From Fashion to Fitness: How Mukesh Bansal Built for India
Mukesh Bansal has always believed in one thing. Build for India, and build with patience. An IIT Kanpur graduate, Mukesh started his journey during the early internet days, when very few believed that Indian consumers would shop or subscribe online.
In 2007, he co founded Myntra. What began as a small platform selling personalized merchandise slowly evolved into India’s largest fashion e commerce brand. The journey was full of experimentation, failures, and pivots. Myntra shut down categories, rebuilt teams, and constantly refined its product. Mukesh focused deeply on consumer experience, technology, and brand trust.
In 2014, Myntra was acquired by Flipkart in one of India’s biggest startup acquisitions. For many, this would have been the end of the journey. For Mukesh, it was just a pause.
After Myntra, he turned his attention to a completely different problem. Health and fitness. He observed that Indians struggled to stay fit not because of lack of motivation, but because fitness felt confusing and inaccessible. That insight led to Cult.fit.
Cult.fit reimagined fitness as a habit, not a chore. With group workouts, mental wellness, healthy food, and technology driven engagement, it created a community rather than just a gym. Once again, Mukesh focused on behavior change, not just products.
From fashion to fitness, Mukesh Bansal’s journey shows a rare ability to understand Indian consumers deeply and build scalable businesses around their real needs. He proves that successful founders are not tied to one industry. They are tied to curiosity, execution, and long term vision.
Sometimes, the greatest builders are those who keep starting again, wiser each time.
LuwakTech’s sharp insights and inspiring startup stories ignite passion, spark ideas, and empower the upcoming bunch of entrepreneurs to chase their dreams.
