[3] Bansal grew up at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in South Mumbai where her father was an astrophysicist.

After attending St Joseph's High School in Colaba, she studied at Sophia College for Women before earning an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

Her next book, Connect the Dots (2010), traced the progress of entrepreneurs without MBAs.

[2][4] In an interview with Heather Timmons of the New York Times, Bansal explained she decided to use Hinglish as it provides a more direct representation of people's voices and "makes them more real".

[4] More recently, Bansal has written four books on entrepreneurs: Poor Little Rich Slum, Follow Every Rainbow,[6] Take Me Home and Arise Awake.