A Bengaluru-based entrepreneur has sparked discussion online after sharing his experience of working with Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick during the early days of the company’s India operations.
Mahesh Muraleedharan, one of Uber India’s earliest hires, recently posted a selfie with Kalanick on social media platform X, reflecting on how the experience influenced his entrepreneurial journey.
Starting Uber India from scratch
In his post, Muraleedharan recalled how his journey began in July 2013, when he received an email informing him that he would be Uber India’s first employee.
“At that time there was no office, no team, no drivers and no playbook,” he wrote, describing how he stepped into the streets of Bengaluru with little more than the task of building the business from scratch.
He said the instruction he received from Kalanick was simple: “Go build it.”
According to Muraleedharan, that moment shaped the way he approached challenges and entrepreneurship.
Lessons that shaped his entrepreneurial mindset
Muraleedharan described Kalanick as one of his top inspirations, explaining that the experience changed how he viewed obstacles in business.
He wrote that working with the Uber founder taught him to see challenges not as barriers but as opportunities.
“The harder the problem, the clearer the signal that no one else has solved it yet,” he said, adding that this mindset continues to guide him today.
Muraleedharan credited those lessons for helping him build his current startup Basil, which he is developing with his co-founder.
Travis Kalanick returns with new venture
Muraleedharan’s post comes at a time when Travis Kalanick has returned to the spotlight with a new venture.
The former Uber CEO recently launched Atoms, a startup focused on specialised industrial robotics aimed at automating tasks across industries such as mining, transportation and food services.
Atoms is an expansion and rebranding of City Storage Systems, the company Kalanick began building after leaving Uber.
According to Kalanick, the venture aims to develop task-specific robots designed to improve productivity in industrial environments.
Muraleedharan concluded his post by encouraging Kalanick to share more insights publicly, saying many founders around the world could benefit from his experiences in building transformative companies.