How Policybazaar Became No. 1: Yashish Dahiya on Execution, Aspiration and Risk Taking

In India, financial security often seemed just out of reach, especially when it came to insurance. For many, insurance was complex, filled with hidden terms, and often mis-sold.

That’s exactly what happened when an engineer-turned-consultant discovered that his father had been duped by insurance agents into purchasing a policy that was both confusing and overpriced.

Instead of just shrugging it off, this experience sparked an idea: why not create a platform where people could get straightforward, honest information about insurance?

So in 2008, Yashish Dahiya, along with co-founders Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar, launched Policy Bazaar. 

Today, Policy Bazaar has grown into India’s largest insurance aggregator, with an annual run rate of 100 million visitors. 

In 2022, The platform accounted for 93% of online insurance sales in India, holding 25% of the country’s life insurance cover and 7% of retail health insurance cover. 

In this episode of The Neon Show, Yashish Dahiya, co-founder and Chairman of Policy Bazaar, shares his journey of building India’s leading online insurance platform. 

Drawing from personal experiences, including his family’s army background, Yashish explores the challenges of creating financial security for India’s middle class, when not taking risk is the biggest risk and the HUGE India opportunity.

Timestamps
00:00 - Trailer
01:18 - introducing Yashish Dahiya
02:18 - Policy Bazaar’s rise as India’s top online insurance platform
03:26 - India’s rising costs and financial aspirations
05:11 - Sanjeev Bikhchandani’s early investments in Policy Bazaar
06:43 - India’s economy as a mix of Bahrain, UK, Brazil, and Africa
07:49 - Financial inclusion across India’s diverse social structure
11:53 - Why does mass class movement happen
16:20 - Institutional strengths drive GDP
19:38 - Why Policy Bazaar outperformed its competitors
25:22 - Daily discipline and the importance of consistent execution
28:36 - How Yashish built team trust and values at Policy Bazaar
31:38 - Things changed when I got married
33:40 - Managing family life across India and the UK
36:36 - Why the value system is important
41:48 - What is stress exactly for an entrepreneur
46:18 - Sanjeev view on Policy Bazaar
49:40 - Policy Bazaar’s vision for social impact
53:58 - Consistent values pre-and post-IPO
57:33 - Why did Policy Bazaar go public
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Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journeys from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys. 

Hence was born The Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes.

We welcome you to our journey to understand what goes behind building a super successful company. Every episode is done with a very selfish motive, that I and Nansi should come out as a better entrepreneur and professional after absorbing the learnings.
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This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the in