This Rs 10.2 cr company started with a 12K camera

Meet Sandeep Maheshwari who runs ImagesBazaar that has over 800,000 Indian pictures making the largest stock of Indian images in the world.

When he was 13, Sandeep Maheshwari's father thought his son could do with a moped. So he bought the young fellow a shiny new two-wheeler thinking it would help him move around in Delhi, a city starved of a good transport system.

Little did Maheshwari Sr know that his son would actually make money out of the gift! On the first available occasion Sandeep rented out the moped to one of his friends who wanted to take his girl for a spin.

Within a matter of months, Sandeep was a star and became known to everyone looking for two wheels with an engine attached. The rate: Rs 50 per hour and the condition that the rider bears the fuel expenses!

It wasn't long before Sandeep not only recovered the cost of the moped but was also making money from it!

Later when his father fell on tough times, it was this entrepreneurial spirit that held him in good stead.

Sandeep dropped out of college and by the time he was 21 was earning over a lakh of rupees per month! Today, he runs Imagesbazaar.com, a stock photo company that has over 800,000 pictures making the largest stock of Indian images in the world.

Recently the 29-year-old entrepreneur received the 2010 Young Creative Entrepreneur Award from the British Council for 'his entrepreneurial skills through a perfect blend of a good idea and business venture leading to 'real' change'.

In an interview, Sandeep tells Abhishek Mande what this award means and the windows of opportunities it opens. He also speaks about the challenges he faced and how he overcame them.

What doors does the 2010 Young Creative Entrepreneur Award from the British Council open for your business?

As part of the award, I will be visiting the UK and meeting some of the top ad agencies and design houses there. I fly there sometime next month. This will mean a great opportunity for us to network and negotiate with prospective clients. And since I will be going via the British High Commission, I'm assuming it will carry some weight.

There were about 753 creative entrepreneurs who applied online for this and ours was among the half dozen firms that were short listed in the communications category. 

Was there any promise of investment in your company or was it just this trip?

The British Council, which gave out this award, will not invest in the company. But through the competition, it provided a lot of start-ups and small companies a platform to interact with some of the best-known venture capitalists and angel investors.

Among the judges were Mahesh Murthy, founder of Pinstorm and Managing Partner of Seedfund and Jai Vikram Bakshi who was representing the Indian Angel Network.

So it was a great opportunity for people who were looking for funding for their company.

Are you looking for funding?

No, ImagesBazaar isn't looking for funding right now. I started with a camera that cost me Rs 12,000. Today ImagesBazaar has a turnover of Rs 10.2 crore annually.