Hours after the Indian government banned the use of TikTok and a host of other Chinese apps on grounds of “national security”, Ankush Sachdeva got to work. The co-founder and CEO of ShareChat, a local language social media app, marshalled his team to create a replica of the popular Chinese short video platform. In the next 30 hours, Moj—the team’s TikTok copy—was ready for download on the Play Store.
Today, Moj is India’s leading short video platform with over 160 million monthly active users (MAUs). ShareChat, too, claims 180 million MAUs. “The growth has been tremendous,” says Sachdeva, 28, modest to a fault.
It is this ability to spot and swiftly act on opportunity that sets him apart. “Ankush has shown amazing leadership qualities both when faced with adversity and opportunity,” says Madhukar Sinha, partner at India Quotient, a Mumbai-based fund that gave Mohalla Tech, the parent company of ShareChat and now Moj, ₹50 lakh in seed funding in 2015. “His key strength is to look through the maze and see the bigger picture.”
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