Manan Verma is amongst the most popular names within India’s growing tech startup ecosystem. Having a strong technical background, strategic thinking, and leadership experience, Manan has played a vital role in companies like MakeMyTrip, Zycus, upGrad, Urban Company, and Physics Wallah. Growth driving, innovating, scaling of companies, and nurturing the culture of continuous learning have been some of the key elements defining his leadership journey.
Born and raised in Panchkula, Haryana, the hard work and academic excellence instilled by his family blossomed into Manan’s passion for technology and education. He pursued his BTech from Chitkara University, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma from IIIT-Bangalore, and a Master’s degree (Research) from Liverpool John Moores University, UK. His academic background gave him great exposure to international trends in technology, together with a strong technical foundation.
Manan’s career kicked off in 2017 at MakeMyTrip, where he started his learning journey, and soon participated by owning critical projects, during the rapid scaling of the company within a fiercely competitive travel-tech segment in India. Time in MakeMyTrip helped internalize the complexities involved with scaling a business while keeping pace with the tech demands of this sector. Later, he would move to Zycus, a leader in procurement and supply chain technology, where his focus shifted from B2C to B2B. This experience further developed his skill set and gave him insights into large-scale enterprise solution building and standardisation.
Post sometime, Manan found his interest and thoughts alignment in Impact via Education, and ended up joining upGrad, As the world shifted to online education, upGrad saw an unprecedented surge in demand during Covid-19. Manan was one of the key leaders who worked toward scaling the company’s technology to accommodate millions of students. Under his leadership, upGrad has been at the forefront in this EdTech revolution by offering quality education in times of crisis, by offering solutions to institutions as well as learning programs for working professionals.
Further, Manan contributed a lot to the growth of the home services platform Urban Company. During his tenure, Manan saw the valuation of the company grow multi-fold. He brought in much-needed optimization of the internal systems to help the company scale up fast with operational excellence. Currently, Manan is in the Technical Leadership at Physics Wallah (PW), where he continues to drive innovation, building systems that help scale the platform and deliver quality education to students across India.
Manan’s leadership philosophy is to create a growth mindset. He believes in creating an environment where failure is viewed as an opportunity to learn and try new things. Over the years, he has mentored a large number of individuals in achieving their professional goals. His leadership has been focused not only on driving business results but more so on creating an environment where people can grow and contribute meaningfully.
Beyond his professional responsibilities, Manan is into continuous learning. He has built a library of books covering everything from business and technology to philosophy and personal development. His interest in global markets and love of travel further enhance his perspective on innovation. Be it playing golf, driving supercars, or reflecting upon new ideas, Manan believes in balancing professional and personal growth.
Looking ahead, Manan’s focus remains on driving transformational growth, both within PW and through mentoring the next generation of tech leaders. His career is a testament to the power of innovation, strategic vision, and a commitment to building scalable solutions that improve lives and transform industries.
Q&A with Manan Verma
- You’ve had a diverse career across various sectors and companies. How have these experiences shaped your leadership style?
Manan Verma:
My whole career path has allowed me to take a look at leadership from many different angles of the world because I have had a chance to work in individual roles and with teams. Since the beginning of my journey, I have been part of unicorn startups’ aggressive growth trajectories and often needed to balance shifting priorities, tight deadlines, and changes in scope on my path forward. These experiences taught me a lot about composure and how to adapt to situations. Working in various sectors, be it B2C like MakeMyTrip or B2B at Zycus, gave me more of a holistic view toward business and technology, which has majorly helped in shaping my leadership style today.
- As an innovative leader, how do you motivate creativity and experimentation among teams? How are the setbacks handled when, suppose, things didn’t exactly work out as anticipated?
Manan Verma
Well, that’s what innovation is-in building a culture that makes failures a part of the journey. Quick recoveries from the setbacks-that, I think, becomes pretty important. All I say is to tell my team that it is not over till it is over. And it’s not a failure-just an opportunity to learn. When something doesn’t work out, we analyze it, find out what went wrong, and make the changes. The key is not letting it affect team morale or spread beyond the immediate project. As for creativity, I believe in encouraging teams to try new things on a regular basis. We always try to keep a buffer of 10-20% of the team’s time for tasks focused on future goals. It gives room to try out something new, ideas, approaches without the burden of quick outcomes.
- The industry is changing incredibly fast. What do you think is the biggest trend or challenge for the forthcoming years, and what are you going to do about that?
Manan Verma
The big challenge according to me is finding good talent. Technology is moving at a very fast pace, and the continuous need for professionals is being sought who are not only technically adequate but also those willing to unlearn and learn. I try to invest in people, cultivate a continuous learning culture. We should make sure we’re setting our teams up for success by offering opportunities for personal and professional growth, especially in an industry where tech debt can build up pretty quickly and solutions seem far distant then.
- On your journey so far, is there any book or resource that has impacted your career profoundly? Why would you recommend it to others?
Manan Verma
Of all the books that influenced my thoughts, probably the most vivid is Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, very thought-provoking, and full of great insights on how the future will go about: humankind, technologies, and society in general. That book lets you think further about very long-term trends and about ethical considerations of technological development. Guided by the quote by ‘Toni Morrison’’ , “‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else,” I believe in collaboration, innovation, and our shared responsibility as leaders and teams to help shape a better future.
- Looking back, what’s one leadership lesson that you wish you had learned earlier in your career?
Manan Verma
Patience: at the beginning, I was more results-oriented, but along the way, I have learned that for growth to be sustainable and for you to be an effective leader, time is needed. You need to be patient with your team, with the process, and with your own development. You cannot force growth in a way that is compromising quality or the well-being of the team. It is a fine balance between driving results and allowing space for people to grow.
