E149 - From Amazon Engineer to IPO: The HyreCar Story | Anshu Bansal

The Desi VC with Akash Bhat

Anshu Bansal is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He co-founded Hyrecar, a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace that allows anyone to rent their cars to Uber and Lyft drivers safely and reliably.

In today’s episode, learn how a late-night Uber ride in 2014 sparked a groundbreaking business idea that would reshape the ride-sharing industry in the US. Anshu takes us through his incredible entrepreneurial journey—from his programming days at H&R Block and Amazon Prime Music to building the “Airbnb for ride-share cars.” Along the way, he faced direct competition from Uber, financial struggles that nearly led to bankruptcy, and even sold his own car to keep the company afloat. Against all odds, he turned things around and ultimately took the company public in a remarkable comeback story.

Learn how they validated their concept by going undercover at Uber Driver Hubs, built their first MVP using just a spreadsheet that generated $9,000 in month one, and navigated crucial pivots when faced with competition from Uber itself.

⌛ Timestamps:

• Introduction – The late-night Uber ride that sparked a billion-dollar idea (05:03)
• Early Career – From coding at Amazon & H&R Block to building startups (05:31)
• The Birth of Hyrecar – How one conversation turned into a game-changing business (06:31)
• Cracking the Business Model – How Anshu structured Hyrecar for success (08:43)
• Proving the Idea – The key steps that validated Hyrecar’s potential (13:13)
• Ignored by Uber – Why the ride-share giant didn’t see Hyrecar coming (16:25)
• Reinventing Car Ownership – How Hyrecar disrupted the ride-sharing ecosystem (18:36)
• Thriving in the Unknown – Why Anshu builds businesses in industries he knows little about (24:27)
• Lessons from Amazon & Microsoft – What big tech taught Anshu about scaling companies (26:53)
• Hiring in Startups vs. Big Tech – The biggest differences founders must understand (30:43)
• The Real Meaning of Entrepreneurship – What it truly takes to build a successful startup (32:43)
• Personal Struggles & Entrepreneurship – How life’s challenges shape founders (35:43)
• Finding the Right Co-Founder – The make-or-break decision for every startup (41:08)
• From Near Collapse to IPO – The incredible journey of Hyrecar’s turnaround (47:41)
• Building a VC Fund – Why Anshu launched his own investment firm (54:43)
• Jumping into Cybersecurity – What made Anshu bet on an entirely new industry (56:14)
• The Biggest Lessons as an Operator – What years of entrepreneurship have taught him (01:01:13)
• Advice to His Younger Self – The hard-earned wisdom every founder should hear (01:02:03)

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