Companies That Live On Our Phones In Small Squares

College is a transitional time for most people because it is where young students morph into adults. In many ways college provides students with the tools they need to reach their full potential. Students who turned ideas into companies created brands like Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell and Napster.

Here is a list of 6 companies found in and around 2010 that in less than a decade are household names. Many of these companies are such regular part of our daily lives that they live in little squares right on our phone screens.

WordPress

Matthew C Cullenweg founded one of the most popular formats for businesses and bloggers, WordPress in 2005. He dropped out of college to pursue a job at CNET, which eventually lead to the development of the company behind WordPress.  It is one of the most successful content management systems available and has over 70 million websites and blogs operating on its format. It is an easy and effective platform for people and businesses to connect with a wider audience.

Chayoos

Nitin Saluja Founded his first company ThinkLab in 2006 when he was finishing up his last year at IIT-Bombay. A few years later he teamed up with another IIT grad, Raghav Verma to start Chaayos, an outlet that would do for chai what Starbucks did for coffee. Chai is an iconic component of the Indian lifestyle and most people drink at least two cups a day. With demand for the product at every corner, it is safe to assume that there will be a Chayoos in every neighborhood very soon.

Snapdeal

After receiving multiple rounds of funding by top investors, Snapdeal has become the largest online marketplace in India. With a consistently expanding directory of merchandise and sellers, the company was founded by Wharton graduate Kunal Bhal and IIT graduate Rohit Bansal in 2010 and has been valued at 6.5 billion in less than a decade.

Zomato

Everyone’s favorite food app has improved the way we decide where to eat and where to order in from, making the process of making meal related decisions less stressful. A super successful app founded by Pankaj Chaddha and Dipeendre Goyal in 2008, the company has its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana and operates in over 23 countries with multiple language options.

Ola cabs

Because we need a ride to the restaurant we discovered on Zomato, Ola was created to fill the gap in the market. The company launched in 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhatti, and is the most popular app for transportation in India. It currently has over 110 cities in use including a database of over 600,000 cars. Like the companies listed before this, Ola too is a company with IIT-ian roots.

Freecharge

Ever since demonetization hit, people have started avoiding ATM machines because the PTSD of long lines. So a simpler method to pay for the cabs and meals was required.

In the same year as the launch of Ola Cabs, Wilson College graduate Kunal Shah and Sandeep Bhansal launched Freecharge, a digital method to pay various bills from cabs to electricity and even cup of chai in some cases. In 2015 Snapdeal acquired the company.