Kunal Bahl, M&T ’06
Hometown:
New Delhi, India
Engineering Major:
Individualized BAS
Wharton Concentration:
Individualized – Operations and Information Management / Entrepreneurship
WHAT ARE YOU DOING CURRENTLY?
I am currently the CEO of Snapdeal.com. My best friend from high school, Rohit Bansal and I founded the company in February 2010 and in a short span of three years, the platform has grown to become India’s largest online marketplace offering the widest assortment of products across diverse categories like Mobiles, Electronics, Fashion accessories, Apparel and Footwear, Kids, Health, Home and Kitchen, Sports & Books from thousands of regional, national, and international brands and retailers. With over 20 million members, 10000+ sellers and a million unique products, Snapdeal.com has emerged to become the shopping destination for internet users across the country, delivering to 4000+ cities and towns in India. Snapdeal.com is run by a young, innovative and dynamic team of 1000+ people.
HOW DID M&T PREPARE YOU FOR YOUR CURRENT ROLE OR LIFE AFTER GRADUATION?
The M&T Program is a challenging program and it does push the person to their limits, which is a very positive outcome, as at that age, students must constantly work towards getting out of their comfort zones. The combination of an engineering and business degree is extremely helpful in starting and running a technology business, which require the entrepreneur to cross various chasms of knowledge and experience.
HOW DO YOU CONNECT WITH THE M&T COMMUNITY?
I continue to be in contact with many M&T alumni and learn about the great things they are doing. A lot of M&T alumni have also reached out to me through Linkedin and references, and it continues to amaze me how well our community is doing in the careers that they have picked.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE M&T PROGRAM?
Dr H’s course on technology entrepreneurship (MGMT 235) was right up there, as for the first time through his knowledge and experiences, as well as the combined knowledge of the various guest speakers, I was able to get a first-hand view on what it means to be a successful entrepreneur. Also, I really like the M&T office, where I spent a lot of quality time getting to know other M&Ts and leveraging many of the resources available there (like free printing!).
WHAT ACTIVITIES DID YOU TAKE PART IN WHILE AT PENN?
While at Penn, I made sure I took a lot of classes outside of my pre-defined curriculum, such as Humans and Their Environment, Western Classical Music, and various Psychology classes that I sat in on without credit, among others. I also was involved in starting up various organizations like the Wharton Indian Students Association, which didn’t exist before I got to Penn. I did fundraising for a charitable organization in India called CRY – Child Relief & You to fund the upliftment of underprivileged girls in India. I also co-wrote and acted in a play that was a spoof on the (extremely hardcore) on-campus recruiting (OCR) process at Penn. Most importantly, I kept myself super busy doing things that I enjoyed – which is the key to a great college experience.