Ankur Sharma

Shweta, Ansh and I have moved to London. In 2012, I had a great job at ESPN and was establishing myself as a Product Manager in Bangalore. Out came the offer from a much smaller organisation called Nivalink to move to Mumbai. It was pure serendipity! Shweta and I had gone to Mumbai for the first time in 2009. Then we had decided that one day we will come back and live the life of Mumbaikars. I was getting the chance to live the dream. The trade-off was going to a smaller org. It was a brilliant decision in hindsight. Working with a great team, I had a white canvas to paint and got an opportunity to build teams from scratch. Mumbai is also where our son, Ansh was born, and our lives were never the same. While building products at Goibibo, I was happy and really loved the team and the vision I have built over time. Along came another serendipity, this time from London, and our lives are changed. I have been resisting to move outside India since 2011 because of the opportu...

Today marks my last day at Goibibo and MakeMyTrip. It has been an eventful journey of 4 years. I was very fortunate. I worked with the smartest people on the earth, built multiple lines of business and learnt lots during the course. Here were my top takeaways: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish : When I had heard this line at Steve Jobs commencement speech, I only understood its meaning metaphorically. Over the last 4 years, I have worked in at least 6 different lines of business of Goibibo, more often than not working at 2 of them simultaneously. Every time I started leading a team, I learnt something new there, about product management, leadership, managing teams and being productive. Leaders like Ashish and Rajesh at Goibibo and MakeMyTrip taught me to keep looking forward and keep creating a vision of “Think about the way it’s going to be.” instead of “Remember, how it used to be?” Always be ready to unlearn: When I joined Goibibo, I was already one of the experienced PMs in the co...