Don't let H-1B suspension let you down. Kunal Bahl's US visa rejection story will inspire every aspiring, Indian entrepreneur

NEW DELHI: U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Tuesday to temporarily suspend H-1B and other non-immigrant visas has attracted a lot of attention in India and globally. While many analysts believe this will marginally hurt the IT industry's margins in India, some experts are of the belief that this is India's time to shine.

As the Internet of late has been mostly filled with negative sentiments and dark stories, it's easy to get bogged down, and give up hope. But one entrepreneur's story can be an example for Indian working professionals in the US to follow once America closes its doors to immigrant workers.

About 13 years ago, when Kunal Bahl was employed with Microsoft in its Seattle corporate headquarters, his visa application was rejected. The rejection, which may have been disappointing for him then, was a shining opportunity for the 36-year-old entrepreneur.


In 2007-08, just when India was ready for it first-phase of tech boom, Bahl, along with his school friend Rohit Bansal, decided to start an offline couponing company.

After an elaborate meeting in one of the smallest and shabbiest office they had then, the duo found their investor in Vani Kola, MD of Kalaari Capital (which was initially called IndoUS Advisors), and launched Snapdeal. And, Bahl's epic entrepreneurial journey began.

Since then, the once-small company, managed to partner with the biggies like SoftBank, Foxconn, Alibaba, BlackRock, Temasek, eBay, Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Ratan Tata, among others.

In an exclusive 2016 column shared with ET, Bahl had revealed that Kola was the last investor/venture capitalist the entrepreneur-duo met as they were worried the portfolio company would conflict with their start-up.

A day after Trump's move to freeze the H-1B visa, Ash Lilani, Founder & Managing Partner of Saama Capital, took to Twitter to remind his timeline that this can be a big opportunity for Indian techies.

Calling it America's loss and India's gain, he stressed on how Bahl's visa rejection pushed him to create Snapdeal. "I hope we see many more such success stories come out of this (news)," he added.


The Snapdeal founder further quoted Lilani's tweet, and mentioned that 'India is the land of big opportunities'. "I didn't know this 13 years ago when my H1-B visa was rejected, but haven't regretted a moment since," he wrote.

In his older note, he said that the rules of the game have changed, and entrepreneurs with dreams of building India's best unicorns need to be aware. He further shared valuable lessons that would help any entrepreneur make it to the haloed club.
- Always think big and freely
- Don’t be constrained
- Be unreasonable
- Take risks
- Learn and evolve from your mistakes
- Absorb knowledge and inspiration
- Don't idolise one company. Look at multiple sources

Bahl and Bansal, sons of small traders, made sure they took inspiration and ideas from multiple sources, which also included Alibaba in China.

The talks about 'Aatmanirbhar' India picked up pace only after PM Narendra Modi's speech during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. But, Bahl had shared the secret to India's e-commerce success way back in 2018.

"Nearly 50 million Indians shop online, and with the smartphone data revolution underway, another 100 million will gradually come online in the next 3-4 years, paving the way for more to follow. If India buys online, Indians must also sell online. Invariably, these will be goods made in India as well as goods sourced globally. Consumers, producers, traders, factories and artisans will all benefit from the market growth," his 2018 column in ET read.

He further said that the small sellers in the country need a safe online space to grow, without being crowded out by the very platforms they are expected to trust.