This College Dropout, Founded Company With Rs 50,000, Made It Into Multi-Million Dollar Biz, Has Mukesh Ambani Connection

VSS Mani set up Just Dial in 1996 with Rs 50,000 at the age of 29 and a vision to transform the nation's ecosystem for information search.

New Delhi: When you search the internet for a company's address or phone number, the results appears on the screen in the click of a mouse. VSS Mani is the man behind Just Dial, the local search engine that provides local search-related services to users.

Started in 1996 by VSS Mani with a capital of Rs 50,000 Just Dial has today become a multi-million dollar company. However, the journey of Just Dial from a startup to India's no. 1 local search engine was never a smooth one. Founder Mani experienced several failures before seeing success, much like all entrepreneurs.

In today's success story, we'll get up close and personal with VSS Mani, the founder and CEO of Just Dial, who built the local search engine platform from scratch at the age of 29 into a major player in the online search industry.

Early Life And Career Of VSS Mani

Venkatachalam Sthanu Subramani Mani was born in Jamshedpur in 1996. Mani wanted to pursue higher studies but was unable to do so because of financial constraints. His collegiate career was so ended.

Mani worked for a yellow pages company United Database India when he harboured the dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

The Birth Of Just Dial

During his employment at United Database India Mani thought of creating a programme that could look for pertinent information online. He came up with the concept of creating software that would connect buyers and sellers by bringing them together. The customer may choose from a variety of sellers, and the sellers could receive information about the customers. With this idea, he founded a company called Ask Me, but it failed because phones weren't widely available at the time.

Mani set up Just Dial in 1996 with Rs 50,000 at the age of 29 and a vision to transform the nation's ecosystem for information search.

In 1996, the Telecom Liberalisation Policy was introduced by the Indian government. Just Dial expanded along with the growth of landlines. The popularity of mobile phones in India further led to a massive expansion of Just Dial's business. Just Dial became the leader in local search. People would swiftly grab their phones and dial Just Dial's number if they needed a doctor or information on restaurants in the area. It became the people's lifeline.

Just Dial gradually introduced new products to boost sales. It underwent a transformation by Mani to become a search plus engine and now people could search for what they are looking for and then buy it right away using the search plus engine. In 2007, the official Justdial website, www.justdial.com made a debut. JD Omni, an all-inclusive business management solution for SMEs was later released. JD Social, a platform for official social sharing that will give users selected content on the most recent events and JD Pay, a novel way for users and merchants to make speedy digital payments, was also introduced. In 2021 Mukesh Ambani's Reliance acquired shares in Just Dial.

Goal Of Mani's Visionary Idea – Just Dial

VSS Mani is providing an e-strategy and an e-tool for firms who don't have websites so they may operate successfully.

Just Dial And Mukesh Ambani Connection

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail in 2021 said it has acquired sole control of 25-year-old search and discovery firm Just Dial. The firm's subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd had in July that year announced a deal to buy a controlling stake in Just Dial for Rs 3,497 crore.