Hot Seat

Tr@vel maestro

It is impossible to build a brand in a short span of time without visionary ideas and in-depth knowledge of the industry. Ashwin Damera, founder and CEO of TravelGuru, talks of his experiences in the course of his life's journey. By Dinkar Farwaha

Born in Chennai, Ashwin Damera was an alumnus of Krishnamurti Foundation School. "The curriculum in our school was designed in a way that there was a lot of focus on extra-curricular activities like music, photography, sports and gardening. We did not have exams till the eighth standard and our results were based on our overall class performance. This played an integral part in my all-round development during my formative years," he recalls.

Damera comes from a family of sportspersons - his father was a national level shooter while his mother represented India at the Asian Games. Predictably, as a child he too wanted to carve a niche for himself in the world of sports. "I was into both cricket and shooting; I played cricket for my state (Tamil Nadu) and won a scholarship in shooting from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI)," he reveals. However, he soon realised that in all likelihood he would have limited opportunities in sports. Damera therefore decided to pursue chartered accountancy. "I was a rank holder in both my CA Intermediate and final exams," he mentions. Thereafter, he joined Citibank in Chennai where he handled various financial and operating assignments. Damera then decided to go to the United States to pursue an MBA from Harvard Business School.

His love for the travel industry was born while interning at JetBlue Airways, a low-cost airline during the break between his first and second year of college. "I thoroughly enjoyed working in the travel industry during this short tenure and wished to be a part of the industry." His visionary ideas were clearly visible when his business strategy for an online travel portal for the Indian market got the second rank at a Harvard Business School competition. After completing the course, he was offered a job in New York by McKinskey & Company, which he turned down. "The excitement of being a part of the growing economy of India drove me towards my country and I opted to come back," he says. He decided to implement the award-winning strategy that he had initiated in the Harvard competition in the Indian travel market. Thus was born TravelGuru.

Genesis of 'TravelGuru'

TravelGuru was founded with an aim to offer the best prices on air tickets, hotels across all categories, cruises, holiday packages, etc across India and the world. The company set up its first office in Mumbai in May 2005 which was promoted by Damera and his Harvard colleague, Ganesh Rengaswamy. "We built a strong team of experienced professionals from industries such as hospitality, travel, financial services and e-commerce," says Damera.

In January 2006, Sequoia Capital India invested US$ 10 million in the company. In November of the same year, the company raised another US$ 15 million from Battery Ventures and Sequoia Capital, and in December last year, the company signed an agreement to acquire Desiya.com, a travel portal. The company has also expanded into the retail space and is opening outlets across cities to service customers directly. It has already opened six retail outlets of 'Travelguru Holidays' (in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Indore and Ludhiana). It is now targeting other tier 1 and tier 2 cities. "We will shortly be expanding our services to offer a wide array of travel-related services including car rentals," adds Damera. The company already has a large number of online hotel consolidators across both online and offline segments.

Right place, right time

So what is it that led to the phenomenal growth of the company in such a short span of time? "I think we were at the right place at the right time. When we entered, e-commerce was witnessing a boom, the use of credit cards was increasing and there was a tremendous increase in domestic travel as well. I believe these factors played an integral part in the growth of our company." However, it would have been almost impossible to build the TravelGuru brand in such a short span of time without visionary ideas and knowledge about the industry.

While work consumes a majority of his time, Damera loves indulging in sports such as swimming and squash for relaxation. "Even though shooting and cricket are my favourite sports, I must admit that I have been more into swimming and squash purely because of health reasons," he explains. Damera strongly believes in spirituality. "I am driven by the principles of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda," he declares. He breathes music and is a hardcore fan of music maestro AR Rehman. When asked where he would like to see himself ten years down the line, he immediately replies, "I would like to be an angel investor, identifying young budding entrepreneurs and assisting them in starting up their dream ventures."