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Karan Bajaj
Portrait
Portrait
Born (1979-06-30) 30 June 1979 (age 44)
India
OccupationEntrepreneur and Bestselling Novelist
NationalityAmerican
Alma materIndian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra
GenreFiction
Years active2008 - Present
Notable worksKeep Off The Grass (2008)
Johnny Gone Down (2010)
The Seeker (2015)
Website
karanbajaj.com

Karan Bajaj is an Indian American entrepreneur and bestselling author. He is the founder and CEO of Edtech startup WhiteHat Jr. which acquired by BYJU'S for $300 million in a landmark all-cash deal in 2020 within 18 months of founding.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Bajaj is also the author of three contemporary Indian novels, Keep Off the Grass (2008), Johnny Gone Down (2010), and The Seeker (2015). Bajaj's first novel, Keep Off the Grass, which became a bestseller with more than 70,000 copies sold in the year of release, was a semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and was long listed for the India plaza Golden QuillAward.[7] Together his novels have sold more than 200,000 copies in India.[7]

Early Life and Education[edit]

Born in 1979 into an Indian Army family, Karan studied in various schools in Delhi, Shimla, Ranchi, Jabalpur, Lucknow and Assam. He is an alumni of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.

Career[edit]

Bajaj had a long corporate career initially at marquee companies. During which time he took breaks from his career for backpacking, practicing yoga, learning meditation and writing his three books.[8][9]

He joined Proctor & Gamble in 2002 in India and was soon posted to Manila. As a brand manager with Proctor & Gamble he lived and worked in Manila, Singapore and the US. Bajaj was nominated as a 'Top 40 under 40 marketer in the U.S.' by Advertising Age in 2007. He worked at BCG as a management consultant and Kraft Foods as a marketing director. In 2016, he moved to Mumbai as CEO of Discovery Networks in South Asia, leading Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and Discovery Kids.[10]

In 2018, he founded WhiteHat Jr to teach coding skills to kids between ages 6 and 18. The company secured funding from Nexus Venture Partners, Omidyar Network and Owl Ventures. Byju’s acquired WhiteHat Jr in 2020, and the all-cash deal makes the 18-month-old company the largest and fastest exit story at this size in the Indian startup ecosystem, and the biggest deal in the edtech space.[11][12][13]

Keep Off The Grass[edit]

Keep Off The Grass was Bajaj's first venture into writing. The story is about a psychedelic road trip of a 25-year-old Yale graduate through the length and breadth of India.[14] The journey is made by a brilliant youngster named Samrat, born to immigrant parents in the U.S. who decides to go out in search of his roots. Along the way Samrat, the protagonist, ends up in prison for possession of marijuana, develops a drug addiction, meditates in the foothills of the Himalayas, has a one-night stand with a hippie in Dharamsala and meets flesh-eating Aghoree saints on the banks of Varanasi.[15]

Future film[edit]

Kunal Kohli Productions, UTV Productions, and Mosaic Media Group bid for the film rights of the book. They were eventually sold to Mosaic Media Group. Ben Rekhi has been signed up as director. The director has stated that the film will be "like an Indian version of The Motorcycle Diaries".[15][16]

Johnny Gone Down[edit]

Bajaj's second novel, Johnny Gone Down, is a thriller published by HarperCollins-India in 2010. Bajaj described the novel as focusing on the "bizarre, almost surreal series of events that transform an MIT graduate into first a genocide survivor, then a Buddhist monk, a drug lord, a homeless accountant, a software mogul, and a deadly game fighter over a period of twenty years."[17]

Feature film[edit]

Ronnie Screwvala and Ashi Dua are signed on as co-producers for the screen adaptation of Johnny Gone Down.[18]

The Seeker[edit]

Bajaj's third novel, The Seeker, was published by Penguin Random House India in June 2015. The novel is about an investment banker in New York who embarks on a quest to become a yogi in the Himalayas.[19] It was inspired by Bajaj's one-year sabbatical traveling from Europe to India, learning Hath yoga in an ashram in India, and practicing meditation in the Himalayas. The book opened to strong reviews in India and was a bestseller at launch with several reviewers comparing it to Herman Hesse's Siddhartha (novel).[20][21] The Statesman called it "engaging, convincing, realistic and highly readable", noting that The Seeker was released five years after Johny Gone Down in 2010 and the author took this break to refine his writing which is truly reflected in The Seeker.[22]

The Yoga of Max's Discontent[edit]

The Yoga of Max's Discontent (published in India as The Seeker) was published the Riverhead Books imprint of Penguin Random House in May 2016. This is Bajaj's first international release. The novel is about an investment banker in New York who embarks on a quest to become a yogi in the Himalayas.[23]

Personal Life[edit]

Karan is married to Kerry Bajaj, author of Sleep, Baby, Sleep (HarperCollins India) and has 2 children.[24][25][26]

He is also a yogi, having trained with Sivananda Ashram in Madurai.[27] He has spoken widely about the influence of travel, backpacking and sabbaticals on his boundaryless view of the world and on his career, writing and personal life.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/05/indias-byjus-acquires-whitehat-jr-for-300-million
  2. ^ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/features/autobiography-of-a-multimillionaire-yogi-the-incredible-journey-and-contrarian-ideas-of-karan-bajaj/articleshow/77565021.cms?fromsrc=etprime&fbclid=IwAR347ZIrl1XIzSDfsFsaRsAm1M1Tb2G70O_k0eJBlnsWpmE8zNWoq_tgvS0&from=mdr
  3. ^ https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/byjus-acquired-whitehat-jr-for-a-cool-300-million-but-thats-not-whats-important-5688371.html?fbclid=IwAR02llRh5j_bU4Wi28GwKq5EdKCl-OBkMflgEf6wDQyRkATozv_IMS0-iMM
  4. ^ https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/whitehat-jr-founder-karan-bajaj-opens-up-about-300-million-byjus-deal-coding-edtech-startup-boom-and-more-5678461.html
  5. ^ https://inc42.com/features/untangling-whitehat-jrs-150-mn-arr-is-coding-edtechs-new-holy-grail/?itm_source=inc42-featured-stories&itm_medium=website&itm_campaign=featured-stories&fbclid=IwAR2yF6VFhzog8ajG6p1BCks-6lAcaNw5HtqIuv5HVq1fiAZj--s6Mon0zA4
  6. ^ https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/edtech-start-up-whitehat-jr-sold-to-byju-s-on-zoom-for-300-million-120080601851_1.html
  7. ^ a b Sra, Gunjeet (25 September 2010). "Karan Bajaj: Writer at Large". India Today. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  8. ^ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/features/autobiography-of-a-multimillionaire-yogi-the-incredible-journey-and-contrarian-ideas-of-karan-bajaj/articleshow/77565021.cms?fromsrc=etprime&fbclid=IwAR347ZIrl1XIzSDfsFsaRsAm1M1Tb2G70O_k0eJBlnsWpmE8zNWoq_tgvS0&from=mdr
  9. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRdJDyrI7TQ
  10. ^ https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/edtech-start-up-whitehat-jr-sold-to-byju-s-on-zoom-for-300-million-120080601851_1.html
  11. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/05/indias-byjus-acquires-whitehat-jr-for-300-million
  12. ^ https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/edtech-start-up-whitehat-jr-sold-to-byju-s-on-zoom-for-300-million-120080601851_1.html
  13. ^ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/ets-weekly-roundup-of-the-wackiest-whispers-and-murmurs-in-corporate-corridors/articleshow/77451514.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
  14. ^ Nair, Nandini. "The grass is green". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  15. ^ a b "Karan Bajaj's 'Keep Off The Grass' set to become Hollywood film". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  16. ^ "Karan's novel captures youth angst: Ben Rekhi". The Times of India. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  17. ^ Singh, Shivangi (13 May 2012). "Comparing me to Rakhi Sawant was helpful: Karan Bajaj". Zeenews. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  18. ^ https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/ronnie-screwala-ashi-dua-to-make-a-film-on-karan-bajajs-book-johnny-gone-down/articleshow/61760925.cms
  19. ^ Mudasser Nofli, Zafri (4 January 2015). "Books to Watch Out for in 2015". Outlook India. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  20. ^ Srinivasan, Madhumitha (4 January 2015). "I am a Yogi First". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  21. ^ Ganesh, Ambarish (16 August 2015). "'The Seeker' By Karan Bajaj - Book Review". Indian Nerve. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ Bajaj, Karan (May 2016). The Yoga of Max’s Discontent.
  24. ^ http://www.karanbajaj.com/yoga-meditation/my-only-dream-for-my-daughters/
  25. ^ https://www.amazon.in/Sleep-Baby-Bedtime-Routine/dp/9353576601/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
  26. ^ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/ets-weekly-roundup-of-the-wackiest-whispers-and-murmurs-in-corporate-corridors/articleshow/77451514.cms?fbclid=IwAR2i2CAb5JAovaGfcHs9m1IJ9uFmVuXB1n4R5kozdl4lNpe0RBaGRzzCgbM&from=mdr
  27. ^ http://www.karanbajaj.com/yoga-meditation/how-to-become-a-master-of-time-forever/
  28. ^ https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/whitehat-jr-founder-karan-bajaj-opens-up-about-300-million-byjus-deal-coding-edtech-startup-boom-and-more-5678461.html

External links[edit]



Category:Living people Category:1979 births Category:Boston Consulting Group people Category:American male writers of Indian descent Category:Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra alumni Category:Indian Institute of Management Bangalore alumni Category:American management consultants

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