…. Easy come, easy go. And yes, I believe in extremely long-term thinking—no short cuts, no quick wins, just staying focused on the long term and the big picture. If you ask a hundred people about me, they’ll most likely say the same things— that I am a longterm thinker and always take care of others’ interests, and not just my own.
My entrepreneurial journey embodies all these philosophies. There has occasionally been pressure to digress from them, whether from investors or from employees, co-founders, suppliers… but in all of these situations, I’ve tried to stay true to the maxim of ‘Let’s do something which is good for you and me’. Let us do something which will last. Let’s not do short-term things or lose focus for short-term gains. This has worked for us in the long run... But there’s a catch! You have to stay alive too. The only times when I have sacrificed the long term for the short term is when I’ve had to do so, so that we stayed alive tomorrow. Because in life and business, there will be many instances when you simply cannot survive without making compromises. And yes, those compromises need to be made.
What has been the journey of Policybazaar so far? Tell us about the road to profitability after burning cash for eight long years.
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