Exclusive: Myntra’s ex-CFO Prabhakar Sunder on Mukesh Bansal and why he left the company they shaped

February 2016, Mukesh Bansal left Myntra (and Flipkart). His departure was touted as one of the most high-profile exits in the industry.

A Computer Science graduate from IIT-Kanpur, Bansal founded Myntra in 2007. He sold his company to Flipkart in one of the largest M&A deals in Indian e-commerce history. The deal was estimated to be worth around $330 million.

A week later, Myntra's Head of Finance Prabhakar Sunder also put in his papers, marking another top level departure within India's most valuable startup.

5 months on, Prabhakar has joined as the finance head at e-commerce marketplace Voonik. Business Insider asked him why he left the company he and Mukesh toiled so hard to build from scratch. “It had become a ‘large’ company. I wanted to stay in a business-focused role. Didn’t see that happening (post the acquisition), so I left.”

Post the acquisition, Myntra was supposed to continue to operate as a separate entity with its co-founder and CEO Mukesh Bansal joining Flipkart board and heading the fashion business.

“I love taking risks. Myntra was one, and it paid off. As a company grows, the amount of risks one can take diminishes. You get worried about what investors might think. Myntra wasn’t an independent company anymore”, Sunder sighs.

He explains how Myntra’s company culture changed post Flipkart’s acquisition. In his words, Myntra became more of a ‘corporate setup’ than a ‘startup setup’. “We’d need Flipkart‘s approvals. That really changed the company’s approach. Flipkart has ambitions of listing at some point. There’s a lot of groundwork being done for that. Myntra started getting into too many processes. We had to follow many rules, and I didn’t want to be tied down by too many rules”, Sunder smiles.

Sunder had been a seven-year veteran at Myntra. He worked closely with Mukesh Bansal. Besides finance, Sunder also headed the commercial and legal functions at Flipkart with responsibilities including handling the strategic and corporate finance. The guy has over 9 years of experience with audit firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte.

Today, the company he has joined is pegged against the company he shaped. “There’s no dilemma. Voonik is not in direct competition with a Mynta or Jabong. Both are looking at premium retail. Voonik is into every-day fashion”, Sunder shrugs. While they may have parted ways, Sunder is all praises for Bansal.

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“Mukesh is a mentor for life. He’ll raise the bar every single time. If you like to be appreciated for every little thing, you can’t work with him. Unless you reach an exceptional level, he won’t praise you. That helped me to keep improving as a professional over the 7 years I worked with him.”, Sunder tells me.

The duo had their differences. “Disagreements with Mukesh were very often. He encourages discussion. Mukesh would like somebody to come say it on his face and discuss over the difference in opinion.”

Myntra recently acquired Jabong. The company he nurtured is getting even bigger. Prabhakar has no regrets. He doesn’t hide his surprise though. “I didn’t see this coming. I wouldn’t have been a happy finance guy to have acquired Jabong any way”, he says.

“There are several challenges. The e-commerce industry is getting into profitability mode. Everybody is now worried about their bottom-lines. There are immense tasks at hand. While all of this is happening, an acquisition of this size will add people issues. Jabong is also losing money, and that will add in. While you figure out your synergies, it might take a year or more. It’s not that easy to execute”, Sunder observes.

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Flipkart has seen a major overhaul with Binny Bansal taking over as the new CEO in place of co-founder Sachin Bansal. Sunder doesn’t make much out of Myntra’s Jabong acquisition.

“You should get a pat on the back only when you reap the benefits”, he says.

My dad couldn’t agree more.

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