His business is now a case study at Harvard University.
Mr. Venkatesh, now chief executive, saw a potential market of 500m mostly teenage & young adult Indians paying Rs10 or more to eat a vada pav.
The company opened its first outlet in 2004 in Kalyan, near Mumbai, but soon ran into problems.
The handmade vada varied in quality & had a short shelf life.
Soon, Mr. Venkatesh’s bank gave the company 10 days to stop the losses or repay the loan.
He used his contact to tie up with a firm that supplied frozen food like McDonald’s.
His strategy was to build the Goli Vada Pav brand & outsource much of the supply chain & operations.
There were at least 3 instances in his career when he was told to give up & that the Indian burger, would eventually make him a beggar.
He shares some advice through his experience:
As entrepreneurs, we are here to evolve this planet to the next level through products, services, imagination.
Keep trying new business models, new markets, new tech — even if you fail.
Have faith in your ideas, business & yourself.
It now has a turnover of 55 crores & employs about 200 people.