Building a company does not always begin with a revolutionary invention. Sometimes, it starts with noticing that an existing service could work much better. For Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO of Yatra, the opportunity emerged from the rapidly changing way Indians were beginning to plan and book travel.
His entrepreneurial journey reflects the transformation of India’s travel industry from traditional booking offices to digital platforms.
From Corporate Career to Entrepreneurship
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Shringi built a career in the travel and financial services industries. He gained experience in management, operations, and the travel business, developing an understanding of how customers planned their journeys and how travel companies served them.
That experience later became valuable when he decided to build a technology-driven travel company.
In 2006, Shringi joined hands with Manish Amin and Sabina Chopra to launch Yatra. The founders entered the market when internet adoption in India was accelerating and consumers were becoming increasingly comfortable making purchases online.
Bringing Travel Online
At the time, booking flights and hotels often involved travel agents, telephone calls, and physical paperwork. Online travel platforms offered a different possibility: customers could compare options, check prices, and make reservations from their computers.
Yatra began by focusing on online travel bookings and gradually expanded its services.
The company offered customers access to flights, hotels, holidays, and other travel-related products through a single digital platform.
The concept was straightforward, but building the technology and partnerships required to support a large travel marketplace was a significant challenge.
Winning Customer Trust
Travel is a high-value purchase for many customers, making trust particularly important.
A traveller booking a flight or hotel needs confidence that the reservation will be processed correctly and that support will be available if something goes wrong.
Yatra therefore had to develop relationships with airlines, hotels, and other travel providers while simultaneously building a customer-facing platform that was easy to use.
This combination of technology and service became central to the company’s development.
Adapting to a Changing Market
The travel industry changed significantly as smartphones and mobile internet became widespread.
Consumers increasingly began searching for travel information and making bookings through mobile devices. Online travel companies had to respond by improving their websites, applications, payment systems, and customer-service capabilities.
Yatra continued expanding its digital services while competing in an increasingly crowded online travel market.
Entering the Public Markets
A major milestone came in 2016, when Yatra Online was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
The listing marked an important stage in the company’s development and reflected the growing role of Indian technology businesses in global markets.
For the founders, the journey had moved from identifying an opportunity in India’s emerging online travel sector to operating a publicly traded travel company.
The Importance of Industry Experience
Shringi’s story demonstrates how previous professional experience can influence entrepreneurship.
Understanding an industry before attempting to transform it can help founders identify inefficiencies that outsiders may overlook. In Yatra’s case, knowledge of travel operations and customer requirements provided useful context for building an online platform.
However, industry knowledge alone was not enough. The company also needed technology, partnerships, marketing, customer support, and the ability to adapt as consumer behavior changed.
Lessons for Future Founders
Yatra’s journey offers several lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.
First, large opportunities can emerge when established industries undergo technological change.
Second, solving a customer problem often requires combining technology with reliable operations. A convenient website is useful only when the underlying service works effectively.
Finally, markets continue to evolve after a company is launched. Founders must keep adapting their products and strategies as customers discover new ways of interacting with businesses.
From Travel Experience to Digital Enterprise
Dhruv Shringi’s journey is ultimately a story about recognizing change before it becomes the norm.
Yatra emerged during a period when Indian consumers were beginning to move travel bookings from traditional channels to the internet. The company became part of that transition by bringing flights, hotels, and holiday services together on a digital platform.
For aspiring founders, the story offers a practical reminder: entrepreneurship does not always require inventing something completely new. Sometimes, the opportunity lies in taking a familiar industry and finding a better way for customers to experience it.