“At 50, I didn't want to be CEO again. I didn't want to raise a VC fund either. But I wanted skin in the game.”
• K Ganesh, on starting GrowthStory
K Ganesh is a serial entrepreneur with four greenfield ventures and exits, including TutorVista, sold to Pearson for 213 million dollars. In 2011 he and his wife Meena Ganesh set up GrowthStory, a venture builder that promoted BigBasket, Portea Medical, BlueStone, HomeLane, FreshMenu and HungerBox. He also teaches an MBA class at IIM Bangalore.
If you have ordered groceries from BigBasket or had a nurse visit through Portea, you have used something he helped start. Here is the record.
Quick Information
He went to a Tamil-medium school in Delhi and ended up co-creating half the apps on a Bengaluru phone.
Who Is K Ganesh?
K Ganesh is an Indian serial entrepreneur and investor who began his first venture in 1990, when professionals turning founders was rare. He came from a humble background and a government school education.
What Is GrowthStory?
GrowthStory is the venture-builder platform he runs with Meena Ganesh, which co-creates businesses with founders, puts in upfront capital and gives founders half the equity from day one. Its ventures have included BigBasket, Portea, HomeLane and HungerBox.
What Is Portea Medical?
Portea Medical is a Bengaluru-based home healthcare company he founded, which grew to more than 4,000 employees across 16 cities. During Covid-19 it provided oxygen, home ICU setups and nursing to thousands of patients.
What Does K Ganesh Do at IIM Bangalore?
He is an Adjunct Professor at IIM Bangalore, where he teaches an MBA course on new age business models.
- 1990 First venture
- 2007 Marketics acquired
- 2011 GrowthStory founded
- 2020 65 lakh meals for migrant workers during lockdown
During the 2020 lockdown he co-founded an initiative that provided 65 lakh meals to migrant and daily wage workers in five cities.
Why Does K. Ganesh Belong in People of Bangalore?
Several of the companies he co-created, including Portea and BigBasket, are Bengaluru companies, and he teaches at IIM Bangalore.
I haven't interviewed K Ganesh for this piece. It's pieced together from online research: published interviews, news reports, books and official records, cross-checked against each other. If you know K Ganesh and spot something I've got wrong, tap the WhatsApp icon at the bottom right and tell me, and I'll fix it.
FAQs
Who is K Ganesh?
A serial entrepreneur and co-founder of GrowthStory, which promoted BigBasket and Portea Medical.
Who founded GrowthStory?
K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh, in 2011.
Who bought TutorVista?
Pearson.
Built Something With GrowthStory?
If you worked at one of their early ventures, tell me what those first months were like. Click the WhatsApp icon at the bottom right of your screen and tell me. That is also the easiest way to reach The City 24/7 about anything at all, including nominating someone for People of Bangalore.
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