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Hertz CEO Kathryn Marinello with CFO Jamere Jackson and other members of the executive team in 2017

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

  • Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
  • Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
  • The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
  • Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
  • A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
  • Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
  • The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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15 Real-Life Case Study Examples & Best Practices

15 Real-Life Case Study Examples & Best Practices

Written by: Oghale Olori

Real-Life Case Study Examples

Case studies are more than just success stories.

They are powerful tools that demonstrate the practical value of your product or service. Case studies help attract attention to your products, build trust with potential customers and ultimately drive sales.

It’s no wonder that 73% of successful content marketers utilize case studies as part of their content strategy. Plus, buyers spend 54% of their time reviewing case studies before they make a buying decision.

To ensure you’re making the most of your case studies, we’ve put together 15 real-life case study examples to inspire you. These examples span a variety of industries and formats. We’ve also included best practices, design tips and templates to inspire you.

Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

What is a case study, 15 real-life case study examples, sales case study examples, saas case study examples, product case study examples, marketing case study examples, business case study examples, case study faqs.

  • A case study is a compelling narrative that showcases how your product or service has positively impacted a real business or individual. 
  • Case studies delve into your customer's challenges, how your solution addressed them and the quantifiable results they achieved.
  • Your case study should have an attention-grabbing headline, great visuals and a relevant call to action. Other key elements include an introduction, problems and result section.
  • Visme provides easy-to-use tools, professionally designed templates and features for creating attractive and engaging case studies.

A case study is a real-life scenario where your company helped a person or business solve their unique challenges. It provides a detailed analysis of the positive outcomes achieved as a result of implementing your solution.

Case studies are an effective way to showcase the value of your product or service to potential customers without overt selling. By sharing how your company transformed a business, you can attract customers seeking similar solutions and results.

Case studies are not only about your company's capabilities; they are primarily about the benefits customers and clients have experienced from using your product.

Every great case study is made up of key elements. They are;

  • Attention-grabbing headline: Write a compelling headline that grabs attention and tells your reader what the case study is about. For example, "How a CRM System Helped a B2B Company Increase Revenue by 225%.
  • Introduction/Executive Summary: Include a brief overview of your case study, including your customer’s problem, the solution they implemented and the results they achieved.
  • Problem/Challenge: Case studies with solutions offer a powerful way to connect with potential customers. In this section, explain how your product or service specifically addressed your customer's challenges.
  • Solution: Explain how your product or service specifically addressed your customer's challenges.
  • Results/Achievements : Give a detailed account of the positive impact of your product. Quantify the benefits achieved using metrics such as increased sales, improved efficiency, reduced costs or enhanced customer satisfaction.
  • Graphics/Visuals: Include professional designs, high-quality photos and videos to make your case study more engaging and visually appealing.
  • Quotes/Testimonials: Incorporate written or video quotes from your clients to boost your credibility.
  • Relevant CTA: Insert a call to action (CTA) that encourages the reader to take action. For example, visiting your website or contacting you for more information. Your CTA can be a link to a landing page, a contact form or your social media handle and should be related to the product or service you highlighted in your case study.

Parts of a Case Study Infographic

Now that you understand what a case study is, let’s look at real-life case study examples. Among these, you'll find some simple case study examples that break down complex ideas into easily understandable solutions.

In this section, we’ll explore SaaS, marketing, sales, product and business case study examples with solutions. Take note of how these companies structured their case studies and included the key elements.

We’ve also included professionally designed case study templates to inspire you.

1. Georgia Tech Athletics Increase Season Ticket Sales by 80%

Case Study Examples

Georgia Tech Athletics, with its 8,000 football season ticket holders, sought for a way to increase efficiency and customer engagement.

Their initial sales process involved making multiple outbound phone calls per day with no real targeting or guidelines. Georgia Tech believed that targeting communications will enable them to reach more people in real time.

Salesloft improved Georgia Tech’s sales process with an inbound structure. This enabled sales reps to connect with their customers on a more targeted level. The use of dynamic fields and filters when importing lists ensured prospects received the right information, while communication with existing fans became faster with automation.

As a result, Georgia Tech Athletics recorded an 80% increase in season ticket sales as relationships with season ticket holders significantly improved. Employee engagement increased as employees became more energized to connect and communicate with fans.

Why Does This Case Study Work?

In this case study example , Salesloft utilized the key elements of a good case study. Their introduction gave an overview of their customers' challenges and the results they enjoyed after using them. After which they categorized the case study into three main sections: challenge, solution and result.

Salesloft utilized a case study video to increase engagement and invoke human connection.

Incorporating videos in your case study has a lot of benefits. Wyzol’s 2023 state of video marketing report showed a direct correlation between videos and an 87% increase in sales.

The beautiful thing is that creating videos for your case study doesn’t have to be daunting.

With an easy-to-use platform like Visme, you can create top-notch testimonial videos that will connect with your audience. Within the Visme editor, you can access over 1 million stock photos , video templates, animated graphics and more. These tools and resources will significantly improve the design and engagement of your case study.

Simplify content creation and brand management for your team

  • Collaborate on designs , mockups and wireframes with your non-design colleagues
  • Lock down your branding to maintain brand consistency throughout your designs
  • Why start from scratch? Save time with 1000s of professional branded templates

Sign up. It’s free.

case study of successful businessman

2. WeightWatchers Completely Revamped their Enterprise Sales Process with HubSpot

Case Study Examples

WeightWatchers, a 60-year-old wellness company, sought a CRM solution that increased the efficiency of their sales process. With their previous system, Weightwatchers had limited automation. They would copy-paste message templates from word documents or recreate one email for a batch of customers.

This required a huge effort from sales reps, account managers and leadership, as they were unable to track leads or pull customized reports for planning and growth.

WeightWatchers transformed their B2B sales strategy by leveraging HubSpot's robust marketing and sales workflows. They utilized HubSpot’s deal pipeline and automation features to streamline lead qualification. And the customized dashboard gave leadership valuable insights.

As a result, WeightWatchers generated seven figures in annual contract value and boosted recurring revenue. Hubspot’s impact resulted in 100% adoption across all sales, marketing, client success and operations teams.

Hubspot structured its case study into separate sections, demonstrating the specific benefits of their products to various aspects of the customer's business. Additionally, they integrated direct customer quotes in each section to boost credibility, resulting in a more compelling case study.

Getting insight from your customer about their challenges is one thing. But writing about their process and achievements in a concise and relatable way is another. If you find yourself constantly experiencing writer’s block, Visme’s AI writer is perfect for you.

Visme created this AI text generator tool to take your ideas and transform them into a great draft. So whether you need help writing your first draft or editing your final case study, Visme is ready for you.

3. Immi’s Ram Fam Helps to Drive Over $200k in Sales

Case Study Examples

Immi embarked on a mission to recreate healthier ramen recipes that were nutritious and delicious. After 2 years of tireless trials, Immi finally found the perfect ramen recipe. However, they envisioned a community of passionate ramen enthusiasts to fuel their business growth.

This vision propelled them to partner with Shopify Collabs. Shopify Collabs successfully cultivated and managed Immi’s Ramen community of ambassadors and creators.

As a result of their partnership, Immi’s community grew to more than 400 dedicated members, generating over $200,000 in total affiliate sales.

The power of data-driven headlines cannot be overemphasized. Chili Piper strategically incorporates quantifiable results in their headlines. This instantly sparks curiosity and interest in readers.

While not every customer success story may boast headline-grabbing figures, quantifying achievements in percentages is still effective. For example, you can highlight a 50% revenue increase with the implementation of your product.

Take a look at the beautiful case study template below. Just like in the example above, the figures in the headline instantly grab attention and entice your reader to click through.

Having a case study document is a key factor in boosting engagement. This makes it easy to promote your case study in multiple ways. With Visme, you can easily publish, download and share your case study with your customers in a variety of formats, including PDF, PPTX, JPG and more!

Financial Case Study

4. How WOW! is Saving Nearly 79% in Time and Cost With Visme

This case study discusses how Visme helped WOW! save time and money by providing user-friendly tools to create interactive and quality training materials for their employees. Find out what your team can do with Visme. Request a Demo

WOW!'s learning and development team creates high-quality training materials for new and existing employees. Previous tools and platforms they used had plain templates, little to no interactivity features, and limited flexibility—that is, until they discovered Visme.

Now, the learning and development team at WOW! use Visme to create engaging infographics, training videos, slide decks and other training materials.

This has directly reduced the company's turnover rate, saving them money spent on recruiting and training new employees. It has also saved them a significant amount of time, which they can now allocate to other important tasks.

Visme's customer testimonials spark an emotional connection with the reader, leaving a profound impact. Upon reading this case study, prospective customers will be blown away by the remarkable efficiency achieved by Visme's clients after switching from PowerPoint.

Visme’s interactivity feature was a game changer for WOW! and one of the primary reasons they chose Visme.

“Previously we were using PowerPoint, which is fine, but the interactivity you can get with Visme is so much more robust that we’ve all steered away from PowerPoint.” - Kendra, L&D team, Wow!

Visme’s interactive feature allowed them to animate their infographics, include clickable links on their PowerPoint designs and even embed polls and quizzes their employees could interact with.

By embedding the slide decks, infographics and other training materials WOW! created with Visme, potential customers get a taste of what they can create with the tool. This is much more effective than describing the features of Visme because it allows potential customers to see the tool in action.

To top it all off, this case study utilized relevant data and figures. For example, one part of the case study said, “In Visme, where Kendra’s team has access to hundreds of templates, a brand kit, and millions of design assets at their disposal, their team can create presentations in 80% less time.”

Who wouldn't want that?

Including relevant figures and graphics in your case study is a sure way to convince your potential customers why you’re a great fit for their brand. The case study template below is a great example of integrating relevant figures and data.

UX Case Study

This colorful template begins with a captivating headline. But that is not the best part; this template extensively showcases the results their customer had using relevant figures.

The arrangement of the results makes it fun and attractive. Instead of just putting figures in a plain table, you can find interesting shapes in your Visme editor to take your case study to the next level.

5. Lyte Reduces Customer Churn To Just 3% With Hubspot CRM

Case Study Examples

While Lyte was redefining the ticketing industry, it had no definite CRM system . Lyte utilized 12–15 different SaaS solutions across various departments, which led to a lack of alignment between teams, duplication of work and overlapping tasks.

Customer data was spread across these platforms, making it difficult to effectively track their customer journey. As a result, their churn rate increased along with customer dissatisfaction.

Through Fuelius , Lyte founded and implemented Hubspot CRM. Lyte's productivity skyrocketed after incorporating Hubspot's all-in-one CRM tool. With improved efficiency, better teamwork and stronger client relationships, sales figures soared.

The case study title page and executive summary act as compelling entry points for both existing and potential customers. This overview provides a clear understanding of the case study and also strategically incorporates key details like the client's industry, location and relevant background information.

Having a good summary of your case study can prompt your readers to engage further. You can achieve this with a simple but effective case study one-pager that highlights your customer’s problems, process and achievements, just like this case study did in the beginning.

Moreover, you can easily distribute your case study one-pager and use it as a lead magnet to draw prospective customers to your company.

Take a look at this case study one-pager template below.

Ecommerce One Pager Case Study

This template includes key aspects of your case study, such as the introduction, key findings, conclusion and more, without overcrowding the page. The use of multiple shades of blue gives it a clean and dynamic layout.

Our favorite part of this template is where the age group is visualized.

With Visme’s data visualization tool , you can present your data in tables, graphs, progress bars, maps and so much more. All you need to do is choose your preferred data visualization widget, input or import your data and click enter!

6. How Workato Converts 75% of Their Qualified Leads

Case Study Examples

Workato wanted to improve their inbound leads and increase their conversion rate, which ranged from 40-55%.

At first, Workato searched for a simple scheduling tool. They soon discovered that they needed a tool that provided advanced routing capabilities based on zip code and other criteria. Luckily, they found and implemented Chili Piper.

As a result of implementing Chili Piper, Workato achieved a remarkable 75–80% conversion rate and improved show rates. This led to a substantial revenue boost, with a 10-15% increase in revenue attributed to Chili Piper's impact on lead conversion.

This case study example utilizes the power of video testimonials to drive the impact of their product.

Chili Piper incorporates screenshots and clips of their tool in use. This is a great strategy because it helps your viewers become familiar with how your product works, making onboarding new customers much easier.

In this case study example, we see the importance of efficient Workflow Management Systems (WMS). Without a WMS, you manually assign tasks to your team members and engage in multiple emails for regular updates on progress.

However, when crafting and designing your case study, you should prioritize having a good WMS.

Visme has an outstanding Workflow Management System feature that keeps you on top of all your projects and designs. This feature makes it much easier to assign roles, ensure accuracy across documents, and track progress and deadlines.

Visme’s WMS feature allows you to limit access to your entire document by assigning specific slides or pages to individual members of your team. At the end of the day, your team members are not overwhelmed or distracted by the whole document but can focus on their tasks.

7. Rush Order Helps Vogmask Scale-Up During a Pandemic

Case Study Examples

Vomask's reliance on third-party fulfillment companies became a challenge as demand for their masks grew. Seeking a reliable fulfillment partner, they found Rush Order and entrusted them with their entire inventory.

Vomask's partnership with Rush Order proved to be a lifesaver during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rush Order's agility, efficiency and commitment to customer satisfaction helped Vogmask navigate the unprecedented demand and maintain its reputation for quality and service.

Rush Order’s comprehensive support enabled Vogmask to scale up its order processing by a staggering 900% while maintaining a remarkable customer satisfaction rate of 92%.

Rush Order chose one event where their impact mattered the most to their customer and shared that story.

While pandemics don't happen every day, you can look through your customer’s journey and highlight a specific time or scenario where your product or service saved their business.

The story of Vogmask and Rush Order is compelling, but it simply is not enough. The case study format and design attract readers' attention and make them want to know more. Rush Order uses consistent colors throughout the case study, starting with the logo, bold square blocks, pictures, and even headers.

Take a look at this product case study template below.

Just like our example, this case study template utilizes bold colors and large squares to attract and maintain the reader’s attention. It provides enough room for you to write about your customers' backgrounds/introductions, challenges, goals and results.

The right combination of shapes and colors adds a level of professionalism to this case study template.

Fuji Xerox Australia Business Equipment Case Study

8. AMR Hair & Beauty leverages B2B functionality to boost sales by 200%

Case Study Examples

With limits on website customization, slow page loading and multiple website crashes during peak events, it wasn't long before AMR Hair & Beauty began looking for a new e-commerce solution.

Their existing platform lacked effective search and filtering options, a seamless checkout process and the data analytics capabilities needed for informed decision-making. This led to a significant number of abandoned carts.

Upon switching to Shopify Plus, AMR immediately saw improvements in page loading speed and average session duration. They added better search and filtering options for their wholesale customers and customized their checkout process.

Due to this, AMR witnessed a 200% increase in sales and a 77% rise in B2B average order value. AMR Hair & Beauty is now poised for further expansion and growth.

This case study example showcases the power of a concise and impactful narrative.

To make their case analysis more effective, Shopify focused on the most relevant aspects of the customer's journey. While there may have been other challenges the customer faced, they only included those that directly related to their solutions.

Take a look at this case study template below. It is perfect if you want to create a concise but effective case study. Without including unnecessary details, you can outline the challenges, solutions and results your customers experienced from using your product.

Don’t forget to include a strong CTA within your case study. By incorporating a link, sidebar pop-up or an exit pop-up into your case study, you can prompt your readers and prospective clients to connect with you.

Search Marketing Case Study

9. How a Marketing Agency Uses Visme to Create Engaging Content With Infographics

Case Study Examples

SmartBox Dental , a marketing agency specializing in dental practices, sought ways to make dental advice more interesting and easier to read. However, they lacked the design skills to do so effectively.

Visme's wide range of templates and features made it easy for the team to create high-quality content quickly and efficiently. SmartBox Dental enjoyed creating infographics in as little as 10-15 minutes, compared to one hour before Visme was implemented.

By leveraging Visme, SmartBox Dental successfully transformed dental content into a more enjoyable and informative experience for their clients' patients. Therefore enhancing its reputation as a marketing partner that goes the extra mile to deliver value to its clients.

Visme creatively incorporates testimonials In this case study example.

By showcasing infographics and designs created by their clients, they leverage the power of social proof in a visually compelling way. This way, potential customers gain immediate insight into the creative possibilities Visme offers as a design tool.

This example effectively showcases a product's versatility and impact, and we can learn a lot about writing a case study from it. Instead of focusing on one tool or feature per customer, Visme took a more comprehensive approach.

Within each section of their case study, Visme explained how a particular tool or feature played a key role in solving the customer's challenges.

For example, this case study highlighted Visme’s collaboration tool . With Visme’s tool, the SmartBox Dental content team fostered teamwork, accountability and effective supervision.

Visme also achieved a versatile case study by including relevant quotes to showcase each tool or feature. Take a look at some examples;

Visme’s collaboration tool: “We really like the collaboration tool. Being able to see what a co-worker is working on and borrow their ideas or collaborate on a project to make sure we get the best end result really helps us out.”

Visme’s library of stock photos and animated characters: “I really love the images and the look those give to an infographic. I also really like the animated little guys and the animated pictures. That’s added a lot of fun to our designs.”

Visme’s interactivity feature: “You can add URLs and phone number links directly into the infographic so they can just click and call or go to another page on the website and I really like adding those hyperlinks in.”

You can ask your customers to talk about the different products or features that helped them achieve their business success and draw quotes from each one.

10. Jasper Grows Blog Organic Sessions 810% and Blog-Attributed User Signups 400X

Jasper, an AI writing tool, lacked a scalable content strategy to drive organic traffic and user growth. They needed help creating content that converted visitors into users. Especially when a looming domain migration threatened organic traffic.

To address these challenges, Jasper partnered with Omniscient Digital. Their goal was to turn their content into a growth channel and drive organic growth. Omniscient Digital developed a full content strategy for Jasper AI, which included a content audit, competitive analysis, and keyword discovery.

Through their collaboration, Jasper’s organic blog sessions increased by 810%, despite the domain migration. They also witnessed a 400X increase in blog-attributed signups. And more importantly, the content program contributed to over $4 million in annual recurring revenue.

The combination of storytelling and video testimonials within the case study example makes this a real winner. But there’s a twist to it. Omniscient segmented the video testimonials and placed them in different sections of the case study.

Video marketing , especially in case studies, works wonders. Research shows us that 42% of people prefer video testimonials because they show real customers with real success stories. So if you haven't thought of it before, incorporate video testimonials into your case study.

Take a look at this stunning video testimonial template. With its simple design, you can input the picture, name and quote of your customer within your case study in a fun and engaging way.

Try it yourself! Customize this template with your customer’s testimonial and add it to your case study!

Satisfied Client Testimonial Ad Square

11. How Meliá Became One of the Most Influential Hotel Chains on Social Media

Case Study Examples

Meliá Hotels needed help managing their growing social media customer service needs. Despite having over 500 social accounts, they lacked a unified response protocol and detailed reporting. This largely hindered efficiency and brand consistency.

Meliá partnered with Hootsuite to build an in-house social customer care team. Implementing Hootsuite's tools enabled Meliá to decrease response times from 24 hours to 12.4 hours while also leveraging smart automation.

In addition to that, Meliá resolved over 133,000 conversations, booking 330 inquiries per week through Hootsuite Inbox. They significantly improved brand consistency, response time and customer satisfaction.

The need for a good case study design cannot be over-emphasized.

As soon as anyone lands on this case study example, they are mesmerized by a beautiful case study design. This alone raises the interest of readers and keeps them engaged till the end.

If you’re currently saying to yourself, “ I can write great case studies, but I don’t have the time or skill to turn it into a beautiful document.” Say no more.

Visme’s amazing AI document generator can take your text and transform it into a stunning and professional document in minutes! Not only do you save time, but you also get inspired by the design.

With Visme’s document generator, you can create PDFs, case study presentations , infographics and more!

Take a look at this case study template below. Just like our case study example, it captures readers' attention with its beautiful design. Its dynamic blend of colors and fonts helps to segment each element of the case study beautifully.

Patagonia Case Study

12. Tea’s Me Cafe: Tamika Catchings is Brewing Glory

Case Study Examples

Tamika's journey began when she purchased Tea's Me Cafe in 2017, saving it from closure. She recognized the potential of the cafe as a community hub and hosted regular events centered on social issues and youth empowerment.

One of Tamika’s business goals was to automate her business. She sought to streamline business processes across various aspects of her business. One of the ways she achieves this goal is through Constant Contact.

Constant Contact became an integral part of Tamika's marketing strategy. They provided an automated and centralized platform for managing email newsletters, event registrations, social media scheduling and more.

This allowed Tamika and her team to collaborate efficiently and focus on engaging with their audience. They effectively utilized features like WooCommerce integration, text-to-join and the survey builder to grow their email list, segment their audience and gather valuable feedback.

The case study example utilizes the power of storytelling to form a connection with readers. Constant Contact takes a humble approach in this case study. They spotlight their customers' efforts as the reason for their achievements and growth, establishing trust and credibility.

This case study is also visually appealing, filled with high-quality photos of their customer. While this is a great way to foster originality, it can prove challenging if your customer sends you blurry or low-quality photos.

If you find yourself in that dilemma, you can use Visme’s AI image edit tool to touch up your photos. With Visme’s AI tool, you can remove unwanted backgrounds, erase unwanted objects, unblur low-quality pictures and upscale any photo without losing the quality.

Constant Contact offers its readers various formats to engage with their case study. Including an audio podcast and PDF.

In its PDF version, Constant Contact utilized its brand colors to create a stunning case study design.  With this, they increase brand awareness and, in turn, brand recognition with anyone who comes across their case study.

With Visme’s brand wizard tool , you can seamlessly incorporate your brand assets into any design or document you create. By inputting your URL, Visme’s AI integration will take note of your brand colors, brand fonts and more and create branded templates for you automatically.

You don't need to worry about spending hours customizing templates to fit your brand anymore. You can focus on writing amazing case studies that promote your company.

13. How Breakwater Kitchens Achieved a 7% Growth in Sales With Thryv

Case Study Examples

Breakwater Kitchens struggled with managing their business operations efficiently. They spent a lot of time on manual tasks, such as scheduling appointments and managing client communication. This made it difficult for them to grow their business and provide the best possible service to their customers.

David, the owner, discovered Thryv. With Thryv, Breakwater Kitchens was able to automate many of their manual tasks. Additionally, Thryv integrated social media management. This enabled Breakwater Kitchens to deliver a consistent brand message, captivate its audience and foster online growth.

As a result, Breakwater Kitchens achieved increased efficiency, reduced missed appointments and a 7% growth in sales.

This case study example uses a concise format and strong verbs, which make it easy for readers to absorb the information.

At the top of the case study, Thryv immediately builds trust by presenting their customer's complete profile, including their name, company details and website. This allows potential customers to verify the case study's legitimacy, making them more likely to believe in Thryv's services.

However, manually copying and pasting customer information across multiple pages of your case study can be time-consuming.

To save time and effort, you can utilize Visme's dynamic field feature . Dynamic fields automatically insert reusable information into your designs.  So you don’t have to type it out multiple times.

14. Zoom’s Creative Team Saves Over 4,000 Hours With Brandfolder

Case Study Examples

Zoom experienced rapid growth with the advent of remote work and the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such growth called for agility and resilience to scale through.

At the time, Zoom’s assets were disorganized which made retrieving brand information a burden. Zoom’s creative manager spent no less than 10 hours per week finding and retrieving brand assets for internal teams.

Zoom needed a more sustainable approach to organizing and retrieving brand information and came across Brandfolder. Brandfolder simplified and accelerated Zoom’s email localization and webpage development. It also enhanced the creation and storage of Zoom virtual backgrounds.

With Brandfolder, Zoom now saves 4,000+ hours every year. The company also centralized its assets in Brandfolder, which allowed 6,800+ employees and 20-30 vendors to quickly access them.

Brandfolder infused its case study with compelling data and backed it up with verifiable sources. This data-driven approach boosts credibility and increases the impact of their story.

Bradfolder's case study goes the extra mile by providing a downloadable PDF version, making it convenient for readers to access the information on their own time. Their dedication to crafting stunning visuals is evident in every aspect of the project.

From the vibrant colors to the seamless navigation, everything has been meticulously designed to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. And with clickable links that make exploring the content a breeze, the user experience is guaranteed to be nothing short of exceptional.

The thing is, your case study presentation won’t always sit on your website. There are instances where you may need to do a case study presentation for clients, partners or potential investors.

Visme has a rich library of templates you can tap into. But if you’re racing against the clock, Visme’s AI presentation maker is your best ally.

case study of successful businessman

15. How Cents of Style Made $1.7M+ in Affiliate Sales with LeadDyno

Case Study Examples

Cents of Style had a successful affiliate and influencer marketing strategy. However, their existing affiliate marketing platform was not intuitive, customizable or transparent enough to meet the needs of their influencers.

Cents of Styles needed an easy-to-use affiliate marketing platform that gave them more freedom to customize their program and implement a multi-tier commission program.

After exploring their options, Cents of Style decided on LeadDyno.

LeadDyno provided more flexibility, allowing them to customize commission rates and implement their multi-tier commission structure, switching from monthly to weekly payouts.

Also, integrations with PayPal made payments smoother And features like newsletters and leaderboards added to the platform's success by keeping things transparent and engaging.

As a result, Cents of Style witnessed an impressive $1.7 million in revenue from affiliate sales with a substantial increase in web sales by 80%.

LeadDyno strategically placed a compelling CTA in the middle of their case study layout, maximizing its impact. At this point, readers are already invested in the customer's story and may be considering implementing similar strategies.

A well-placed CTA offers them a direct path to learn more and take action.

LeadDyno also utilized the power of quotes to strengthen their case study. They didn't just embed these quotes seamlessly into the text; instead, they emphasized each one with distinct blocks.

Are you looking for an easier and quicker solution to create a case study and other business documents? Try Visme's AI designer ! This powerful tool allows you to generate complete documents, such as case studies, reports, whitepapers and more, just by providing text prompts. Simply explain your requirements to the tool, and it will produce the document for you, complete with text, images, design assets and more.

Still have more questions about case studies? Let's look at some frequently asked questions.

How to Write a Case Study?

  • Choose a compelling story: Not all case studies are created equal. Pick one that is relevant to your target audience and demonstrates the specific benefits of your product or service.
  • Outline your case study: Create a case study outline and highlight how you will structure your case study to include the introduction, problem, solution and achievements of your customer.
  • Choose a case study template: After you outline your case study, choose a case study template . Visme has stunning templates that can inspire your case study design.
  • Craft a compelling headline: Include figures or percentages that draw attention to your case study.
  • Work on the first draft: Your case study should be easy to read and understand. Use clear and concise language and avoid jargon.
  • Include high-quality visual aids: Visuals can help to make your case study more engaging and easier to read. Consider adding high-quality photos, screenshots or videos.
  • Include a relevant CTA: Tell prospective customers how to reach you for questions or sign-ups.

What Are the Stages of a Case Study?

The stages of a case study are;

  • Planning & Preparation: Highlight your goals for writing the case study. Plan the case study format, length and audience you wish to target.
  • Interview the Client: Reach out to the company you want to showcase and ask relevant questions about their journey and achievements.
  • Revision & Editing: Review your case study and ask for feedback. Include relevant quotes and CTAs to your case study.
  • Publication & Distribution: Publish and share your case study on your website, social media channels and email list!
  • Marketing & Repurposing: Turn your case study into a podcast, PDF, case study presentation and more. Share these materials with your sales and marketing team.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Case Study?

Advantages of a case study:

  • Case studies showcase a specific solution and outcome for specific customer challenges.
  • It attracts potential customers with similar challenges.
  • It builds trust and credibility with potential customers.
  • It provides an in-depth analysis of your company’s problem-solving process.

Disadvantages of a case study:

  • Limited applicability. Case studies are tailored to specific cases and may not apply to other businesses.
  • It relies heavily on customer cooperation and willingness to share information.
  • It stands a risk of becoming outdated as industries and customer needs evolve.

What Are the Types of Case Studies?

There are 7 main types of case studies. They include;

  • Illustrative case study.
  • Instrumental case study.
  • Intrinsic case study.
  • Descriptive case study.
  • Explanatory case study.
  • Exploratory case study.
  • Collective case study.

How Long Should a Case Study Be?

The ideal length of your case study is between 500 - 1500 words or 1-3 pages. Certain factors like your target audience, goal or the amount of detail you want to share may influence the length of your case study. This infographic has powerful tips for designing winning case studies

What Is the Difference Between a Case Study and an Example?

Case studies provide a detailed narrative of how your product or service was used to solve a problem. Examples are general illustrations and are not necessarily real-life scenarios.

Case studies are often used for marketing purposes, attracting potential customers and building trust. Examples, on the other hand, are primarily used to simplify or clarify complex concepts.

Where Can I Find Case Study Examples?

You can easily find many case study examples online and in industry publications. Many companies, including Visme, share case studies on their websites to showcase how their products or services have helped clients achieve success. You can also search online libraries and professional organizations for case studies related to your specific industry or field.

If you need professionally-designed, customizable case study templates to create your own, Visme's template library is one of the best places to look. These templates include all the essential sections of a case study and high-quality content to help you create case studies that position your business as an industry leader.

Get More Out Of Your Case Studies With Visme

Case studies are an essential tool for converting potential customers into paying customers. By following the tips in this article, you can create compelling case studies that will help you build trust, establish credibility and drive sales.

Visme can help you create stunning case studies and other relevant marketing materials. With our easy-to-use platform, interactive features and analytics tools , you can increase your content creation game in no time.

There is no limit to what you can achieve with Visme. Connect with Sales to discover how Visme can boost your business goals.

Easily create beautiful case studies and more with Visme

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Successful Startups Case Studies: Lessons from High-Profile Companies and Founders

Introduction.

Successful startups are the lifeblood of the modern economy. They are the companies that create jobs, drive innovation, and bring new products and services to the market. But what makes a startup successful? What lessons can be learned from the most successful startups and their founders? This article will explore the case studies of some of the most successful startups and the lessons that can be learned from them. We will examine the strategies, tactics, and mindsets that have enabled these companies to succeed. By reviewing these case studies, we can gain insight into creating a successful startup and how to apply these lessons to our businesses.

Table of Contents

Examining the early days of successful startups: what can we learn from their experiences, how to create a winning business model: insights from successful startups, the role of leadership in building a successful startup: what can we learn from high-profile founders, the power of networking: how connections helped launch successful startups, the impact of technology on startups: what can we learn from high-profile companies.

A combination of hard work, risk-taking, and a bit of luck often characterizes the early days of successful startups. Examining the experiences of these startups can provide valuable insights into the strategies and tactics that can lead to success. This paper will explore the early days of some of the most successful startups, examining the strategies and tactics they employed to achieve success.

One of the essential strategies successful startups employ is the ability to identify and capitalize on opportunities. Many of the most successful startups have placed and capitalized on emerging trends and technologies, allowing them to gain a competitive advantage. For example, Amazon was able to capitalize on the rise of e-commerce and the Internet. At the same time, Uber was able to capitalize on the bank of mobile technology and the sharing economy.

Another important strategy employed by successful startups is the ability to pivot quickly. Many startups have swiftly adapted to changing market conditions and customer needs, allowing them to stay ahead of the competition. For example, Airbnb promptly pivoted from a website for renting out spare rooms to a platform for booking entire homes and apartments.

Finally, successful startups often have a strong focus on customer experience. Many of the most successful startups have been able to create products and services that are tailored to the needs of their customers. For example, Apple has developed intuitive and accessible products, while Netflix has created a streaming service tailored to its customers’ needs.

In conclusion, examining the early days of successful startups can provide valuable insights into the strategies and tactics that can lead to success. Successful startups can often identify and capitalize on opportunities, pivot quickly, and focus on customer experience. By understanding and applying these strategies, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success.

Creating a successful business model is essential for any startup to succeed. A business model is a plan for how a company will generate revenue and profit. It outlines the products or services the company will offer, how it will market and distribute them, and how it will finance its operations. A well-crafted business model can help a startup attract investors, secure customers, and achieve long-term success.

This article will explore how successful startups have created winning business models. It will discuss the critical elements of a successful business model, the importance of customer feedback, and the role of technology in creating a competitive advantage.

The Key Elements of a Successful Business Model

Creating a successful business model requires clearly understanding the company’s goals and objectives. A successful business model should include a detailed description of the company’s products or services, target market, pricing strategy, and distribution channels. It should also have a plan for how the company finances its operations and generates revenue.

In addition, a successful business model should include a competitive analysis. This analysis should identify the company’s competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. It should also identify potential opportunities for the company to differentiate itself from its competitors.

The Importance of Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is essential for creating a successful business model. Startups should use customer feedback to identify customer needs and preferences and to develop products and services that meet those needs. Customer feedback can also help startups identify potential opportunities for growth and expansion.

The Role of Technology

Technology can be a powerful tool for creating a competitive advantage. Startups should use technology to develop innovative products and services that are difficult for competitors to replicate. Technology can also be used to streamline operations and reduce costs.

Creating a successful business model is essential for any startup to succeed. A well-crafted business model should include a detailed description of the company’s products or services, target market, pricing strategy, and distribution channels. It should also have a competitive analysis and a plan for how the company will finance its operations and generate revenue. Customer feedback is essential for creating a successful business model, and technology can be used to develop innovative products and services and streamline processes. By following these insights, startups can create winning business models that will help them achieve long-term success.

Leadership is a critical factor in the success of any startup. High-profile founders have demonstrated the importance of strong leadership in building a successful startup. By examining the leadership styles of these founders, we can gain valuable insights into how to create a successful startup.

The most successful startups are often led by founders with a clear vision and a solid commitment to their mission. These founders can inspire their teams to work together to achieve their goals. They are also able to make difficult decisions and take risks when necessary. High-profile founders such as Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos have all demonstrated these qualities.

High-profile founders also understand the importance of creating a culture of innovation and collaboration. They recognize that their teams need to be able to work together to solve problems and come up with creative solutions. They also understand the importance of creating an environment where employees feel valued and respected.

Finally, high-profile founders understand the importance of staying focused on the company’s long-term goals. The incisions in the company’s best interest are unpopular in the short term. They also understand the importance of staying flexible and adapting to changing market conditions.

By examining the leadership styles of high-profile founders, we can gain valuable insights into how to create a successful startup. These founders have demonstrated the importance of having a clear vision, creating a culture of innovation and collaboration, and staying focused on the company’s long-term goals. By following their example, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success.

Networking is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs looking to launch successful startups. By leveraging their connections, entrepreneurs can access resources, advice, and support that can help them get their businesses off the ground. This article will explore how networking has helped launch successful startups and the strategies entrepreneurs can use to maximize the power of their connections.

First, it is essential to understand the value of networking. By connecting with other entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals, entrepreneurs can access valuable resources and advice. This can include access to capital, mentorship, and industry knowledge. Additionally, networking can help entrepreneurs build relationships with potential customers, partners, and suppliers. These relationships can be invaluable in assisting entrepreneurs in launching their businesses.

Second, entrepreneurs should focus on building solid relationships with their network. This means getting to know the people in their network and understanding their needs and interests. It also means being willing to help others in their network when they need it. By building solid relationships, entrepreneurs can create a network of people ready to help them launch their businesses.

Third, entrepreneurs should take advantage of networking events. These events provide an excellent opportunity to meet new people and build relationships. Additionally, they can be a great source of information and advice. By attending networking events, entrepreneurs can learn from the experiences of other entrepreneurs and gain valuable insights into the startup process.

Finally, entrepreneurs should be willing to give back to their network. This can include offering advice, mentorship, or even financial support. By giving back to their network, entrepreneurs can create a strong network of people willing to help them launch their businesses.

In conclusion, networking is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs looking to launch successful startups. By leveraging their connections, entrepreneurs can access resources, advice, and support that can help them get their businesses off the ground. By building solid relationships, attending networking events, and giving back to their network, entrepreneurs can maximize the power of their connections and increase their chances of success.

Startups are increasingly leveraging technology to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. High-profile companies such as Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon have all used technology to revolutionize their respective industries. By examining the impact of technology on these companies, we can gain valuable insights into how startups can use technology to their advantage.

First, technology can create a more efficient and streamlined customer experience. Uber, for example, has used technology to create a seamless ride-hailing experience. By leveraging mobile technology, Uber has provided customers with an easy-to-use app to quickly and conveniently book a ride. Similarly, Airbnb has used technology to create an efficient platform for booking short-term rentals. By leveraging technology, both companies have created a more efficient customer experience.

Second, technology can be used to create a more personalized customer experience. Amazon, for example, has used technology to create a customized shopping experience for its customers. By leveraging data and analytics, Amazon has created a personalized shopping experience tailored to customers’ needs and preferences. This has allowed Amazon to create a more engaging and enjoyable shopping experience for its customers.

Finally, technology can be used to create a more cost-effective business model. Uber, for example, has used technology to create a more cost-effective business model by eliminating the need for drivers and vehicles. By leveraging technology, Uber has created a more cost-effective business model that has allowed it to become one of the most successful companies in the world.

In conclusion, technology can be a powerful tool for startups seeking a competitive edge. By examining the impact of technology on high-profile companies such as Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon, we can gain valuable insights into how startups can use technology to their advantage. By leveraging technology, startups can create a more efficient and personalized customer experience and a more cost-effective business model.

In conclusion, successful startup case studies provide valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs. By studying high-profile companies’ and founders’ successes and failures, entrepreneurs can gain insight into the strategies and tactics used to achieve success. By understanding the critical elements of successful startups, entrepreneurs can develop their systems and plan to increase their chances of success. Ultimately, successful startup case studies provide valuable lessons for entrepreneurs to learn from and apply to their businesses.

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Money & Success

  • Nov 4, 2021

10 Entrepreneur Success Stories that Will Inspire You

Thinking about starting your own business, but not sure you have what it takes? These 10 entrepreneurs started from nothing — and look at them now!

Siôn Phillpott

Siôn Phillpott

Career & Entrepreneurship Expert

Reviewed by Chris Leitch

Inspiring Entrepreneur Success Stories with Sophia Amoruso and Jay-Z

Let’s face it: everybody dreams of leaving their cubicle behind and instead spend their days on a beach somewhere. Whether it’s a nagging boss , the soul-destroying corporate culture or the repetitive daily tasks, the thought of escaping it all and controlling your own destiny is a hugely attractive prospect.

Yet for some strange reason, many people still think you need a degree in marketing and an MBA to branch out on your own. Even today, when anybody can make money online, millions of would-be entrepreneurs are deterred by the idea that business success can only be attained with financial clout and a string of qualifications.

This is, of course, nonsense, and we can prove it. There are countless examples of men and women, young and old, who have overcome poverty, poor education and a complete lack of business experience to succeed.

So, if you’re ready to take the plunge and you want to get started, look no further — here are 10 successful entrepreneur stories to inspire you.

1. Kevin Plank

Kevin Plank entrepreneur

Using money he made selling flowers in college, as well as a combination of business loans, credit cards and other savings, the newly graduated Plank managed to devise a prototype for a football jersey that absorbed sweat, running his fledgeling business out of his grandmother’s house in Georgetown, Washington, DC.

Settling on the name Under Armour, the Maryland native then utilised his contacts in the college football scene to get his products vital exposure. It wasn’t until 1999, however, when Plank used the company’s entire budget to take out an advertisement in ESPN magazine that his luck truly changed. Thanks to the ad, NFL teams and athletes began buying Under Armour products in bulk, resulting in over $1 million (£733,820) worth of sales.

The company has since continued to grow, branching out into several markets and establishing itself as a prominent sportswear provider to some of the biggest sports teams in the world. Plank is still CEO, and currently oversees a 20,000-strong workforce, as well as $5 billion (£3.7 billion) worth of annual revenue.

2. Sophia Amoruso

Sophia Amoruso success

Diagnosed with ADHD at an early age and withdrawn from school as a result, Sophia Amoruso spent her formative years working odd jobs at the likes of Subway. Following her parents’ divorce, she then relocated to Sacramento, CA, where she claims to have survived by hitchhiking, shoplifting and stealing from bins.

The San Diego native managed to catch a break in 2006, however, when she started selling vintage clothing and other items through her eBay account under the guise of Nasty Gal Vintage (so named after a Betty Davis record). Its revenue subsequently grew from $223,000 (£163,630) in 2008 to nearly $23 million (£16.9 million) in 2011, leading to her being dubbed the ‘Cinderella of Tech’ by the New York Times .

Although she has since stepped down as CEO of Nasty Gal, the company made $20 million (£14.7 million) from its sale to retail giant Boohoo. In 2017, Amoruso founded Girlboss Media, a lifestyle website for millennial women.

3. Jan Koum

Jan Koum success story

Born in the then-Soviet Union, Jan Koum moved with his mother and grandmother to California in 1992, where a social support programme initiated by the state allowed the family to receive a small apartment. At the age of 16, the young entrepreneur took a cleaning job at a grocery store to help support his mother. After teaching himself how to code , he then spent nine years at Yahoo! as an infrastructure engineer.

However, Koum’s eureka moment came in 2009 when he realised the potential of Apple’s then-fledgeling app store. The mastermind created WhatsApp a week later, utilising the ability to push notification apps on iPhones and establishing the app as an alternative to traditional SMS messaging. In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg became interested, with Facebook acquiring WhatsApp for $19 billion (£13.9 billion) and appointing Koum to its board of directors.

Although Koum stepped down from his role in April 2018, forfeiting an estimated $1 billion (£733.1 million) of stock in the process, he is estimated to have personally amassed over $9 billion (£6.6 billion) from his exploits.

4. Pierre Omidyar

Omidyar

After spending most of his 20s flitting between various software development gigs, Paris-born Pierre Omidyar began working on a simple buyer-to-buyer auction website in 1995, naming it Auction Web and initially using it to sell off his own unwanted personal possessions.

As he realised the potential demand for seemingly useless products, though, the site began to grow. Over the next few years, the number of transactions taking place on the site began to rise uncontrollably, with Omidyar incorporating his project and subsequently rebranding it as eBay.

The company was publicly offered in 1998, making Omidyar a billionaire overnight; as of 2018, his personal net worth is estimated to be over $11 billion (£8 billion). eBay is still hugely profitable and continues to be a success, too, although Omidyar has since founded a number of other enterprises. He is also a renowned philanthropist and has served as an executive producer on several Hollywood film productions.

5. Richard Branson

Richard Branson entrepreneurial success

No list of startup inspiration stories would be complete without the inclusion of Richard Branson, who has seemingly (and successfully) tried his hand at every possible line of investment across the last 40 years. Not bad for a man who performed poorly at school, was diagnosed with dyslexia and then bestowed the unfortunate title of Virgin on his first enterprise (supposedly due to his then-status as a ‘virgin at business’).

Luckily, that first venture was the hugely profitable importing and reselling of music records during the 1960s, alongside the management of the popular Student magazine; as a result, Branson was able to open a dedicated record store in London in 1971. He used the profits from this project to then establish Virgin Records, working with many of the artists that he’d previously interviewed for Student , such as the Rolling Stones.

From there, Branson has created and developed market-leading products and services in aviation, media, beverages and rail transport. among many others. His personal net worth is estimated to be around $4.9 billion (£3.6 billion), as he constantly seeks to invest his profits from one venture into another.

Jay Z entrepreneur success

Although Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) is better known for his musical exploits, the New York-native has demonstrated a wide array of entrepreneurial characteristics throughout his career. Indeed, unable to secure a major record deal, Carter initially sold copies of his recordings out of his car, before cocreating his own record label in 1995.

Carter’s subsequent success in the music industry has allowed him to invest in a wide variety of business ventures, including clothing brands, real estate, nightclubs and even a sports management agency, where he represents several notable athletes. He has also invested in a champagne brand, launched a range of signature cigars and at one time owned a major stake in NBA franchise, the Brooklyn Nets.

Although he continues to make music and tour heavily, Carter’s investments and businesses represent the main bulk of his estimated $900 million (£659.8 million) net worth, while his wife —singer Beyoncé — is allegedly worth $350 million (£256.6 million) through her own entrepreneurial ventures.

Jack

When it comes to taking a hint, few can match the stubbornness of Jack Ma. After graduating in 1988 (a process that he was initially rejected four times for), the Hangzhou native struggled to find work, getting turned down by over 30 companies (including, infamously, KFC), before seeing all 10 of his postgraduate applications to Harvard Business School unceremoniously refused.

However, on a 1995 trip to visit friends in the US, Ma’s luck finally changed. After being introduced to the internet, he managed to raise $20,000 (£14,660) to build an online directory for Chinese businesses, taking on additional various web development projects for Chinese companies and government organisations. Utilising these experiences, he returned to China in 1999 and created the online marketplace Alibaba, subsequently raising $25 billion (£18.3 billion) at its IPO stock exchange offering in 2014 — the highest amount of any floated company ever.

Ma is now one of the richest people in the world, with an estimated personal net worth of nearly $43 billion (£31.5 billion), while the Alibaba Group is responsible for nine major subsidiaries (among them the hugely popular AliExpress).

8. Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo entrepreneur

Marie Kondo has never been a stranger to organising and tidying up life. Her love of tidying was inspired by her mother’s lifestyle magazines and her grandmother’s regard for her home.

In Japan, Kondo spent much of her college years tidying her friends’ apartments and went to start tidying consulting business and develop her now-famous KonMari Method, which is designed to help people clear their clutter and keep their homes tidy.

Kondi went on to share her tips in the best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up   (paid link), which was first released in Japan and later published in over 30 countries .  The book was then adapted into a successful Netflix series entitled  Tidying Up with Marie Kondo .

9. Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart has been the most trusted lifestyle guru for decades. Her family taught her the basics of cooking, gardening, baking and sewing while growing up in New Jersey, and she went to open a catering business showcasing her talents as a chef and baker.

She wrote her first book,  Entertaining , in 1982, leading to over 77 lifestyle books and a popular magazine,  Martha Stewart Living . Her success led to many TV appearances, eventually landing her own television show.

Stewart created her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, in 1996, which offers lifestyle advice across all platforms for people across the globe.

10. Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos success story

Jeff Bezos’s creation of Amazon.com made him the richest man in the world . After graduating with a major in computer science from Princeton in 1986, he began working in finance and quickly became a senior vice president of hedge fund firm DE Shaw.

Bezos left his lucrative career in finance to take a chance and open an online bookstore in 1995 called Amazon.com, before expanding its list of offerings and solidfying itself as the market leader. In 2013 Bezos launched Amazon Prime, the popular subscription service. Bezos no longer is the CEO of Amazon, as of July 2021, but remains Amazon’s largest shareholder.

Final thoughts

As you can see, anyone can create their own business success story from scratch, yet these entrepreneurs all had one thing in common: determination. Regardless of their education level, the resources available to them or the field in which they made their respective fortunes, they created their own opportunities through hard work, self-belief and no small amount of creative talent.

If you believe you could do the same, then what’s holding you back? Starting your own business is as simple and cost-efficient as it’s ever been, so there’s no better time to stake your claim. Besides, who knows? With a little luck, you could even appear on future editions of this list!

Which entrepreneur story has inspired you? Let us know in the comments section below!

This article is an update of an earlier version published on 22 June 2018.

Celebrities

Success Stories

Entrepreneurs

case study of successful businessman

How to Write a Case Study: Bookmarkable Guide & Template

Braden Becker

Published: November 30, 2023

Earning the trust of prospective customers can be a struggle. Before you can even begin to expect to earn their business, you need to demonstrate your ability to deliver on what your product or service promises.

company conducting case study with candidate after learning how to write a case study

Sure, you could say that you're great at X or that you're way ahead of the competition when it comes to Y. But at the end of the day, what you really need to win new business is cold, hard proof.

One of the best ways to prove your worth is through a compelling case study. In fact, HubSpot’s 2020 State of Marketing report found that case studies are so compelling that they are the fifth most commonly used type of content used by marketers.

Download Now: 3 Free Case Study Templates

Below, I'll walk you through what a case study is, how to prepare for writing one, what you need to include in it, and how it can be an effective tactic. To jump to different areas of this post, click on the links below to automatically scroll.

Case Study Definition

Case study templates, how to write a case study.

  • How to Format a Case Study

Business Case Study Examples

A case study is a specific challenge a business has faced, and the solution they've chosen to solve it. Case studies can vary greatly in length and focus on several details related to the initial challenge and applied solution, and can be presented in various forms like a video, white paper, blog post, etc.

In professional settings, it's common for a case study to tell the story of a successful business partnership between a vendor and a client. Perhaps the success you're highlighting is in the number of leads your client generated, customers closed, or revenue gained. Any one of these key performance indicators (KPIs) are examples of your company's services in action.

When done correctly, these examples of your work can chronicle the positive impact your business has on existing or previous customers and help you attract new clients.

case study of successful businessman

Free Case Study Templates

Showcase your company's success using these three free case study templates.

  • Data-Driven Case Study Template
  • Product-Specific Case Study Template
  • General Case Study Template

Download Free

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Why write a case study? 

I know, you’re thinking “ Okay, but why do I need to write one of these? ” The truth is that while case studies are a huge undertaking, they are powerful marketing tools that allow you to demonstrate the value of your product to potential customers using real-world examples. Here are a few reasons why you should write case studies. 

1. Explain Complex Topics or Concepts

Case studies give you the space to break down complex concepts, ideas, and strategies and show how they can be applied in a practical way. You can use real-world examples, like an existing client, and use their story to create a compelling narrative that shows how your product solved their issue and how those strategies can be repeated to help other customers get similar successful results.  

2. Show Expertise

Case studies are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise on a given topic or industry. This is where you get the opportunity to show off your problem-solving skills and how you’ve generated successful outcomes for clients you’ve worked with. 

3. Build Trust and Credibility

In addition to showing off the attributes above, case studies are an excellent way to build credibility. They’re often filled with data and thoroughly researched, which shows readers you’ve done your homework. They can have confidence in the solutions you’ve presented because they’ve read through as you’ve explained the problem and outlined step-by-step what it took to solve it. All of these elements working together enable you to build trust with potential customers.

4. Create Social Proof

Using existing clients that have seen success working with your brand builds social proof . People are more likely to choose your brand if they know that others have found success working with you. Case studies do just that — putting your success on display for potential customers to see. 

All of these attributes work together to help you gain more clients. Plus you can even use quotes from customers featured in these studies and repurpose them in other marketing content. Now that you know more about the benefits of producing a case study, let’s check out how long these documents should be. 

How long should a case study be?

The length of a case study will vary depending on the complexity of the project or topic discussed. However, as a general guideline, case studies typically range from 500 to 1,500 words. 

Whatever length you choose, it should provide a clear understanding of the challenge, the solution you implemented, and the results achieved. This may be easier said than done, but it's important to strike a balance between providing enough detail to make the case study informative and concise enough to keep the reader's interest.

The primary goal here is to effectively communicate the key points and takeaways of the case study. It’s worth noting that this shouldn’t be a wall of text. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, charts, and other graphics to break up the content and make it more scannable for readers. We’ve also seen brands incorporate video elements into case studies listed on their site for a more engaging experience. 

Ultimately, the length of your case study should be determined by the amount of information necessary to convey the story and its impact without becoming too long. Next, let’s look at some templates to take the guesswork out of creating one. 

To help you arm your prospects with information they can trust, we've put together a step-by-step guide on how to create effective case studies for your business with free case study templates for creating your own.

Tell us a little about yourself below to gain access today:

And to give you more options, we’ll highlight some useful templates that serve different needs. But remember, there are endless possibilities when it comes to demonstrating the work your business has done.

1. General Case Study Template

case study templates: general

Do you have a specific product or service that you’re trying to sell, but not enough reviews or success stories? This Product Specific case study template will help.

This template relies less on metrics, and more on highlighting the customer’s experience and satisfaction. As you follow the template instructions, you’ll be prompted to speak more about the benefits of the specific product, rather than your team’s process for working with the customer.

4. Bold Social Media Business Case Study Template

case study templates: bold social media business

You can find templates that represent different niches, industries, or strategies that your business has found success in — like a bold social media business case study template.

In this template, you can tell the story of how your social media marketing strategy has helped you or your client through collaboration or sale of your service. Customize it to reflect the different marketing channels used in your business and show off how well your business has been able to boost traffic, engagement, follows, and more.

5. Lead Generation Business Case Study Template

case study templates: lead generation business

It’s important to note that not every case study has to be the product of a sale or customer story, sometimes they can be informative lessons that your own business has experienced. A great example of this is the Lead Generation Business case study template.

If you’re looking to share operational successes regarding how your team has improved processes or content, you should include the stories of different team members involved, how the solution was found, and how it has made a difference in the work your business does.

Now that we’ve discussed different templates and ideas for how to use them, let’s break down how to create your own case study with one.

  • Get started with case study templates.
  • Determine the case study's objective.
  • Establish a case study medium.
  • Find the right case study candidate.
  • Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.
  • Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.
  • Download a case study email template.
  • Define the process you want to follow with the client.
  • Ensure you're asking the right questions.
  • Layout your case study format.
  • Publish and promote your case study.

1. Get started with case study templates.

Telling your customer's story is a delicate process — you need to highlight their success while naturally incorporating your business into their story.

If you're just getting started with case studies, we recommend you download HubSpot's Case Study Templates we mentioned before to kickstart the process.

2. Determine the case study's objective.

All business case studies are designed to demonstrate the value of your services, but they can focus on several different client objectives.

Your first step when writing a case study is to determine the objective or goal of the subject you're featuring. In other words, what will the client have succeeded in doing by the end of the piece?

The client objective you focus on will depend on what you want to prove to your future customers as a result of publishing this case study.

Your case study can focus on one of the following client objectives:

  • Complying with government regulation
  • Lowering business costs
  • Becoming profitable
  • Generating more leads
  • Closing on more customers
  • Generating more revenue
  • Expanding into a new market
  • Becoming more sustainable or energy-efficient

3. Establish a case study medium.

Next, you'll determine the medium in which you'll create the case study. In other words, how will you tell this story?

Case studies don't have to be simple, written one-pagers. Using different media in your case study can allow you to promote your final piece on different channels. For example, while a written case study might just live on your website and get featured in a Facebook post, you can post an infographic case study on Pinterest and a video case study on your YouTube channel.

Here are some different case study mediums to consider:

Written Case Study

Consider writing this case study in the form of an ebook and converting it to a downloadable PDF. Then, gate the PDF behind a landing page and form for readers to fill out before downloading the piece, allowing this case study to generate leads for your business.

Video Case Study

Plan on meeting with the client and shooting an interview. Seeing the subject, in person, talk about the service you provided them can go a long way in the eyes of your potential customers.

Infographic Case Study

Use the long, vertical format of an infographic to tell your success story from top to bottom. As you progress down the infographic, emphasize major KPIs using bigger text and charts that show the successes your client has had since working with you.

Podcast Case Study

Podcasts are a platform for you to have a candid conversation with your client. This type of case study can sound more real and human to your audience — they'll know the partnership between you and your client was a genuine success.

4. Find the right case study candidate.

Writing about your previous projects requires more than picking a client and telling a story. You need permission, quotes, and a plan. To start, here are a few things to look for in potential candidates.

Product Knowledge

It helps to select a customer who's well-versed in the logistics of your product or service. That way, he or she can better speak to the value of what you offer in a way that makes sense for future customers.

Remarkable Results

Clients that have seen the best results are going to make the strongest case studies. If their own businesses have seen an exemplary ROI from your product or service, they're more likely to convey the enthusiasm that you want prospects to feel, too.

One part of this step is to choose clients who have experienced unexpected success from your product or service. When you've provided non-traditional customers — in industries that you don't usually work with, for example — with positive results, it can help to remove doubts from prospects.

Recognizable Names

While small companies can have powerful stories, bigger or more notable brands tend to lend credibility to your own. In fact, 89% of consumers say they'll buy from a brand they already recognize over a competitor, especially if they already follow them on social media.

Customers that came to you after working with a competitor help highlight your competitive advantage and might even sway decisions in your favor.

5. Contact your candidate for permission to write about them.

To get the case study candidate involved, you have to set the stage for clear and open communication. That means outlining expectations and a timeline right away — not having those is one of the biggest culprits in delayed case study creation.

Most importantly at this point, however, is getting your subject's approval. When first reaching out to your case study candidate, provide them with the case study's objective and format — both of which you will have come up with in the first two steps above.

To get this initial permission from your subject, put yourself in their shoes — what would they want out of this case study? Although you're writing this for your own company's benefit, your subject is far more interested in the benefit it has for them.

Benefits to Offer Your Case Study Candidate

Here are four potential benefits you can promise your case study candidate to gain their approval.

Brand Exposure

Explain to your subject to whom this case study will be exposed, and how this exposure can help increase their brand awareness both in and beyond their own industry. In the B2B sector, brand awareness can be hard to collect outside one's own market, making case studies particularly useful to a client looking to expand their name's reach.

Employee Exposure

Allow your subject to provide quotes with credits back to specific employees. When this is an option for them, their brand isn't the only thing expanding its reach — their employees can get their name out there, too. This presents your subject with networking and career development opportunities they might not have otherwise.

Product Discount

This is a more tangible incentive you can offer your case study candidate, especially if they're a current customer of yours. If they agree to be your subject, offer them a product discount — or a free trial of another product — as a thank-you for their help creating your case study.

Backlinks and Website Traffic

Here's a benefit that is sure to resonate with your subject's marketing team: If you publish your case study on your website, and your study links back to your subject's website — known as a "backlink" — this small gesture can give them website traffic from visitors who click through to your subject's website.

Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of Google. This helps them rank more highly in search engine results and collect traffic from readers who are already looking for information about their industry.

6. Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.

So you know what you’re going to offer your candidate, it’s time that you prepare the resources needed for if and when they agree to participate, like a case study release form and success story letter.

Let's break those two down.

Case Study Release Form

This document can vary, depending on factors like the size of your business, the nature of your work, and what you intend to do with the case studies once they are completed. That said, you should typically aim to include the following in the Case Study Release Form:

  • A clear explanation of why you are creating this case study and how it will be used.
  • A statement defining the information and potentially trademarked information you expect to include about the company — things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.
  • An explanation of what you expect from the participant, beyond the completion of the case study. For example, is this customer willing to act as a reference or share feedback, and do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?
  • A note about compensation.

Success Story Letter

As noted in the sample email, this document serves as an outline for the entire case study process. Other than a brief explanation of how the customer will benefit from case study participation, you'll want to be sure to define the following steps in the Success Story Letter.

7. Download a case study email template.

While you gathered your resources, your candidate has gotten time to read over the proposal. When your candidate approves of your case study, it's time to send them a release form.

A case study release form tells you what you'll need from your chosen subject, like permission to use any brand names and share the project information publicly. Kick-off this process with an email that runs through exactly what they can expect from you, as well as what you need from them. To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this sample email:

sample case study email release form template

8. Define the process you want to follow with the client.

Before you can begin the case study, you have to have a clear outline of the case study process with your client. An example of an effective outline would include the following information.

The Acceptance

First, you'll need to receive internal approval from the company's marketing team. Once approved, the Release Form should be signed and returned to you. It's also a good time to determine a timeline that meets the needs and capabilities of both teams.

The Questionnaire

To ensure that you have a productive interview — which is one of the best ways to collect information for the case study — you'll want to ask the participant to complete a questionnaire before this conversation. That will provide your team with the necessary foundation to organize the interview, and get the most out of it.

The Interview

Once the questionnaire is completed, someone on your team should reach out to the participant to schedule a 30- to 60-minute interview, which should include a series of custom questions related to the customer's experience with your product or service.

The Draft Review

After the case study is composed, you'll want to send a draft to the customer, allowing an opportunity to give you feedback and edits.

The Final Approval

Once any necessary edits are completed, send a revised copy of the case study to the customer for final approval.

Once the case study goes live — on your website or elsewhere — it's best to contact the customer with a link to the page where the case study lives. Don't be afraid to ask your participants to share these links with their own networks, as it not only demonstrates your ability to deliver positive results and impressive growth, as well.

9. Ensure you're asking the right questions.

Before you execute the questionnaire and actual interview, make sure you're setting yourself up for success. A strong case study results from being prepared to ask the right questions. What do those look like? Here are a few examples to get you started:

  • What are your goals?
  • What challenges were you experiencing before purchasing our product or service?
  • What made our product or service stand out against our competitors?
  • What did your decision-making process look like?
  • How have you benefited from using our product or service? (Where applicable, always ask for data.)

Keep in mind that the questionnaire is designed to help you gain insights into what sort of strong, success-focused questions to ask during the actual interview. And once you get to that stage, we recommend that you follow the "Golden Rule of Interviewing." Sounds fancy, right? It's actually quite simple — ask open-ended questions.

If you're looking to craft a compelling story, "yes" or "no" answers won't provide the details you need. Focus on questions that invite elaboration, such as, "Can you describe ...?" or, "Tell me about ..."

In terms of the interview structure, we recommend categorizing the questions and flowing them into six specific sections that will mirror a successful case study format. Combined, they'll allow you to gather enough information to put together a rich, comprehensive study.

Open with the customer's business.

The goal of this section is to generate a better understanding of the company's current challenges and goals, and how they fit into the landscape of their industry. Sample questions might include:

  • How long have you been in business?
  • How many employees do you have?
  • What are some of the objectives of your department at this time?

Cite a problem or pain point.

To tell a compelling story, you need context. That helps match the customer's need with your solution. Sample questions might include:

  • What challenges and objectives led you to look for a solution?
  • What might have happened if you did not identify a solution?
  • Did you explore other solutions before this that did not work out? If so, what happened?

Discuss the decision process.

Exploring how the customer decided to work with you helps to guide potential customers through their own decision-making processes. Sample questions might include:

  • How did you hear about our product or service?
  • Who was involved in the selection process?
  • What was most important to you when evaluating your options?

Explain how a solution was implemented.

The focus here should be placed on the customer's experience during the onboarding process. Sample questions might include:

  • How long did it take to get up and running?
  • Did that meet your expectations?
  • Who was involved in the process?

Explain how the solution works.

The goal of this section is to better understand how the customer is using your product or service. Sample questions might include:

  • Is there a particular aspect of the product or service that you rely on most?
  • Who is using the product or service?

End with the results.

In this section, you want to uncover impressive measurable outcomes — the more numbers, the better. Sample questions might include:

  • How is the product or service helping you save time and increase productivity?
  • In what ways does that enhance your competitive advantage?
  • How much have you increased metrics X, Y, and Z?

10. Lay out your case study format.

When it comes time to take all of the information you've collected and actually turn it into something, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Where should you start? What should you include? What's the best way to structure it?

To help you get a handle on this step, it's important to first understand that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the ways you can present a case study. They can be very visual, which you'll see in some of the examples we've included below, and can sometimes be communicated mostly through video or photos, with a bit of accompanying text.

Here are the sections we suggest, which we'll cover in more detail down below:

  • Title: Keep it short. Develop a succinct but interesting project name you can give the work you did with your subject.
  • Subtitle: Use this copy to briefly elaborate on the accomplishment. What was done? The case study itself will explain how you got there.
  • Executive Summary : A 2-4 sentence summary of the entire story. You'll want to follow it with 2-3 bullet points that display metrics showcasing success.
  • About the Subject: An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be pulled from a LinkedIn Business profile or client website.
  • Challenges and Objectives: A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges, before using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or objectives the customer set out to achieve.
  • How Product/Service Helped: A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your product or service provided a solution to their problem.
  • Results: A 2-3 paragraph testimonial that proves how your product or service specifically benefited the person or company and helped achieve its goals. Include numbers to quantify your contributions.
  • Supporting Visuals or Quotes: Pick one or two powerful quotes that you would feature at the bottom of the sections above, as well as a visual that supports the story you are telling.
  • Future Plans: Everyone likes an epilogue. Comment on what's ahead for your case study subject, whether or not those plans involve you.
  • Call to Action (CTA): Not every case study needs a CTA, but putting a passive one at the end of your case study can encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

When laying out your case study, focus on conveying the information you've gathered in the most clear and concise way possible. Make it easy to scan and comprehend, and be sure to provide an attractive call-to-action at the bottom — that should provide readers an opportunity to learn more about your product or service.

11. Publish and promote your case study.

Once you've completed your case study, it's time to publish and promote it. Some case study formats have pretty obvious promotional outlets — a video case study can go on YouTube, just as an infographic case study can go on Pinterest.

But there are still other ways to publish and promote your case study. Here are a couple of ideas:

Lead Gen in a Blog Post

As stated earlier in this article, written case studies make terrific lead-generators if you convert them into a downloadable format, like a PDF. To generate leads from your case study, consider writing a blog post that tells an abbreviated story of your client's success and asking readers to fill out a form with their name and email address if they'd like to read the rest in your PDF.

Then, promote this blog post on social media, through a Facebook post or a tweet.

Published as a Page on Your Website

As a growing business, you might need to display your case study out in the open to gain the trust of your target audience.

Rather than gating it behind a landing page, publish your case study to its own page on your website, and direct people here from your homepage with a "Case Studies" or "Testimonials" button along your homepage's top navigation bar.

Format for a Case Study

The traditional case study format includes the following parts: a title and subtitle, a client profile, a summary of the customer’s challenges and objectives, an account of how your solution helped, and a description of the results. You might also want to include supporting visuals and quotes, future plans, and calls-to-action.

case study format: title

Image Source

The title is one of the most important parts of your case study. It should draw readers in while succinctly describing the potential benefits of working with your company. To that end, your title should:

  • State the name of your custome r. Right away, the reader must learn which company used your products and services. This is especially important if your customer has a recognizable brand. If you work with individuals and not companies, you may omit the name and go with professional titles: “A Marketer…”, “A CFO…”, and so forth.
  • State which product your customer used . Even if you only offer one product or service, or if your company name is the same as your product name, you should still include the name of your solution. That way, readers who are not familiar with your business can become aware of what you sell.
  • Allude to the results achieved . You don’t necessarily need to provide hard numbers, but the title needs to represent the benefits, quickly. That way, if a reader doesn’t stay to read, they can walk away with the most essential information: Your product works.

The example above, “Crunch Fitness Increases Leads and Signups With HubSpot,” achieves all three — without being wordy. Keeping your title short and sweet is also essential.

2. Subtitle

case study format: subtitle

Your subtitle is another essential part of your case study — don’t skip it, even if you think you’ve done the work with the title. In this section, include a brief summary of the challenges your customer was facing before they began to use your products and services. Then, drive the point home by reiterating the benefits your customer experienced by working with you.

The above example reads:

“Crunch Fitness was franchising rapidly when COVID-19 forced fitness clubs around the world to close their doors. But the company stayed agile by using HubSpot to increase leads and free trial signups.”

We like that the case study team expressed the urgency of the problem — opening more locations in the midst of a pandemic — and placed the focus on the customer’s ability to stay agile.

3. Executive Summary

case study format: executive summary

The executive summary should provide a snapshot of your customer, their challenges, and the benefits they enjoyed from working with you. Think it’s too much? Think again — the purpose of the case study is to emphasize, again and again, how well your product works.

The good news is that depending on your design, the executive summary can be mixed with the subtitle or with the “About the Company” section. Many times, this section doesn’t need an explicit “Executive Summary” subheading. You do need, however, to provide a convenient snapshot for readers to scan.

In the above example, ADP included information about its customer in a scannable bullet-point format, then provided two sections: “Business Challenge” and “How ADP Helped.” We love how simple and easy the format is to follow for those who are unfamiliar with ADP or its typical customer.

4. About the Company

case study format: about the company

Readers need to know and understand who your customer is. This is important for several reasons: It helps your reader potentially relate to your customer, it defines your ideal client profile (which is essential to deter poor-fit prospects who might have reached out without knowing they were a poor fit), and it gives your customer an indirect boon by subtly promoting their products and services.

Feel free to keep this section as simple as possible. You can simply copy and paste information from the company’s LinkedIn, use a quote directly from your customer, or take a more creative storytelling approach.

In the above example, HubSpot included one paragraph of description for Crunch Fitness and a few bullet points. Below, ADP tells the story of its customer using an engaging, personable technique that effectively draws readers in.

case study format: storytelling about the business

5. Challenges and Objectives

case study format: challenges and objectives

The challenges and objectives section of your case study is the place to lay out, in detail, the difficulties your customer faced prior to working with you — and what they hoped to achieve when they enlisted your help.

In this section, you can be as brief or as descriptive as you’d like, but remember: Stress the urgency of the situation. Don’t understate how much your customer needed your solution (but don’t exaggerate and lie, either). Provide contextual information as necessary. For instance, the pandemic and societal factors may have contributed to the urgency of the need.

Take the above example from design consultancy IDEO:

“Educational opportunities for adults have become difficult to access in the United States, just when they’re needed most. To counter this trend, IDEO helped the city of South Bend and the Drucker Institute launch Bendable, a community-powered platform that connects people with opportunities to learn with and from each other.”

We love how IDEO mentions the difficulties the United States faces at large, the efforts its customer is taking to address these issues, and the steps IDEO took to help.

6. How Product/Service Helped

case study format: how the service helped

This is where you get your product or service to shine. Cover the specific benefits that your customer enjoyed and the features they gleaned the most use out of. You can also go into detail about how you worked with and for your customer. Maybe you met several times before choosing the right solution, or you consulted with external agencies to create the best package for them.

Whatever the case may be, try to illustrate how easy and pain-free it is to work with the representatives at your company. After all, potential customers aren’t looking to just purchase a product. They’re looking for a dependable provider that will strive to exceed their expectations.

In the above example, IDEO describes how it partnered with research institutes and spoke with learners to create Bendable, a free educational platform. We love how it shows its proactivity and thoroughness. It makes potential customers feel that IDEO might do something similar for them.

case study format: results

The results are essential, and the best part is that you don’t need to write the entirety of the case study before sharing them. Like HubSpot, IDEO, and ADP, you can include the results right below the subtitle or executive summary. Use data and numbers to substantiate the success of your efforts, but if you don’t have numbers, you can provide quotes from your customers.

We can’t overstate the importance of the results. In fact, if you wanted to create a short case study, you could include your title, challenge, solution (how your product helped), and result.

8. Supporting Visuals or Quotes

case study format: quote

Let your customer speak for themselves by including quotes from the representatives who directly interfaced with your company.

Visuals can also help, even if they’re stock images. On one side, they can help you convey your customer’s industry, and on the other, they can indirectly convey your successes. For instance, a picture of a happy professional — even if they’re not your customer — will communicate that your product can lead to a happy client.

In this example from IDEO, we see a man standing in a boat. IDEO’s customer is neither the man pictured nor the manufacturer of the boat, but rather Conservation International, an environmental organization. This imagery provides a visually pleasing pattern interrupt to the page, while still conveying what the case study is about.

9. Future Plans

This is optional, but including future plans can help you close on a more positive, personable note than if you were to simply include a quote or the results. In this space, you can show that your product will remain in your customer’s tech stack for years to come, or that your services will continue to be instrumental to your customer’s success.

Alternatively, if you work only on time-bound projects, you can allude to the positive impact your customer will continue to see, even after years of the end of the contract.

10. Call to Action (CTA)

case study format: call to action

Not every case study needs a CTA, but we’d still encourage it. Putting one at the end of your case study will encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

It will also make it easier for them to reach out, if they’re ready to start immediately. You don’t want to lose business just because they have to scroll all the way back up to reach out to your team.

To help you visualize this case study outline, check out the case study template below, which can also be downloaded here .

You drove the results, made the connection, set the expectations, used the questionnaire to conduct a successful interview, and boiled down your findings into a compelling story. And after all of that, you're left with a little piece of sales enabling gold — a case study.

To show you what a well-executed final product looks like, have a look at some of these marketing case study examples.

1. "Shopify Uses HubSpot CRM to Transform High Volume Sales Organization," by HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. This reflects a major HubSpot value, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why Shopify uses HubSpot and is accompanied by a short video and some basic statistics on the company.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the additional text on the page. So, while case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

2. "New England Journal of Medicine," by Corey McPherson Nash

When branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash showcases its work, it makes sense for it to be visual — after all, that's what they do. So in building the case study for the studio's work on the New England Journal of Medicine's integrated advertising campaign — a project that included the goal of promoting the client's digital presence — Corey McPherson Nash showed its audience what it did, rather than purely telling it.

Notice that the case study does include some light written copy — which includes the major points we've suggested — but lets the visuals do the talking, allowing users to really absorb the studio's services.

3. "Designing the Future of Urban Farming," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, he or she is greeted with a big, bold photo, and two very simple columns of text — "The Challenge" and "The Outcome."

Immediately, IDEO has communicated two of the case study's major pillars. And while that's great — the company created a solution for vertical farming startup INFARM's challenge — it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, those pillars are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and additional visuals.

4. "Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big for Tournament," by WatchGuard

Then, there are the cases when visuals can tell almost the entire story — when executed correctly. Network security provider WatchGuard can do that through this video, which tells the story of how its services enhanced the attendee and vendor experience at the Windmill Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

5. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Boosts Social Media Engagement and Brand Awareness with HubSpot

In the case study above , HubSpot uses photos, videos, screenshots, and helpful stats to tell the story of how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame used the bot, CRM, and social media tools to gain brand awareness.

6. Small Desk Plant Business Ups Sales by 30% With Trello

This case study from Trello is straightforward and easy to understand. It begins by explaining the background of the company that decided to use it, what its goals were, and how it planned to use Trello to help them.

It then goes on to discuss how the software was implemented and what tasks and teams benefited from it. Towards the end, it explains the sales results that came from implementing the software and includes quotes from decision-makers at the company that implemented it.

7. Facebook's Mercedes Benz Success Story

Facebook's Success Stories page hosts a number of well-designed and easy-to-understand case studies that visually and editorially get to the bottom line quickly.

Each study begins with key stats that draw the reader in. Then it's organized by highlighting a problem or goal in the introduction, the process the company took to reach its goals, and the results. Then, in the end, Facebook notes the tools used in the case study.

Showcasing Your Work

You work hard at what you do. Now, it's time to show it to the world — and, perhaps more important, to potential customers. Before you show off the projects that make you the proudest, we hope you follow these important steps that will help you effectively communicate that work and leave all parties feeling good about it.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in February 2017 but was updated for comprehensiveness and freshness in July 2021.

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6 Brilliant Small Business Case Study Examples For Marketers

Explore case study examples for small businesses. Additionally, find strategies for handling common challenges and solutions for growing your business.

6 Brilliant Case Study Examples for Small Businesses

Every business starts small.

The success of a business lies in its strategy to overcome any challenge during its journey.

If you are trying to take your business to new heights, start identifying challenges and create solutions.

The best way is to learn from sundry success stories.

There are several case studies of different businesses that can teach you which strategy to take for selling your product and attracting the target audience.

In this article, we will discuss some of the top case study examples that can assist in upscaling small businesses.

Let’s begin.

Challenges Faced by Small Businesses

As far as businesses go, there are always hurdles that need to be defeated. Starting a business is itself a big achievement for entrepreneurs, but the main challenge is maintaining one.

There are three common challenges businesses need to overcome. These include managing the expenses, hiring people, and following new trends to develop a customer base.

1. Increased Expenses

Every business revolves around money. There are different areas where businesses have to spend their money. But the issue is handling the financial hurdles. With an unplanned budget and financial advice, businesses will be spending more than they need to.

Keeping an eye on expenses is important because the expenses determine the profit the business will make.

However, it is not easy to reduce the expense. It’s affected by demand and supply. If businesses need to keep up with the market’s demands, then the chance of increasing expenses is 100%.

2. More and Skilled Manpower Required

Businesses don’t run themselves. They need manpower with skills to handle different departments. Generally, the number of employees in a small business ranges from 1 to 500 people. Getting this manpower is easy but getting a skilled one is difficult and time-consuming.

Whenever looking for manpower, businesses need to decide what skills they want in their candidate. The problem is candidates can’t always fulfill all the requirements. Besides, hiring manpower also increases the expenses.

3. Keeping Up With the Latest Trends

The market is fluid. It changes and introduces new trends. Small businesses need to keep up with changing trends to keep their business growing. But this is where many businesses start to fall apart.

The thing about new trends is that businesses need to sell their products at the right time. It means they have to keep on studying the market to speculate their next products. If a small business fails to deliver during the peak of the trend, then it will suffer a heavy loss.

Solutions to Grow a Small Business

The best thing about businesses is that there is an attempt to find a solution for every challenge. It brings out the competition in the market, which is huge for surfacing different kinds of solutions a business can adopt.

1. Reduce the Expenses

When it comes to expenses, businesses are focused on spending huge sums on communication because communication is the key element of increasing customers and revenue. It’s not a big problem for big companies, but it is expensive for small businesses. Thus, finding innovative and cost-effective marketing strategies becomes essential for maximizing outreach and impact without straining financial resources.

Fortunately, the cloud telephony system has removed the dilemma while making business budgets because cloud phone services are cheaper than plain old telephone services.

It reduces the initial cost of new businesses up to 90%. Recent surveys suggest that over 74% of businesses prioritize cloud phone systems as their urgent investment.

The same goes for marketing which is necessary to attract potential customers. Small businesses don’t have enough budget to advertise their products.

The best solution for this is using social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to promote and sell their products.

Case Study: Coffman Engineers

Coffman Engineers clearly states that although the cost of using a virtual phone number adhered to cloud phone is 50% more per employee, it still provides overall 25% more savings than plain old telephone service (POTS).

Coffman Engineers have been relying on cloud phones ever since their one office location faced a disaster. Now they have a disaster recovery feature built into their cloud phone system. It helped them to be ready for any disasters without losing communication with employees.

Not just that, they found all the necessary features bundled into one subscription package in a VoIP phone system. Such a facility enabled them to handle all their business communication using only one platform.

Key Takeaways

  • Small businesses must invest in cloud telephony for business communication.
  • Extensive use of social media to promote and sell your products/service.

2. Improve Employee Productivity

As we discussed earlier, manpower is a big challenge for small businesses. Hiring more employees doesn’t mean higher productivity. It’s about smart task allocation through a streamlined workload management strategy . Businesses also need to hire the right candidates to keep their expenses in check and improve productivity.

There are different tools available that can monitor what the employees are doing. Time tracking tools and workforce management tools are key components every business needs.

Especially in remote working scenarios, these tools are crucial to getting the full effort for the employees. Companies have seen a 35%-40% rise in productivity in employees working remotely with the use of tracking tools.

Case study: On The Map Marketing

On The Map Marketing , a digital marketing agency, used time tracking tools that showed that remote working employees tend to work more hours since they can work at flexible hours.

On The Map Marketing first started using the time tracking tool when they were opening their office in Riga, Latvia. The CTO of the company wanted the time spent on different tasks on his computer as well as managing the remote working employees.

Using a time tracking tool, they were able to track their productivity with a detailed report of their daily activities during office hours. It helped them calculate salary bonuses. They also found the productivity level of each employee to determine their value for the company.

  • Small businesses should use a time tracking tool to make sure employees focus on their office work.
  • Small businesses can track the performance of each employee at office locations or remote working locations.

3. Reward Your Customers

A business becomes successful when it can keep its customers happy. In efforts to upscale a small business quickly, the marketplace has seen a decline in the quality of products and services. It is a primary reason for customer dissatisfaction.

About 45% of business professionals rate customer experience as their top priority for growing a business.

Survey says more than 85% of buyers are willing to spend more for a better customer experience . Therefore, small businesses need to focus on improving their quality of products and services, which is a powerful indicator of customer experience.

Case study: Starbucks

Starbucks introduced a Reward Loyalty Program in which customers collect stars to get exciting rewards. This program drives 40% of Starbucks’s total sales .

By adapting the gamification method, Starbucks added a reward loyalty program to their already established app. This move drastically increased sales and digital traffic. They brought mobile payment, customer loyalty, and content partnership in one powerful app.

Customers started registering for My Reward via their app. They are given stars(points) in exchange for their interaction in the app or purchase made. The higher the number of stars a customer gets, the better rewards they get.

  • Small businesses can give different forms of rewards for more customer engagement.
  • Improvement in customer service can drive more sales and attract more customers.

4. Build Your Brand

Small businesses should learn to build their brand image on social media. While marketing any product or service, the brand image is a key factor for understanding how people view your business.

A brand image must first include mission, vision, and values. It also requires a brand positioning statement that can set your business apart from the competitors.

It’s important to create a unique brand personality. For this, businesses need to design a good logo because customers are most likely to recognize a business looking at a logo. They will have to identify their target audience to craft a good brand image.

According to a study, around 89% of users stay loyal to a business with a good brand image .

Case study: Apple

Apple logo is a well-recognized design that reflects the brand value. Over the years, the Apple logo has gone through several design changes.

The most important rebranding of the company came when Steve Jobs changed the logo which impacted the overall personality of the company. Now, this logo is the most recognized logo in the world.

Looking at the Apple logo, customers can feel a sense of trust, reliability, and innovation . It is the main reason for the huge sales of all Apple products across the globe.

  • Branding helps a business build strong relationships with prospects and attract them to be loyal customers.
  • Small businesses need to create a strong brand image to sell their products efficiently.

5. Prioritize on Partnerships

Partnerships and collaboration can lift the businesses to maximize their cost savings. It allows businesses to strengthen their programs using available resources and tools.

This has a direct effect on improving the efficiency of their operations. It improves the credibility of the business in the marketplace.

Case study: RENAULT & NISSAN

Renault and Nissan have a strong partnership in automobiles. Their partnership made a remarkable achievement of making up 10% of new car sales worldwide .

Renault and Nissan chose to make an alliance rather than a merger because an alliance has many stronger benefits than a merger would give.

With an alliance, they can access more geographical areas where foreign investments are restricted. These companies got better chances to enter each other’s territory where they were already established companies because of the alliance.

Although they faced numerous challenges including fluctuation in price share, they managed to resolve issues and succeed.

  • Small businesses can collaborate with other businesses to increase their chances of higher product sales and profit for everyone.
  • Partnership with other businesses allows all parties to benefit from each other’s strong areas.

6. The Right Marketing Strategy

Every business requires to sell its product and services to the market. Without the right social media marketing strategy , a business cannot compete in the marketplace. The first thing about marketing is knowing your target audience and competitors.

When small businesses know who they are competing against, it will help them to see how the competitors are executing their business and attracting their customers.

One such way is to grow your website traffic which can bring you more leads and eventually customers. And how do you increase your website traffic? SEO. If done right, Search Engine Optimization can drive huge traffic to your website to reach your marketing goals.

Case study: Zapier

Zapier used an SEO strategy revolving around long-tail keywords for generating organic traffic to their website. They created 25,000 unique landing pages for unique keywords.

Zapier had a structure and layout for each page including well-optimized human written content. They outsourced SEO content and focused on a playbook for the onboarding process and launched new apps so that they can get partners to write content for them.

On top of that, they also outsourced link building to their partners. These partners wrote valuable guest post content of Zapier on their site and gave a backlink to Zapier. It helped Zapier to get new users as well as drive their website traffic.

  • Small Businesses should improve their website traffic by adding more landing pages with relevant content.
  • Backlinks through guest posts on other websites can drive more website traffic and attract more prospects.

Now that we have discussed these examples, let’s see how you can create these studies.

Now that you have a fair idea of the business challenges and solutions, there is a good chance of delivering a good strategy for growing your small business.

On top of that, the case study examples above will help you view how other businesses overcome their situation to take their business to new heights.

The most important aspect of upscaling a small business is understanding the customer’s needs. Therefore, you should design a persuasive marketing strategy to attract customers and compete with other businesses in the market.

And a good marketing strategy for any business must include social media. And to make the most of your social media marketing efforts try SocialPilot for free today.

Frequently Asked Questions

🌟 How do you upscale a small business?

Upscaling a small business is a very challenging process. Whether it's making a budget or hiring employees, you have to focus on things that are best for your business. Planning, targeting prospects, marketing strategy, etc. are crucial steps for upscaling businesses and competing with big companies.

🌟 What is a small scale business?

Small scale businesses or Small scale industries (SSI) provide products and services on a small level. Normally in the US, a small business consists of less than 250 employees. Also, it has small capital investments and less office space.

🌟 Why do entrepreneurs find it difficult to scale up?

New entrepreneurs find difficulty in scaling up their businesses because they don’t know what to do. Even if they know, they have to face many challenges like market research, finding loans, allocating space, etc. Also, legal matters are always a major concern for making changes.

🌟 Why is scalability important in business?

Scalability is important because it directly impacts business competition, profitability, brand image, and product quality. Since small businesses have huge growth potential and high return on investment (ROI), they have to properly focus on scalability.

🌟 When should you scale a business?

A small business should look for upscaling its business if it has achieved a minimum annual growth of 20% over 2-3 years with only 10 or more active employees.

About the Author

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Anwesha Ghatak

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Rob Llewellyn

Business Transformation and 5 Case Studies of Real-World Success Stories

What is business transformation.

Business transformation refers to the process of fundamentally changing the way an organisation operates in order to achieve its strategic goals. This can involve a wide range of changes, such as adopting new business models, implementing new technologies, restructuring processes and operations, and redefining the organisation's overall strategy.

The goal of business transformation is to improve the organisation's performance and competitive advantage in the marketplace. This often requires a significant cultural shift within the organisation, as well as a willingness to embrace new ways of thinking and working. Successful business transformation can result in increased efficiency, better customer experience, and long-term growth for the organisation.

The Evolution of What is Business Transformation

Business transformation has been an important concept in management and strategy for several decades, evolving over time as businesses face new challenges and opportunities. In the past, business transformation primarily focused on process improvements and cost cutting measures to streamline operations and boost efficiency. However, as the business landscape has become increasingly complex and digital, the scope of business transformation has expanded to include broader strategic initiatives such as digital transformation, innovation, and customer-centricity. Today, business transformation is seen as a critical tool for organisations to adapt to change, stay competitive, and create value for stakeholders.

Business Transformation

What are the Drivers of Business Transformation?

There are several drivers of business transformation, including:

Technology advancements

Technology is constantly evolving, and companies need to keep up with these advancements to remain competitive.

Customer demands

Changing customer expectations and preferences require companies to adapt their products, services, and processes to stay relevant.

Market forces

Globalisation, increased competition, and changing industry dynamics can drive companies to transform their business to remain competitive.

Regulatory requirements

Changes in laws and regulations can force companies to transform their business processes and operations.

Organisational culture

Companies that want to improve their performance, productivity, and innovation often need to transform their organisational culture.

Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions can trigger business transformation initiatives as companies integrate their operations and processes.

Cost reduction

Companies may undertake business transformation initiatives to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Strategic goals

Companies may undertake business transformation initiatives to achieve strategic goals, such as expanding into new markets, launching new products, or diversifying their business.

These drivers can be interrelated and may require a coordinated effort to address effectively.

4 Phases of Business Transformation

There are four phases in the BTM² business transformation methodology lifecycle, which are:

Envision: Create a case for change, a sense of urgency, strategy, and vision.

Engage: Empower people to act on the vision and plan the business transformation.

Transform: Change processes, technology, behaviour, culture, and values.

Optimise: Internalise, institutionalise, and optimise transformation. And create stability.

Business Transformation Methodology Lifecycle

9 Management Disciplines of Business Transformation

The BTM² business transformation methodology consists of nine transformation management disciplines which are:

Meta Management (Leadership, Culture, Values, Communication)

Strategy Management (Transformation Direction)

Value Management (Transformation Direction)

Risk Management (Transformation Direction)

Project and Programme Management (Transformation Enablement)

Business Process Management (Transformation Enablement)

IT Transformation Management (Transformation Enablement)

Organisational Change Management (Transformation Enablement)

Competence and Training Management (Transformation Enablement)

Learn more about these business transformation management disciplines.

business frameworks

4 Main Types of Business Transformation

Radical business transformation.

Radical transformation is a significant change to a company's strategy and approach, resulting in the creation of a new business model and vision. It often requires an overhaul of the organisation's core values and principles, as well as a significant shift in culture and mindset.

This type of transformation is often driven by external market factors or the need to pivot in response to changing industry trends. It requires a strong commitment from leadership and a willingness to take bold risks to ensure long-term success.

Architectural Business Transformation

Architectural transformation refers to the process of restructuring an organisation's technology infrastructure and systems while maintaining its core business processes. This involves a significant change in the underlying technology and infrastructure of the organisation but does not necessarily change the overall strategic goals or direction of the business. 

By focusing on optimising and modernising its technology architecture, an organisation can better support its operations and improve efficiency. This often involves updating legacy systems, implementing new software, and integrating new technologies to support business operations. A successful architectural transformation can help organisations stay competitive in today's rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Modular Business Transformation

Modular transformation refers to a scenario in which the organisation modifies some core elements of its design while keeping the overall enterprise architecture intact. This approach allows companies to implement targeted changes that address specific challenges without disrupting the entire system. For example, a company may choose to update its production line or supply chain processes while keeping its organisational structure and IT infrastructure intact. 

By using this strategy, organisations can achieve incremental improvements while minimising the risk and cost associated with a full-scale transformation. This approach can help organisations remain agile and adapt to changing market conditions more efficiently.

Incremental Business Transformation

Incremental transformation involves making small, continuous improvements to the enterprise design with minimal changes to technology and operations. This approach allows the organisation to refine and extend its existing processes and capabilities, while minimising disruptions to daily operations. Incremental transformation often involves a gradual and continuous improvement process that allows the organisation to stay competitive 

by adapting to changing market conditions and customer needs. It requires a focus on continuous improvement and a willingness to adopt new technologies and processes as needed to drive long-term success.

What is Impacted During Business Transformation?

There are several aspects of an organisation that are impacted by business transformation, including:

Involves a change in the company's strategy, vision, and direction to respond to new market trends or opportunities.

Focuses on improving operational efficiency, reducing costs, and optimising business processes to improve performance and profitability.

Involves changing the organisation's culture, values, and behaviours to foster innovation, collaboration, and customer-centricity.

Involves changing the organisation's structure, such as reorganising teams, creating new roles, or consolidating business units, to improve agility and decision-making.

Involves leveraging digital technologies to fundamentally change the way a company operates, interacts with customers, and delivers value to the market.

Other aspects of an organisation are impacted by business transformation. The key is to identify and manage these impacts in a way that does not compromise the achievement of the transformation goals.

What is The Difference Between Business Transformation and Digital Transformation?

While business transformation and digital transformation are related concepts, they have different scopes and objectives.

Business transformation refers to the process of fundamentally changing the way an organisation operates to achieve its strategic goals, which may or may not involve technology. Business transformation may include a wide range of changes such as organisational restructuring, changes to business processes, new business models, and strategic realignment.

Digital transformation, on the other hand, specifically refers to the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, resulting in fundamental changes to how the business operates and delivers value to customers. The goal of digital transformation is to create a more agile, responsive, and data-driven organisation that can compete in a rapidly changing digital environment. This may involve adopting new technologies, leveraging data and analytics, and creating new digital products and services.

In summary, while both business transformation and digital transformation involve significant changes to an organisation, the former is broader and may involve non-digital changes, while the latter specifically focuses on the integration of digital technology to drive business success.

What Should a Chairman Know About Business Transformation?

As a key member of a company's leadership team, a Chairman plays a critical role in the success of any business transformation effort. Here are some key things that a Chairman should know about business transformation:

The importance of having a clear vision and strategy: Business transformation requires a clear vision of where the company is going and a well-defined strategy for getting there. The Chairman must ensure that the vision and strategy are aligned with the company's goals and objectives.

The need for effective change management: Business transformation often involves significant changes to the company's processes, systems, and culture. The Chairman must ensure that change is managed effectively, with clear communication to all stakeholders, and a plan for addressing any resistance to change.

The importance of collaboration: Business transformation is a team effort, requiring collaboration across departments and functions. The Chairman must ensure that there is a culture of collaboration and that the necessary resources are made available to support the effort.

The role of technology: Business transformation often involves the use of new technologies to improve business processes and drive innovation. The Chairman must ensure that the company has the necessary technology infrastructure and expertise to support the transformation effort.

The need for ongoing evaluation and adjustment: Business transformation is an ongoing process that requires ongoing evaluation and adjustment. The Chairman must ensure that there are metrics in place to measure progress, and that the company is willing to adjust as needed to stay on track.

In summary, a Chairman plays a critical role in ensuring the success of any business transformation effort. By focusing on clear vision and strategy, effective change management, collaboration, technology, and ongoing evaluation and adjustment, the Chairman can help lead the company through a successful transformation.

What Should a CEO Know About Business Transformation?

CEOs play a critical role in driving successful business transformations. Here are some key things that CEOs need to keep in mind:

Vision: The CEO must have a clear and compelling vision for the transformation that is aligned with the company's overall strategy and goals.

Culture: The CEO needs to drive a culture of innovation and agility that supports the transformation. This may involve shifting the organisation's mindset and embracing new ways of working.

Communication: The CEO must communicate the transformation strategy clearly and frequently to all stakeholders, including employees, customers, and investors.

Talent: The CEO needs to ensure that the organisation has the right talent and capabilities to execute the transformation. This may involve hiring new talent or upskilling existing employees.

Metrics: The CEO must establish clear metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the transformation and ensure that progress is being made.

Governance: The CEO must establish a governance framework to manage the transformation and ensure that it stays on track.

Collaboration: The CEO needs to collaborate with other leaders and stakeholders to ensure that the transformation is aligned with their goals and priorities.

By keeping these factors in mind, CEOs can successfully lead their organisations through a business transformation, achieve their strategic objectives, and drive long-term success.

What Should Other Key Executives Know About Business Transformation?

Business transformation is not just limited to CEOs, but other C-level executives also need to be aware of it as it can affect various aspects of the business. Here are some things that other C-level executives should know about business transformation:

Understanding the goals: All executives should have a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the business transformation. This will help them to align their departments and work towards achieving the transformation goals.

Collaboration: Business transformation involves cross-functional collaboration and coordination, which means executives need to work together and leverage each other's expertise to achieve the desired outcomes.

Change management: Business transformation requires significant changes in the organisation, which can be difficult for employees. C-level executives should be aware of the change management process and ensure that employees are adequately supported during the transition.

Innovation: Business transformation is often driven by innovation, and C-level executives should be open to new ideas and technologies that can enable the transformation.

Customer-centricity: Business transformation is not just about internal changes but also about meeting the changing needs of customers. C-level executives should prioritise customer-centricity in their decision-making to drive successful transformation.

Who Should Lead Business Transformation on a Day to Day Basis?

The person who leads business transformation on a day-to-day basis is typically a program or project manager, who is responsible for managing the various initiatives and activities involved in the transformation process. The program or project manager is usually a seasoned professional with expertise in project and change management, as well as experience in the specific areas of the business being transformed. This individual works closely with executive leadership, stakeholders, and other key personnel to ensure that the transformation process is on track and aligned with the organisation's overall strategic goals. They are also responsible for monitoring progress, identifying, and mitigating risks, and adjusting the transformation plan as needed.

How do You Manage Business Transformation?

Managing business transformation involves leading the implementation process, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned and working towards the same objectives, and making necessary adjustments as the transformation progresses. The following are some key steps to effectively manage business transformation:

Develop a clear vision and strategy: A clear and concise vision for the transformation and a well-defined strategy for achieving that vision is essential. It should be communicated to all stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned.

Establish a governance structure: A governance structure is important to provide oversight and decision-making authority during the transformation. This should include a steering committee, a project management office (PMO), and other necessary teams.

Define key performance indicators (KPIs): KPIs should be defined to measure the success of the transformation. These should be regularly tracked and communicated to stakeholders.

Engage and empower employees: Employees should be engaged in the transformation process from the beginning. They should be empowered to take ownership of the changes and help drive the transformation forward.

Manage risks: It is important to identify potential risks to the transformation and develop mitigation plans. These plans should be regularly reviewed and updated as needed.

Monitor progress: The transformation process should be regularly monitored to ensure that it is progressing according to plan. Adjustments should be made as necessary to keep the transformation on track.

Celebrate successes: Celebrating successes along the way can help maintain momentum and keep stakeholders motivated and engaged.

By effectively managing business transformation, organisations can successfully navigate change and achieve their goals for growth and innovation.

What is The Business Transformation Management Methodology?

The Business Transformation Management Methodology (BTM²) is a comprehensive framework for managing and delivering large-scale business transformations. It was developed by a think tank of xxx and funded by the SAP company.

BTM² is widely used in by many of the world's best business transformation managers, leaders, and consultants.

The methodology is based on a four-phase approach that includes four phases and nine management disciplines.

Each phase includes a set of activities and deliverables, such as assessing the current state of the business, defining the target state, developing a roadmap, executing the transformation plan, and monitoring and measuring the results. The BTM² methodology emphasises the importance of involving stakeholders, managing change, and ensuring the alignment of business and IT objectives.

Best Practices for Successful Business Transformation

In addition to adopting a business transformation management framework such as BTM² here are some general best practices for a successful business transformation:

Develop a clear vision

Start with a clear and well-defined vision of what you want to achieve through the transformation. This will help you stay focused and aligned throughout the process.

Involve stakeholders

Engage and involve all relevant stakeholders in the transformation process, including employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. This will help you get buy-in and support, as well as gather valuable input and feedback.

Develop a comprehensive plan

Create a detailed plan that outlines the goals, timelines, resources, and activities required for the transformation. This plan should also identify potential risks and mitigation strategies.

Prioritise and sequence initiatives

Prioritise and sequence initiatives based on their potential impact and feasibility. This will help you focus on high-impact initiatives that can deliver quick wins, while also ensuring a smooth and phased transition.

Invest in change management

Develop a robust change management program that focuses on communication, training, and employee engagement. This will help you manage resistance, build awareness, and create a culture that is open to change.

Leverage data and analytics

Use data and analytics to gain insights into the performance of your organisation and identify areas that require improvement. This will help you make data-driven decisions and measure the impact of your transformation initiatives.

Embrace innovation

Foster a culture of innovation and experimentation and encourage employees to come up with new ideas and approaches. This will help you stay ahead of the curve and continuously improve your business.

Monitor and measure progress

Monitor and measure the progress of your transformation initiatives, and adjust your plans and strategies as needed. This will help you stay on track and ensure that you are achieving your goals.

Overall, successful business transformation requires a strategic and holistic approach that engages stakeholders, prioritises initiatives, invests in change management, leverages data and analytics, fosters innovation, and continuously monitors and measures progress.

5 Business Transformation Case Studies

Lego business transformation.

In the early 2000s, the Danish toy manufacturer was facing serious financial difficulties due to declining sales and changing consumer preferences. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy, but instead of giving up, Lego embarked on a major business transformation initiative. The company restructured its operations, divested non-core businesses, streamlined its supply chain, and refocused its product lines.

One key element of the transformation was the introduction of the Lego Movie, which helped reinvigorate the brand and drive sales. Today, Lego is a thriving company with a strong global brand and a diverse range of product lines. The success of Lego's business transformation is a testament to the power of strategic planning, innovation, and a willingness to embrace change.

case study of successful businessman

Ford Business Transformation

In recent years, the Ford motor company has been facing challenges from new players in the automotive industry, as well as rising customer demands for new features and technologies.

Business Transformation Initiative: In 2018, Ford announced a major business transformation initiative aimed at modernising its operations and transitioning to become a mobility company. The initiative involved several key components, including:

Reorganising the company's global business operations to streamline decision-making and improve efficiency.

Investing heavily in electric and autonomous vehicle technology, with plans to introduce a range of new EV models in the coming years.

Partnering with tech companies to develop new mobility solutions, such as ride-sharing services and delivery fleets.

Focusing on improving customer experience, with a renewed emphasis on digital channels and personalised services.

While the full impact of Ford's business transformation initiative has yet to be realised, the company has already made significant progress in several key areas. For example, Ford has launched several new electric and hybrid models, including the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning, which have been well-received by customers and critics alike. The company has also partnered with tech companies like Argo AI and Rivian to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technology. 

Ford also invested in a range of new mobility solutions, such as its GoRide health transportation service and the delivery-focused Ford Pro division. Overall, Ford's business transformation initiative has positioned the company to better compete in a rapidly evolving automotive industry and to meet the changing needs of its customers.

General Electric

General Electric (GE) is a massive conglomerate with diverse business units spanning multiple industries. In recent years, the company has undergone a significant business transformation to streamline its operations and refocus on its core strengths. The transformation involved divesting non-core businesses and reducing the size of the organisation, among other initiatives. As a result of these efforts, GE has become a leaner, more efficient company with improved profitability. The business transformation has allowed GE to focus on its core strengths and position the company for long-term success.

In 2019, PepsiCo announced a new business transformation initiative to become a more consumer-centric, faster, and more agile organisation. The main goals of the business transformation initiative were to increase productivity, accelerate growth, and create a more sustainable business model. To achieve this, PepsiCo aimed to streamline its operations, enhance its digital capabilities , and invest in new product development and marketing.

To drive the business transformation, PepsiCo implemented a range of initiatives, including:

  • Investing in automation and digitalisation to streamline operations and increase efficiency.
  • Enhancing its e-commerce capabilities and online presence to better engage with consumers and improve customer experience.
  • Expanding its product portfolio to include more healthy and sustainable products, in response to changing consumer preferences.
  • Improving its supply chain and logistics operations to increase speed and flexibility.

case study of successful businessman

As a result of the business transformation, PepsiCo was able to increase productivity and reduce costs, while also expanding its market share and improving its sustainability credentials. For example, in 2020, the company reported an increase in revenue and net income, driven by strong performance in its snacks and beverage businesses, as well as its focus on innovation and sustainability. PepsiCo was also recognised as one of the most ethical companies in the world by the Ethisphere Institute in 2021, reflecting its commitment to social responsibility and sustainability.

The global financial group BBVA has undergone a significant business transformation in recent years. The transformation was initiated with the goal of becoming a more customer-centric, agile, and innovative organisation. To achieve this transformation, BBVA adopted a new organisational model, which included the creation of cross-functional teams, the implementation of agile methodologies, and the adoption of new technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. BBVA also introduced new digital products and services, such as a mobile banking app and a digital wallet, to improve the customer experience.

The transformation has resulted in significant improvements for BBVA. The bank has seen an increase in customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as improved employee engagement. The bank has also been recognised for its innovative approach, winning awards for its mobile banking app and other digital initiatives.

BBVA's business transformation demonstrates the importance of embracing new technologies, adopting an agile mindset, and putting the customer at the center of the organisation.

Do We Need a Consulting Firm to Help With Business Transformation?

The decision to hire a big consulting firm or an independent consultant for business transformation ultimately depends on your organisation's specific needs, budget, and resources.

Big consulting firms often have a wealth of resources and expertise, with large teams that can tackle complex projects and a wide range of experience across various industries. However, their services can come at a premium cost and may not be feasible for smaller organisations.

Independent consultants, on the other hand, typically offer a more personalised and customised approach, with more affordable rates and the ability to provide more direct access to senior-level expertise. They may also have a more flexible approach to project management and can often be more adaptable to changes and unexpected challenges.

Business transformation consultants employed by big firms will typically put their own firm's interests ahead of yours, whereas an independent consultant isn't burdened by a boss, which means they can always act in your best interests rather than those of their employer.

Ultimately, the choice of whether to hire a big consulting firm or an independent consultant should be based on a careful evaluation of your organisation's needs, resources, and budget, as well as a review of the consultant's relevant experience and track record of success.

Business Transformation Management Course

If you want to equip yourself with the expertise required to orchestrate business transformation the BTM² Business Transformation Management course will help you.

Business Transformation Methodology Course

More From Forbes

How the best entrepreneurs succeed: a case study.

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While it is obvious that no one approach GUARANTEES entrepreneurial success, it is clear from everything we have learned so far, that there is a PROVEN path that increases your odds.

As we have seen, it breaks down into the following steps. You:

  • Determine what it is you really want to do.
  • Take a small step toward that goal.
  • Pause to see what you learned from taking that step and
  • Build off that learning.
  • Take another small step.
  • Pause to see what you learned from step two.
  • Build off that learning….

This Act. Learn. Build. Repeat approach is one that the most successful entrepreneurs use in creating their company.

Shawn Gardner, 40, is trying to join their ranks.

Shawn who works for the Saratoga, California parks department loves his job. But he realizes that these days public employees are not the most popular people around and with budget cuts always looming he figures it would be a good idea to hedge his employment bets.

“With the changing economy, there is tons of uncertainty out there. You have to be the one to plan your own future,” he says.

But what kind of future?

“I was on a winter break in 2009 and wanted to rent a snowmobile for a couple of hours,” he recalls.  “Not only was the price—$325—absurd but they wouldn’t provide insurance.  I had just bought a house and I wasn’t going to risk it if I got into an accident. I had a debate with the rental guy but he said nobody who rented snowmobiles provided personal liability insurance.”

Shawn did not rent the snowmobile, because of the potential risk. But on the way home he noticed how many people had snowmobiles on trailers in their driveway along with boats, jet skis and other “grown up toys.”

“I spent about six months researching all this and concluded based on the median income people couldn’t afford all the toys they had in their garages and driveways.  They’d buy a boat with a home equity loan, and then all of a sudden the value of their homes fell, or they lost their jobs, or they realized they really couldn’t afford to have it.”

During the Great Recession, a lot of people sold their toys, and sales of new boats and powersport vehicles  dropped nearly 50% across the industry. There's nothing more discretionary than a boat, jet ski, ATV or snowmobile.

Clearly there was a mismatch in the marketplace. You had people who wanted to rent grown-up toys as opposed to owning them.  (The upkeep on boats is substantial and even if things like jet skis are relatively easy to maintain, do you really want your money tied in owning them, if you are only going to use them a couple of times a year? (A jet ski runs about $10,000-$12,000 new and people tend to buy them in pairs.)

But while you had potential demand, potential renters like Shawn thought the average rental price was way out of line. Jet skis typical rent for more than $100 an hour.

Conversely, you had people who didn’t want to sell their toys, but they sure would appreciate some extra income.

Fun2Rent  was born

                            Walking through the Model

Shawn saw the opportunity, and it turns out he followed our model exactly.  Did he have the desire to make this happen? Yes, and yes.  Not only was he worried about the security of his day job, but he is “into power sports.”

As for the small steps, he had already done some research that showed that a significant percentage of the people who owned all these toys were in over their head financially and could use the extra cash that could come by renting.

The next step was to talk to potential renters. They were interested, but it was clear there was a lot to learn before Shawn could create a successful company to fill the hole in the marketplace.

For one thing, promoting the business wouldn’t be as easy as he thought.

“ Google word advertising won’t get the attention of our market, I found out. Many of our customers—both owners and people who rent—work hard for their money, and are not easily convinced that they can rent their stuff or rent from neighbor. We also discovered that we needed to build relationships. The people who rent out their stuff want to know it will be taken care of.”

That’s why offering insurance was important, as Shawn assumed it would be, but so was a rating system where people—both renters and the people renting their stuff—could comment about the person they interacted with.

Shawn also learned that these owners needed help in determining what they should charge.  Obviously, people renting their stuff want to get as much as they can, but high prices scare off potential renters.

He suggests people looking to rent out their stuff look around and see what traditional rental companies are charging and price theirs at a substantial discount. Our average, he says, renters charge 50% less.

Shawn’s company, which takes a 25% commission for handling the transaction, is now in the the Beta phase and is looking to expand and is going to go through the Act. Learn Build And Repeat Model again.

We are in the middle of an experiment

From now until the end of October you have the chance to shape this space.  During that time this blog will be devoted to discussing the very tangible problems you have in starting and growing your business—how to get financing; what kind of customers should you target; where and how to market, and the like.

You suggest the topics and talk about the concerns you have (and also what you have found that works well) and your peers will offer their suggestions, and raise concerns of their own.  I will go through everything, cull the best answers/comments/ideas, and as a micro business owner myself (as well as someone who has been writing about this stuff for more than 30 years ) will add ideas of my own.

Paul B. Brown is the co-author (along with Leonard A. Schlesinger and Charles F. Kiefer) of Just Start: Take Action; Embrace Uncertainty and Create the Future recently published by Harvard Business Review Press.

Please note the Action Trumps Everything blog now appears every Sunday and Wednesday.

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10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Female entrepreneur taking a business call

  • 07 Jul 2020

Multiple factors go into starting a successful business venture, including a strong concept and initial funding. But, perhaps the most important ingredient is the entrepreneur. These are individuals who must transform their ideas into a fully operational business.

If you’re thinking about launching your own venture, you might be wondering if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur . But first, what’s an entrepreneur, and what do they do?

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Entrepreneurship?

While entrepreneurship is commonly thought of as the process of starting a business, there are several nuances to consider.

In the HBS Online course Entrepreneurship Essentials , entrepreneurship is defined as “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources currently controlled.” An opportunity can be a myriad of things, but the course describes it as "a proposed venture to sell a product or service for which customers are willing to pay more than the required investments and operating costs.”

Entrepreneurs —either as individuals or in teams—discover opportunities throughout their personal and professional lives. They form hypotheses on ways to deliver value to customers and perform structured tests to validate their ideas. This often involves recruiting teammates through networking and investing funds to determine how they’ll deliver a product or service at an acceptable cost.

Great entrepreneurs come from all walks of life. In Entrepreneurship Essentials, it’s noted that “there’s no single personality profile, and it’s important to pay attention to the entrepreneurial team, rather than focus on the individual.” And while that's true, there are certain characteristics and skills that are particularly important for entrepreneurs to have when starting and leading a venture.

Here are 10 characteristics shared by successful entrepreneurs.

10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

1. Curiosity

Successful entrepreneurs have a distinct personality trait that sets them apart from other organizational leaders: a sense of curiosity. An entrepreneur's ability to remain curious allows them to continuously seek new opportunities. Rather than settling for what they think they know, entrepreneurs ask challenging questions and explore different avenues.

This is validated in the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials , where entrepreneurship is described as a “process of discovery." Without curiosity, entrepreneurs can’t achieve their main objective: discovering new opportunities.

The drive they have to continuously ask questions and challenge the status quo can lead them to valuable discoveries easily overlooked by other business professionals.

2. Willingness to Experiment

Along with curiosity, entrepreneurs require an understanding of structured experimentation, such as design thinking . With each new opportunity, an entrepreneur must run tests to determine if it’s worthwhile to pursue.

For example, if you have an idea for a new product or service that fulfills an underserved demand, you’ll have to ensure customers are willing to pay for it and it meets their needs . To do so, you’ll need to conduct thorough market research and run meaningful tests to validate your idea and determine its potential.

3. Adaptability

Entrepreneurship is an iterative process, and new challenges and opportunities present themselves at every turn. It’s nearly impossible to be prepared for every scenario, but successful business leaders must be adaptable.

This is especially true for entrepreneurs who need to evaluate situations and remain flexible to ensure their business keeps moving forward, no matter what unexpected changes occur.

4. Decisiveness

To be successful, an entrepreneur has to make difficult decisions and stand by them. As a leader, they’re responsible for guiding the trajectory of their business, including every aspect from funding and strategy to resource allocation.

Being decisive doesn’t always mean being correct. Entrepreneurs need the confidence to make challenging decisions and see them through to the end. If the outcome turns out to be less than favorable, the decision to take corrective action is just as important.

Check out our video on the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

5. Self-Awareness

A great entrepreneur is aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Rather than letting shortcomings hold them back, they build well-rounded teams that complement their abilities.

In many cases, it’s the entrepreneurial team, rather than an individual, that drives a business venture toward success. When starting your own business, it’s critical to surround yourself with teammates who have complementary talents and contribute to a common goal.

Related: 10 Tips to Help You Boost Team Performance

6. Risk Tolerance

Entrepreneurship is often associated with risk. While it’s true that launching a venture requires an entrepreneur to take risks, they also need to take steps to minimize it.

While many things can go wrong when launching a new venture, many things can go right. According to Entrepreneurship Essentials , entrepreneurs who actively manage the relationship between risk and reward position their companies to “benefit from the upside.”

Successful entrepreneurs are comfortable with encountering some level of risk to reap the rewards of their efforts; however, their risk tolerance is tightly related to their efforts to mitigate it.

7. Comfort with Failure

In addition to risk-management and calculated decision-making , entrepreneurship requires a certain level of comfort with failure.

“Of startups that have more than one employee, 70 percent survive at least two years, half last at least five years, and a quarter last 15 years,” says Harvard Business School Professor William Sahlman in Entrepreneurship Essentials . “Even then, only a small fraction of the survivors get to be significant employers.”

The reasons for failure are vast and encompass everything from a lack of business scalability to low product-market fit . While many of these risks can be avoided, some are inevitable.

Despite this, entrepreneurs must prepare themselves for, and be comfortable with, failure. Rather than let fear hold them back, they maintain a positive attitude to allow the possibility of success to propel them forward.

Entrepreneurship Essentials | Succeed in the startup world | Learn More

8. Persistence

While many successful entrepreneurs are comfortable with the possibility of failing, it doesn’t mean they give up easily. Rather, they see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Throughout the entrepreneurial process, many hypotheses turn out to be wrong, and some ventures fail altogether. Part of what makes an entrepreneur successful is their willingness to learn from mistakes, ask questions, and persist until they reach their goal.

Related: How to Become a More Resilient Leader

9. Innovative Thinking

Innovation often goes hand-in-hand with entrepreneurship. While innovation in business can be defined as an idea that’s both novel and useful, it doesn’t always involve creating an entirely new product or service. Some of the most successful startups have taken existing products or services and drastically improved them to meet the changing needs of the market.

Although innovation doesn’t come naturally to every entrepreneur, it’s a type of strategic mindset that can be cultivated. By developing your problem-solving skills , you’ll be well-equipped to spot innovative opportunities and position your venture for success.

10. Long-Term Focus

Most people associate entrepreneurship with starting a business. While the early stages of launching a venture, such as securing funding , are critical to its success, the process doesn’t end once the business is operational.

According to Entrepreneurship Essentials , “it’s easy to start a business, but hard to grow a sustainable and substantial one. Some of the greatest opportunities in history were discovered well after a venture launched.”

Entrepreneurship is a long-term endeavor, and entrepreneurs must focus on the process from beginning to end to ensure long-term success.

Which HBS Online Entrepreneurship and Innovation Course is Right for You? | Download Your Free Flowchart

How to Develop the Qualities of an Entrepreneur

There’s no right or wrong way to be an entrepreneur. Characteristics and behaviors like experimentation, persistence, and innovation can be developed with time, experience, and training. As long as you possess the entrepreneurial spirit, you'll be able to seize opportunities and overcome challenges throughout your journey.

Are you interested in learning the ins and outs of entrepreneurship? Explore our four-week online course Entrepreneurship Essentials and our other entrepreneurship and innovation courses to learn to speak the language of the startup world. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

This post was updated on August 14, 2023. It was originally published on July 7, 2020.

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Top 10 case studies on entrepreneurship in india.

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Vanshika Jakhar

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These are the reasons why businesses are getting started in 2023, 29% of entrepreneurs say they wanted to be their own boss, 17% were dissatisfied with corporate life, 16% wanted to pursue their passion, and 12% say the opportunity presented itself. Entrepreneurship in India has witnessed a remarkable surge over the past few decades. With a burgeoning economy and a dynamic ecosystem, the country has produced a plethora of successful entrepreneurs and startups. In this article, we delve into the top 10 case studies on entrepreneurship in India, each offering unique insights, lessons, and inspiration for aspiring business leaders.

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Table of Content Top 10 Case Studies on Entrepreneurship in India

Top 10 Case Studies on Entrepreneurship in India

Flipkart: revolutionizing e-commerce.

Founders : Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal

Year Founded : 2007

case study of successful businessman

Source: Safalta

Key Takeaway : Customer focus and innovation can disrupt traditional industries and lead to exceptional growth.  

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OYO: Disrupting the Hotel Industry

Founder : Ritesh Agarwal

Year Founded : 2013

Ritesh Agarwal's story is a prime example of young entrepreneurship in India. OYO, which began as a budget hotel aggregator, has expanded globally, becoming one of the world's largest hospitality chains. Ritesh's vision is backed by a robust technology platform, and streamlined and standardized hotel operations, offering affordable, quality stays.

Key Takeaway : Identifying a market gap and using technology to address it can lead to rapid business expansion.

Read more:  Top 12 Examples of AI Case Studies in Content Marketing

Byju's: Changing the Face of Education

Founder : Byju Raveendran

Year Founded : 2011

Byju, the edtech unicorn, was born from Byju Raveendran's vision to make learning engaging and accessible. He built a unique platform offering interactive online classes for students across India. Byju's became one of the world's most valuable edtech companies, catering to millions of students.

Key Takeaway : Leveraging technology for education can create substantial opportunities and impact a wide audience.  

Paytm: A Digital Payment Pioneer

Founder : Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Year Founded : 2010

Paytm, initially a mobile recharge and bill payment platform, became a pioneer in digital payments in India. Vijay Shekhar Sharma's journey from a small town in Uttar Pradesh to building a fintech empire is an inspiration. The company's success can be attributed to its innovative approach and the ability to adapt to evolving market needs.

Key Takeaway : Flexibility and adaptability are crucial in the ever-evolving fintech industry.

Zomato: From a Restaurant Guide to a Food Delivery Giant

Founders : Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah

Year Founded : 2008

Zomato began as a restaurant discovery platform but swiftly evolved to include food delivery services. The founders, Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, navigated challenges like fierce competition and the logistical complexity of food delivery. Their ability to pivot and cater to diverse customer needs allowed them to expand globally.

Key Takeaway : Adapting to changing market demands and diversifying offerings can lead to substantial growth.

Related article:  Top 10 Ways to Achieve Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies

MakeMyTrip: Trailblazing in Online Travel

Founders : Deep Kalra

Year Founded : 2000

Deep Kalra founded MakeMyTrip at a time when e-commerce was in its nascent stage in India. Over the years, the company transformed the way Indians booked travel. With continuous innovation and expansion, MakeMyTrip is now a leading online travel company in the country.

Key Takeaway : Identifying an untapped niche and being a pioneer can result in long-term success.

Nykaa: Redefining Beauty Retail

Founder : Falguni Nayar

Year Founded : 2012

Falguni Nayar, a former investment banker, ventured into the beauty and cosmetics industry with Nykaa. The e-commerce platform revolutionized the beauty retail sector by offering a vast range of products, including both luxury and affordable brands. The company's success underscores the importance of understanding consumer preferences and delivering a seamless online shopping experience.

Key Takeaway : Customer-centricity and a diverse product range can lead to rapid growth in e-commerce.

Suggested:  Nykaa Case Study on Digital Marketing Strategies 2023

Freshworks: SaaS Unicorn from India

Founders : Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy

Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy co-founded Freshworks with the aim of creating a customer engagement software company. The company's suite of SaaS products has gained global recognition. Their approach to building a robust software platform with a focus on customer satisfaction exemplifies their journey from a Chennai-based startup to a SaaS unicorn.

Key Takeaway : A strong product and customer-centric approach can drive international success in the SaaS industry.

Lenskart: Redefining Eyewear Retail

Founder : Peyush Bansal

Peyush Bansal recognized the need for a reliable and convenient way to purchase eyewear in India. Lenskart introduced an online platform for buying eyeglasses and contact lenses. By integrating technology, Lenskart streamlined the purchase process, offering a wide range of eyewear and personalized services.

Key Takeaway : Identifying gaps in the market and providing innovative solutions can create new business opportunities.  

Rivigo: Revolutionizing Logistics

Founders : Deepak Garg

Year Founded : 2014

Deepak Garg's Rivigo introduced an innovative approach to logistics and transportation in India. Their relay model and tech-enabled trucking system optimized supply chain operations, reduced transit times, and enhanced efficiency. Rivigo's success in a traditional industry showcases the power of technology-driven solutions.

Key Takeaway : Applying technology to traditional sectors can lead to significant improvements and growth.

These 10 case studies on entrepreneurship in India provide a diverse range of success stories, demonstrating the versatility, resilience, and innovative spirit of Indian entrepreneurs. Each of these entrepreneurs identified market gaps, harnessed technology, and adapted to changing dynamics to build successful businesses. Their journeys serve as inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and underscore the limitless possibilities that await those willing to take risks and pursue their visions in the Indian business landscape.

What is entrepreneurship?

Who is an entrepreneur, what qualities make a successful entrepreneur, what is a business plan, and why is it important for entrepreneurship, what is "bootstrapping" in entrepreneurship, what is a business model.

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16 case study examples (+ 3 templates to make your own)

Hero image with an icon representing a case study

I like to think of case studies as a business's version of a resume. It highlights what the business can do, lends credibility to its offer, and contains only the positive bullet points that paint it in the best light possible.

Imagine if the guy running your favorite taco truck followed you home so that he could "really dig into how that burrito changed your life." I see the value in the practice. People naturally prefer a tried-and-true burrito just as they prefer tried-and-true products or services.

To help you showcase your success and flesh out your burrito questionnaire, I've put together some case study examples and key takeaways.

What is a case study?

A case study is an in-depth analysis of how your business, product, or service has helped past clients. It can be a document, a webpage, or a slide deck that showcases measurable, real-life results.

For example, if you're a SaaS company, you can analyze your customers' results after a few months of using your product to measure its effectiveness. You can then turn this analysis into a case study that further proves to potential customers what your product can do and how it can help them overcome their challenges.

It changes the narrative from "I promise that we can do X and Y for you" to "Here's what we've done for businesses like yours, and we can do it for you, too."

16 case study examples 

While most case studies follow the same structure, quite a few try to break the mold and create something unique. Some businesses lean heavily on design and presentation, while others pursue a detailed, stat-oriented approach. Some businesses try to mix both.

There's no set formula to follow, but I've found that the best case studies utilize impactful design to engage readers and leverage statistics and case details to drive the point home. A case study typically highlights the companies, the challenges, the solution, and the results. The examples below will help inspire you to do it, too.

1. .css-yjptlz-Link{all:unset;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;outline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-fill-color:currentColor;outline:1px solid transparent;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='ocean']{color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='ocean']:hover{color:#2b2358;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='ocean']:focus{color:#3d4592;outline-color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='white']{color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='white']:hover{color:#a8a5a0;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='white']:focus{color:#fffdf9;outline-color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='primary']{color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='primary']:hover{color:#2b2358;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='primary']:focus{color:#3d4592;outline-color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='secondary']{color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='secondary']:hover{color:#a8a5a0;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='secondary']:focus{color:#fffdf9;outline-color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-weight='inherit']{font-weight:inherit;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-weight='normal']{font-weight:400;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-weight='bold']{font-weight:700;} Volcanica Coffee and AdRoll

On top of a background of coffee beans, a block of text with percentage growth statistics for how AdRoll nitro-fueled Volcanica coffee.

People love a good farm-to-table coffee story, and boy am I one of them. But I've shared this case study with you for more reasons than my love of coffee. I enjoyed this study because it was written as though it was a letter.

In this case study, the founder of Volcanica Coffee talks about the journey from founding the company to personally struggling with learning and applying digital marketing to finding and enlisting AdRoll's services.

It felt more authentic, less about AdRoll showcasing their worth and more like a testimonial from a grateful and appreciative client. After the story, the case study wraps up with successes, milestones, and achievements. Note that quite a few percentages are prominently displayed at the top, providing supporting evidence that backs up an inspiring story.

Takeaway: Highlight your goals and measurable results to draw the reader in and provide concise, easily digestible information.

2. .css-yjptlz-Link{all:unset;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;outline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-fill-color:currentColor;outline:1px solid transparent;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='ocean']{color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='ocean']:hover{color:#2b2358;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='ocean']:focus{color:#3d4592;outline-color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='white']{color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='white']:hover{color:#a8a5a0;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='white']:focus{color:#fffdf9;outline-color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='primary']{color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='primary']:hover{color:#2b2358;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='primary']:focus{color:#3d4592;outline-color:#3d4592;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='secondary']{color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='secondary']:hover{color:#a8a5a0;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-color='secondary']:focus{color:#fffdf9;outline-color:#fffdf9;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-weight='inherit']{font-weight:inherit;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-weight='normal']{font-weight:400;}.css-yjptlz-Link[data-weight='bold']{font-weight:700;} Taylor Guitars and Airtable

Screenshot of the Taylor Guitars and Airtable case study, with the title: Taylor Guitars brings more music into the world with Airtable

This Airtable case study on Taylor Guitars comes as close as one can to an optimal structure. It features a video that represents the artistic nature of the client, highlighting key achievements and dissecting each element of Airtable's influence.

It also supplements each section with a testimonial or quote from the client, using their insights as a catalyst for the case study's narrative. For example, the case study quotes the social media manager and project manager's insights regarding team-wide communication and access before explaining in greater detail.

Takeaway: Highlight pain points your business solves for its client, and explore that influence in greater detail.

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Screenshot of the Endeavour and Figma case study, showing a bulleted list about why EndeavourX chose Figma followed by an image of EndeavourX's workspace on Figma

My favorite part of Figma's case study is highlighting why EndeavourX chose its solution. You'll notice an entire section on what Figma does for teams and then specifically for EndeavourX.

It also places a heavy emphasis on numbers and stats. The study, as brief as it is, still manages to pack in a lot of compelling statistics about what's possible with Figma.

Takeaway: Showcase the "how" and "why" of your product's differentiators and how they benefit your customers.

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Screenshot of Zapier's case study with ActiveCampaign, showing three data visualizations on purple backgrounds

Zapier's case study leans heavily on design, using graphics to present statistics and goals in a manner that not only remains consistent with the branding but also actively pushes it forward, drawing users' eyes to the information most important to them. 

The graphics, emphasis on branding elements, and cause/effect style tell the story without requiring long, drawn-out copy that risks boring readers. Instead, the cause and effect are concisely portrayed alongside the client company's information for a brief and easily scannable case study.

Takeaway: Lean on design to call attention to the most important elements of your case study, and make sure it stays consistent with your branding.

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Screenshot of a video from the Ironclad and OpenAI case study showing the Ironclad AI Assist feature

In true OpenAI fashion, this case study is a block of text. There's a distinct lack of imagery, but the study features a narrated video walking readers through the product.

The lack of imagery and color may not be the most inviting, but utilizing video format is commendable. It helps thoroughly communicate how OpenAI supported Ironclad in a way that allows the user to sit back, relax, listen, and be impressed. 

Takeaway: Get creative with the media you implement in your case study. Videos can be a very powerful addition when a case study requires more detailed storytelling.

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Screenshot of the Shopify and GitHub case study, with the title "Shopify keeps pushing ecommerce forward with help from GitHub tools," followed by a photo of a plant and a Shopify bag on a table on a dark background

GitHub's case study on Shopify is a light read. It addresses client pain points and discusses the different aspects its product considers and improves for clients. It touches on workflow issues, internal systems, automation, and security. It does a great job of representing what one company can do with GitHub.

To drive the point home, the case study features colorful quote callouts from the Shopify team, sharing their insights and perspectives on the partnership, the key issues, and how they were addressed.

Takeaway: Leverage quotes to boost the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of your case study. 

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Screenshot of the Audible and Contentful case study showing images of titles on Audible

Contentful's case study on Audible features almost every element a case study should. It includes not one but two videos and clearly outlines the challenge, solution, and outcome before diving deeper into what Contentful did for Audible. The language is simple, and the writing is heavy with quotes and personal insights.

This case study is a uniquely original experience. The fact that the companies in question are perhaps two of the most creative brands out there may be the reason. I expected nothing short of a detailed analysis, a compelling story, and video content. 

Takeaway: Inject some brand voice into the case study, and create assets that tell the story for you.

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Screenshot of Zoom and Asana's case study on a navy blue background and an image of someone sitting on a Zoom call at a desk with the title "Zoom saves 133 work weeks per year with Asana"

Asana's case study on Zoom is longer than the average piece and features detailed data on Zoom's growth since 2020. Instead of relying on imagery and graphics, it features several quotes and testimonials. 

It's designed to be direct, informative, and promotional. At some point, the case study reads more like a feature list. There were a few sections that felt a tad too promotional for my liking, but to each their own burrito.

Takeaway: Maintain a balance between promotional and informative. You want to showcase the high-level goals your product helped achieve without losing the reader.

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Screenshot of the Hickies and Mailchimp case study with the title in a fun orange font, followed by a paragraph of text and a photo of a couple sitting on a couch looking at each other and smiling

I've always been a fan of Mailchimp's comic-like branding, and this case study does an excellent job of sticking to their tradition of making information easy to understand, casual, and inviting.

It features a short video that briefly covers Hickies as a company and Mailchimp's efforts to serve its needs for customer relationships and education processes. Overall, this case study is a concise overview of the partnership that manages to convey success data and tell a story at the same time. What sets it apart is that it does so in a uniquely colorful and brand-consistent manner.

Takeaway: Be concise to provide as much value in as little text as possible.

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Screenshot of NVIDIA and Workday's case study with a photo of a group of people standing around a tall desk and smiling and the title "NVIDIA hires game changers"

The gaming industry is notoriously difficult to recruit for, as it requires a very specific set of skills and experience. This case study focuses on how Workday was able to help fill that recruitment gap for NVIDIA, one of the biggest names in the gaming world.

Though it doesn't feature videos or graphics, this case study stood out to me in how it structures information like "key products used" to give readers insight into which tools helped achieve these results.

Takeaway: If your company offers multiple products or services, outline exactly which ones were involved in your case study, so readers can assess each tool.

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Screenshot of KFC and Contentful's case study showing the outcome of the study, showing two stats: 43% increase in YoY digital sales and 50%+ increase in AU digital sales YoY

I'm personally not a big KFC fan, but that's only because I refuse to eat out of a bucket. My aversion to the bucket format aside, Contentful follows its consistent case study format in this one, outlining challenges, solutions, and outcomes before diving into the nitty-gritty details of the project.

Say what you will about KFC, but their primary product (chicken) does present a unique opportunity for wordplay like "Continuing to march to the beat of a digital-first drum(stick)" or "Delivering deep-fried goodness to every channel."

Takeaway: Inject humor into your case study if there's room for it and if it fits your brand. 

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Screenshot of the Intuit and Twilio case study on a dark background with three small, light green icons illustrating three important data points

Twilio does an excellent job of delivering achievements at the very beginning of the case study and going into detail in this two-minute read. While there aren't many graphics, the way quotes from the Intuit team are implemented adds a certain flair to the study and breaks up the sections nicely.

It's simple, concise, and manages to fit a lot of information in easily digestible sections.

Takeaway: Make sure each section is long enough to inform but brief enough to avoid boring readers. Break down information for each section, and don't go into so much detail that you lose the reader halfway through.

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Screenshot of Spotify and Salesforce's case study showing a still of a video with the title "Automation keeps Spotify's ad business growing year over year"

Salesforce created a video that accurately summarizes the key points of the case study. Beyond that, the page itself is very light on content, and sections are as short as one paragraph.

I especially like how information is broken down into "What you need to know," "Why it matters," and "What the difference looks like." I'm not ashamed of being spoon-fed information. When it's structured so well and so simply, it makes for an entertaining read.

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Screenshot of the Benchling and Airtable case study with the title: How Benchling achieves scientific breakthroughs via efficiency

Benchling is an impressive entity in its own right. Biotech R&D and health care nuances go right over my head. But the research and digging I've been doing in the name of these burritos (case studies) revealed that these products are immensely complex. 

And that's precisely why this case study deserves a read—it succeeds at explaining a complex project that readers outside the industry wouldn't know much about.

Takeaway: Simplify complex information, and walk readers through the company's operations and how your business helped streamline them.

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Screenshot of the Chipotle and Hubble case study with the title "Mexican food chain replaces Discoverer with Hubble and sees major efficiency improvements," followed by a photo of the outside of a Chipotle restaurant

The concision of this case study is refreshing. It features two sections—the challenge and the solution—all in 316 words. This goes to show that your case study doesn't necessarily need to be a four-figure investment with video shoots and studio time. 

Sometimes, the message is simple and short enough to convey in a handful of paragraphs.

Takeaway: Consider what you should include instead of what you can include. Assess the time, resources, and effort you're able and willing to invest in a case study, and choose which elements you want to include from there.

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Screenshot of Hudl and Zapier's case study, showing data visualizations at the bottom, two photos of people playing sports on the top right , and a quote from the Hudl team on the topleft

I may be biased, but I'm a big fan of seeing metrics and achievements represented in branded graphics. It can be a jarring experience to navigate a website, then visit a case study page and feel as though you've gone to a completely different website.

The case study is essentially the summary, and the blog article is the detailed analysis that provides context beyond X achievement or Y goal.

Takeaway: Keep your case study concise and informative. Create other resources to provide context under your blog, media or press, and product pages.

3 case study templates

Now that you've had your fill of case studies (if that's possible), I've got just what you need: an infinite number of case studies, which you can create yourself with these case study templates.

Case study template 1

Screenshot of Zapier's first case study template, with the title and three spots for data callouts at the top on a light peach-colored background, followed by a place to write the main success of the case study on a dark green background

If you've got a quick hit of stats you want to show off, try this template. The opening section gives space for a short summary and three visually appealing stats you can highlight, followed by a headline and body where you can break the case study down more thoroughly. This one's pretty simple, with only sections for solutions and results, but you can easily continue the formatting to add more sections as needed.

Case study template 2

Screenshot of Zapier's second case study template, with the title, objectives, and overview on a dark blue background with an orange strip in the middle with a place to write the main success of the case study

For a case study template with a little more detail, use this one. Opening with a striking cover page for a quick overview, this one goes on to include context, stakeholders, challenges, multiple quote callouts, and quick-hit stats. 

Case study template 3

Screenshot of Zapier's third case study template, with the places for title, objectives, and about the business on a dark green background followed by three spots for data callouts in orange boxes

Whether you want a little structural variation or just like a nice dark green, this template has similar components to the last template but is designed to help tell a story. Move from the client overview through a description of your company before getting to the details of how you fixed said company's problems.

Tips for writing a case study

Examples are all well and good, but you don't learn how to make a burrito just by watching tutorials on YouTube without knowing what any of the ingredients are. You could , but it probably wouldn't be all that good.

Have an objective: Define your objective by identifying the challenge, solution, and results. Assess your work with the client and focus on the most prominent wins. You're speaking to multiple businesses and industries through the case study, so make sure you know what you want to say to them.

Focus on persuasive data: Growth percentages and measurable results are your best friends. Extract your most compelling data and highlight it in your case study.

Use eye-grabbing graphics: Branded design goes a long way in accurately representing your brand and retaining readers as they review the study. Leverage unique and eye-catching graphics to keep readers engaged. 

Simplify data presentation: Some industries are more complex than others, and sometimes, data can be difficult to understand at a glance. Make sure you present your data in the simplest way possible. Make it concise, informative, and easy to understand.

Use automation to drive results for your case study

A case study example is a source of inspiration you can leverage to determine how to best position your brand's work. Find your unique angle, and refine it over time to help your business stand out. Ask anyone: the best burrito in town doesn't just appear at the number one spot. They find their angle (usually the house sauce) and leverage it to stand out.

Case study FAQ

Got your case study template? Great—it's time to gather the team for an awkward semi-vague data collection task. While you do that, here are some case study quick answers for you to skim through while you contemplate what to call your team meeting.

What is an example of a case study?

An example of a case study is when a software company analyzes its results from a client project and creates a webpage, presentation, or document that focuses on high-level results, challenges, and solutions in an attempt to showcase effectiveness and promote the software.

How do you write a case study?

To write a good case study, you should have an objective, identify persuasive and compelling data, leverage graphics, and simplify data. Case studies typically include an analysis of the challenge, solution, and results of the partnership.

What is the format of a case study?

While case studies don't have a set format, they're often portrayed as reports or essays that inform readers about the partnership and its results. 

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Hachem Ramki

Hachem is a writer and digital marketer from Montreal. After graduating with a degree in English, Hachem spent seven years traveling around the world before moving to Canada. When he's not writing, he enjoys Basketball, Dungeons and Dragons, and playing music for friends and family.

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100 Indian Startup Success Stories for the new age entrepreneur [2022 Updated]

Each entrepreneur puts in his 110% effort to make their startup successful. Nevertheless, that’s not the only factor in formulating the perfect recipe for Indian success stories. Successful startups in India are built on persistence, mentorships, disruptiveness & market requirements.

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India has established itself as one of the biggest startup hubs around the world. Every other day a new startup emerges from the ocean of opportunities to make it up to the list of startup success stories in India. However, we must remember that 90% of startups fail in their initial stages.

In this article, we’ll be talking about the successful startup stories in India that have been able to build their empire to become the emperors of their niche marketplace. From food delivery to ecommerce, these 12 inspiring startup stories will encourage you to be a part of startup success stories today.

Fact: According to reports by ET ( 1 ), around 86% of the men continue to dominate the startup space, with women entrepreneurs constituting 14% of the startup share.

100 Inspiring Successful Startup Success Stories in India

These 100 startups have been able to survive amidst the struggling economy of our nation to emerge as the top successful business stories in india:.

  • Bombay Shaving Company
  • Ecomm Express
  • Urban Ladder
  • PolicyBazaar.com
  • Housing.com
  • BankBazaar.com
  • EaseMyTrip.com
  • Bare Anatomy
  • Treebo Hotels
  • Clear Car Rental
  • KillerLaunch
  • AddressHealth
  • TravelTriangle
  • Bewakoof.com
  • GoaBrewing Co
  • Skillsmatic
  • Avaada Energy
  • Skyroot Aerospace

100 Inspiring Startup Stories in India:

startup stories

Launch: 2013

Founders: Ritesh Agarwal

Industry: Hospitality

Estimated Valuation: $16 billion

Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of the homegrown unicorn Oyo, has established itself as one of the largest hotels and hospitality chains worldwide, with operations in over 800 cities across 80 countries, including India, the US, China, Europe , China, and more.

Airbnb was the biggest source of inspiration for Ritesh, who started on his journey of being one of the best entrepreneur success stories as a teenager.

Fact: Ritesh launched Oravel Stays in 2012, later relaunched as Oyo in 2013.

Visit their website here .

case study of successful businessman

Launch: 2010

Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Industry: Fintech

Estimated Valuation: $15 billion

Paytm started as a digital wallet in its initial days but has transformed into a completely new payment platform. The fintech service has emerged as the top fintech company even after facing fierce early competition from brands like Freecharge.

Fact: Paytm’s user base grew from 125 million to 185 million three months post demonetization.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was struggling to make ends meet with Rs 10 in his pocket, tasted victory the hard way, and today, he stands as the founder of the billion-dollar homegrown unicorn.

3. Flipkart

startup stories

Launch: 2007

Founders: Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal

Industry: Ecommerce

Estimated Valuation: $24 billion

The Walmart acquired ecommerce company Flipkart stands as the largest ecommerce platform in India. Today, the ecommerce platform has expanded its business horizons by foraying into the video streaming industry with Flipkart Originals.

Fact: The first customer of Flipkart was a young engineer from Mahbubnagar, Telangana.

Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal started as an online bookstore that made around 20 successful shipments in its first year of functioning. It was not late before the platform started grabbing people’s attention that making it the top online retail market in history.

entrepreneur stories

Launch: 2014

Founders: Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini, & Sriharsha Majesty

Industry: Foodtech

Estimated Valuation: $3.3 billion

The viral food delivery startup has marked itself as one of the inspirational stories of success that started in its Bengaluru neighborhood, where six delivery executives were covered by only 25 partner restaurants.

Today, the food delivery firm has over 2.1lakh delivery executives across 300+ cities in India. Currently, the company processes over 1.4 million food orders daily across the country.

Note: Swiggy recently received funding of $1 billion from Naspers and Tencent Holdings

Visit their site here .

5. Ola Cabs

case study of successful businessman

Founders: Bhavish Aggarwal, Ankit Bhati

Industry: Mobility

Estimated Valuation: $6.2 billion

Ola Cabs, started by IIT-B graduates Bhavish and Ankit, has emerged as the most prominent Indian mobility service provider in the country. That offers its services across 50 cities in India and is evenly spread across countries, including the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

The idea of Ola, a cab aggregation startup, came from Bhavish’s terrible experience. At the same time, he was traveling from Bengaluru to Bandipur, where the driver of his cab stranded him in the middle of nowhere over a failed negotiation deal.

6. BookMyShow

startup stories

Launch: 1999

Founders: Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar & Rajesh Balpande

Industry: Online Ticket Booking

Estimated Valuation: $1 billion

We see BookMyShow as a stable platform in the online ticket booking sector. It is considered as a one-stop platform to book online tickets , especially for movies.

Surprisingly, the upheaval of BookMyShow is one of the most motivational success stories that showcase the power of perseverance. The platform currently provides services across five countries with over 30 million customers.

Fact: The initial capital invested in BookMyShow was just Rs 25,000.

7. MakeMyTrip

case study of successful businessman

Launch: 2000

Industry: Travel Agency

Estimated Valuation: $23.5 billion

MakeMyTrip is India’s leading online travel company that provides online services like travel packages, hotels, flights, rail, bus tickets , etc., to its clients. Founded by IIM-A alumni Deep Kalra, the success of MakeMyTrip has been recognized not only nationally but internationally as well. The company was even listed on NASDAQ.

Fact: MakeMyTrip was initially launched to cater to the needs of NRIs for their Indo-American trips back and forth.

startup stories

Launch: 2008

Founders: Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath

Industry: E-Learning

Estimated Valuation: $5 billion

Byju’s started as a mere e-learning platform but has grown to become one of India's most popular and highly trusted ed-tech brands.

The platform founded by Byju Raveendran & Divya Gokulnath provides online tutoring sessions to students ranging from study material of class VI to material about competitive exams like IAS, CAT , GRE, etc.

Fact: Byju has registered 35 million users on its learning app with 2.4 million paid subscribers.

9. BigBasket

case study of successful businessman

Launch: 2011

Founders: Hari Menon, VS Sudhakar, V S Ramesh, Vipul Parekh, Abhinay Choudhari

Estimated Valuation: $1.2 billion

The online food and grocery buying platform allow users to buy products ranging from food supplies, grocery , beverages, personal care products, bakery supplies, etc. BigBasket has marked its presence in over 25 cities across India, with Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR , Hyderabad, Chennai , Pune, and Ahmedabad being the top cities.

Fact: Hari told a publication that despite being in the business for five years, their core team still works on a 7- to 12:30 am model.

entrepreneur stories

Launch: 2012

Founder: Falguni Nayar

Industry: Ecommerce- Fashion & Beauty

Estimated Valuation: $750 million

The IIM-A alumnus Falguni Nayar left her 9 to 5 job at Kotak at 50 to pursue her dream of establishing Nykaa. The platform was launched to develop a one-stop platform of beauty products in India, making it the first beauty-exclusive ecommerce platform .

Fact: The online beauty & fashion platform opened its first offline store at T3 Terminal, IGI Airport, in November 2015.

startup stories

Launch: 2015

Founder: Vikram Chopra

Industry: Automotive

Estimated Valuation: $242.6 million

Cars24 is the number 1 used car selling and buying platform in India that Vikram Chopra founded in 2015. Cars24 enables you to sell or buy second-hand cars hassle-free. The platform has over 100 offline stores pan India that enables a person to evaluate the value of his car with direct consultation from the Cars24 employees.

Fact: Cars24 launched an ad campaign #ByeByeDrive, which focussed on the sentimental value connected with ‘your car.’

12. PharmEasy

startup stories

Founder: Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, Mikhil Innani

Industry: Ecommerce- Healthcare

Estimated Annual Valuation: $64.7 million

PharmEasy is an online pharmaceuticals delivery platform that assists by delivering the required medicines & diagnostic test reports to its patients. It currently functions across eight cities in India, including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Delhi, Noida, and Bangalore.

13. Instamojo

startup stories

Founders:   Sampad Swain, Aditya Sengupta, Akash Gehani, Harshad Sharma

Industry: Fintech Software and Services Industry

Estimated Valuation: $200 Million

Instamojo is an on-demand payment startup success stories that enable entrepreneurs to develop, run, and extend their online business. With transactions becoming a vital part of any industry, Instamojo is developing ‘Payment Links,’ allowing companies to get started with online payment collection quickly.

Instamojo also provides a suite of services and products that allow sellers to create an online store, uncover insights into their store behavior, and further scale up their successful startups in India.

Fact: Instamojo has a customer base of 1200000 plus startup stories.

14. Unacademy

startup stories

  • Founders: Roman Saini, Gaurav Munjal, and Hemesh Singh

Industry: Education

  • Estimated Valuation: $510 Million

Unacademy is a digital site that provides material for big competitive exams and delivers brief tutorials in videos on various topics that can be viewed free of charge. It enables prospective students to promote self-learning better through startup stories.

Partnering with the best minds and offering classes on any topic in different languages is the dream of the startup success stories in Unacademy. The entire community will benefit from these classes.

15. Nykaa.com

startup stories

  • Founders: Falguni Nayar

Industry: E-commerce

  • Estimated Valuation: $750 Million

Nykaa is among the successful startups in India website with a range of beauty and health items for men and women. They also offer comprehensive content, product reviews, beauty how-to videos, expert articles, and e-beauty magazines. Nykaa goods are authentically purchased directly from startup stories manufacturers to have distribution experience.

From the Sanskrit word ‘Nayaka,’ which means an actress or a spotlight, Nykaa’s primary purpose is to celebrate every woman's star and be her trusty companion.

Fact: Nykaa is an Indian startup success stories brand that sells beauty, wellness, and fashion products.

16. MobiKwik

case study of successful businessman

  • Launch: 2009
  • Founders: Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku
  • Industry: Digital Wallets

Estimated Valuation: $1 Billion

MobiKwik is one of the successful startups in India by being the most significant mobile wallet for the redundancy of personal portfolios. Indian consumers can store money in a virtual wallet and then use it across channels (mobile, desktop, register, text, and IVR). It allows Indian consumers to pay utility bills and shop with registered traders in their wallets.

MobiKwik is an outstanding startup stories. Every penny in your pocket is well taken into consideration. Additional security settings on all mobile devices on which it operates can also be used.

entrepreneur stories

  • Founders: Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, Mukund Jha
  • Industry: Consumer Service
  • Estimated Valuation: $56.4 Million

Dunzo is a hyper-local startup stories delivery app that catches anything and everything in a city and delivers everything. Dunzo also runs a bike taxi service in Gurgaon and offers it in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

These successful startups in India will change how you move things, shop, and never get to your house. The App links you to the closest seller that can order, receive, and deliver supplies from any shop or restaurant in the area.

Fact: The company's headquarters in Bangalore has over 1 million users.

18. RazorPay

entrepreneur stories

  • Founders: Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur
  • Industry: Microcredit, Mobile payment, Payment system, and Financial Technology
  • Estimated Valuation: $450 Million

Razorpay is a platform for successful startups in India to accept, process, and disburse their product suite of payments. It provides access to all modes of payment, including credit card, debit card, net banking, UPI, and popular wallets, including Jiosaw, Mobikwik, Airtel Money, PayZapp, and Ola Money.

Razorpay is the only converged payment system company in India that enables your startup stories to accept, process, and disburse payments through its software suite.

startup stories

Launch: 2018

  • Founders: Riteish malik
  • Industry: Collaboration, Coworking, and Real Estate
  • Estimated Valuation: $30 Million

Innov8 Coworking is a Y-Combinator-based startup success stories in India that support workspaces and community startups. They provide high-quality workspaces (managed private offices and coworking areas). The first Thought space in India is Innov8 Coworking, a successful startup in India.

They promote the participation of people from all walks of life, whether they be entrepreneurs, employees, freelancers, designers, or just willing to work in a highly competitive environment. They are presently based in Chennai, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, and throughout India.

Fact: The Innov8 Space In DLF Cyber Hub is a fully managed office space startup story with 500 seats.

startup stories

  • Founders: Zishaan Hayath, Hemanth Goteti
  • Industry: Education Industry
  • Estimated Valuation: $38.3 Million

Toppr is among the first successful startups in India with post-school devices for personalizing learning. They support candidates in training for various colleges, boards, and rigorous exams.

They study student behavior and create adaptive paths with infinite combinations of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data. This ensures every student's unique and personalized learning experience of startup stories.

Note: The Toppr startup success stories app is free for its users except for some specific video lectures.

21. Bombay Shaving Company

startup stories

  • Founders: Shantanu Deshpande, Raunak Munot, Deepu Panicker, and Rohit Jaiswal
  • Industry: Personal Service
  • Estimated Valuation: $494.2 Million

Bombay Shaving is a successful startup in India that focuses on developing a variety of shaving care, beard care, and skincare products. The startup stories brand specializes in men’s grooming, personal care, shampoo, beard care, skincare, and homemade soap.

Bombay Shaving Company started with the idea that shaving should be more than a worldly task for most men. Before, after, and after the shaving process, they installed a rubber device.

22. FirstCry

case study of successful businessman

  • Founders: Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha
  • Industry: Retail Distributors
  • Estimated Valuation: $100 Million

FirstCry is a baby and toy online startup stories website. More than 20000 products are from more than 250 major brands, such as Mattel, Ben10, Pigeon, Funskool, Hotwheels, Nuby, Farlin, Medela, Pampers, Disney, Cinderella, Gerber, Zapak, Mee Mee, etc.

It is among the successful startups in India with a high-quality online shopping experience, fast, reliable delivery service, and prompt customer care. It offers the best products and brands at the best price.

Fact:   FirstCry is Asia’s most extensive online shopping startup success story for kids and baby products.

case study of successful businessman

  • Founders: Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah
  • Industry: Consumer Services
  • Estimated Valuation: $2 Billion

Zomato offers customers web and mobile startup stories for searching, ordering, and discovering restaurants. It provides global information and online ordering about restaurants.

Furthermore, Zomato provides food delivery, table reservations, and premium membership services for restaurants to allow users to search, rate, and review restaurants. This also enables users to create successful startups in India networks for trustworthy recommendations for fellow food lovers.

Fact: The number of monthly users on Zomato is around 20 Million.

24. CarDekho

entrepreneur stories

  • Founders: Amit Jain
  • Industry: Automotive Industry
  • Estimated Valuation: $75 Million

CarDekho.com is India’s leading startup stories search engine for vehicles that allow consumers to purchase decent cars. This startup success stories website and application have great automobile content, including expert reviews of car brands and models that are in Indian hands, detailed information and prices, comparisons, and videos and pictures.

The organization has relations with several successful startups in India car suppliers, including more than 4000 car dealers and a variety of financial companies to promote the purchasing of cars.

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Richa Kar

Industry: E-Commerce

Zivame is an online lingerie startup stories with hundreds of Indian designs. By type, brand, color, and size, customers can easily search the lingerie by identifying what to wear!

Zivame reflects its offline entrepreneur stories shopping experience with detailed pages of products, low-cost, quick shipping, and a customer-friendly trouble-free return policy. Whether you’re an Indian woman or a man, Zivame is about creating a shopping experience online startup success stories.

26. Ecom Express

entrepreneur stories

Founders: K. Satyanarayana, Manju Dhawan, Sanjeev Saxena and A.Krishnan

Industry: Delivery/E-Commerce/Logistics

Ecom Express Private Limited is a startup stories that Indian Express Industry veterans promote. This startup's success stories have over 100 years of diverse and vibrant experience in the Indian Express Industry.

The entrepreneur stories are built to cater to the diverse needs of the rising electronic commerce market through leaps and bounds. There are no startup stories adequately prepared to serve the demands of this rapidly growing sector that are changing daily.

27. Urban Ladder

startup stories

Founders: Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa

Estimated Valuation: $119 Million

Urban Ladder aims to create well-equipped, beautiful homes in Urban Indians for home solutions on startup stories. The exquisite range of furniture by Urban Ladder is soon becoming popular with shoppers in highway companies with over 1000 items and 25 categories, such as wardrobes, sofas, beds, and so on.

The furniture is carefully curated with design insights from the experienced design team of Urban Ladder and delivered by the proprietary logistics team of Urban Ladder startup success stories for safe door deliveries.

Fact: Urban Ladder is one of the best entrepreneur stories in this field, making furniture buying an enjoyable task.

28. PolicyBazaar.com

startup stories

Founders: Alok Bansal, Avaneesh Nirjar, Manoj Sharma, Tarun Mathur, Yashish Dahiya

Industry: Auto Insurance/Commercial Insurance/Finance

PolicyBazaar operates an online life assurance startup stories that analyze financial products and compares them to general insurance. PolicyBazaar is a well-known startup success stories for purchasing people.

Its mobile insurance and comparison entrepreneur stories give the user information about products. Users can compare and analyze financial products, such as medical, life, travel, or motor insurance, ULIPs, and other investment products at low prices.

Fact: PolicyBazar accounts for almost 25% of life coverage in India and over 7% of the local health insurance startup stories in India.

29. JustDial

startup stories

Launch: 1997

Founders: V.S. Mani

Industry: Information Services/Internet/Local/Search Engine

Estimated Valuation: $235 Million

JustDial provides users across India with local search startup stories on multiple platforms such as a website, a motive site, apps (Android, iOS, Windows), phones, and text (SMS). Just Dial Ltd is the number 1 startup success stories local search engine.

Justdial’s user entrepreneur stories have also begun ‘Search Plus.’ These apps are designed to make various daily tasks simple for users to perform and access through an app.

Note: On Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry platforms, Justdial Apps are available and can deliver mobile internet user-based startup stories on location.

30. Limeroad

startup stories

Founders: Ankush Mehra, Manish Saksena, Prashant Malik, Suchi Mukherjee

Industry: E-Commerce/Fashion/Internet/Shopping

Estimated Valuation: $15 Million

Limeroad is a startup stories that brings you a love of products and gives you the possibility of creating your own space, taping into hidden talents, making your look and collections, and helping you to share this second opinion with friends in your creations.

We wanted to find LimeRoad as the digital startup success stories counterpart of the Grand Trunk Road in the 16th century. This road has changed the trade face of the Indian entrepreneur stories subcontinent.

31. Housing.com

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Abhimanyu Dhamija, Abhishek Anand, Advitiya Sharma, Amrit Raj, Neeraj Bhunwal, Rahul Yadav, Ravish Naresh, Rishabh Agrawal, Sanat Ghosh, Saurabh Goyal, Snehil Buxy, Vaibhav Tolia

Industry: Internet/Online Portals/Real Estate

Estimated Valuation: $105 Million

Housing.com is the fastest-growing online real estate startup stories. They have created a unique property search startup success stories that fill the gaps left in the market due to simplifying the search for a home without fake listings and endless site visits.

Conducted by passionate troubleshooting professionals and backed by the world’s top investors, they are ready to be India’s most trusted entrepreneur stories.

Note: It can provide 3D models for each new project and deliver 360-degree views for each piece of land listed on Housing.com.

32. Epigamia

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Ganesh Krishnamoorthy, Milap Shah, Rahul Jain, Rohan Mirchandani, Rohan Mirchandani, and Uday Thakker

Industry: Consumer/Fast-Moving Consumer Goods/Food and Beverage

Estimated Valuation: $13.9 Million

Epigamia is a premium natural Greek yogurt that promotes one cup of good living startup stories. They love the food at Epigamia and always find ways to get the best out of these startup success stories.

Greek yogurt was launched when Dahi was pressed for higher protein and infused with real fruit to stimulate taste buds. Since then, they have pushed the limits of what they can by creating goods that are tastier and better for their customers.

Note: Epigamia is an all-natural Greek yogurt entrepreneur stories that encourage one cup at a time, a safe way of life.

33. Bira 91

startup stories

Founders: Ankur Jain

Industry: Brewing/Craft Beer/Food and Beverage/Wine And Spirits

Estimated Valuation: $246 Million

Bira 91 is a modern beer startup stories that provide the new world with flavorful beers. The startup success stories build an extensive product portfolio and push the global shift in products to more color and taste.

The company has five beers, Bira 91 White, Low Bitterness Wheat Beer, Bira 91 Blonde, Bira 91 Light, Bira 91 Low-Calorie Lunchtime, Strong, High Intensity, High Alcohol, and Bira 91 ‘The IPA,’ the first Indian IPA brewed and bottled. The company’s products have been designed to be of high-quality entrepreneur stories.

Fact: The 91 is derived from the country code you dial to India and are named initially after the Punjabi word for brother, Bira.

34. Vedantu

startup stories

Founders: Anand Prakash, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena, Vamsi Krishna

Industry: EdTech/Education/Internet/Mobile/Mobile Apps/Tutoring

Estimated Valuation: $24 Million

Vedantu is an e-learning startup stories with an online platform for customized learning in real-time. It offers software startup success stories that connect tutors and students to one lesson for students online in real time.

Through Vedantu, they see how teaching and entrepreneur stories have been happening over the decades to reimagine and develop. Learning and education can change rapidly, and their goal in Vedantu is to speed up these changes.

Fact: The name ‘Vedantu’ also bears witness to its purpose.

Veda = ‘Knowledge’ and Tantu = Network.’

35. NoBroker

startup stories

Founders: Akhil Gupta and Amit Agarwal

Industry: Commercial Real Estate/Mobile Apps/Property Management

NoBroker creates a peer-to-peer listing network for the efficiency of property transactions. The satellite allows a house to be bought, sold, and leased in the same place without charging brokerage fees.

NoBroker is a troubled real estate platform that allows the purchase/sale/rent of a house without paying any courier. NoBroker was started because we all felt it could not just be the way to find a new home to pay for reliable brokerage.

36. Chaayos

startup stories

Founders: Nitin Saluja

Industry: Food and Beverage/Restaurants/Tea

Estimated Valuation: $40.8 Million

The chai adda, serving chai made freshly, is a contemporary interpretation of chaayos startup stories. Their focus is on helping your “Meri Wali Chai,” chai made precisely to the taste of their customers the minute they place their order, be it an adrak tulsi kadak chai or a paani Kam elaichi cinnamon chai.

With 12 add-ons startup success stories, its customers can make their chais in Chaayos in over 12,000 ways.

Note: Chaayos entrepreneur stories are currently present in Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, and Gurgaon.

37. BankBazaar.com

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty, and Rati Shetty

Industry: E-Commerce/Finance/Insurance/Marketplace

Estimated Valuation: $280 Million

BankBazaar.com provides instantly customized online startup stories that offer instant rates on credit, mutual funds, and insurance products. You can search for these products on the Site or mobile app at once and compare and apply for them on this startup success story.

It has been designed with intelligent technology capabilities and integrated into the platform by more than 50 of India’s leading financial and insurance entrepreneur stories.

Fact: Consumers can track their application and troubleshoot problems through various channels such as the BankBazaar application, WhatsApp, Email, or Voice support.

38. Pee Safe

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Srijana Bagaria and Vikas Bagaria

Industry: Fitness/Health Care/Wellness

Estimated Valuation: $20 Million

Pee Safe Toilet Seat Sanitizer startup stories Spray protects against germ-free and unsafe toiletries. It protects women against UTIs by spraying PEE SAFE on their toilets before use.

It should be a matter of no concern when you find a dirty public toilet while traveling or outside your house. Startup success stories Sprinkler on a seat ensures protection against illnesses such as UTI, gastroenteritis, or diarrhea.

Fact: PEE SAFE sanitizer entrepreneur stories are made of a rubbed IPA formulation which sanitizes the area within five seconds of use.

39. EaseMyTrip.com

startup stories

Founders: Nishant Pitti, Rikant Pitti

Estimated Valuation: $211 Million

Easy Trip Planners Pvt. Ltd. (EaseMyTrip.com) is an online travel startup stories based in Patparganj Industrial Area, New Delhi. It covers flying tickets, reservations for hotels, rental cars, bus reservation,s and vacation packages of startup success stories.

The travel agency uses a Galileo-like computer booking system or sometimes books tickets directly from airlines. This entrepreneur stories offers both offline and online bookings for hotels and cars.

Fact: In places such as Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, and the Maldives, the startup stories have their branches outside the world.

40. Bare Anatomy

startup stories

Launch: 2019

Founders: Rohit Chawla and Sifat Khurana

Industry: Beauty/Health Care/Personal Health

Estimated Valuation: $1.15 Billion

Bare Anatomy is a women’s startup stories of next-gen personal care. Bare Anatomy is a perfect balance of heart and mind through innovative startup success stories supported by modern science, design, and creativity.

Starting with hair care products, including hair shampoos, hair oils, serums, and hairstylists, the entrepreneur stories begin with a view to revolutionizing the personal care and beauty industry.

Fact: ‘Bare’ means something basic and straightforward, without addition and ‘anatomy’ means studying something’s structure or internal functioning.

startup stories

Founders: Aqib Mohammed and Shashwat Diesh

Industry: Consumer Goods

Estimated Valuation: $1 Million

Azah is a premium organic women’s wellness startup story. Azah sanitary pad entrepreneur stories resulted from wide-ranging research from thousands of Indian women with valuable feedback to help us create and develop a pad that solves their problems.

For example, 49 percent of women reported rash during their period in a survey of over 300 women. They have chosen to use organic cotton in their pads that do not irritate breathing.

Note: Azah Pads startup success stories are made of high-quality materials such as organic cotton and superabsorbent biodegradable products.

42. Milkbasket

case study of successful businessman

Founders: Anant Goel, Anurag Jain, Ashish Goel, Ekwe Chiwundu Charles and Yatish Talavdia

Industry: Delivery Service/E-Commerce/Food and Beverage/Internet

Estimated Valuation: $ 50 Million

Milkbasket is a subscription micro delivery startup stories that every morning satisfies customer needs for daily dairy products and households. They deliver milk, bread, eggs, juices, butter, and other everyday items required daily, free of charge, right at the customer’s door.

The startup success stories were built on the unique Indian habit of delivering fresh milk daily at home. These entrepreneur stories are based in Haryana, India, but also provide to Hyderabad, Noida, Dwarka, and Bengaluru.

case study of successful businessman

Launch: 2016

Founders: Sidharth Menda

Industry: Commercial Real Estate/Coworking/Property Management

Estimated Valuation: $350 Million

CoWrks is a first-class home-gathered coworking startup stories supplier built with love on Indian soil, creating spaces for startup success stories of every size.

Their sole objective is to bring together, fuel inspiration, and connect the largest community of working professionals worldwide. Its workspaces enable people to speak freely while they are doing some of the best work of their lives.

Note: With their standard and customized premium workspace solutions, CoWrks entrepreneur stories satisfy the various requirements of its members.

44. ZestMoney

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Ashish Anantharaman, Lizzie Chapman, and Priya Sharma

Industry: Big Data/Consumer Lending/Financial Services/FinTech

Estimated Valuation: $56.9 Million

ZestMoney is a growing FinTech consumer lending startup story that use digital EMI without a credit card or a loan value. The startup success stories believe that everyone who holds a credit card or has a credit score should be able to pay at EMI.

ZestMoney was made available to millions of Indian consumers through mobile technology, digital banking, and AI. These entrepreneur stories receive support from world-leading digital finance investors such as PayU, Ribbit Capital, and Omidyar Networks.

Fact: ZestMoney is a real success stories where you can buy products on EMI from merchant partners without needing a credit card.

45. Treebo Hotels

case study of successful businessman

Founders: Kadam Jeet Jain, Rahul Chaudhary, and Sidharth Gupta

Industry: Hospitality/Hotel/Internet

Estimated Valuation: $81.71 Million

Treebo Hotels are obsessed with offering affordable quality accommodation startup stories. The soothing shade of these trees has allowed many exciting discussions between fellow travelers.

They are too fond of conversation with their guests while serving them diligently in startup success stories. Treebo is the leading tech, cost-effective accommodation brand of Indian asset-light.

Fact: The name of Treebo entrepreneur stories is derived from the fig tree “Bo Tree,” which was used to illuminate Gautam Buddha.

startup stories

Founders: Jiby Thomas and Pranay Chulet

Industry: Classifieds, E-Commerce, Internet, Marketplace, Rental Property

Estimated Valuation: $1.5 Billion

Quikr is online startup stories and free classifieds that help users sell, buy, rent, or discover anything across India.

Group members may come to their startup success stories and find an apartment and stay in, sell their old car, motorcycle, music device, tablet, or furniture, advertise their small entrepreneur stories, find a tuition class or take a break as a model or artist, attend a salsa party, or get an audience for a local show.

47. CureFit

startup stories

Founders: Ankit Nagori and Mukesh Bansal

Industry: Apps/Fitness/Health Care/Wellness

Estimated Valuation: $575 Million

CureFit is a health and fitness startup stories that provide fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being to digital and offline experiences to make fitness fun and easy. CureFit startup success stories give training sessions a whole new meaning with a range of group training classes led by trainers.

It enjoys training, everyday food is healthy and tasteful, with yoga and meditation mental fitness accessible and without hassle for medicine and lifestyle.

Note: CureFit is a health and fitness entrepreneur stories that provide fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being to digital and offline experiences.

48. Grofers

startup stories

Founders: Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar

Industry: Delivery/ E-Commerce/ E-Commerce Platforms/Grocery/Retail

Estimated Valuation: $535.5 Million

Grofers is an online startup stories with low prices that get products across categories such as grocery, beauty and wellness, household care, baby care, and pet care delivered to your door. Grofers startup success stories supply more than 3,000 products every day at prices lower than supermarkets.

Grofers entrepreneur stories currently operate throughout India in a total of 26 cities: Agra, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, and Visakhapatnam.

49. Xpressbees

startup stories

Founders: Amitava Saha and Supam Maheshwari

Industry: Delivery Service/E-Commerce/Internet/Logistics/Supply Chain Management

Estimated Valuation: $1.35 Billion

Xpressbees is a logistics e-commerce startup stories that offer its partners reliable logistics solutions. They are the fastest growing supplier of end-to-end supply chain solutions for express logistics startup success stories in India.

The entrepreneur stories offer customers comprehensive last miles, reverse logistics, collection of payments, drop shipping, supplier management, cross-border services, compliance services, and tailored software solutions.

Fact: Xpressbees startup stories deliver 6,00,000 packages in a day.

50. Delhivery

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Kapil Bharati, Mohit Tandon, Sahil Barua and Suraj Saharan

Industry: E-Commerce/Logistics/Supply Chain Management

Delhivery supply chain services startup stories providing products and services to build confidence and improve consumer lives. Many engineers have started the company, including Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati, Mohit Tandon, Sahil Barua, and Suraj Saharan.

It provides a complete suite of startup success stories such as last-mile delivery, third-party and transit warehousing, reverses logistics, payment collection, vendor-to-warehouse shipping, and more. The entrepreneur stories are backed by Times Internet Ltd, which purchased a minority interest in the firm in June last year.

51. ShareChat

startup stories

Founders: Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Bhanu Singh and Farid Ahsan

Industry: Internet/Mobile Apps/Social Network

Estimated Valuation: $460 Million

ShareChat is a social media startup stories in India. It offers only in Indian vernacular languages content consumption and sharing startup success stories to cover over 1.17 billion Indian wireless network users. It is provided in 15 Indian languages.

ShareChat has been designed for accessible content sharing from WhatsApp entrepreneur stories. It has been designed to work on even the worst links-” Wherever WhatsApp works-and, its “users initially sent mostly text updates.

case study of successful businessman

Founders: Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee

Industry: E-Commerce/Food Delivery/Food Processing

Estimated Valuation: $525 Million

Rebel Foods Services (Faasos) is a food supply startup stories that disrupt how people order and get food on the phone. They serve around 10,000 customers every day who order through their mobile app, startup success stories, and this number is growing significantly every month.

An internet connection is all you need to run our mobile app or our website. You can check out “Eat Good, Eat Exciting” in 15 cities in India and over 200 locations. “There’s a wide selection of breakfast options, Indian food boxes, Chinese, South Indians, Biryani and Rice combos, wraps, etc.

Fact: The trick throughout the operation is how Faasos entrepreneur stories work with its many brands in a single ‘cloud kitchen.’

53. Pepperfry

startup stories

Founders: Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah

Industry: E-Commerce/Furniture/Shopping

Estimated Valuation: $300 Million

Pepperfry is an online shopping startup stories, home, and lifestyle that sells products with cash on delivery facilities. The startup success stories aim to be a one-stop shop for clients looking to spice up their houses.

Pepperfry was founded by Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah in 2012 and is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Customers can sell their used furniture and, in return, get gift cards from Pepperfry entrepreneur stories that can be redeemed for any purchase made on Pepperfry.

54. Dream11

entrepreneur stories

Founders: Bhavit Sheth and Harsh Jain

Industry: Fantasy Sports/Mobile/Sports

Estimated Valuation: $2.25 Billion

Dream11 is the biggest sports game in India, with over 30 million fantasy cricket, soccer, and kabaddi players and NBA players. Dream11 offers Indian sports fans startup stories to demonstrate their knowledge of sports.

From the next matches, fans can create their real-life team, score points based on their on-the-field performance, and compete against other fans' startup success stories. Dream11 helps sports supporters to increase their participation and get closer to the sport they love as a team owner, not just an audience.

Note: You can access Dream11 entrepreneur stories via the web/mobile site or the Android and iOS apps.

55. redBus.in

startup stories

Founders: Ashish Kashyap and Phanindra Sama

Industry: Public Transportation/Ticketing/Transportation

Estimated Valuation: $138 Million

RedBus is an online bus ticketing startup story with a presence in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Colombia, and Peru, serving more than 5 million passengers startup success stories worldwide.

It simplifies worldwide travel for men. By creativity, RedBus specializes in finding alternatives. RedBus’ pride lies in the in-house talent of compelling, smart, passionate individual entrepreneur stories from different fields of expertise.

56. Mu Sigma

Launch: 2004

Founders: Dhiraj C Rajaram

Industry: Management consulting

Estimated Valuation: $1.5 billion

Mu Sigma’s startup stories go back to 2004 when it was launched. The Indian decision sciences company primarily offers its data analytics services. Founded by a former strategy consultant at Booz Alten Hamilton & PricewaterhouseCoopers Dhiraj Rajaram in 2004, Mu is an Indian privately owned firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Mu Sigma is among the fastest-growing companies globally and has raised a cumulative sum of 163m in its funding over the years.

Dhiraj Rajaram’s startup stories of beginning and running Mu Sigma is amongst the most inspiring startup stories of all time. While starting, Dhiraj had no idea that he could get into entrepreneurship. One reason why he entered the entrepreneurship segment is due to his unending urge to learn.

The three factors that made Dhiraj Rajaram’s startup stories successful are:

  • His unending urge to learn
  • To separate the noise from signals
  • The belief that innovation in business is nothing but a chance

You can visit Mu Sigma’s site here .

57. Clear Car Rental

Founders: Sachin Kate

Industry: Car Rental Services

Startup stories play a key role in helping inspire aspiring entrepreneurs by going through the hardships and challenges faced by other entrepreneurs to build a successful startup. Sachin Kate, the founder of Clear Car Rental, started his journey of hustling by selling newspapers at a young age since money was a big challenge for him.

Later, when he was in class 11th, he got a job as an office boy at a computer institute. Steadily, Sachin’s interest in computer science started increasing, and he pursued B Sc in Computers. He later worked on various website-building projects for the travel and hospitality industry.

He went on to launch the Clear Car Rental site in July 2010, when competitors like Meru Radio cab service had already settled in the market for a couple of years. Step by step, Clear Car Rental established its place in the market and offers its services across 210+ cities in India today. It has marked its place in providing unique local and outstation travel solutions to its users.

Check the Clear Car Rental site here .

Founders: Bhupinder Singh

Industry: Financial Services

Valuation : $187.5 m

InCred is an online credit provider for personal & business loans. It relies on data analytics to ease and accelerate lending and provides various financial products, including home loans, car 95 vehicle loans, education loans, and loans for SMEs. The startup stories of InCred talk about how Bhupinder Singh formed the company. Singh used to head the Corporate Finance division of Deutsche Bank before founding InCred.

The InCred platform initially received Rs 500-600 crore funding from Rajan Pai, MD & CEO at Manipal Group, and Gaurav Dalmia, Founder & Chairman at Landmark Holdings, IDFC PE, & Alpha Capital. The platform’s startup stories continued with InCred Finance’s acquiring InstaPaisa.com, a fintech platform, in 2015. Paragon Partners later invested Rs 25 crore in the company in March 2017.

Note: InCred aims to solve the credit problems of all its consumers with a focus on Consumer loans, Home loans, Education loans, and SME Lending.

Founders: Vidit Aatrey & Sanjeev Barnwal

Industry: Social e-commerce

Meesho is an Indian social e-commerce platform founded by IIT Delhi alumni Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal. The startup stories of Meesho are as unique as the concept of Meesho itself. Based in Bengaluru, Meesho enables small businesses and individuals to start their online stores via social channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Autrey and Barnwal initially created FashNear and later pivoted to Meesho, a short-term meri shop, in 2015 end.

The startup stories for Meesho started when Aatrey and Barnwal met Anu, a Bengaluru housewife running her offline boutique by her name. Anu was passionate about her business and used the most readily available technique to expand her business- WhatsApp. She would buy her inventory and stock from suppliers through WhatsApp, who would send her pictures if a new collection on WhatsApp. Meesho’s startup stories adopted the entire strategy to build their platform for local businesses.

Note: Meesho already has over one crore resellers earning over Rs 25k per month by reselling on its platform.

Check Meesho’s site here .

60. ShareChat

Founders:  Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan

Industry: Social Media

ShareChat is an Indian social media platform developed by Mohalla Tech Private Limited and founded by Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh, and Farid Ahsan. The social media platform has over 60 million monthly active users across 15 Indian languages.

While the startup stories for such platforms have a usual curve, ShareChat’s popularity increased massively in India after the ban of Chinese products and apps, including ShareChat’s biggest competitor- TikTok.

ShareChat is a regional content platform allowing Indians to use the power of the internet without going through the English language barrier. It aims at bringing local, relevant content to smartphone users across India in Indian languages, including Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Malayalam. The platform now has over 160 million registered users and is on its way to becoming the most preferred social media platform in India.

You can visit ShareChat here .

61. KillerLaunch

Founder: Heena Vinayak

Industry: Information Technology, Internet

Estimated Valuation:

KillerLaunch.com is a platform aimed at launching careers in top startups in India. It allows recruiters to list job/internship openings, which job-seekers can explore and use to submit their applications.

As a user, you can use their perfectly designed filters to find a job you’ve looking for accurately. You can set filters according to the salary/stipend you wish to work for.

Fact: KillerLaunch allows you to work with leading startups in India. Find a job or an internship with the startup you’ve been dreaming of!

As long as you are looking for startup jobs, KillerLaunch will never fail you. Either find or start your own, KillerLaunch has it all!

62. Wow! Momo

Founders: Sagar J. Daryani, Binod K. Homgai

Industry: Food and beverage/ Fast food restaurant

Estimated Valuation: $120 million

Wow! Momo, India’s fastest growing momo chain started by classmates Sagar and Binod, began selling steamed momos from their six by six kiosk in Springdale Spencer in 2008. The food chain started from a garage in Kolkata, India.

Wow! Momo, an Indian chain of fast-food restaurants, started with a meager investment of Rs. 30,000 INR to Rs.860 Crore INR.

The company has expanded to Kolkata, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai, Lucknow, Delhi, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Puri, Kochi, Bhubaneshwar, and Kanpur. Pam-fried momos became their USP. Serving delicious momos is their agenda.

Fact: Wow! Momo offers 16 different varieties of momos for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. For vegetarians, Wow! Momo offerings include corn and cheese, among others. They offer chocolate momos as well!

63. AddressHealth

Founders: Anand Laxman, Anoop Radhakrishnan

Industry: Healthcare

Estimated Valuation: $1.5 Million

AddressHealth is India’s first one-stop-shop pediatric primary healthcare service provider. The company is a pioneer in this field. Today, the company became the largest school health provider with its School Health program. Also, they run several Child Speciality Clinics. Recently, the company completed ten years of excellent healthcare service.

However, it is conducting several projects to complete medical examinations of students from head to toe.

Fact: Grand College Canada awards AdressHealth as “The Stars in Global Health-7”.

64. Flyrobe

Founders: Shreya Mishra, Pranay Surana, Tushar Saxena

Industry: Fashion

Estimated Valuation:   $2 million

Flyrobe is an on-demand wardrobe service that lets consumers rent clothes at a fraction of the retail price. Its service includes three-hour local deliveries and pickups. Flyrobe has been endorsed by 20 Bollywood celebrities on social media, which has helped to remove the stigma of used clothing.

The startup has raised $7 million from IDG Ventures, Sequoia Capital , and several angel investors.

Fact: Flyrobe also offers a brand new men’s collection, including jackets from international; brands, suits, and tuxedos traditional kurta pajamas and sherwanis sets from the best Indian designers.

65. Jumbotail

Founders: Ashish Jhina

Industry: Marketplace and business

Estimated Valuation: $12.7 million

Jumbotail was founded in 2015 by Standford University batchmates Karthik Venkateswaran and Ashish Jhina. Jumbotail connects Kirana stores with brands and producers via its marketplace. It claims to serve 30,00 Kirana stores via its full-stack e-commerce model consisting of its B2B marketplace platform, warehouses, last-mile delivery supply chain network, and a fintech platform for payment credit solutions to Kirana store owners.

66. DocTalk

Founders: Krishna Chaitanya Aluru, Akshat Goenka, Vamsee Chamakura

Estimated Valuation: $5 million

DocTalk is a doctor-patient engagement platform. This company mainly gifts doctors to develop better relationships with their patients, which causes a better quality of care.

67. SmallCase

Founders: Vasanth Kamath, Rohan Gupta, Anugrah Shrivastava

Industry: Stocks and exchange-traded funds

Estimated Valuation: $8 million

This fast-growing business in India is bringing a simplified investing approach to the growing middle class in India. In retrospect, they are very similar to other investment companies growing fast, such as Acrons and Stash.

Fact: The Bengaluru-based startup provides users with a professionally built basket of stocks called ‘small cases,’ allowing them to invest in portfolios of broker-partner stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

68. InstaVans

Founders: Vinay Goyal

Industry: Transport and Vehicle

Estimated Valuation: $2 million

InstaVans model transforms the conventional model of shippers spending hours calling up various truck operators to find trucks with free capacity while truckers struggle to market their availability. By offering a model that shippers an on-demand platform for shippers and truckers alike.

Fact: Instavan’s addressable market is estimated at $15 billion, or about Rs 97,000 crore a year, with an average cost of Rs 1,800 per trip. More than two million registered small trucks transport more than 1.5 million tonnes of goods.

Founders: Prashant Tandon

Industry: Pharmacy

Estimated Valuation: $36 million

1mg is an online pharmacy network and generic medicine engine. It allows users to find information about medicines prescribed by doctors and buy them. Users can discover drugs by categories under ailments, classes, companies, and brands. Its mission is to make healthcare accessible, understandable, and affordable for a billion Indians.

Founders: Anupam Agarwal, Karan Jain

Industry: Car rental

Estimated Valuation: $23.3 million

Revv is an Indian car-rental startup that offers multiple options to meet all your self-drive needs. The company was founded in 2015 and currently operates in 11 cities in India: Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Chandigarh , Jaipur, Vizag, Mysore, and Coimbatore.

To date, Revv has a fleet of around 1,000 vehicles and claims to have served around 300,000 users. It has its main office located in Gurgaon, India.

71. TravelTriangle

Founders: Sankalp Agarwal, Sanchit Garg, Prabhat Gupta

Industry: Travel and Tourism

Estimated Valuation: $34.9 Million

TravelTriangle is an exciting new way of buying trips online in India. One of India’s best-growing companies, TravelTriangle, promotes local travel agents and gets you the best flights from them. They have created a marketplace where travelers can interact with local travel agents. That same marketplace also empowers local travel agents to compete online with big fishes…

Fact: According to the VCCEdge report, Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds invested $115.69 million across 13 deals in the travel segment in 2014. In 2013, there were nine transactions of $8.2 million.

72. BiggBang

Launch: 2020

Founder: Applancer Services Pvt Ltd

Industry: Coworking spaces and office spaces

Estimated Annual Valuation:

BiggBang provides perfect coworking spaces and office spaces for rent. The coworking space is located in three cities: Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula. BiggBang has many top-level facilities, which make it one of the best coworking spaces to work!

Recently BiggBang has also launched a young startup program to provide free spaces to startups in return for a small share in their revenue.

BiggBang also provides hot-desking facilities and private office spaces.

Visit their website here.

73. Lenskart

Founder: Peyush Bansal

Industry: Opticals, eyewear retail chain

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 310.9 crore

Lenskart was founded by Peyush Bansal, who launched Lenskart in 2010, and Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi in 2010. Peyush, a former Microsoft employee, also founded Valyoo Technologies, a parent company of Lenskart.

Lenskart offers more than 5,000 styles of frames and 45 unique types of high-quality lenses. The latest eyewear trends are an homage to a group of interior designers and styles that keep tabs on the latest trends.

Founder: Naveen Tewari

Industry: Mobile Ad network

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 384.21 crore

The founder and CEO of InMobi mobile advertising network giant, Naveen Tewari, has come a long way. Naveen is a trained engineer, studied at Harvard Business School, and worked for McKinsey’s information company.

Today, InMobi can strike a chord with itself and call itself a global company. Besides India, it has offices and operations in Australia, Taiwan, the US, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Germany, China, and more. Although it only launched in China in late 2011, Naveen described InMobi as “one of China’s largest advertising networks.”

75. Zerodha

Founder: Nitin Kamath

Industry: Stock brokerage company

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 850 crores

The founder of Zerodha, “Nithin Kamath,” before founding Zerodha, worked at the call center at night and traded in the morning hours. At the age of 17, he was introduced to the stock market by his friend and has since started trading.

The firm did not spend money on advertising or marketing its company. They do not make ads.

They make money by charging a lump sum of Rs. Twenty futures, options, and internal trade. In contrast, some competitors charge more than this based on the percentage of sales sold. Its business model in which it operates is ‘low margin – high volume’.

76. Gradeup

Founder: Shobhit Bhatnagar, Vibhu Bhushan, and Sanjeev Kumar

Industry: The education sector

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 30 crore

Split distance is a freemium platform. Anyone preparing for the competitive exams can download the app and visit the website to prepare for the appropriate exams – they can join the community – share with peers and mentors to answer their doubts, and access the preparation like previous years' papers, etc.

Additionally, some paid services on the platform such as)) Green card – Purchase Test series and b) Classroom – Live classrooms, aspirants who can add extra value to their preparation.

77. OkCredit

Launch: 2017

Founder: Aditya Prasad

Industry: Online payment merchant

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 654.4 million

OkCredit is a solution based on small business owners and their customers to record credit/payment transactions nationwide. Using a computer, OkCredit reduces the merchant’s burden of keeping and counting paper accounts. It also allows them to send group notifications to customers during delays or missed payments.

78. NinjaCart

Founder: Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Vasudevan Chinnathambi, Kartheeswaran KK, Ashutosh Vikram

Industry: Fresh farm supply chain

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 66.27 crore

Ninjacart was discovered in 2015 as a B2C hyperlocal food delivery organization. Their main goal is to help retailers take their items online and deliver quality food to consumers less than 60 minutes from ordering scales. This was still a novel concept back then.

Initially, about 7,000 farmers were on its platform, but on average, 2,000 transactions every month. The production arrives daily between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm, with some farmers traveling up to 400 km to make the drop.

79. Bewakoof.com

Founder: Prabhkiran Singh

Industry: Ecommerce clothing

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 400 crore

Bewakoof is a fashion brand that lives to create creative and high-quality clothing for a fashionable, modern Indian. Bewakoof was introduced to the goal of creating impact by innovation, honesty, and thinking.

Bewakoof.com started with an investment of Rs 30,000 and received a seed subsidy after six months of work.

80. GoaBrewing Co.

Founder: Suraj Shenai

Industry: Brewery, beverages

Estimated Annual Valuation: Rs. 125 crore

From choosing the most sophisticated styles to presenting them to the entire quirkier packaging, they had my heart from the moment I set my eyes on the Eight Finger Eddie IPA. Pineapple Saison follows next, and to me, these two are bees made with great skill. Sensitivity is only available in Goa at the moment. The good – is there is no need to finish the beach kings on the beach.

81. BulkMRO

Founders: Devang Shah, Gaurang Shah

Estimated Valuation: $12.7mn/year

Bulk MRO is a Mumbai-based startup that provides a one-stop-shop industrial product solution to the marketplace. This business has a B2B model. Launched in 2015, it has already raised revenue of 25 crores from seed funding.

Devang claims that Bulk MRO acts as a ‘big seller’ to large corporate customers and controls the entire MRO pool or indirect retailers through their platform. It eliminates several customer inefficiencies, including decreased order durability, GST compliance, and malfunction.

Founders: Naveen Tewari

Industry: AI

Glance, a major marketing component of InMobi Group, uses AI to provide personal information to its users. The service replaces the blank screen with relevant local news, news, and unusual games. Late last year, InMobi acquired Roposo, a Gurgaon startup, which enabled it to launch short-form videos on the platform. Google also invests in Roposo.

It has 33 million active users working every month. The users can spend about 20 minutes consuming content in many forms in more than ten languages ​​in the app daily.

Founders: Vijay Arisetty

Industry: Mobile application

Estimated Valuation: $170 million

MyGate has allowed users to opt out of data-sharing agreements with applications such as Swiggy and Dunzo with the “pre-approval” of delivery staff. The app no ​​longer authorizes visitors to bring their cell phone numbers to the gate if they are permitted to enter.

MyGate has voluntarily implemented the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards, considered the most comprehensive data privacy laws. Compliance with the GDPR is not required for companies operating within India.

Founders: Amit Gupta

Industry: E-vehicles

Estimated Valuation: $14million

Yulu was founded to tackle traffic congestion and its product – the air pollution it causes. “One-third of the air pollution in the city is caused by cars. In Yulu, our aim is not only to reduce traffic congestion but also to do something about road pollution,” said Amit Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Yulu Bicycles.

85. CleverTap

Founders: Suresh Kondamudi

Estimated Valuation: $35million

CleverTap has served over 8,000 customers globally. It helps the websites to grow and maintain their users for a lifetime by several. Engaging and retention programs are offered by various means.

Many renowned companies like Vodafone, Star, Sony, Domino’s Pizza, Gojek, Cleartrip, and BookMyShow have been known to use CleverTap to engage and retain customers on several sites. The startup has opened its headquarters in Singapore and planning to expand further.

Founders: Akshay Joshi

Industry: Environmental Intelligence

Estimated Valuation: $6 billion

Ambee is an Indian-based startup that provides real-time environmental status regarding the weather, humidity, temperature, UV, and all such parameters. It provides all such information to the businesses that work depending on weather parameters like the agricultural sector.

According to WHO, there should be a weather sensor every square kilometer to measure the weather accurately, but that can’t be seen in India. Hence the company has come up to help such startups by providing open data sources.

87. Doubtnut

Founders: Aditya Shankar

Industry: Educational app

Estimated Valuation: $ 50 million

Doubnut is an online platform to help students with their academic doubts and classes. Students facing any problem while solving any question have .to upload the photograph of their problem simply, and they will get the answer to their doubts within 10 seconds with a full video explanation.

88. Skillsmatic

Founders: Dhvanil Sheth

Estimated Valuation: Rs. 60 crore

Skillsmatic develops new educational products to build basic skills in young children aged 3 to 9 through fun learning techniques. The firm delivers products such as writing and erasing work mats, educational games, and STEM toys. Their main aim is to help the kids learn and apply key concepts throughout the play. It is one of the 17th launches from Surge’s first team.

Founders: Krishna Kumar

Industry: Agribusiness

CropIn has merged the agriculture sector with technology and generates AI-based data to provide SaaS solutions to various Agri-business worldwide.

Using the latest AI, Machine Learning, and Satellite Imaging, CropIn creates a network of all these stakeholders, empowering clients such as banks, insurance companies, government, development agencies, agricultural companies, agricultural enterprises, farm machinery companies, food processors, and vendors to analyze and interpret data to get real-time insights on static plants.

90. Avaada Energy

Founders: Vineet Mittal

Industry: Energy production

Estimated Valuation: USD 15 million

Avaada Energy is a startup with an independent energy producer (IPP) for renewable energy projects. It is a Mumbai-based firm and a green energy company that promotes sustainable energy through its use and open access solutions in the solar, wind, roof, and hybrid markets. The company works with various businesses, supporting them in realizing business objectives through environmental sustainability programs and social commitments, producing beneficial results.

Founders: Sachin Bhatia

Industry: Shopping Network

BulBul is an online shopping app, and customers can use the video feature for shopping purposes. It is based in Gurugram and has a motive to make online shopping convenient and social-friendly by helping the customers make shopping easy.

The customers don’t have to read the product description and can simply see the video of it in several languages. It serves to help the women of the country with easy and convenient shopping.

92. Skyroot Aerospace

Founders: Pawan Kumar Chandana

Industry: Aeronautics

Estimated Valuation: $15 million

Skyroot aerospace is an India-based startup that has successfully launched its missile in the sky. It has now become the first private company to build an indigenous rocket engine on its own!

The Hyderabad-based startup aims to make India independent by building homemade missiles. It was founded by two former ISRO scientists, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. It also builds small satellite launch vehicles.

93. Hansel.io

Founders: Varun Ramamurthy Dinakar

Industry: Deep tech

Estimated Valuation: $5.4million

Hansel.io is a B2B startup that helps resolve issue like app hanging without updating the app. It provides a convenient speed for an app to work to have a seamlessly fast experience.

The developers can fix any crash using various advanced tools like hotfix and diagnosis from a single point.

94. Streak AI

Founders: Harsha M

Estimated Valuation: $1.3 million

Now traders can create algorithms with Streak AI to generate trading signals without coding! Streak AI has claimed to be one of the few sites worldwide where users can generate unique algorithms to create trading signals. Hence buying and selling stocks have become easy with Streak AI!

95. Terraview

Founders: Prateek M Srivastava

Industry: Image processing

Estimated Valuation: $815,000

A SaaS-based startup, Terraview helps by providing drones and AI-based image-building solutions that help maintain vineyards across the country.

Terraview’s advanced tools help farmers to detect and analyze areas of canopy cover, soil hydration, weather prognosis, pruning, and detection of bacteria and fungus, and pest infestations, which can’t be done normally without such tools.

Founders: Nikhil Tripathi

Industry: B2B agriculture

Estimated Valuation: $200billion

Bijak is a B2B agribusiness platform that offers buyers and sellers better prices, more operating costs, and better performance. The Gurgaon-based company ensures immediate loan disbursement, reduces costs, eliminates waste of resources and a convenient payment channel, and operates as a bookkeeping app.

Bijak aims to bring accountability and transparency to agricultural prices through a buyer/seller rating system based on real-time transaction data. Speaker users can use those standards to identify and trade with trusted partners.

Founders: Heshan Fernando

Estimated Valuation: Not disclosed.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone has been stuck in their homes. This has made hospital consultations for people a bit difficult as people are hesitant to visit hospitals due to fear of catching the virus. oDoc is a new telemedicine app that conveniently helps people consult a doctor over audio, video, or texts in their homes’ safe environment.

Download the oDoc app and consult the doctor about your health problems.

98. Epigamia

Founders: Rohan Mirchandani

Industry: Food; Greek-yogurt

Estimated Valuation: INR 110 Crore

Who doesn’t loves yogurt? Epigamia was launched in 2008, and since then, the startup has acted as a game-changer for the industry. The firm has launched yogurt in many flavors and variants, ensuring everyone falls in love with it!

The Mumbai-based firm has also been endorsed by popular celebrities like Deepika Padukone and has generated many funds in several rounds.

99. Nemocare

Founders: Pratyusha Pareddy

Estimated Valuation: $1 million

NemoCare is a startup with the main motive to prevent infant and maternal mortality due to various underlying conditions. From a planned blueprint, device, and performance, NemoCare smart baby monitor has embedded technology in its pocket and is supported by a team of user experience and designers of a user interface (UX / UI), software developers, and embedded engineers.

This device also provides comfort in the form of haptic vibrations in a child’s foot, as a first step towards controlling stress when an apneic episode is detected, assisting physicians in emergency emergencies.

Founders: Srinivas (Vasu) Sriramdas

Industry: Online training

Estimated Valuation: $4billion

Edyst helps college students and working professionals by providing them training via online video classes. The site currently has two popular and high-demand courses that ensure selection in MNCs like TCS and Infosys.

The other courses aim to help the student for companies like Amazon and Uber that can help them make at least $126 million a month.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions about Startup Success Stories

1. do you need to study business to have startup success stories.

No, you do not need to study business as a subject to build a successful startup. However, that doesn’t mean you can start a business without any knowledge of the market. While starting a startup, it is imperative to study the market trends to build strong startup success stories .

2. Is starting a YouTube channel a startup?

If this question had been asked ten years ago, some would have laughed. But today, with advancing technology and digitalization, many individuals are starting YouTube channels with the only aim of earning money. Yes, a YouTube channel can be considered as a startup, especially one started by internet entrepreneurs. YouTube channels with successful startup stories are usually the ones that function as a whole company and produce content for their YouTube channel .

3. Are their startup success stories about YouTube channels?

Many YouTubers have contributed to building a strong digital community in our countries. Their YouTube channels are startup success stories for many and have been able to accumulate a following of millions.

Some of the startup success stories of YouTube channels are of:

  • BB Ki Vines
  • Sandeep Maheshwari
  • Technical Guruji
  • Mostly Sane
  • Flying Beast
  • Mumbiker Nikhil

4. How does yourstory contribute to making your startup stories?

Successful startup stories are not made in a day. They are yourstory of the highs and lows you faced in your entrepreneurial journey that make startup success stories. These are the startup success stories of inspiring entrepreneurs who paved the way of innovation and dreams to build an empire.

Startups are taking over the world with their innovation and improved convenience, and these 12 Indian startups have succeeded in the cut-throat competition in the market amongst different brands. The greatest lesson from these startup success stories is to have the strong willpower to give up.

BurgerGPT: Redefining the Burger Experience in India with Founder Pavas Ahuja

Sharechat: india's own social media giant - a comprehensive walkthrough, prescription for disruption: practo's controversial encounter with india's healthcare sector, charging up a revolution: ather energy - the indian startup that's electrifying the two-wheeler industry, stem students boycott google and amazon over project nimbus, unlocking startup & business success by rahu with astrologer sahil kohli, ftc chair lina khan: a new approach to big techs, apple’s new venture: on its way towards an icon for ai.

15 Best Ecommerce Case Studies to Learn From (2024)

case study of successful businessman

Inspiration. 

This word is often repeated by successful entrepreneurs when they’re describing their way to the top. And it’s a powerful word. 

The best way to succeed in business is to learn from the ones who already achieved that. Get inspired by their ideas, ups and downs, and learn more about their approach to overcoming obstacles. 

That’s why we decided to gather 15 inspiring ecommerce case studies that every marketer should learn from. 

Below, you’ll find inspiring stories of successful online stores. Who knows, maybe one day your company will get on such a list.

In this article we’ll go through the following case studies:

  • How Ad Hoc Atelier boosted conversions using live chat
  • Dollar Shave Club—the secret behind their marketing success
  • Procosmet boosts lead generation after installing Tidio
  • Glossier’s way to become a $1.2 billion company
  • Shockbyte slashes response times with Tidio chatbots
  • How Gymshark bulked up into a $1B+ brand
  • How Lunya achieved $25M revenue
  • Key factors of Sephora’s online store success
  • Allbirds’s way to become a billion-dollar sneaker brand
  • How Warby Parker reached a $B valuation 
  • Story of Happy Box’s online store success
  • Amerisleep’s approach to increase checkouts by 14%
  • How Envelopes.Com leveraged checkout conversions
  • How Beardbrand established their earnings at $120,000 per month
  • How Frank Body achieved $20M in annual sales by investing in content marketing

Boost sales in your ecommerce store with chatbots

If you are interested in more insights about ecommerce businesses, be sure to check out the following articles:

  • 10 Best Practices for Ecommerce Customer Service
  • 10+ Must-Know Ecommerce Statistics [Report]
  • 8 Top Ecommerce Platforms Compared & Reviewed

Before we start exploring the best ecommerce case studies, let’s take a step back and answer a simple question—

What is a case study in ecommerce?

In the context of ecommerce, a case study refers to an in-depth analysis of a particular company, project, or situation related to the online retail industry. It involves examining a specific scenario, identifying the challenges, exploring the strategies used to overcome the obstacles, and evaluating the outcomes.

Here’s an example of a case study. This one is about the growth possibilities that Lyro, new conversational AI , can bring to small and medium ecommerce businesses.

lyro example of results

A case study in ecommerce typically focuses on real-life examples to provide insights into various aspects of an online business. These include marketing, customer service, logistics, technology implementation, and overall business performance. As such, these studies often highlight successful ecommerce companies or initiatives, showcasing best practices, innovative approaches, and lessons learned.

Having all the basic information covered, let’s jump to the main topic of the article—examples of the best ecommerce case studies.

15 ecommerce case studies: examples and descriptions

Each of the ecommerce business cases discussed below offers unique insights into how to thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of the industry. So, prepare yourself for a series of enlightening experiences and transformative strategies that could very well inspire the next big thing in your own ecommerce venture.

These case studies on ecommerce brands showcase a wide range of achievements, innovative strategies, and effective solutions that have helped businesses attain tremendous success in their respective sectors.

1. How Ad Hoc Atelier boosted conversions using live chat

Ad Hoc Atelier is an Italian ecommerce platform offering exclusive clothing collections and accessories. The company was founded in 2011 and, during its development path, decided to use live chat tools to increase sales. 

More than satisfying. With the help of live chat software , the company managed to increase the conversion rate from 0.35% to 0.9% . Moreover, they reduced cart abandonment rate from 83% to 73% and decreased the average response time from 3h to 1 minute .

ad hoc's landing page

The biggest challenge that Ad Hoc Atelier had faced was that more than 4 out of 5 carts on the website were abandoned, which is higher than the industry average — 70% . This was caused by the long response times, cold and generic emails, and the fact that people didn’t want to communicate through phone calls.

The company decided to change that and focus on a more personalized approach to customers, direct messaging, and short response time. What was the outcome?

  • Boost in customer engagement

The Ad Hoc Atelier team decided to add a live chat button to their ecommerce website to help visitors through their buyer’s journey. Thanks to that, they were able to recreate the experience of an assistant coming over when you walk into the physical store to help with some suggestions. 

This replication of the physical shopping experience in the online store led the company to improve their customer satisfaction and conversion rates. 

  • Goodbye to abandoned carts

The team defeated the worst nightmare of every ecommerce owner — abandoned carts . And achieved that with the help of sales chatbots . 

Their shopping cart abandonment rate dropped by 10%.

  • Slashed response time

With the help of live chat tools, the team managed to respond to their customers within a minute at any time of the day. Thanks to that, the company makes the most out of the traffic on its website. Also, live chat helps them increase conversion rate, catch new selling opportunities, and maintain a high quality of every conversation. 

Use chatbots to generate more leads for your online store

Read more: This is only a short description of what Ad Hoc Atelier achieved thanks to Tidio tools. Be sure to check out the full case study to get details of how the company increased the conversion rate with live chat and chatbot solutions.

2. Dollar Shave Club—the secret behind their marketing success

Dollar Shave Club is a subscription-based ecommerce company that primarily focuses on providing men’s grooming products. The company was founded in 2011 with the goal of offering affordable, high-quality razors and other personal care products directly to consumers.

The company is one of the most famous D2C (direct-to-consumer) brands in the world and surely deserves that status. Once they published the video “Our blades are f***ing great”, it became viral within just a few days!

Dollar Shave Club's landing page

And, although the video is from 2012, Dollar Shave Club is still using this slogan. Just look at their website.

But only one catchy slogan won’t make your company a successful business. So, what lies behind the massive success of Dollar Shave Club? Let’s take a closer look at three essential points of this ecommerce marketing case study.

  • Perfectly prepared unique value proposition (UVP)

Dollar Shave Club emphasized its value proposition of providing high-quality razors at an affordable price, delivered conveniently to customers’ doors. They addressed the pain points of their target audience by offering a cost-effective alternative to expensive razor brands and the inconvenience of in-store purchases.

  • Subscription model

Dollar Shave Club’s subscription model allowed customers to conveniently receive razor refills on a regular basis, eliminating the hassle of remembering to buy new razors. This model not only ensured customer loyalty but also provided recurring revenue for the company. 

  • Data-driven marketing

The business also utilized data and analytics to optimize marketing efforts. This is essential while streamlining marketing or sales funnels—in fact, 77% of professionals say they track their acquisition and sales funnel performance as part of their analytics. The Dollar Shave Club team tracked customer behaviors, preferences, and purchasing patterns to personalize marketing messages, improve targeting, and refine their overall marketing strategy.

All these strategies helped the Dollar Shave Club team build brand awareness, attract new prospects, retain customers, and establish the company as a major player in the men’s grooming industry.

3. Procosmet boosts lead generation after installing chatbots

Procosmet is a luxury brand offering haircare and beauty treatment products for a variety of needs. These include shampoos, conditioners, and vial treatments that are 100% natural and made with the purest of essential oils. 

The business started with an idea of a blue glass vial for essential oils and active principles. Procosmet is now divided into two brands, Napura and MTJ, which create care products inspired by nature.

Procosmet's landing page

Thanks to chatbots and live chat solutions provided by Tidio, Procosmet managed to significantly improve its main success indicators. These include five times higher lead generation per month and a 27% increase in conversion rates . On top of that, one-third of their revenue is now made thanks to Tidio tools!

But how did they achieve that? Let’s get into the details.

The main challenge the Procosmet team faced was managing orders. Such tasks as canceling, modifying, and refunding were very time-consuming for support agents. That’s because they had to do it “manually”—ask for the order number, open the Shopify store, search for the order, and make the requested changes. 

That’s why the Procosmet team decided to let the automation tools help their representatives with repetitive tasks. And it turned out to be a great decision. 

  • Boost in sales

Before installing Tidio on their website, Procosmet used to gather about 10–30 leads per month. But, when they switched to Tidio as their customer service automation provider, the number of leads increased to over 100 prospects!

Also, with the help of the newsletter chatbot and Tidio’s email marketing tool, the company achieved, just out of a one-off campaign, a return on investment of over a 1,000EUR.

  • Stable conversion rates

Procosmet also struggled with a lot of spikes in the conversion metrics. That was problematic especially when planning sales goals for the next months, analyzing marketing campaigns, etc. But once they implemented Tidio+ , the problem disappeared. 

Read more: Be sure to check out the full story to learn about all the benefits Procosmet experienced using Tidio .

4. Glossier’s way to become a $1.2 billion company

Glossier is a beauty and skincare brand that has gained popularity for its minimalist and inclusive approach to beauty products. Founded by Emily Weiss in 2014, Glossier aims to create a more personalized and simplified beauty experience for its customers.

Glossier's landing page

But how did Glossier manage to grow that much?

Let’s get into details of one of the most inspiring ecommerce conversion rate optimization case studies.

One key factor in Glossier’s success was its D2C model. This strategy was powered by cutting out traditional retail channels and selling directly to customers through its website and physical stores. Thanks to that approach, Glossier was able to maintain control over the entire customer experience and gather valuable data on consumer preferences.

  • Strong presence in social media

Glossier also prioritized building a strong online community and cultivating a sense of inclusivity. Through social media platforms, particularly Instagram, Glossier encouraged user-generated content and engaged with followers, creating a sense of authenticity and trust. This approach helped the brand to resonate with millennial and Gen Z consumers who were seeking a more personalized and relatable beauty experience.

  • Focus on customer feedback

Furthermore, Glossier emphasized the importance of customer feedback and product iteration. The company actively listened to its customers, taking their suggestions and needs into account when developing new products or improving existing ones. This iterative approach allowed Glossier to continuously evolve its offerings and maintain a loyal customer base.

As a result, Glossier successfully carved out a niche in the beauty industry and achieved remarkable growth, ultimately reaching a valuation of $1.2 billion . But it wouldn’t happen if not for the masterly combination of a strong D2C strategy, a focus on community building, an inclusive and relatable brand image, and a commitment to customer feedback.

5. Shockbyte slashes response times with Tidio chatbots

Shockbyte is a leading game server provider known particularly for Minecraft hosting. The company provides high-performance server hosting services at affordable prices to gamers and server owners globally. Apart from Minecraft, Shockbyte also offers server hosting for games like ARK: Survival Evolved, Rust, and more.

Shockbyte's landing page

But how did Shockbyte benefit from using chatbot solutions? Here are the results of one of our own ecommerce digital marketing case studies:

  • Focus on increasing customer satisfaction 

First and foremost, the Shockbyte team decided to put an emphasis on customer satisfaction. In fact, they managed to boost this metric by 16% within the first few months of using the tool. 

"Our customer satisfaction saw a healthy 16% increase—this is despite us having some of our busiest months this year." Mitch Smith Founder of Shockbyte
  • Slashing response time

You won’t build a positive brand experience if you make your clients wait hours for an answer. And Shockbyte knows that. By implementing a chatbot widget on their website, they managed to decrease the waiting times by a whopping 26%. 

It was possible thanks to the “nature” of chatbots and support requests. Significant part of the questions applied to the same issue and could be solved with the same answer. And that’s the place where chatbots come into play. They allow companies to respond to the most commonly asked questions automatically and within seconds.

  • Sales boosted by bots

The Shockbyte team decided to go further and use conversational bots to increase sales. With the help of chatbots, they managed to approach potential customers browsing specific product pages. Also, supported by AI chatbot automation , they tested out a variety of sales tactics powered by AI to find the most efficient way of gathering prospects.

And last but not least, by using sophisticated analytics tools, the Shockbyte team managed to categorize chats with their customers. Thanks to that, support and sales agents are provided with the essential customer information pack when they enter the conversation with them.

Read more: Read the full case study in which we describe Shockbyte’s success story . 

6. How Gymshark bulked up into a $1B+ brand

Gymshark is a fitness apparel and accessories brand that has gained significant popularity in the sports industry. Founded in 2012 by Ben Francis and his friends, Gymshark has become a global brand known for its stylish and functional activewear.

Gymshark's landing page

One of the key factors in Gymshark’s success was its ability to tap into the fitness and wellness trend. The brand started selling gym apparel from Ben’s garage but quickly gained traction by catering to the fitness community’s needs for stylish, functional, and affordable workout clothing.

But what made them so successful in the competitive fitness industry? Let’s take a closer look at one of the most intriguing ecommerce case study examples.

  • Perfectly tailored marketing strategy

Gymshark’s marketing strategy played a crucial role in its growth. The brand leveraged social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube to showcase its products’ functionalities and engage with its target audience.

Gymshark’s user-generated content (UGC), featuring fitness enthusiasts wearing their clothing, created a strong sense of community and authenticity. This approach resonated with fitness enthusiasts who felt a connection to the brand and its values.

  • Collaborations with influencers

Influencer marketing also played a significant role in Gymshark’s rise to success. The brand collaborated with fitness influencers and athletes who aligned with its brand image and target market.

case study of successful businessman

The partnerships with influencers helped Gymshark reach a wider audience and gain exposure in the fitness community.

  • Agility and adaptability of the brand

Furthermore, Gymshark’s agility and adaptability were also key factors in its success. The brand consistently listened to its customers, actively seeking feedback and making improvements based on their input. This iterative approach allowed Gymshark to continuously evolve its product range, expanding beyond gym wear to include athleisure and lifestyle apparel.

Overall, Gymshark’s success as a $1B+ brand can be attributed to its strategic marketing efforts, strong online presence, influencer collaborations, commitment to its target audience, and adaptability in response to customer feedback. By effectively tapping into the fitness and wellness market and creating a community-driven brand, Gymshark established itself as a prominent player in the industry.

7. Lunya, a luxury loungewear brand that achieved $25M revenue

Lunya is a clothing brand that aims to redefine comfort and style for modern women. Founded by Ashley Merrill in 2014, Lunya focuses on creating high-quality, functional, and aesthetically pleasing sleepwear and loungewear that can be worn both inside and outside the home.

Lunya's landing page

So, what makes Lunya’s ecommerce store so successful? Let’s dive into more details of this ecommerce case study. 

  • Well-planned D2C model

Lunya’s D2C model played a significant role in its revenue growth. By bypassing traditional retail channels and selling directly to consumers through its website, Lunya was able to control the entire customer experience . This approach allowed the brand to build direct relationships with customers , gather data on teams’ preferences, and provide personalized shopping experiences. The D2C model also allowed Lunya to maintain higher profit margins to reinvest in product development and marketing.

  • Astonishing customer experience

Additionally, Lunya placed a strong emphasis on customer experience and engagement. The brand prioritized exceptional customer service, providing detailed product information, size guides, and responsive support. Lunya actively sought customer feedback, making adjustments to its products and services based on the insights provided. This customer-centric approach fostered loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations, driving revenue growth.

Read more: Learn how to build an excellent customer experience strategy to provide the best possible shopping experience. 

  • Effective marketing strategy

Lunya also leveraged digital marketing strategies effectively. The brand utilized social media platforms, influencer collaborations, content marketing, and SEO to build brand awareness and engage with its target audience. By partnering with influencers and leveraging user-generated content, Lunya expanded its reach and credibility, particularly among millennial and Gen Z consumers.

Read more: Read more about improving customer engagement with dedicated customer service chatbots .

Through a combination of the featured tactics, Lunya achieved $25 million in revenue. The brand focused on delivering a luxurious and elevated sleep experience, alongside ensuring a strong online presence and customer engagement. This allowed Lunya to carve out a niche in the sleepwear market and attract a loyal customer base.

8. Key factors of Sephora’s online store success

Sephora is a leading multinational beauty retailer known for its wide range of cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and fragrance products. It was founded in France in 1969 and has since become a global beauty destination with stores in numerous countries. Sephora offers an extensive selection of beauty brands, including both established names and emerging, independent companies.

Sephora’s landing page

The story behind Sephora’s online store success lies in its strategic approach to embracing ecommerce and catering to the needs of their beauty-savvy customers. Now, let’s go through the three key factors that contributed to Sephora’s online store success. 

  • Seamless user experience

Sephora prioritized creating a seamless and user-friendly online shopping experience. Their online store was designed with intuitive navigation, comprehensive product information, and personalized recommendations. They optimized the website for different devices and platforms (iOS, Android), ensuring a consistent and convenient experience for customers.

  • Social media engagement

The beauty giant’s team actively engaged with their customers on social media platforms, creating a community of beauty enthusiasts. Sephora responded to customer queries, shared user-generated content, and provided real-time updates on promotions and new releases through social channels. This social media presence amplified brand visibility and fostered a sense of connection with the audience.

Read more: Learn how to automate customer service activities like answering product-related questions on social media with the help of conversational tools.

  • Continuous innovation and adaptation

The brand also consistently embraced technological advancements and market trends to enhance the online store. Sephora introduced features such as augmented reality, chatbots , and personalized product recommendations to stay ahead of the competition and provide a cutting-edge shopping experience.

And there you have it—multiple strategies Sephora used to successfully build a thriving online store.

The strategic approach has enabled the company to cater to the evolving needs of beauty enthusiasts, providing a convenient, personalized, and engaging shopping experience that sets them apart in the industry.

9. Allbirds’s way to become a billion-dollar sneaker brand

Allbirds is a footwear company that specializes in producing sustainable and comfortable shoes. They are known for their minimalist designs and use of eco-friendly materials.

Allbirds’s landing page

Allbirds achieved remarkable growth, going from a small startup to a billion-dollar sneaker brand in just four years. But how did they do it?

Let’s take a closer look at the foundations of their huge blast.

  • Unique product offering

Allbirds differentiated itself by creating comfortable, eco-friendly sneakers made from renewable materials like merino wool and eucalyptus fibers. The brand combined sustainable practices with minimalist design, appealing to consumers seeking both style and eco solutions.

  • Word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful tool for staying on top of the numerous ecommerce brands in your niche. And Allbirds knows that. The brand focused on creating exceptional products that generated positive customer experiences, leading to enthusiastic recommendations and social media buzz. Influencers and celebrities also played a role in promoting Allbirds, further amplifying its brand awareness.

  • Innovative marketing strategies

The company employed creative marketing strategies to stand out in a competitive market. For instance, they used humor and storytelling in their advertising campaigns (on Google Ads, social media platforms), highlighting the unique features and benefits of their products. Allbirds also leveraged social media platforms to engage with shoppers, share their sustainability mission, and showcase user-generated content.

And here we are. By combining the above strategies and tactics, Allbirds experienced exceptional growth, becoming a billion-dollar sneaker brand within a short span of four years.

10. How Warby Parker reached a $1.7B valuation

Warby Parker is an eyewear company that specializes in offering stylish and affordable prescription glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses. The company disrupted the traditional eyewear market with a unique direct-to-consumer model, including a Home Try-On program. Also, this eyewear mogul seamlessly merges e-commerce with select physical storefronts, emphasizing both fashion and social responsibility.

Warby Parker's landing page

Here are the key factors that contributed to its success.

  • Seamless online experience

Warby Parker prioritized creating a seamless online shopping experience by investing in user-friendly website design. The brand also offered virtual try-on tools that allowed customers to verify multiple frames before making a purchase decision. The combination of convenience and a hassle-free shopping process contributed to its success as an ecommerce platform.

  • Customer-centric approach

Warby Parker revolutionized the eyewear industry with its customer-centric approach by introducing a Home Try-On program, allowing individuals to test frames at home before buying. They combined transparent, affordable pricing with a commitment to social responsibility through their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” initiative.

Even as a digital-first brand, they seamlessly integrated brick-and-mortar experiences, ensuring personalized service at every touchpoint.

Read more: Discover how to measure customer satisfaction in 6 easy steps .

  • Data-driven decision-making process

Warby Parker leveraged data analytics to make informed business decisions. The company collected and analyzed customer data to gain insights into client preferences, purchasing behaviors, and market trends. This allowed Warby Parker to optimize its product offerings, marketing strategies, and inventory management.

Read more: If you’re looking for customer database software , be sure to check out our list of the best solutions in this category.

By combining an effective business model with a strong brand identity, a customer-centric approach, Warby Parker achieved a $1.7 billion valuation and established itself as a leading ecommerce site in the eyewear industry.

11. Story of Happy Box’s online store success

This case study for ecommerce presents a story of Happy Box —a bespoke gifting company. They create expertly crafted gifts, sent in a few clicks. The company significantly increased its online store revenue by implementing various strategies that resulted in a tenfold growth.

Happy Box's landing page

But how did they achieve it?

  • Enhanced customer support and communication

The company prioritized providing exceptional customer support. Happy Socks improved their response time to inquiries and ensured effective communication throughout the customer journey . This focus on offering quality support helped to build trust and loyalty, contributing to increased online sales.

  • Implementation of customer retention strategies

In addition, Happy Box implemented strategies to retain existing customers and encourage repeat purchases. They offered loyalty programs, exclusive discounts, and special promotions to reward customer loyalty. By prioritizing customer retention , Happy Box generated a consistent stream of revenue from repeat customers.

  • Continuous testing and optimization

The company conducted testing and optimization to improve its online store performance. They analyzed customer data, monitored their ecommerce conversion rates , tracked landing pages performance, and implemented changes based on data-driven insights. This iterative approach allowed them to continually enhance their website and marketing strategies to maximize revenue.

By implementing all these strategies and managing the omnichannel marketing project, Happy Box created a $100M dollar business. Their focus on improving the customer experience, expanding product offerings, and implementing effective marketing strategies contributed to their significant growth and success.

12. Amerisleep’s approach to increase checkouts by 14%

Amerisleep is a well-known mattress and sleep products brand. They specialize in designing and manufacturing high-quality mattresses, adjustable beds, pillows, and other sleep-related accessories. The company is committed to providing clients with a comfortable and restful sleep experience by combining innovative technologies, eco-friendly materials, and a focus on customer satisfaction.

Amerisleep’s landing page

Thanks to their inventive approach to presenting the benefits of their products, they managed to increase checkouts in their online store by 14% .

But was it the only reason for their massive success?

Of course not. Let’s dive into the foundations of Amerisleep’s great results in the ecommerce industry. 

  • Cart abandonment recovery

Amerisleep implemented shopping cart abandonment recovery strategies, such as sending automated email reminders to customers who added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase. These emails can include personalized incentives, such as discounts or free shipping, to entice customers to return and finalize their order.

  • Mobile optimization

Given the increasing prevalence of mobile shopping, Amerisleep also optimized its checkout process for mobile devices. They implemented a responsive design, ensuring that their website and checkout pages are user-friendly and visually appealing on smartphones and tablets.

  • A/B testing and conversion optimization

Amerisleep employed A/B testing and conversion rate optimization techniques. This involved experimenting with different design elements, popup ads, layout variations, copywriting, and pricing strategies to identify the most effective combinations.

It’s important to note that without access to specific details of Amerisleep’s strategies, the above points are speculative but commonly utilized practices in ecommerce to increase checkout rates. The actual methods employed by Amerisleep may vary, but these general approaches can serve as potential insights into their success.

13. How Envelopes.com leveraged checkout conversions

Envelopes.com is an online retailer that specializes in selling a wide variety of envelopes, packaging items, office supplies, and other related products. The company serves individuals, businesses, organizations, and event planners who require a wide selection of products.

Their offerings encompass both standard and special envelopes, along with customization services, to meet various mailing, packaging, and stationery needs.

Envelopes' landing page

The company achieved a 40% increase in conversions . How?

Let’s find out in this case study of ecommerce.

  • Abandoned cart emails

Envelopes.com implemented an effective abandoned cart email strategy. When a customer adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, the company sends follow-up emails reminding them of the items left behind. These emails include persuasive messaging, personalized recommendations, and sometimes offered incentives like discounts or free shipping to encourage customers to complete their checkout.

  • Personalized recommendations and cross-selling/upselling

The use of data to provide personalized product recommendations significantly improved the shopping experience, leading to increased conversions . Additionally, by implementing cross-selling and upselling strategies, Envelopes.com was able to boost the average order value (AOV), leading to increased revenue.

  • A/B testing and optimization of email campaigns

Envelopes.com continuously conducted A/B testing and optimization to improve their follow-up strategies. They experimented with different email templates, subject lines, incentives, and timing to identify the most effective approaches that would attract their subscribers and new customers. By analyzing data and implementing changes based on the insights, they refined their follow-up tactics to maximize conversions.

These strategies helped them recover potentially lost sales, foster customer loyalty, and drive revenue growth.

Read more: Check out the most effective follow-up email techniques you can use to increase your conversion and email open rate.

14. How Beardbrand established their earnings at $120,000 per month

Beardbrand is a grooming company that focuses on providing high-quality products for beard and facial hair care. They specialize in offering a range of grooming products, including beard oils, beard balms, beard washes, mustache waxes, and grooming tools.

Beardbrand's landing page

The company achieved a monthly revenue of $120,000 by leveraging its unique branding. Here’s how their branding efforts contributed to their success. 

  • Niche focus and embracing beard culture

Beardbrand found a unique niche within the grooming market and capitalized on it— beard care. By centering their brand around the celebration of beard culture, they positioned themselves as more than just a grooming product company. By doing this, the beardbrand team created a strong brand identity and connected with a dedicated audience on a deeper level.

  • Authenticity and storytelling

Beardbrand’s branding emphasized authenticity and storytelling. They shared the personal journey and experiences of their founder, Eric Bandholz, in building the brand and embracing the beard lifestyle. This storytelling approach resonated with customers, creating a sense of connection and trust.

  • Engaging content marketing and community building

Beardbrand heavily invested in content marketing, creating engaging, informative, and entertaining content about beard care, grooming, and lifestyle topics. This not only positioned them as a trusted authority but also drove customer engagement. Simultaneously, they actively built a community around their brand, encouraging user-generated content, feedback, and social media interaction.

The above tactics and activities resulted in a loyal base of customers and brand advocates, significantly contributing to their revenue growth. All these different branding efforts coupled with quality products and engaging marketing strategies, contributed to their huge monthly revenue.

15. How Frank Body achieved $20M in annual sales by investing in content marketing

Frank Body is an Australian-based skincare company that gained popularity for its range of coffee-based body and skincare products. The company focuses on creating natural and cruelty-free products designed to exfoliate, hydrate, and nourish the skin.

Frank Body's landing page

What’s interesting is that they achieved a whooping $20M in annual sales by making significant investments in content marketing. So, what exactly did they do?

  • Engaging and shareable content

Frank Body created content that was entertaining, relatable, and shareable. They developed a distinctive brand voice that resonated with their target audience, primarily millennials. Their strategy included blog posts, social media content, and videos that focused on promoting self-care, body positivity, and natural beauty. These activities played a significant role in attracting and retaining their target audience.

  • Educational and informative content

The company also used content marketing to educate and inform its audience about the benefits of its products and the importance of skincare. They provided valuable tips, tutorials, and guides on topics such as exfoliation, skincare routines, and ingredient benefits. This approach positioned them as experts in the skincare industry, building trust and credibility among their customers.

  • User-generated content and influencer partnerships

Encouraging user-generated content and partnering with influencers greatly enhanced the brand’s reach and credibility. By urging customers to share their experiences with the products and by collaborating with influencers, Frank Body was able to generate authentic engagement, social proof, and increased visibility among new audiences.

All in all, Frank Body’s content marketing efforts not only generated brand awareness but also built a loyal customer base that resonated with their values and product offerings.

Ecommerce case studies—key takeaways

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to growing a successful ecommerce business. As demonstrated in their respective case studies, the companies highlighted above achieved ecommerce success through various strategies. 

No matter if the strategies included revamping of copy, personalizing customer messages, or focusing on brand building, experimentation played a major role for most of these brands.. Testing changes and tracking their results led most of these companies to find what worked for them—something you, too, can apply to your business.

And though experimentation may be daunting, consider how your failures can point your business in the direction of growth. Whether you make small tweaks or large adjustments, the room for error also means room for opportunity.

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Krzysztof Wroblewski

Content Writer at Tidio. One of those lucky people who turned their hobby into a job. Krzysztof loves wordplay, so beating him in Scrabble is almost impossible.

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Top 10 Inspiring Indian Entrepreneurs Success Stories: That Will Inspire You!

  • December 12, 2023

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Aspiring entrepreneurs in India are always looking for role models and success stories to motivate and guide them. We can count tons of success stories from various websites to join their tribe or affiliate link. But most of the stories don’t mean value to us. We’re looking for real-life success stories that we can learn from to make our own business successful.

As a result, we’ve decided to publish an article for real-life heroes who have carved out their paths with unique business models become role models for other aspiring entrepreneurs, and have their own success stories.

With their incredible adventures, these entrepreneurs have not only achieved enormous success but have also inspired others. Check out this digital marketing course for crafting a digital transformation with a successful blueprint if you’re interested in starting your own business model. 

Read on to learn about their successes and what you can learn from them, and create your own success stories as an entrepreneur.

Top 10 Inspiring Entrepreneur’s Success Stories from India 2024

There’s no shortage of inspiring entrepreneurship stories from India. Despite the immense challenges of starting and running a business in the country, Indians have found ways to persevere and innovate, creating new products and services that have helped lift millions out of poverty. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the most inspiring success stories from Indian entrepreneurs, highlighting the key lessons that you can learn from their experiences.

Inspiring Indian Entrepreneur's Founders

India is home to some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. Despite having to endure numerous challenges, these business owners have found success by persisting and innovating. From e-commerce to technology, these entrepreneurs have made their mark in a variety of industries. Here are ten inspiring Indian entrepreneur’s success stories that will undoubtedly motivate you to achieve your goals and become a successful entrepreneur like other inspiring entrepreneurs in India.

Now, let’s get to know about the top 10 best inspiring success stories from Indian entrepreneurs;

Inspiring Indian Entrepreneur's Founders

Here is the list of the top 10 Indian entrepreneurs you must know about. After reading this article, you will definitely get inspired by our Youngest Entrepreneurs in India. Now, let’s dive into it. 🏄‍♂️

1. Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal – Flipkart

Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal are the #1 Youngest Successful Entrepreneurs in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs .

In a garage, Sachin and Binny Bansal founded Flipkart, a modest eCommerce company, and the rest, as they say, is history. One of India’s most successful business people sold Flipkart to Walmart for $16 billion in 2018. 

Sachin Bansal

▶️ Quote By Flipkart Founder – 1

“ ‘No’ is a very difficult word, and more so in our culture, where people quickly tend to take offence. But a ‘no’ which makes your business and customer say ‘yes’ is worth the while.” — Sachin Bansal

Along with Binny, the IIT graduate used to transport books on his own and pioneered the wave of eCommerce marketing. Sachin was in charge of the company’s SEO, design, marketing, and content. Binny handled the delivery and backend operations well. 

What began as an INR 4,00,000 business gained immediate acclaim and, finally, an incredible bid from Walmart. Bansal created everything from the ground up, starting with the initial iteration of the website. Through his present firm, Navi Technology, he has been investing actively. Flipkart is undoubtedly one of India’s most successful startup success stories.

“Flipkart” – Sachin and Binny Bansal’s path – would be familiar to everyone. Both of them, who graduated from IIT-D and previously worked for Amazon, presented a similar concept to the Indian market. 

Binny Bansal

▶️ Quote By Flipkart Founder – 2

“For an entrepreneur work is not seen as ‘work’, it is passion, you like it you want to do it.” — Binny Bansal

Flipkart began selling online books only in 2007 and has since expanded to sell practically everything, ranging from home items to personal care products, educational materials, and workplace stationery. According to an article on Yourstory.com, mobile accounts for more than half of Flipkart’s income, and mobile has been at the heart of Sachin’s strategy since the beginning. 

Sachin admitted in an interview that creating Flipkart was the dumbest thing he has ever done and that everyone around him thought he was mad, according to a Quora.com post. However, it has recently purchased Myntra for around INR 2000 crore. Flipkart has now been promoted to the top five-billion-dollar start-up club, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, and it has a valuation of $11 billion. 

Learn more about Flipkart’s Digital Marketing Strategies – A Complete Case Study!

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Sachin Bansal

Twitter – NA Facebook – NA Instagram – @sachin_bansall LinkedIn – NA

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Binny Bansal

Twitter – @binnybansal Facebook – NA Instagram – NA LinkedIn – @binnybansal

2. Bhavish Aggarwal – Ola Cabs

Bhavish Aggarwal is the #2 Youngest Successful Entrepreneur in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

After two years as a Microsoft research team member, Bhavish Aggarwal followed in his iconic footsteps. He started Ola Cabs, a multibillion-dollar company. With his zeal and colourful vision, Bhavish, an IIT Bombay alumnus, set the way for his success. 

Bhavish Aggarwal

▶️ Quote By Ola Founder

“All of us have an entrepreneur in us. Entrepreneurs are not driven by fear; they are driven by the idea to create impact.”

In 2015, Bhavish was the youngest person on Forbes’ list of India’s wealthiest individuals, with co-founder Ankit Bhati. After confronting insufficient and expensive cab services, he created his own cab firm. Ola makes it simple to hire a taxi anywhere in the country. Its popularity grows in minor and major cities, broadening Bhavish’s reach. 

He has since established himself as a successful entrepreneur. Ola Cabs is India’s most successful cab firm, with over a million customers.

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Ritesh Aggarwal

Twitter – @bhash Facebook – @bhavish.aggarwal.7 Instagram – @bhavishaggarwal LinkedIn – @bhavishaggarwal

3. Ritesh Aggarwal – Oyo Rooms

Ritesh Aggarwal is the #3 Youngest Successful Entrepreneur in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Ritesh Aggarwal was never scared to explore new things or take risks. And the success of Oyo Rooms, which he founded in 2013, has rewarded out handsomely. He became the world’s second-youngest billionaire in the year of the outbreak. 

Ritesh did not attend college in the traditional sense. He dropped out of the Indian School of Business and Finance before completing his education. Isn’t it frightening? Ritesh’s lack of a college degree has no impact on his success. The Thiel scholarship was given to Oyo, and he hasn’t worried about the past, and he moved forward. 

Ritesh Aggarwal

▶️ Quote By OYO Rooms Founder

“Hire people not for today but for 2-3 years from now, and let them grow with the company.” — Ritesh Aggarwal

His primary concern was always to provide low-cost accommodation. Oyo continues to offer regardless of location. Oyo has increased in recent years and is estimated to be worth more than $1.1 billion by 2020. Ritesh is only 27 years old, yet he has come a long way.

With over 500 hotels and 50000 rooms, “OYO Rooms” is India’s largest budget hotel brand. It was founded in 2012 by Ritesh Agarwal to provide basic, trustworthy accommodations, and it has since changed the face of the Indian hospitality industry. According to an article on Yourstory.com, the company now partners with 4,200 hotels in over 170 locations, booking up to a million room nights every month. 

Oyo rooms

OYO Rooms has been a massive success because it is dedicated to addressing the issue of budget hotel cleanliness, availability, and affordability across the country. OYO works with several hotels to obtain rooms that may be rented out to those who wish to use its services. 

According to a Yosuccess.com post, OYO Accommodations provides tourists with efficient and standardised rooms at low costs, with a current evaluation of approximately 370Cr. 

Twitter – @riteshagar Facebook – @riteshagarwall Instagram – @riteshagar LinkedIn – @riteshagar

4. Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini & Sriharsha Majety – Swiggy

Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini & Sriharsha Majety are the #4 Youngest Successful Entrepreneurs in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs .

Apart from Zomato, Swiggy has quickly established itself as one of the most popular meal delivery services. On the other hand, food delivery did not have a solid footing when it initially entered the market. 

In truth, Reddy and Majesty had intended it to be a Bundle courier service. After meeting Jamini, though, they altered their minds. Swiggy was founded as a result of its strong network building. Swiggy has raised a lot of money since its inception in 2013. 

4. Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha Majety & Rahul Jaimini

▶️ Quote By Swiggy Founder

“Growth is about learning and evolving with the different variables and moving parts” — Sriharsha Majety

Providing exceptional customer service has always been a priority for business owners. Swiggy’s efficient logistical procedures also ensure that clients receive their meals on time. 

Swiggy has conquered the difficulty of hiring employees remotely who bring food on time. The unicorn start-up is exploding with the three founders, and the business is successfully running up to date.

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Nandan Reddy

Twitter – @nandanreddy Facebook – NA Instagram – NA LinkedIn – @nandan-reddy-1830659

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Rahul Jaimini

Twitter – @rahuljaimini Facebook – NA Instagram – NA LinkedIn – @rahuljaimini

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Sriharsha Majety

Twitter – @harshamjty Facebook – NA Instagram – NA LinkedIn – @sriharsha-m-563aa217

5. Vijay Shekhar Sharma – Paytm

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the #5 Youngest Successful Entrepreneur in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Vijay Shekhar established Paytm and continues to lead it. And there’s no denying that Paytm’s trust has fuelled a meteoric surge in digital payments across the country. 

Sharma has a track record of producing brilliance, dating back to his student days at DTU when he founded Indiasite.net. He got $1 million for it. He subsequently founded One97 Communications, which later became Paytm. 

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

▶️ Quote By Paytm Founder

“There are two kinds of companies in the world one is who BUILD and the second who BUY”. — Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Paytm has revolutionised the face of digital payments, and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. As a result, Vijay Shekhar’s popularity continues to soar. 

We all know that we don’t have phones without Paytm money, which shows that Paytm has successfully reached out to people and will continue to do so in the future. 

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Twitter – @vijayshekhar Facebook – @vijayshekhar Instagram – @vssx LinkedIn – @vijayshekhar

6. Sorav Jain – Digital Scholar & echoVME

Sorav Jain is the #6 Youngest Successful Entrepreneur in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Sorav Jain is the founder of echoVME Digital & Digital Scholar. He is also known as India’s top digital marketing influencer, trainer, author, and speaker. Sorav started his career at 17 as an SEO executive and baggage 10 years of knowledge in this digital marketing field which made him become a successful digital marketing and social media marketing expert who started his venture with a small team of 30 members in 2011 in the name of echoVme, a digital marketing agency based out of Chennai.

Sorav Jain

He has been successfully running his business for the past 11 years, which gives him the courage to take a risk by simultaneously running an agency-style based digital marketing training institute called Digital Scholar in 2019 and the echoVME Digital .

▶️ Quote By Digital Scholar & echoVME Founder

Marketing you’re presence on social media is as important as creating your presence. “The only fashion that never fades: Digital Marketing”. — Sorav Jain

Initially, Digital Scholar invited students to their place and started teaching them how agency-style digital marketing works. But the time of the pandemic turned the tables around, taking Digital Scholar to the rooftop when people began to focus on passions online. Sorav Jain became famous on Instagram as a digital marketing influencer with 306k+ followers within a short period. You can follow his business insights here @Soravjain .

Sorav was named one of the Top Social Media Marketers under 30 by Social Samosa. He was named one of the “ Top 25 Social Media Professionals of India “ by Global Youth Marketing Forum. 

Sorav also works as a corporate trainer for 2020MSL, Hanmer MSL, Times Internet, Genpact, Shriram Value, Bosch India, Preethi Appliances, Hexaware, Communicate India, and a variety of other IT, PR, digital, and advertising firms. 

Sorav jain

Sorav runs one of Facebook’s most popular Digital Marketing groups, Digital Marketing Question and Answers on Facebook, which has more than 60,000+ members which is a vast community where you can always participate with questions and answers you have.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Digital Scholar (@digital_scholar)

Digital transformation is what Every business owner looks for, also one who needs a feasible blueprint to understand better how to build a solid digital marketing presence.so, Suppose you are searching for a Digital marketing guru who teaches you to become a digital marketing expert within four months. In that case, you must try his online digital marketing course to upskill in the digital marketing field.

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Sorav Jain

Twitter – @soravjain Facebook – @soravjain & @SoravJainDigital Instagram – @soravjain LinkedIn – @soravjain

🗣️ Sorav Jain’s TEDx Talk

How Sorav turned his Internet addiction into a business empire, and you can do it as well!! In this talk, Sorav Jain shares his highs and lows while choosing an unorthodox career. Sorav Jain is an entrepreneur and one of India’s top digital and social media marketing experts.

He is also a skilled consultant, trainer, author, and speaker. Sorav started his career at 17 as an SEO executive and has about 10 years of Industry experience. Sorav has been listed among the top 25 social media professionals in India under the age of 30. Sorav has trained more than 100,000 professionals. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

7. Deepinder Goyal – Zomato

Deepinder Goyal is the #7 Youngest Successful Entrepreneur in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Foodiebay is a name that no one recalls. Although Deepinder Goyal founded it, he is more known for Zomato, the rebranded version of Foodiebay.

Zomato began as a food-reviewing website. Food bloggers were encouraged to give candid reviews of each restaurant’s service and food quality. It also provided menu cards in high demand among Deepinder’s coworkers, prompting him to launch Zomato. Before launching Foodiebay, he graduated from IIT Delhi and worked at Bain and Company. 

Deepinder Goyal

▶️ Quote By Zomato Founder

“Everything is solvable. You have to put your mind to it.” “Focus on building a business that solves a real problem.” “You can’t say that If I don’t have access to capital, I can’t build a company.” — Deepinder Goyal

Deepinder’s has become one of India’s most well-known food-entrepreneur success stories in the previous decade. Other than India, the corporation has operations in Portugal, New Zealand, and Qatar. Zomato also bought Urbanspoon and launched a meal delivery business in the United States and Australia. 

When they first started Zomato, they didn’t have enough money, but as they say, hard work pays off. Zomato is a big success nowadays, as we all know. 

According to an article on Yosuccess.com, it is the largest of such media in Asia and one of the greatest globally, having a solid & single presence in over 10,000 cities across 22 countries.

Zomato has also ventured into the world of digital marketing. It enables firms to expand without incurring new expenditures. 

Inspiring entrepreneur success story - Zomato

One of the most significant advantages of Zomato is its marketing campaign, as we all know. Once the notification gets on, you will be getting full urge messages in your mother tongue, which will significantly support the company’s growth in the future too.

This online restaurant platform was founded in 2008 to assist Indians in discovering new tastes in a variety of meals. “Zomato” is a one-stop shop for all your appetites, whether for food, drinks, or alcohol. It’s an online restaurant guide that includes home delivery, cafés, and nightlife! 

Learn more about Zomato’s Digital Marketing Strategies – A Complete Case Study on it!

Twitter – @deepigoyal Facebook – @deepigoyal Instagram – NA LinkedIn – @deepigoyal

8. Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh – Mama Earth

Founder of Mama Earth – Varun Alagh Co-founder of Mama Earth – Ghazal Alagh

Varun and Ghazal are the #8 Youngest Successful Entrepreneurs in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Varun and Ghazal are the trailblazers behind Mamaearth; not only that; they are real-life partners. Mamaearth is the online-first game plan that relies upon posting offers on the D2C stages like Amazon, Flipkart, etc., and their inescapable arrangements, close by the proposal of things displayed at actual standard stores.

Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh - Mama Earth Founders

Story Behind the StartUp

Varun and Ghazal understood that the childcare products they ran over harmed their baby’s skin and that there could have been no other safe choices since they got a child youngster to manoeuvre carefully.

Since they couldn’t find reliable things in India, the couple chose to import trustworthy childcare items made elsewhere, all else equivalent.

▶️ Quote By Mama Earth Founders

“How you drive growth is more important than anything else” — Varun Alagh “Success only comes to those who can stick through crazy times. As long as you persevere, things eventually fall in place.” — Ghazal Alagh

case study of successful businessman

Later, the gathering started mentioning things from the US, yet they ended up being costly and inadequately planned. So the partners joined together and started creating their own childcare items under the brand name Mamaearth.

Mamaearth Product and Competence

Mamaearth, in a roundabout way, rivals MNCs like Himalaya and Johnson and Johnson, as well as online electronic business areas like Nykaa. Mamaearth items contend straightforwardly with a couple of deeply grounded and new organizations, selling an assortment of youngster-related things like frills, clothing, and toys.

Mamaearth Achievement and Benefit

  • Mamaearth products revenue reached 110 crores in 2020.
  • Mamaearth product beat revenue of RS 500 crores in 2020.
  • Mamaearth outright pay expanded by 101% to INR 952.4 Cr in 2022 from INR 472.1 Cr as we compare from the past year.

Learn more about Mamaearth’s Digital Marketing Strategies – A Complete Case Study on it!

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Varun Alagh

Twitter – @VarunAlagh Facebook – @varun.alagh Instagram – @varunalagh LinkedIn – @varunalagh84

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Ghazal Alagh

Twitter – @GhazalAlagh Facebook – @ghazal.alagh Instagram – @ghazalalagh LinkedIn – @ghazal-alagh-9755a0128

9. Falguni Nayar – Nykaa

Falguni Nayar is the #9 Youngest Successful Entrepreneur in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Falguni Nayar established Nykaa, one of India’s biggest magnificence and design organisations. The pioneer and President of Nykaa are prestigious as the most extravagant independent lady in India and is positioned tenth among the world’s most extravagant independent ladies.

Falguni Nayar - Nykaa Founder

▶️ Quote By Nykaa Founder

“Women need to allow the spotlight of their lives to be on themselves. I hope more women like me dare to dream for themeselves.” — Falguni Nayar

Falguni’s total assets may vary by around Rs 57 crore in a hurry in a year. They gained the audience with The organisation’s slogan, “Your Beauty, Our Passion,” which quickly grabbed women’s and youngsters’ eyes.

We are mindful that Nykaa reached this success through their successful campaign assets for acquiring consideration through dispersing enormous and persuading offers.

Let’s see the story of Nykaa and how they accomplished 32 billion bucks in 2022.

Story of Nykaa

Everything began in 2012 when Nykaa was established. On the journey for a promising business opportunity in India, Falguni Nayar found an irregularity in the magnificence beauty products market in India, which was not on pace with the beauty item’s extension in different nations, despite critical interest, attributable to an absence of item accessibility in numerous districts.

This incited her to help establish Nykaa with her significant other, Sanjay Nayar. Starting as a web-based association, the stage ultimately changed to an omnichannel partnership with Amazon, Flipkart, and many more.

Falguni worked in the corporate area for more than 25 years before setting out on her pioneering venture when Nayar was moving toward 50.

Even though initially they faced so many hurdles in marketing and campaign, now they have a pillar foundation of digital marketing and campaign success.

Nykaa Profit and Revenue

Nykaa Profit and Revenue

The benefit of the beauty care products monster Nykaa has accomplished 32 billion out of 2022, where the business details hope to arrive at twofold the CAGR in the future.

Learn more about Nykaa’s Digital Marketing Strategies – A Complete Case Study!

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Falguni Nayar

Twitter – NA Facebook – @falguni.nayar.5 Instagram – @falguninayar LinkedIn – @falguni-nayar-845065a0

10. Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy – Fresh Works

Founder of Fresh Works – Girish Mathrubootham Co-founder of Fresh Works – Shan Krishnasamy

Girish and Shan are the #10 Youngest Successful Entrepreneurs in India out of other Indian Entrepreneurs.

Freshworks Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy launched the organisation in Chennai in 2010, offering several product suites to meet client needs. Representative objectives, including deals with CRM programming, enrollment gadgets, client assistance helpdesk programming, and many more wanted top sass products, are delivered by Fresh Works.

Fresh Works Founders - Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy

▶️ Quote By Fresh Works Founders

“It’s not the software. It’s about the way software is supposed to be built, the way it’s supposed to be delivered, implemented and consumed.” — Girish Mathrubootham

Both coworkers had previously worked for Zoho Corp, one of India’s most excellent SaaS businesses. Zoho Corp and Freshworks are both rivals and essential players in this industry.

Freshworks sold 28.5 million regular offers on September 22, achieving an intraday high of $48.75 in the market.

So, what is the story of these two important Indian entrepreneurs who have eternally influenced Indian entrepreneurs with their backtalk sass business?

The Story Behind the Progress of FreshWorks,

Girish and Krishnamoorthy first met through Zoho. They have comparable frequency and the knowledge to start another backtalk organisation by communicating customer care by selling customer support solutions since the choice Zendesk is raising its expense where even an organisation has experienced major shock with the cost change.

He managed to move on with this fantastic idea. So, Girish and Krishnamoorthy left Zoho to start their own Sass organisation with only six people in 2010.

It took around eight years of hard labour for the organisation to increase its revenue to $100 million. Freshdesk was soon rebranded to Freshworks, the success of which followed and supported it in establishing its base camp in the United States, afterward carrying the organisation more like a greater portion of its user base.

Challenges they Faced

Freshworks and Zoho’s dispute took a severe turn in 2020 when Zoho filed a claim alleging that Freshworks used private data to build a business. The backup company Zoho has also accused Freshworks of poaching its employee’s and customers’ confidential details. The battle is still ongoing.

Freshworks Success and Profit

According to their website, the profit of this mysterious Sass company this year at 2022 is $493.0 – $497.0 million.

❇️ Social Media Accounts of Girish Mathrubootham

Twitter – @mrgirish Facebook – @rathnagirish Instagram – @girish.mathrubootham LinkedIn – @girish1

Hello, readers! So, this article showcased ten inspiring Indian entrepreneur’s success stories who have achieved success in such a short span of time. These success stories are sure to motivate and inspire you to achieve great things in your life and career.

Indian start-ups are on the rise, and there’s no stopping them now. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or have an existing business, it is time to get inspired by these success stories and work even harder to achieve your own goals.

“Wishing you the best in creating your own inspiring success stories!” Today, I’d like to talk about something inspiring: creating your own success story. No matter what your background is or what you’re doing now, it’s always possible to achieve great things. All it takes is hard work, dedication, and a bit of luck. So, go out there and make it happen! I wish you all the best in your endeavors.

Get in touch with us, and we’ll be happy to help you set up or grow your business and also help you in becoming a successful entrepreneur, so you can have your own success stories and inspire the upcoming generations.

Thanks for reading our success stories!

1. Who is India’s No. 1 Entrepreneur?

According to Forbes magazine, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are among India’s most successful young entrepreneurs.

2. Why do Indians Succeed in Business?

Indians usually find the possibility, opportunity, and risk factors in any sector and start developing their own business journey. If you need any impressions check out the list of successful entrepreneurs’ stories on this blog.

3. Who is India’s Most Successful Entrepreneur?

The most affluent businessman in the twenty-first century is Mukesh Ambani. However, more aspiring business owners are on the list, competing against one another in this cutthroat industry. For inspiration, read this story on the most successful Indian entrepreneur.

4. Who is the Youngest Millionaire in India?

The founder of Zepto, Kaivalya Vohra, is regarded as the youngest Indian to appear on the Hurun Rich List and has a net worth of more than Rs 1,000 billion.

5. Who is the Most Valuable Startup in India?

echoVME, founded by Sorav Jain, has shaken up the Indian start-up scene with its unique approach to digital marketing. The company’s focus on digital marketing is driven by data which provides valuable digital marketing services to its clients across the globe. This has resulted in echoVME fast becoming one of the most valuable startups in India.

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Written By Digital Scholar

Digital Scholar is a premier agency-styled digital marketing institute in India. Which offers an online digital marketing course and a free digital marketing course worldwide to elevate their digital skills and become industry experts. Digital Scholar is headed by Sorav Jain and co-founder Rishi Jain, who are pioneers in the field of digital marketing. Digital Scholar’s blogs touch upon numerous aspects of digital marketing and help you get intensive ideas of different domains of digital marketing.

Comments on “ Top 10 Inspiring Indian Entrepreneurs Success Stories: That Will Inspire You! ”

Really motivated by these real stories , you all inspire us from within and help us to work even more harder and to achieve our goals.

Many thanks to all, Poornima S B

Absolutely amazing inspirational stories. Thanks a lot

Thank you Pallavi.

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Top 30 Entrepreneurs of India | Successful Indian Entrepreneurs

Lakshya Singh

Lakshya Singh

Indians are fixated on the startup culture. People are choosing entrepreneurship over mundane, 9-to-5 jobs. However, not everyone succeeds as an entrepreneur. A survey revealed that approximately 11% of the Indians are engaged in 'early-stage entrepreneurial activities'. And only 5% of these early-stage entrepreneurs actually went on to establish their startup.

But keeping these statistics aside, some Indian startups have gone on to dominate their target segments. This post is dedicated to some of the most successful entrepreneurs from India whose ventures have revolutionized the daily life of millions, if not billions, across the globe. The path to name and fame wasn't easy for them; it involved several trials and tribulations.

List of Successful Indian Entrepreneurs 2022

  • Ritesh Agarwal

Shradha Sharma

  • Bhavish Aggarwal
  • Vijay Shekhar Sharma
  • Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah

Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal

  • Byju Raveendran

Albinder Dhindsa

  • Sanjiv Bajaj

Yashish Dahiya

Supam maheshwari, ashish hemrajani, trishneet arora.

  • Dhirubhai Ambani

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal

  • Azim Premji

Kabeer Biswas

Nithin kamath, kiran mazumdar shaw, sandeep tandon, prabhkiran singh.

  • Varun & Ghazal Alagh

Sameer Nigam

Successful Indian Entrepreneurs

1. Ritesh Agarwal

Company - oyo rooms.

Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Ritesh Agarwal founded OYO rooms in 2015. He was the recipient of the TiE – Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence Award (2014), became the first Asian to win ’20 under 20’ Thiel Fellowship (2013), was named one of the top 50 entrepreneurs by TATA First Dot Awards (2013) and became the world’s youngest CEO at the age of 17. Ritesh Agarwal, an Orissa boy coming from a business-oriented family, went to Kota to become an engineer.

But unlike other JEE aspirants, his passion caught hold of him and he did not take JEE preparation seriously. Instead, he wrote a book called 'Indian Engineering Colleges: A Complete Encyclopedia of Top 100 Colleges'; the book became immensely popular on Flipkart.

He was just 16 when he was selected for the Asian Science Camp held at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). With a penchant for traveling and having lived in tons of hotels, Ritesh observed a common problem at the places he stayed – the exorbitant price of the hotel room was not proportional to the facilities provided. He felt that majority of the hotels in India couldn’t satisfy the basic needs of a traveler on a budget.

Thus, he started Oravel Stays, his first venture in 2012. He improvised his business model and re-launched Oravel as ‘OYO’ which is short for ‘ ON YOUR OWN ’. Ritesh Agarwal became one of the most revered Indian entrepreneurs through OYO. At the age of 26 he became a billionaire.

Net worth of Ritesh Agarwal as of now is $2 billion. He became the second youngest billionaire after Kylie Jenner in the world.

case study of successful businessman

Company - YourStory

Shradha Sharma, founder of Yourstory | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

An epitome of courage and wisdom, Shradha Sharma was at the top of her career while working with famous news media houses such as Times of India and CNBC (Mumbai). During her stint with these organizations, she noticed that no one was willing to promote and air the stories of entrepreneurs—both successful and not-so-successful. She figured out that there are millions of stories storming around but no medium to share them with the masses. Shradha decided to create YourStory, an online portal that hosts entrepreneurial stories and other share-worthy content.

YourStory was started in 2008 and has allowed over 70,000 stories to come to the fore. Shradha Sharma leads a team of 100+ people who work together to offer content in 11 Indian languages. YourStory's aim is to provide a voice to the roller coaster of emotions that an entrepreneur goes through. Shradha Sharma is the recipient of the L’Oreal Paris Femina Award and has been included in the list of Worlds’ Top 500 LinkedIn Influencers . She is one of the most followed female entrepreneurs in India . Her channel has earned more than 26 million individual views.She is one of the most followed female entrepreneurs in India.Her net worth is of $1.3 billion.

Company - Ola Cabs

Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Bhavish Aggarwal, an IIT Bombay alumnus, co-founded the most popular cab aggregator in India – Ola Cabs – with Ankit Bhati . He is the recipient of the Billionth award in 2013 , Best startup of the year by IAMAL, and was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 list. Bhavish revolutionized the idea of cab-hailing in India by making use of smartphones. Ola Cabs was different from the other cab services at that time in the sense that it leveraged smartphones and GPS technology; thus, it became easy for people to book cabs from anywhere, at any time. Bhavish Aggarwal left a well-paying job at Microsoft to work on Ola Cabs. No one supported his idea but it was his strong will, determination, and eagerness to take risks in life that led him to the pinnacle of success. Bhavish Aggarwal is counted amongst the most successful Indian entrepreneurs. According to Time magazine Bhavish Aggarwal is one of the 100 Most Influential People this year.   His Net worth is $ 500 million.

Company - Paytm

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the founder of Paytm , the cornerstone of digitized payments in India. Vijay is from Aligarh, India. A graduate of the Delhi College of Engineering, Vijay worked on several projects and at a small startup before taking the entrepreneurial plunge. He put in USD 2 million to get One97 up and running. One97 is the parent company of Paytm. The payments platform gave Indians access to a mobile wallet, the facility of making payments using QR codes, simplified bill payments, and a lot more. These features made Paytm wildly popular. In this manner, Vijay Shekhar Sharma became an inspiration to budding entrepreneurs all over the globe. He Won the Best Serial Entrepreneur Award at the Rural and Urban Development Summit and Awards 2022 presented by the Minister of State for Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

Company - Zomato

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, founder of Zomato | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah revolutionized the food delivery segment in India through its first foodtech unicorn Zomato . The duo are IIT Delhi graduates. Zomato started out as ‘Foodiebay’ and was first launched in Delhi. It was later extended to Mumbai and Kolkata. Now, there is not a single place in India where Zomato doesn't render its services. Zomato's mobile app is its USP; the app has an excellent user interface that lets you order food from the restaurant/eatery of your choice and make hassle-free payments. In Jan 2020, Zomato acquired one of its competitors- Uber Eats in India for a valuation of $300 million. In July 2022, Zomato went public with its stock listing at a premium of 53% over its issue price and it commanded a market cap of Rs 43,000 cr as of Mar 2023. In 2018, Prakash Chaddah left Zomato to venture into different fields. Net worth of Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal is estimated to be Rs 2,000 cr as of Mar 2023.

case study of successful businessman

Company - CRED

Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Kunal Shah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Wilson College, Mumbai, and briefly pursued an MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies before dropping out. Shah's first startup was a company named Paisaback, which provided cash-back promotions for organized retailers. Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon are the founders of one of India’s most innovative business models – Freecharge. CRED is Shah's second venture after he sold Freecharge to Snapdeal in 2015 for $400 million. He is definitely one of the most famous entrepreneurs in India.

Also Read: How does CRED make money?

Company- Flipkart

Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, founder of Flipkart | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are the founders of Flipkart. The e-commerce segment in India underwent a drastic change courtesy of Flipkart. Sachin and Binny found discrepancies while searching for products on Amazon's online store. The duo realized that the USP of their e-commerce initiative would be the timely delivery of products complemented by a simplistic user interface that leveraged the latest technology. Both the founders have now stepped down from their positions in Flipkart after it was acquired by Walmart in 2018. Flipkart is still giving a tough fight to all the e-commerce platforms out there and continues to win the hearts of Indians. India Today ranked them 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.

Company - MakeMyTrip

Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Deep Kalra is the founder of MakeMyTrip. The credit for the introduction of online train bookings in India goes to Deep Kalra . A graduate of St. Stephen’s College with an MBA degree from IIM Ahmedabad, Deep worked for GE Capital and ABN AMRO bank. But the office culture and 9-5 job couldn't captivate him enough. With a $2 million investment from eVentures and his co-founders, Deep Kalra founded MakeMyTrip, (earlier known as 'India Ahoy') in the year 2000. The company was listed on NASDAQ in August 2010. After IRCTC joined the race, Deep diversified MakeMyTrip by introducing hotel bookings. MakeMyTrip has mergers with MyGola, TrulyMadly, and the ITC group, to name a few. Deep Kalra is the chairperson of the NASSCOM Internet Working Group, a member of the Executive Council of NASSCOM, and is part of CII’s tourism sub-committee. He was ranked no 1 in a list of most powerful digital influencers in India by KPMG in 2011. His net worth is $ 136 million.

Company - BYJU'S

Byju Raveendran, founder of BYJU's | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

BYJU’S has helped thousands of students who struggle with subjects such as mathematics and science crack some of the hardest entrance exams like the JEE, NEET, and UPSC, CAT, IAS, and international examinations such as GRE and GMAT . BYJU'S has dominated the online education vertical for quite some time now. Byju Raveendran is the founder of BYJU'S. He is an engineer who worked in a shipping firm and accidentally stepped into the field of teaching when he assisted his friends with their CAT exam. Raveendran's friends cleared the exam with flying colors and this motivated him to take up teaching on a full-time basis. Byju Raveendran started BYJU's with an initial investment of just INR 2 lakhs. The startup's valuation has recently crossed $22 billion as of March 2022, and the company have over 115 million registered students.In January 2022, the company joined Simplilearn, Unacademy, upGrad, PrepInsta Prime and Vedantu to become one of the founding members of IAMAI's India EdTech Consortium.

In March 2022, the company  signed a contract with Qatar Investment Authority to establish a new edtech company and a R&D center in Doha.

Company - BigBasket

Hari Menon, founder of BigBasket | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

The concept of bringing the grocery store to one's doorstep has done wonders across the globe. With it, the problem of waiting in long queues at groceries has now gone for a toss. Indians too now prefer the online route for grocery shopping. And who has dominated this segment? BigBasket. Hari Menon is the founder of BigBasket . With sales of over INR 150 crores per month, BigBasket has cemented its place as one of the big shots in the Indian e-commerce domain. It is operational in Bangalore , Mumbai , Delhi-NCR , Hyderabad , Chennai , Pune , Ahmedabad , and Kolkata at present. In 2021 Tata Digital buys 64% stake in BigBasket His  company received a lot of awards such as Consumer Internet Company of the Year by VC Circle Awards 2016, Best Online Grocer at Coca Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2016, Best retail and e-commerce app of the year at AWS Mobility Awards 2017, etc.

Company - Grofers

Albinder Dhindsa, founder of Grofers | Successful Indian Entrepreneur

Albinder Dhindsa wanted to provide the services of a grocery, bakery, and general store through a consolidated platform. His dream took the form of Grofers , an Indian online grocery service. Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar founded Grofers. The duo worked hard to infuse new ideas into the online delivery system in India. Grofers is worth around $650 million today. The company has shifted from a B2B to a B2C business model . Grofers was named one of the Top 10 startups in Delhi and Gurgaon in 2014. Grofers had attained unicorn status or $1 billion in valuation, after raising over $120 million from food aggregator Zomato Ltd. On December 13, 2021, Grofers changed its brand name to Blinkit. As of 2021 Albinder holds 5-10% stake in the company.

case study of successful businessman

Company - Bajaj Group

Sanjiv Bajaj is known as the Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv. Born into a family of the Bajajs, a business house started by Jamnalal Bajaj, who led the Bajaj Group to glory, Sanjiv had the zeal to raise their family business to amazing highs. Sanjiv is the son of Rahul Bajaj and great-grandson of Jamnalal Bajaj. After completing his Btech. in Mechanical engineering, followed by a Masters in manufacturing systems from the University of Warwick and an MBA from Harvard Business school, Sanjiv started his career with Bajaj Auto in 1994.

He had been a promising businessman from the very first, which helped him scale numerous prestigious designations within the organization. He had brought the American-style supply chain management to Bajaj Auto. Bajaj is currently serving as a non-executive director of Bajaj Auto.

Along with Bajaj Auto, Sanjiv also contributed to Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Bajaj Finance for which he was appointed as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Sanjiv even led Bajaj Allianz General Insurance to emerge as the 2nd most profitable insurance company in India. Being an accomplished entrepreneur, Bajaj won a range of awards for the same, like the Entrepreneur of the Year" Award 2015-16 from Bombay Management Association, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2017, Economic Times Awards for Business Leader of the Year 2018. Therefore, Sanjiv Bajaj can be regarded as one of the greatest entrepreneurs and business leaders that India has seen to date. Sanjiv Bajaj has a revenue of over ₹ 36,692 crore ($ 4.4 billion) and profit of over ₹ 2,866 crore ($ 348 million) for H1 FY2022-23.

Company - PolicyBazaar

PolicyBazaar has certainly grown to become one of the best insurance aggregators and a global technology company but it might not have secured the illustrious position that it now stands on if it was not for the Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder of the company, Yashish Dahiya. Dahiya was a student of IIT Delhi, from where he did his Bachelors in Engineering. He then went on to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Ahmedabad, which was followed by an MBA from INSEAD in 2001.

Yashish was the MD of the pan-European travel distributor, ebookers.com, and had previous experience of working as a strategy consultant of Bain & Co. in their London office before he founded PolicyBazaar in 2008. Yashish Dahiya had a major contribution to PolicyBazaar since he founded the company along with Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar in 2008, which has successfully become a key influencer in consumer decisions around insurance now. Furthermore, the platform hosts over 100 million visitors a year on average on its platform.

Dahiya was honored with the EY Entrepreneur of The Year (EOY) 2019 award in the Financial Services category and more for all that he had done for PolicyBazaar. Yashish Dahiya is also an extraordinary sportsperson along with a celebrated entrepreneur. He is the Indian masters swimming champion and has taken part in several world masters swimming championships representing India. Furthermore, Dahiya also boasts of having the 3rd fastest half ironman timing and the 5th fastest Ironman timings amongst Indians across all age groups along with having the fastest timings in his age group. In June 2021, Policybazaar obtained the insurance broking license from IRADA and announced that it would set up 100 offline outlets across India. The company also surrendered its web aggregator license.  PB Fintech Ltd, the parent company of Policybazaar, opened its initial public offering (IPO) and raised ₹5,625 crore(US$700 million).Shares of PB Fintech Ltd began trading on  National Stock  Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in November 2021.

Company - Dream11

It seems nothing less than a dream when we talk about a fan of Manchester United, Mumbai Indians, and the Indian cricket team, who founded a company named Dream11 for the love of sports that he nurtures. Yes, it happened with Harsh Jain, who with his founding partner, Bhavit Sheth, founded Dream11 and Dream Sports, India’s no. 1 sports fantasy platform for sporting enthusiasts. That allows users to play fantasy cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi, handball, basketball, volleyball, rugby,futsal, American football,and baseball.

Harsh was the son of Anand Jain, an Indian business magnate previously associated with Mukesh Ambani. He was born in Mumbai, India, and was an engineering student at the University of Pennsylvania, after which he went for an MBA from Columbia Business School. Harsh began his career with Microsoft from where he completed a 2 months Summer Internship from June 2006 to August of the same year after which he went to work in Jai Corp Limited as a Marketing Manager. His father, Anand Jain was then the Chairman of the company. Jain worked at Jai for 13 months, when in 2008 he decided to establish Dream11.

Harsh is currently serving as a Culture Enforcement Officer (CEO) & Co-Founder of Dream Sports (Dream11, FanCode, DreamX, and more) and one of the leading entrepreneurs of India. Harsh is a major inspiration for the budding entrepreneurs of the country for sure. In April 2019, Dream11 became the first  Indian Fantasy sport company to become a  unicorn.In November 2021 Dream11 was valued at $8 billion.In December 2022, Dream11 had 160 million active users in India.

case study of successful businessman

Company - FirstCry

Supam Maheshwari is better known as the CEO and Co-Founder of Firstcry, India’s online marketplace for baby products. Supam was a postgraduate student from IIM Ahmedabad and started Brainvisa, as his first company with Amitava Saha, back in March 2000. The Pune-based company witnessed a steady growth before it was acquired by the US-based group, Indecomm Global in 2007.

Supam served as the Co-founder and the CEO of Brainvisa till December 2009 in order to found another company. He founded FirstCry.com in August 2010 along with Amitava Saha, Prashant Jadhav, and Sanket Hattimattur.

The idea of establishing an eCommerce company focused on baby care products was rooted deep in his personal experience as a first-time parent, who faced numerous challenges in sourcing the best product for his baby. Firstcry has grown to be a market leader when it comes to baby products online. The company currently boasts of over 380 stores across India.

His net worth could be estimated at 190 million USD.The baby products marketplace’s valuation stands at 1.9 billion USD after an equity funding round of 13 million USD with pi Ventures As of 2021.

FirstCry had increased its IPO size from around $700 Mn to $1 Bn, aiming at a valuation of around $6-7 BnIN Aug 2022

Company - Zivame

Successful entrepreneur of India

Richa Kar is the face of one of India’s largest online lingerie stores, Zivame. Richa was born in a conventional family in Jamshedpur. Kar was an engineering student, who completed her graduation from BITS Pilani and eventually went for a corporate job in Bangalore. Richa eventually left her job in order to pursue an MBA, after which she joined Spencers Retail and then SAP Retail.

Her exposure in the retail industry helped her develop knowledge and practical skills beneficial for the retail industry. While working with SAP, Richa was intrigued about Victoria’s Secret, America’s largest retail company for women’s lingerie, and the success it enjoys. Soon after, she realized that India hasn’t got any such websites empowering women to shop for their own lingerie online smoothly and fearlessly.

Though Richa had a considerable experience of around 8 years by then in the retail industry, her parents didn’t get the concept of selling lingerie and weren’t sure how they would speak of her daughter, who is involved in such a profession to others. Therefore, she gravely lacked any support from her family but with her strong will and zeal to found a startup, she ultimately managed to establish Zivame with Kapil Karekar in 2011. Zivame has now become an online  leader in its  segment, offering more than 5,000 styles, 50 brands, and 100 sizes. Zivame products come at affordable prices with high quality.

The company that initially started with Rs 35 lakhs, which Richa borrowed from her friends, is currently one of the best women’s lingerie marketplace in India. Zivame has received $69 million in funding at a valuation of $98.6M and her net worth is Rs 749 crores, according to reports. The company currently holds about 26% of the market share of the women's online lingerie market in India, which stood at Rs 430 crore in FY19.

Company - BookMyShow

Top Entrepreneur of India

Ashish Hemrajani is an Indian entrepreneur, popularly identified as the Co-founder and CEO of Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the parent company of India’s biggest online entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow. Ashish Hemrajani completed his MBA with Marketing as his specialization from Sydenham University in 1997.

As soon as he completed his MBA, he went to work with J. Water Thompson. However, after working in the client management segment of the firm for 2 years, Ashish left the company in order to start his new venture with Bigtree Entertainment and BookMyShow in 1999.

BookMyShow still stands as a leading online ticketing solution for Indians. Under the leadership of Ashish, the company further expanded to New Zealand, UAE, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. BookMyShow also had a feature to buy tickets of sports matches like IPL , ISL, etc. They now have  employ over 400 people across offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore. Ashish Hemrajani Net worth is estimated at Rs.3000 Crore as of 2021.

case study of successful businessman

Company - HCL

Top Entrepreneur of India

Shiv Nadar is a founding member of HCL Technologies and a prominent Indian entrepreneur, billionaire industrialist, and the recipient of India’s 3rd highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan. Shiv Nadar is the 3rd richest person of India, as of September 2021 with a net worth of around US$29.3 billion. Nadar goes by the nickname “Magus” (meaning: wizard in Old Persian), which he received from his friends.

Nadar was educated in the St. Joseph Boys Higher Secondary School, Trichy, and received his pre-university degree from the American College, Madurai. He again pursued Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, and received his Bachelor’s in engineering.

Walchand Group's Cooper Engineering Ltd., Pune, which he joined in 1967, marked the start of Nadar’s career. However, he soon left his job role and founded Microcomp, a company that focused on selling teledigital calculators in the Indian market. Soon after that, he founded HCL in 1976 in collaboration with several friends and colleagues and with an investment of Rs 187,000.

The company made revolutionary advancements in the Indian IT landscape and is still regarded as one of the best among the homegrown IT companies whereas Shiv Nadar stands tall and towering as one of the top entrepreneurs of India.

Company - TAC Security

Top Entrepreneur of India

The founder and CEO of the cyber security company, TAC Security, Trishneet Arora, was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 2018 Asia list and also in Under 40 List of India's Brightest Business Minds 2019 by Fortune magazine, in 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year in Service Business-Security, 2021 Fortune India 40 Under 40  and 2022 he was Awarded as global leader of tomorrow.

Arora failed in the 8th standard but his relentless love for computers and coding drove him through the path of glory to become a professional ethical hacker and a renowned cybersecurity expert. Arora dropped out of school but continued with his studies along with fixing computers and cleaning up software.

Trishneet was only 19 when he founded his own company, TAC Security Solutions in 2013 and he has never looked back since then. The cybersecurity company, TAC Security offers protection to numerous corporations like Reliance Industries, CBI, Gujarat Police, and Punjab Police and others, against network vulnerabilities and data theft. Trishneet Arora's net worth is $5 million  as of now.

Company - Reliance Industries

Top Entrepreneur of India

The founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, or Dhirubhai Ambani, as he is popularly known, was a successful entrepreneur and business tycoon, who took Reliance public in 1977. Dhirubhai has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades heaped on during his lifetime and was also awarded the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honor after he died in the year 2002.

Dhirubhai was a student of the Bahadur Khanji school. After the completion of his studies, he left for the Port of Aden, Yemen, to work for A. Besse and Co., for which he was later involved in selling shell and Burmah oil products. However, he left Aden and came back to his motherland to start his own company. Initially starting with "Majin" in partnership with Champaklal Damani, Dhirubhai eventually set up Reliance Commercial Corporation in 1966, which was later rechristened as Reliance Industries in May 1973.

Also, it was Dhirubhai who launched the popular textile brand ‘Vimal’. Dhirubhai died when he was 69 and was worth around $2.9 bn upon his death.

Company - ArcelorMittal

Top Entrepreneur of India

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is the Executive Chairman and CEO of the largest steel-making company in the world, ArcelorMittal, and an Indian steel magnate based in the United Kingdom. Besides, Mittal also serves as the Chairman of Aperam, a stainless steel manufacturer, which spun out of ArcelorMittal. Mittal owns around 38% stakes in his company along with another 20% stakes in the EFL Championship football club, Queens Park Rangers.

Lakshmi Mittal has also been appointed as a member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs since 2008. Mittal was recognized with titles, honors, and awards of various kinds from time to time including “the third-richest person in the world” as announced by Forbes in 2005. He was also announced as the "Business Person of 2006" by Sunday Times, "Person of the Year" by Financial Times, In 2008  he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, and more.

Born in a Marwadi family, Lakshmi studied at Shri Daulatram Nopany Vidyalaya in Calcutta and graduated from the University of Calcutta affiliated St Xavier's College with a B.Com degree in the first class. Mittal first chose the business way by founding the steel factory PT Ispat Indo. He went to purchase numerous companies from abroad, like the Irish Steel plant, starting from the state-owned steelworks in Trinidad and Tobago, all of which were successful initiatives.

Mittal ultimately succeeded to come out triumphant in a hostile takeover bid of Arcelor and later renamed it to ArcelorMittal, which is currently responsible for bringing a lion’s share of revenues for Mittal. As of 2022, he was ranked as the 15th richest man in India by Forbes with a net-worth of US$17.8 billion.

Company - Wipro

Top Entrepreneur of India

Informally known as the Czar of the IT industry of India, Azim Premji is the face of Wipro. Premji is known as an entrepreneur, investor, engineer, business tycoon, and philanthropist who was responsible for cementing the position of Wipro as one of the most prestigious of the Indian multinational corporations through more than four decades of growth and diversification.

Azim Premji is the founding Chairman and a non-executive member of the board of the company and has been twice listed by Time Magazine among the 100 Most Influential people.

Premji went for a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University but he had to come back to take charge of Wipro, which was then termed as Western Indian Vegetable Products. He expanded the business to a large scale and later on discovered the vacuum that IBM left on its expulsion from India. He filled the gap by developing the IT wing of Wipro.

Premji is one of the most successful Indian entrepreneurs whose total wealth was estimated $9.3billion and $25 billion respectively as of feb 2023 . Moreover, he is also recognized for his philanthropic nature. He makes most of his donations to the Azim Premji Foundation and had agreed to give away half his wealth by signing the Giving Pledge in 2013. In 2019, he dropped from the 2nd position in the Forbes India Rich list to 17th position after giving away a huge amount to charity.

He topped the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List for 2020

Also Read: The Subsidiaries And Acquisitions That Make Wipro Ltd Successful

Company - Dunzo

Top Entrepreneur of India

We all have heard about Dunzo but do you know who founded it? The 24/7 delivery app was founded in July 2014 by Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha. Kabeer Biswas is the CEO and Co-founder of Dunzo, who completed his B.E from the University of Mumbai and followed it with an MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS).

He started his career with Bharti Airtel, Videocon Telecommunications, and then went on to found Dunzo. Dunzo currently provides its delivery services in eight Indian cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

In August 2021, Dunzo  launched a new service, Dunzo Daily, to deliver essentials and household items in 19 minutes. January 2022, Reliance Retail led a US$240 million funding round along with Dunzo's existing investors Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital and Alteria Capital. Reliance Retail invested US$200 million for a 25.8% stake in Dunzo.

Company - Tata Group

Top Entrepreneur of India

Ratan Tata is the former Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Group and is still the head of the charitable trusts of the company. A scion of the Tata family, Ratan Tata was the son of Naval Tata and later adopted by Jamsetji Tata.

He is well-known as an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and one of the few business tycoons who are synonymous with success. Tata was the recipient of two of the highest Indian civilian awards - Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

Ratan Tata was a student of the Cornell University of Architecture and completed his Advanced Management Program from the Harvard Business school in 1975. Tata was the apparent successor of J.R.D Tata, who started with the shop floor of Tata Steel and was responsible for expanding the company on a massive scale.

Largely credited with the diversification and growth of Tata, Ratan Tata helped the company acquire numerous businesses and companies including Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and more, and scaled the company to unimaginable heights. Ratan Tata is currently featured among the top entrepreneurs of India and an inspirational figure for all the budding entrepreneurs and other individuals.

case study of successful businessman

Company - Zerodha

Top Entrepreneur of India

Nithin Kamath is the Co-founder of the biggest stock-broking company in India, Zerodha, an inspirational entrepreneur, and is famous as one of the self-made billionaires of India. Nithin along with his brother, Nikhil Kamat has also been declared as the richest self-made billionaire in India under 40, according to IIFL Wealth and Hurun India’s 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List 2020 with a combined wealth of Rs 24,000 crores, as assessed in 2020. In year end march 2022 zerodha net profit was 2094.3 crore.

The company  has valued itself at $3billion, based on the valuations of employee stock option. Nithin Kamath was a student of Bangalore Institute of Technology but he was never quite inclined to academics. Kamath got into the world of trading at the early age of 17 and eventually, his love for trading grew.

Nithin was successful in trading but also lost quite a lot of his money in the early 2000s. Kamath then returned to a fixed job at a call center, where he worked for 4 years before joining Reliance Money as a franchisee in proprietary trading and advisory services. He worked hard and saved his capital to establish his own company Zerodha in 2010 and emerge at the top of his game with Nikhil.

Company - Biocon

Top Entrepreneur of India

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur distinguished for being the executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited. Furthermore, she was also recognized as the former chairperson of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Kiran was the recipient of the Othmer Gold Medal for her contributions to the fields of science and chemistry.

Financial Times listed her among the Top 50 women in the business list while Forbes listed her as the 68th most powerful woman in the world . Furthermore, Kiran was also named the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020.

After completing her graduation from Bangalore University with a bachelor’s degree in Zoology, Kiran went to the fermentation science and brewing at Melbourne University and topped her class emerging as a master brewer in 1975. She struggled to join as a master brewer in India after serving Carlton and United Breweries because the breweries here believed that the job of a master brewer is a “ man’s work .”

However, Kiran discovered huge opportunities abroad and joined Biocon Biochemicals Limited, and eventually started Biocon India. In 2015, she joined The Giving Pledge, promising that at least half of her wealth will be dedicated to philanthrop. In 2019, she was listed as the 68th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes . She received Firodia Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 for her contributions to science and technology.

In January 2020  Kiran received the international award and became the fourth Indian citizen to be honored with Australia's highest civilian award. In year 2023 they start

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw scholarship for the students  who study in the fields of science, technology or mathematics at the Mount Helen Campus.   By 2022 she has a net worth of $3.1 billion.

Also Read: Top Biotech Startups In India

Company - Freecharge

Top Entrepreneur of India

Back in 2010, paying gas, electricity, telephone bills, and recharging our mobiles, DTH, and more wasn’t as easy as it is now. Then, Freecharge was one of the companies that came into being, which greatly helped the Indian masses to empower their digital ways. Sandeep Tandon was one of the founders of this precursor of today’s digital payments app, Freecharge, which he founded in 2010 with Kunal Shah.

A technology investor and one of the most successful entrepreneurs of India, Sandeep Tandon was a student of Bombay Scottish, after which he pursued a Bachelor's and then Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. Sandeep started his career with a Los Angeles startup where he worked as an application manager.

However, it wasn’t long before he left the company and initiated his own venture, Celetronix but that was again sold to Jabil Circuits.

Freecharge was the next company that he founded, which emerged as the fastest-growing mobile payments app in India. After a short but successful period, Freecharge was acquired by Snapdeal and then eventually acquired by Axis bank, which currently owns the company.

Being a successful entrepreneur with years of experience, Sandeep Tandon is currently serving as the Managing Director of Tandon Group, as an Angel investor, and a mentor to the young entrepreneurs.

Company - Bewakoof

Top Entrepreneur of India

As eccentric as its name, Bewakoof boasts of an incredibly successful run as a casual wear and accessories hotspot for the current generation and undoubtedly a major part of its success goes to its Founder Director, Prabhkiran Singh. He along with Siddharth Munot founded Bewakoof.com back in 2010, which has since been a raging success for its unique printed t-shirts, joggers, funky mobile covers, and other accessories.

Both being civil engineering graduates from IIT Bombay, Prabhkiran and Siddharth were well-known to each other. In fact, both of them started with their independent startups right after they completed studies but none of them truly worked before Bewakoof was launched, which disrupted the Indian markets, promoting the “silliness” when it comes to fashion.

The estimated annual revenue of Bewakoof in 2020 was INR 200 Crores.  The net worth of Bewakoof is estimated at INR 100 Crores.

Varun & Ghazal Alagh

Company - mamaearth.

Top Entrepreneur of India

The Indian traditional consumer products market was all saturated and boring, hoping for an upcoming disruption, which Mamaearth brought with its honest, organic, and safe products. The initial idea emerged out of a real-life problem that Varun and Ghazal Alagh faced while raising their own baby.

All of us want to extend our utmost care and best quality products to a newborn and Varun and Ghazal Algh wanted the same for their baby. However, it was when they were expecting their baby that they found the reality about the Indian baby products, none of which met the safety standards required to be applied on a baby. They first started to import baby products from the US but that was neither feasible nor less of a burden to their finances.

This made the research, apply for proper certifications and resulted in the launch of Mamaearth after 4 years of hard work and R&D. Mamaearth is currently hailed as the first Asian brand with the MadeSafe certification for its toxin-free and entirely herbal products. Furthermore, it boasts of having served over 1.5 million customers across 500+ cities of India. The parents turned entrepreneurs, Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh have achieved an envious success and are looking forward to a brighter way ahead as one of the most successful Indian entrepreneurs.

The company has expanded into offline distribution through multi-brand retail outlets and exclusive stores,  to both online and offline markets. Their next step is to expand the offline business to 100,000 outlets and 100 Indian cities.  The company has estimated revenue of INR964 crore in FY22, a growth of 109% over the past year.

Company - Phonepe

Top Entrepreneur of India

PhonePe is akin to digital payments in today’s India. This market leader of a UPI-based digital payments platform was founded by Sameer Nigam, along with his co-founders, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer in December 2015.

Sameer Nigam has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from The Wharton School. After completing his schooling at DPS Noida, Sameer went to study Computer Engineering at the University of Mumbai and then completed a Masters of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona, finally finishing his MBA in 2009.

Sameer served as the Director of Search Product Development at Shopzilla for a little over 6 years, after which he launched Mime360, an online social media distribution channel. Mime360 was eventually acquired by Flipkart, where he again served as a Senior Vice President, Engineering but he left the company after one and half years to start his own company, PhonePe.

PhonePe has since been a roaring success! PhonePe continues to be the top player in the Indian payments ecosystem and accounted for nearly 50 percent of all UPI transactions processed in December 2022, According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

We hope this list of famous Indian entrepreneurs motivates you to act on that startup idea you have in your head. Who else do you think should be featured in this list? And what makes you go gaga over him or her?

Contact: [email protected]

Who is the youngest entrepreneur in India?

Shravan Kumaran and Sanjay Kumaran are the youngest entrepreneurs in India. They co-founded the company called 'GoDimensions' a development unit, in 2011 at their home at the age of 10.

Who is the world's richest person?

The world's richest person is none other than the founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, who boasts of a net worth of $223 billion, as of February 28, 2022.

Who is the richest Indian?

Mukesh Ambani is the richest Indian with a wealth of $103 Billion, as of March 2022.

Is a CEO an owner?

The title of CEO is typically given to someone by the board of directors. Owner is a job title that is earned by sole proprietors and entrepreneurs, who have total ownership of the business. However, these job titles are not mutually exclusive — CEOs can be owners and owners can be CEOs.

Who are the leading Indian entrepreneurs now?

To name some of the most prominent Indian entrepreneurs, we must list:

  • Mukesh Ambani
  • Gautam Adani
  • Binny and Sachin Bansal

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Vector illustration for the article How to Write a Great Case Study for Business

How to Write a Great Case Study for Business

Julian lumpkin.

case study of successful businessman

  • December 9, 2021
  • Creating Case Studies

A Case Study for business is extremely powerful. If your company has at least one strong Case Study for your sales and marketing teams to use when engaging prospects, your business will prosper. But what makes for a great Case Study?

The secret: A great Case Study tells a great story.

This post summarizes how to structure your Case Study for business in a way that will tell a compelling story and help turn prospects into clients.

How to Structure a Case Study for Business

There are five parts to any successful Case Study for Business: the Summary, the Overview, the Problem/Situation, the Solution, and the Results. Take a look at the directions for using our Case Study template to learn about each section in greater depth, but for a high-level overview, read on.

The Summary highlights the most crucial aspect of the Case Study: the big result(s) you helped your client achieve. Remember: Most readers will glance at your Case Study for just a few seconds to determine if it’s relevant, so make sure the Summary grabs the reader’s attention. It needs to jump off the page in both formatting and the message itself. A good example is Tech company increases renewals 22 percent by adopting intelligent billing software.

2. Overview

The Overview is part of the next section, which is the Problem or Situation. This opening paragraph or set of bullet points identifies your client and summarizes the client’s industry, size, clientele, revenue, and any other type of identifying information. It also gives the reader context, sets the scene for your Case Study, and paves the way to introducing the problem. A strong sample segue is Company X realized it was missing out on opportunities for sales to connect with prospects.

After the Overview, transition to the Problem or Situation. This is the core scenario or reason that led your client to your solution.

To enhance the story of the Case Study, make sure you lay out the cause and effect of your client’s situation. It isn’t enough to state that the client was, for example, not seeing many sales. Dig deeper: What does a lack of sales mean for the client, its growth, and its future?

Also, your Case Study will resonate more strongly with readers if you use specific statistics, direct quotes, and relevant images.

An example of a Problem is as follows: Company X wasn’t living up to its expectations in sales revenue (60 percent dip YOY) and realized its key issue was an inability to connect with a portion of prospects. Perfectly qualified prospects continued to walk away from Company X’s product offering.

4. Solution

The Solution is where you’ll introduce a little self-promotion as you break down how your company resolved each and every one of your client’s problems.

Supporting evidence is essential at this point. A direct quote about  exactly  how your company eliminated the client’s pain points goes a long way toward a successful case study.

And as you did in the Problem section, incorporate specific metrics and details. These elements not only make your Case Study a great story, they also make it a more compelling sales tool. Prospects who read your Case Study will put themselves in your customers’ shoes and see themselves having a similar win.

The following is a sample Solution:

Once we integrated our product, Company X saw an immediate 20 percent boost on close rates. In less than six months, Company X had a library of more than one hundred Success Stories built up for its sales team to recall.

“SuccessKit solved an age-old problem on the sales floor—making sure the sales reps put their best feet forward each and every time they engage an opportunity,” said Jane Doe, VP of Sales at Company X.

The Results section summarizes some of your value propositions. It’s best to be specific to the client in question and use facts and figures (e.g., Increased revenue by 15 percent in three months ). However, you can be more general as well (e.g., simply Increased revenue ).

Bullet points work very well in this section, as this is where most people will look at first to get an idea of what you’re really offering. Make sure it stands out and is easy to read.

We at SuccessKit can help you tell great stories with your Case Studies for business. Contact us at [email protected] to learn how.

case study of successful businessman

Julian has focused his career on B2B sales and sales management, specifically bringing new technologies to market. After years as an elite sales rep, he began leading teams, specifically focused on coaching sales reps on how to be direct, credible, and respected throughout the sales process. Julian conceived of and designed SuccessKit when running an 18 person sales-team at Axial, a b2b startup, as a way to help sales reps have better conversations by utilizing customer success examples and other content more effectively.

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Crafting Compelling Narratives: How to Write a Business Case Study

June 13th, 2024 by JWU

Crafting Compelling Narratives: How to Write a Business Case Study banner

Working in the business world, there is a lot that you need to know. It is not just about the technical aspects of running a business and handling finances, but marketing and beyond. One of the most versatile and useful skills you can develop as a business professional is that of being able to write a simple business case study. These can be powerful marketing tools that can help you build your brand’s reputation, increase customer loyalty, and demonstrate your brand’s unique value proposition.

So, what is a case study in business and why does it matter? We are covering all of this, as well as tips on how to write a business case study, below.

What Is a Business Case Study?

Specifically, a  business case study  refers to a publication that covers how a company or brand responded to a specific problem or situation in a successful way. For example, a case study might explain how a company’s services helped a client solve a problem or achieve a desired outcome. These case studies can then be published on business websites, blogs, and even shared on social media as a form of effective marketing.

In many ways, a business case study is a cohesive combination of brand information and customer testimonials that can help promote a company’s products/services in a positive light.

Why Are Business Case Studies Important?

Business case studies are important for businesses of all sizes. When they are well written, these publications can help showcase a brand’s unique expertise while building trust with clients. Likewise, these case studies can demonstrate the potential real-world results that clients can expect when they work with your business. This is often more persuasive than making simple claims alone.

Common Elements:

The exact elements of a business case study can vary based on the exact scenario and products/services being covered. However, most successful business case studies will include most or all these components:

  • A compelling storyline
  • Client testimonials or interviews
  • A clear call to action
  • Visuals or other presentations of data

Why Writing Business Case Studies Is Important for Your Organization

There are several reasons as to why business professionals should be able to write compelling case studies as part of their everyday jobs. Let’s dive into why writing is so crucial here:

Showcase Your Value Proposition

First, business case studies can be extremely effective when it comes to showcasing your brand’s unique value proposition. Case studies can help demonstrate how your brand has successfully addressed specific pain points with examples and tangible results.

Build Credibility

Meanwhile, business case studies can also be an excellent way to build credibility for your brand in a way that is more compelling and persuasive than more “traditional” marketing strategies. This is because with a business case study, you can use real-world examples to show potential clients first-hand what your company’s products/services can do for them.

Differentiate Yourself

Writing and publishing business case studies can also help your company set itself apart from its competitors in any space. This is because a professionally written business case study will showcase the real value of your brand, proving that you are not just another company making promises. Instead, a case study provides real-world examples and applications that demonstrate your brand’s history of success.

Multiple Use Cases

When it comes to marketing tools, a business case study is also one of the most versatile options out there. Even once a business case study is written and published, it can be repurposed for any number of applications and content types. From a single case study, for example, you might be able to reuse the content for your company’s website, social media page, sales presentations, and much more.

Steps for Writing an Effective Business Case Study

Now that you have a better understanding of what a business case study entails and why these are such crucial tools for your business, you may be wondering where to start when it comes to writing one. Writing effective business case studies is something that will take some time and practice on your part. Still, there are some tips and best practices you can follow to write better case studies today.

Client Selection

First, understand the importance of selecting the right client to highlight for your case study. You will want to make sure that you choose a case with a clear problem, a compelling solution you offered, and quantifiable results. From there, you will need to reach out to the client personally and make sure they are willing to participate in any interviews or write a testimonial as needed.

Get Client Buy-In

Of course, it is not enough to get a client to agree to participate. Ideally, you will want a client enthusiastic about being part of the case study. This will ensure that you get the best content possible when it comes to quotes, data approval, and the like. Not sure where to begin with client buy-in? Refer to some of your happiest clients, including those who have left your company positive reviews online, and go from there.

The Storytelling Approach

Another critical component of an effective business study is storytelling. With great storytelling, your finished case study will be more of a narrative and not just a list of facts. As you craft the storyline for your narrative, try to include the following components:

  • The Challenge – What pain point did the client face?
  • The Solution – How did your company’s product or service address it? This section should be as specific and in-depth as possible.
  • The Results – What was the outcome of your company working with the client? This section should contain quantifiable metrics and the impact your involvement had on the client’s business.
  • Testimonials – Being able to incorporate direct client quotes can add a lot of authenticity to your case study.

Keep It Focused

When writing a business case study, it is also essential to keep your document as focused as possible. At the same time, be careful not to overpromise or include absolutes that could mislead potential clients.

Visual Appeal

A business case study is not compelling if nobody is reading it. This is why it is key to break up larger blocks of text with plenty of eye-catching visuals. This adds visual interest and is more likely to keep readers engaged. Whenever possible, be sure to incorporate relevant images, infographics, and other visuals to break up chunks of text.

Have a Strong Call to Action

Finally, do not forget the clear call to action. Do not assume that readers will be able to read your mind and take the next step on their own. Instead, clearly guide readers on what you want them to do after reading your case study, whether it is reaching out to you, requesting a quote, or signing up for an email list.

Beyond the Basics: Tips for Excellence

In addition to the above best practices for crafting a compelling business case study, there are a few additional tips you can follow to take your writing to the next level.

Tailor to Your Target Audience

Whenever possible, try to write in a way that targets the most specific audience in your case study. Of course, this requires you to have a solid understanding of who your target audience is and what their specific pain points are. From there, you can speak their language and address their most pressing concerns to yield results.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Business case studies can also be an excellent opportunity to improve your company’s  SEO . As you write your case study, try to naturally incorporate target keywords as much as possible. This way, when it comes time to publish your case study on your website or blog, you will also have the potential to improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your site.

Promote Your Case Studies

Finally, understand that even once your case study is published, your work is not done. Take time to promote and share your case studies as much as possible, even going as far as to repurpose them into different content mediums from time to time. By including business case studies in your toolkit and sharing them actively, you can get as much mileage as possible out of them.

Sharpen Your Business Acumen at JWU

Now you know what is a case study in business. So, when carefully crafted and thoughtfully executed, a business case study can work wonders when it comes to increasing customer loyalty and building a positive reputation for your brand among stakeholders and potential clients. Of course, writing a business case study can be easier said than done. This is why it is so important to gain practice in business writing.

A formal education in business can help you gain the practical skills you need to write compelling cast studies and take your career to the next level. At Johnson & Wales University, we’re proud to offer both an  online bachelor’s in Business Administration  and an  online MBA program  to help you take your education in the right direction. For more information about completing your degree online, complete the  Request Info form , call 855-JWU-1881 , or email  [email protected] .

By clicking Get Started below, I consent to receive recurring marketing/promotional e-mails, phone calls, and SMS/text messages from Johnson & Wales University (JWU) about any educational/programmatic purpose (which relates to my inquiry of JWU) at the e-mail/phone numbers (landline/mobile) provided, including calls or texts made using an automatic telephone dialing system and/or artificial/prerecorded voice messages. My consent applies regardless of my inclusion on any state, federal, or other do-not-call lists. Consent is not a condition for receipt of any good or service. Carrier charges may apply. Terms and conditions apply .

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How Abercrombie came back from the dead

With its stock up five-fold, the company is a case study in how to revive a failing brand.

case study of successful businessman

Abercrombie & Fitch long had a certain, shall we say, reputation. Its employees were hot, its stores reeked of cologne, and unless you were rich and thin, it was not for you. If it's any solace, the company was not really for Wall Street, either; its stock has been languishing over the past decade or so. But that's all changing. While you were sleeping, Abercrombie got good again.

In a day and age where fads are cycling through faster than ever and many brands are struggling to survive , Abercrombie has executed a remarkable turnaround . The business intelligence firm Morning Consult found that Abercrombie's favorability among millennials reached a record high in the first quarter of 2024, and it's making gains with Gen Zers, too. Data from QuestBrand, a brand-management tool, indicates Abercrombie's brand equity — meaning the value consumers see in a brand — has steadily improved over the past couple of years; young adults familiar with the brand were more likely to describe it as "hip," a "good value," and "stylish" in 2023 than they were in 2021. Investors are eating it up: Abercrombie's stock a year ago, your returns would be better than that of almost any other stock, including the Wall Street darling Nvidia . It's evidence that revivals are possible, albeit difficult, with the right execution.

"They reinvented themselves, and it worked," said Janet Joseph Kloppenburg, the president of JJK Research Associates. "Can you and I think of another apparel retailer who literally reinvented themselves and then went to the moon with sales and earnings? It's crazy."

Abercrombie & Fitch has been around since the end of the 19th century, but if you're reading this story, chances are you remember the late-20th-century and early-21st-century versions of the brand. It was all the rage, known for low-rise jeans, shirtless men, and dimly lit stores that all but the most confident (or just obnoxious) customers would feel awkward walking into. It had its fair share of controversies, including allegations of racism and discrimination. Eventually, like a lot of once hot brands, be it Urban Outfitters or Von Dutch, it fell out of favor. (If you're a Gen Zer and do not know about The Thing that was Abercrombie, bless you, and also, there's a Netflix documentary that can help.) When its longtime CEO exited the company at the end of 2014 , its sales had declined for 11 consecutive quarters.

Can you and I think of another apparel retailer who literally reinvented themselves and then went to the moon with sales and earnings? It's crazy.

The retail veteran Fran Horowitz was named CEO in 2017, and under new leadership, Abercrombie has turned things around. The company, which also owns the Hollister brand, reported net sales of $1 billion in the first quarter, a 22% jump from the year before, and it expects net sales growth of about 10% for the year. In turn, investors have fallen for Abercrombie. A year ago, the stock was trading at about $32. Now it's above $180. Abercrombie's shares are up nearly 100% this year alone.

"It's a big momentum play at this point," said Zachary Warring, an equity research analyst at CFRA Research.

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As Horowitz has pointed out on earnings calls, there's no "silver bullet" for Abercrombie's performance — it's been plugging along executing a playbook it set a few years ago. Abercrombie 2.0, or whatever you'd like to call it, is more inclusive and welcoming. It's not for the scariest teens in your high school anymore but instead for adults in their 20s and 30s who want to look good and feel good and not have to think too hard about it. Abercrombie doesn't want to be "super trendy," a fashion analyst told Fast Company — it wants to do classic silhouettes in classic colors, though it tosses in some prints and ruffles, too.

The company has carefully mapped out what it thinks its customers want when they're at the gym, at work, at happy hour, at a bachelorette party, on vacation, or wherever they'd be during a long weekend. It recently launched a weddings section , which has selections for guests and brides, for honeymoons and rehearsal dinners and receptions. Abercrombie has found success particularly with young women, though it's on the up and up with men, too.

"They are living their best lives," Horowitz told Women's Wear Daily last year. "There's nothing better than being a young millennial. They live for the long weekend."

It wasn't just that the product was good in and of itself.

Kloppenburg said Abercrombie's success had come not just from changing up the look — clothes for all occasions, at a good price point — but from the company's execution, which has included focusing on smaller stores and running a lean inventory.

"They were astute with inventory planning, with store payroll — and wages are up everywhere — with digital investments," she said. "So it wasn't just that the product was good in and of itself."

And since any rebrand is only as good as the number of people who know about it, Abercrombie has embraced social-media platforms such as TikTok and influencer marketing .

"They sell a lot of their products through affiliates on social media, and that's how they do a lot of their marketing now, which I don't know how much you pay attention to that, but in terms of apparel and retail companies, they're probably the best at it," Warring said. "They've really benefited from influencers taking their products, trying it on, and obviously posting the link with it."

Ali Grant, a partner and the chief marketing officer at the Digital Dept., an influencer-management company, told me that compared with other brands, Abercrombie tended to be less demanding about specific scripts for creators and to work with creators beyond "fashion girlies" to reach a broader set of consumers.

"They really allow for creative exploration and direction from the content creator they've hired, which is really rare," she said. "They've made it more loose and more authentic and real, for lack of better words."

As opposed to the Abercrombie of 20 years ago, whose logos screamed A&F, the modern Abercrombie is muted . An influencer may be shilling for Abercrombie, but it feels much more item-forward than brand-forward. The point in the early 2000s was the name; now it's much more the clothes.

There's no guarantee Abercrombie will be on top forever. American Eagle and Gap are starting to pull pages from the same playbook. (It's worth noting that not everything Abercrombie is doing is entirely original, and some of its pants look a lot like Aritzia's.) It looks as if Gap, which includes the brands Banana Republic and Old Navy, is starting to turn itself around and get cool again, too. Kloppenburg pointed out that Abercrombie's operating margins were quite high, and if they decline or if the company starts having to discount more, that could spook investors.

"They're selling a lot of products at full price and full margin. And they make a few mistakes, and those margins start coming down," she said. "So when that happens, the stock will collapse."

Still, Abercrombie has pulled off something unique. Its customers are loving it, and so are investors.

"It's a very sound fundamental story as well right now, and it'll be interesting to see over the next 12 to 18 months," Warring said.

So maybe you don't have to be some flashy tech company to get Wall Street excited, nor do you have to be some elusive brand that makes people feel excluded to be successful. It's neat to see this kind of success story, where smart work and strong execution just … pays off.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

About Discourse Stories

Through our Discourse journalism, Business Insider seeks to explore and illuminate the day’s most fascinating issues and ideas. Our writers provide thought-provoking perspectives, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise. Read more Discourse stories here .

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    Ferran Adrià, chef at legendary Barcelona-based restaurant elBulli, was facing two related decisions. First, he and his team must continue to develop new and different dishes for elBulli to guarantee a continuous stream of innovation, the cornerstone of the restaurant's success. But they also need to focus on growing the restaurant's business.

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