From a teacher’s smile to a milestone: Peyush Bansal’s message ahead of Lenskart’s mega listing

On the eve of Lenskart’s much-awaited market debut, founder and CEO Peyush Bansal has penned a deeply personal letter that reads less like a corporate announcement and more like a heartfelt reflection on purpose, people, and the promise of tomorrow. 

“Fifteen years ago, I didn’t dream of ringing a bell,” Bansal writes. “I just wanted to solve one simple, human problem — that millions of people in India couldn’t see clearly.” He recalls one of Lenskart’s earliest customers — a teacher who had stopped reading her students’ notebooks because of poor vision. When she finally wore her new glasses, “she smiled, then cried softly,” telling him she hadn’t realised “the world still looked this bright.” 

“That moment still gives me goosebumps,” Bansal shares. “It reminded me that vision isn’t just eyesight. It’s dignity. It’s pride. It’s possibility.” 

From small wows to a way of working 

Tracing the company’s growth, Bansal credits not strategy decks but an obsession with what he calls “small wows.” Every little detail — from store reviews to air-conditioning checks — mattered. “Excellence has no geography,” he writes. “Whether it’s Patna or Tokyo, the standard must be the same.” 

Over time, those “small wows” became a way of life at Lenskart — “a refusal to settle, and a belief that there is always a better way.” 

Day Zero: The beginning, not the end 

For Bansal, tomorrow’s IPO is not a finish line but a fresh start. “When Lenskart lists on the Indian stock exchange, it will look like a milestone. To me, it feels like Day Zero — the beginning of a new promise.” 

He describes the company’s evolution as moving from giving vision to India, to giving vision from India. “We didn’t build Lenskart to reach a valuation. We built it to reach people — from Delhi’s heart to the smallest towns in the Northeast.” 

Building global institutions from India 

Reflecting on India’s startup ecosystem, Bansal recalls the bittersweet moment when Flipkart was sold to Walmart. “It reminded us that we were still parting with our dreams early.” Having returned to India from Microsoft, he says, his goal was to build companies “that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world and still carry India in their DNA.” 

“Lenskart was born out of that dream — that India can build global institutions, not just startups.” 

“To solve a billion-person problem, belief alone wasn’t enough — we needed technology,” Bansal writes. Lenskart built much of its tech in-house — from AI tools that measure eyes to robotic systems cutting lenses “accurate to microns.” 

“Today, we’re building the operating system of eyewear,” he says. “But if technology doesn’t reach everyone, it’s not innovation; it’s decoration.” 

‘B by Lenskart’: The next leap 

The company’s next chapter, B by Lenskart, is what Bansal calls the next frontier. “‘B’ stands for Better, but also for Breakthrough,” he explains. “These aren’t just glasses. They’re the start of a new interface between people and the world.” 

“Every customer we serve is our IPO,” he adds. “The markets may ring the bell once, but our customers ring it every single day — when they smile, when they see clearly again.” 

Vision as a right, not a privilege 

Bansal also shines a light on the Lenskart Foundation, led by his wife, Nidhi. Inspired by philanthropist Ronnie Screwvala’s eye-testing vans, Bansal decided to take that mission further. “This is ours to do, not yours,” he told Screwvala. 

The Foundation, he notes, has grown “quietly — one village, one school, one van at a time,” with a mission “not to make headlines, but to make vision reach where it’s been forgotten.” 

“We’ve done this before as a country,” he reminds. “India eradicated polio. Why not visual impairment?” 

At the heart of the letter is gratitude — for the people who built the company from scratch. “You are the reason Lenskart exists,” Bansal tells his employees. “You helped turn a startup into a family, and a company into a cause.” 

In one of the letter’s most quoted lines, he writes: “Profit is oxygen — it keeps us alive. But purpose is breath — it keeps us human.” 

Every day is ‘Day Zero’ 

As he prepares to ring the bell, Bansal says the sound won’t mark victory but renewal. “When the bell rings, it’ll remind us to keep building, innovating, serving, dreaming. Because for us, every customer, every smile of clarity — is Day Zero.” 

He ends with an invitation: “If you’re wearing Lenskart glasses — today, tomorrow, or any day — take a selfie and share it with #VisionForBillion. Let’s build this together — one frame, one smile, one vision at a time.” 

Signed simply: “To a journey of dreams and destiny.”