The story in brief
MakeMyTrip’s early US–India focus shows how a broad travel opportunity can begin with a specific customer corridor. Booking and post-booking support form one connected experience.
Travel is a large category, but a new company still needs a clear first customer. MakeMyTrip began operations in 2000 by serving Indians in the United States, with a focus on travel between the two countries. Founder Deep Kalra’s journey can be read through that deliberately specific starting point.
A sequence of markets
The company’s history records the launch of its India website in September 2005. Its platform subsequently brought together flights, accommodation and other travel services. The sequence matters because access to a market is also access to a set of habits: how people compare, book, pay and ask for assistance.
The purchase is part of a longer trip
A travel booking is rarely the end of the customer’s need. Plans can change, suppliers can alter a service and several reservations may have to work together. A marketplace must therefore think about the traveller’s entire journey, even when different providers deliver its individual parts.
The founder lens
Our interpretation is that starting narrowly can make a complicated category understandable. A particular route or customer group creates a setting in which to learn before expanding. The lesson is not to copy the same sequence, but to identify which part of a large market gives a new team the clearest view of a recurring problem.
Choose a corridor you can understand deeply
A focused travel audience has particular questions about schedules, payment, documentation and what happens when plans change. Understanding those questions can be more useful than launching a broad catalogue with little service depth. A founder studying this case should trace the journey after purchase as carefully as the booking itself. A confirmation email is not the end of the customer’s need. Changes, cancellations and coordination with suppliers may reveal where the business actually earns trust. As the audience expands, the company needs to learn which assumptions still hold and which were specific to its original market. A clear starting segment is a learning choice, not a permanent limit on ambition.
Put the idea to work
Use these questions to investigate the idea in your own context.
- Describe one travel segment and its most frequent uncertainties.
- Map the responsibilities of the platform and each supplier.
- Test how clearly the customer can understand a changed itinerary.
A closer look
Why is MakeMyTrip’s early customer corridor useful to study?
It makes the initial problem concrete. A particular group of travellers gives a team a setting in which to learn about booking, payment and service needs before extending the same proposition to a wider audience.
Sources & editorial note
This profile draws on the public sources below. Company and founder accounts describe their own perspective. Our analysis, questions and takeaway are editorial interpretation. This is not an original interview or a sponsored feature.
See our editorial standards or request a correction. For another perspective, read What an incubator brings to the table.
