The Hunger Game

Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato

Last two years have not been the best time for the Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal. From being the most loved company in foodtech to receiving flak, he has risen above all this to conquer it all again. Soon after its inception, Zomato immediately became the poster boy of start-ups. Though the ball bounced high from the floor, the sooner it came down. There were murmurs doing the rounds about Zomato. Words spread that they were finding it hard to raise funds and having a tough time to sustain. Goyal shares, “Nothing was wrong with us in general. It’s just that there were few things that went wrong. We were expanding in overseas and we were doing that very fast, which needed a lot of cash. Suddenly the market dried up. So we had to shut down a few markets.”

Talking about the developments in last two years, Goyal cautions, “I think all the noise about foodtech not doing well is actually a noise. If 400 companies get funded in the foodtech space, not all of them can survive. At the end of the day, it’s a two-three player market.”

When asked if he lost sight of the little details, Goyal avers, “I think all big things are a sum total of small things. Strategy is more about the execution at large. So you have to actually execute all the little things until it takes a shape.”