Take risks, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal advices wannabe entrepreneurs

“I had an entrepreneurial streak, even back in college, forever coming up with ideas for products that could bridge gaps in the market,” says Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal.

This very entrepreneurial streak led to the creation of Zomato (previously known as Foodiebay) in 2008, a restaurant discovery website and mobile app.

Today, Zomato has crossed boundaries expanding to 155 cities across 19 countries (and growing!). In 2014, the site won ‘ET Startup of the Year 2014’. It is also a part of the elite ‘1000-crore club’. Now Zomato is out to win more hearts in different countries.

With the final placement season approaching in various B-Schools, some MBA graduates are pondering about taking the entrepreneurial plunge.

We earlier spoke to Sidin Vadukut, who chose to be a writer after pursuing a management degree.

In our next interview, Zomato’s Goyal discusses the past, present and future, exclusively with Shiksha.com.

 

 

 

1. Please tell us about your family background and upbringing?

I was born and brought up in Mukstar in Punjab and moved to Delhi when I got into IIT Delhi. Like most people, my love for food started at home. It’s safe to say that my preoccupation with food still continues. Both my parents were teachers and there was a fairly large emphasis on education growing up.

 

2. Were you a studious person? What did you study?

I always enjoyed Math even when I was younger. When I applied to study at IIT Delhi it was a simple choice for me to pick Maths and Computing. I graduated with an Integrated M.Tech degree in Mathematics and Computing.

IIT Delhi was great for me, not just for the quality of education imparted but because I also discovered that there was a lot of learning which happened outside the classroom, including meeting people.

 

3. When did you decide to be an entrepreneur?

I was always passionate about utilising technologies to connect people in the real world to make their lives easier. I’m an engineer turned entrepreneur. I have had an entrepreneurial streak even while I was in college and forever kept coming up with ideas for products that could bridge gaps in the market.

 

4. Take us through the journey of Zomato, all about the ups and downs.

Since we founded Zomato, erstwhile Foodiebay.com in July 2008, our singular focus has been on helping people find and connect with great places to eat at around them. We’ve made sure that our product has been easy to use and slicker and smoother with each product update. Our focus over the past two years has been on taking Zomato to diners across the globe and today we’re in 19 countries and counting! And we aren’t stopping any time soon.

We’ve been lucky with the team that we have in place. An organisation is only as good as the people who work in it; our people are extremely driven and hard working.

Seeing the company and our team grow to build Zomato as you see it today is definitely one of the best feelings. Sure, there have been ups and downs along the way but we’ve been focused on the collective goal and its helped us grow as an organisation and people. We’ve had our own fair share of challenges - finding the right people for the job has been one of our biggest challenges. In 2012, we had launched our events section. We made the critical decision to shut down the events section because we realised that it was more than important for a company to stay focused on the core product and not spread out by moving into too many verticals. I believe that ups and downs are naturally part of the journey. You probably aren’t taking enough risks if you don’t have setbacks.

 

5. What was the toughest moment you faced in your entrepreneurial journey and what has been the biggest high?

As an entrepreneur one is always faced with tough decisions. I think if I were to put a finger on it, one of the tough moments in our initial days was quitting our jobs at Bain &Co. to focus on Zomato full time. Over the course of the last six years we’ve had a lot of tough times, from raising our first round of funds to letting go of some of our people, none of these things have been easy. On an organisational level, one of the toughest calls was to shut down the events section we had launched in 2012. However, we had to prioritise and realised we want to build depth in one vertical and stay focused on our core competency. It hindsight it was a good call, but it wasn't an easy decision shutting down a vertical our team had so painstakingly worked on.

Our growth over the past two years is definitely a high point. Before launching our first international operations in Dubai in September 2012, we were in 12 cities in India and never thought we’d grow as quickly as we have. We’re in over 100 cities across 19 countries as of today, with more on the way. Seeing the company, our team, and individuals grow to build the Zomato you see today is definitely one of the best feelings.

 

6. What about the seed capital? How did you manage to obtain funds to start and then expand the business?

Initially, we raised a small sum of money from our family and friends to keep the startup running.

 

 

7. What tips would you like to offer to the young entrepreneurs who want to start and be successful in their own venture?

First and foremost, it’s not about the idea, but how effectively you can execute it. Even if you already have a product in the market, you can always do more to make it better. Once you are determined to do something, the other thing to take care of is that you need to find good people to work with. People who are as committed to the job as you are.

 

 

8. What are the biggest challenges in being an entrepreneur in today’s world? What pitfalls should one avoid?

In the early days we couldn’t raise funding and finding the right people to build Zomato was a challenge; this really forced us to be a lot smarter about how we were going to build this company. We ended up focusing on our core product and making sure we were true to our users and restaurants that we had on board. What we did learn while growing our business was that once you are determined to do something, the other thing to take care of is that you need to find good people to work with.

 

 

9. MBA is a hot favourite today. What are your views? Is an MBA degree necessary to be successful in entrepreneurship and to rise up the corporate ladder?

An MBA or even a Master's degree has never been our criteria for recruitment. However, being armed with an MBA definitely helps gain academic and structural knowledge.

 

 

10. Please offer some tips and guidance for our student audience.

It’s a good thing to find out what you don’t want to do. Follow your intuition, focus on one thing at a time and give it your absolute best shot. Take risks. Don’t be afraid of what could happen.  If you are afraid to take risks, very little worth remembering will ever happen.

11. What do you do in your free time?

I work from Monday to Saturday and on Sundays I try to switch off to spend time with my wife, daughter and my friends. I like reading, catching the occasional movie and trying out new restaurants.

12. What does the future hold?

Over the next year we’re focused making an even bigger push on the product side and on taking our mobile app to the next level. Today, more than 50% of Zomato's 30 million plus monthly visits come from our mobile apps across the globe, testimony to the fact that local search is moving to mobile very quickly. Mobile apps are the future. The great thing though is building the Zomato brand to about being the best service out there. I think the sky's the limit when it comes to growing our brand. For us, its always been about taking the step-by-step approach.