Anupam Mittal: From Cupid to Investor Shark, the Journey of a Matrimonial Site Pioneer 💍👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽

Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of the People Group, was born on 23rd December 1971. An entrepreneurial genius and one of the leading angel investors in India with several ventures under his wing, 48-year-old Mittal is also an investor shark on Shark Tank India. He is the brainchild behind the leading matrimonial site Shaadi.com.

Mittal finished his schooling in India and moved to the USA to pursue an MBA in operations and strategic management from Boston College. After graduating, he worked in Micro Strategy, a business intelligence software firm, as a product manager.

Around the late 90s, the internet was making its way to revolutionise the world, thanks to the Netscape IPO. While the worldwide web was establishing its momentum in the west, Mittal developed webpages for companies from his father’s office on his short visits back home. Several matchmakers approached him as a potential match for their clients during this time. Instead of abjuring from the institution of marriage as every Indian young adult has, an idea struck the eligible bachelor–a platform for people looking to find a life partner without the hassle of Indian prejudices.

There was immense potential in this platform to cater to this cohort. For starters, all information about a potential suitor would be available on the world wide web. In 1997, he founded Sagaai.com, as an experiment.
At the time, Mittal focused on his day job; his newly-formed venture was only honed during the weekends, although both financially and mentally, he was heavily invested in sagaai.com. He focused all of his capital on his money-making weapon—web development—an insight not many businessmen had at the time.

All hell broke loose in 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst and thousands of companies crashed. One of these companies was Micro Strategy, which went down from a valuation of nearly $50 million. While Mittal had the upper hand thanks to his experience with the internet; there was a catch-22—all the craze over the world wide web had not spread across India which meant it would take a while for his online venture to flourish. Subsequently, to overcome his dilemma, he quit his job, changed the name of his business to shaadi.com and decided to hit the US markets. And suddenly, there was a whole new front to the idea he conceived a few years ago—a digital platform for NRIs and expats in the US, distant from their homeland, looking for a life partner within their communities.

Mittal set the ball rolling on this idea, set up his office, and promoted his business aggressively. After his profound success in the US markets, he took shaadi.com to the UK. With awareness at the heart of his objectives, he re-entered the Indian markets with strategic television ads. The matrimonial site is now perceived as a pioneer in modern India’s approach to marriage.

Anupam Mittal: From Cupid to Investor Shark, the Journey of a Matrimonial Site Pioneer 💍👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽

Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of the People Group, was born on 23rd December 1971. An entrepreneurial genius and one of the leading angel investors in India with several ventures under his wing, 48-year-old Mittal is also an investor shark on Shark Tank India. He is the brainchild behind the leading matrimonial site Shaadi.com.

Mittal finished his schooling in India and moved to the USA to pursue an MBA in operations and strategic management from Boston College. After graduating, he worked in Micro Strategy, a business intelligence software firm, as a product manager.

Around the late 90s, the internet was making its way to revolutionise the world, thanks to the Netscape IPO. While the worldwide web was establishing its momentum in the west, Mittal developed webpages for companies from his father’s office on his short visits back home. Several matchmakers approached him as a potential match for their clients during this time. Instead of abjuring from the institution of marriage as every Indian young adult has, an idea struck the eligible bachelor–a platform for people looking to find a life partner without the hassle of Indian prejudices.

There was immense potential in this platform to cater to this cohort. For starters, all information about a potential suitor would be available on the world wide web. In 1997, he founded Sagaai.com, as an experiment.
At the time, Mittal focused on his day job; his newly-formed venture was only honed during the weekends, although both financially and mentally, he was heavily invested in sagaai.com. He focused all of his capital on his money-making weapon—web development—an insight not many businessmen had at the time.

All hell broke loose in 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst and thousands of companies crashed. One of these companies was Micro Strategy, which went down from a valuation of nearly $50 million. While Mittal had the upper hand thanks to his experience with the internet; there was a catch-22—all the craze over the world wide web had not spread across India which meant it would take a while for his online venture to flourish. Subsequently, to overcome his dilemma, he quit his job, changed the name of his business to shaadi.com and decided to hit the US markets. And suddenly, there was a whole new front to the idea he conceived a few years ago—a digital platform for NRIs and expats in the US, distant from their homeland, looking for a life partner within their communities.

Mittal set the ball rolling on this idea, set up his office, and promoted his business aggressively. After his profound success in the US markets, he took shaadi.com to the UK. With awareness at the heart of his objectives, he re-entered the Indian markets with strategic television ads. The matrimonial site is now perceived as a pioneer in modern India’s approach to marriage.